"I'm going to call mamma!" exclaimed Vi, "Don't you go, Rose!"
But Rose was already halfway to the shore of the lake. In another moment she called out:
"Oh, I see it! I see it!"
"What is it?" asked Mun, made brave by what he saw Rose doing, and he followed her. Vi and Margy trailed after them. "What is it?"
"It's a big rat, that's all, but it isn't the kind of rats we saw the hired man catch in a trap at the barn. It's a nicer rat than that, and it's eating oysters on a rock near the shore."
"Oh, is it really eating oysters?" asked Vi.
"They look like oysters," replied Rose. "Oh, there he goes!" and, as she spoke, the animal, which did look like a rat, plunged into the water and swam away, only the tip of its nose showing.
"Tisn't a bear," said Rose, "and 'tisn't an elephant."
"Then what is it?" asked Vi.
Rose did not know, but when the children went to the house and told Grandma Bell about it, she said: