“No, I—I’m not exactly hurt,” Laddie answered. Then he smiled and said: “But I’m awful wet!”
“I should say you were! And muddy, too!” chuckled Russ. “It’s a good thing you had your old clothes on. I guess mother won’t scold much. She expects us to fall in once or twice. I heard her tell Farmer Joel that. How did it happen, Laddie?”
“Oh, I guess that stone was too heavy for me. I almost had it where I wanted it and it began to slip away from me. I made a grab for it and I slipped and I went down—and in!”
“Yes, you went in all right,” laughed Russ. “Well, come on up to the house and get on dry things.”
“No,” objected Laddie.
“Why not?” asked his brother. “Are you afraid mother will scold?”
“No, I guess not. But what’s the use of getting dry clothes on when maybe I’ll get all wet again fixing the dam? As long as I’m wet I might as well finish the dam, and then we can work the water wheel.”
“Well, maybe that is the best way,” agreed Russ. “It won’t take long to fix the dam now, and you might fall in again.”
And Laddie did. Once more, as he was lifting a stone to the top of the dam, he slipped and fell in, but this time he only laughed and kept right on working. And when the dam was finally built higher, so that more water poured over to turn the wheel, Laddie went to the house and put on dry clothes.
His mother, who had come back from the woods, did not scold him when he told her what had happened, but she made him wash the mud from his clothes and hang them out to dry, since she said it was only right that he should do this to save Norah work.