"Don't pull too hard!" called the men to the boys. "You'll upset your boat."
"Throw the line to us," added Uncle Daniel,
This the boys did, and as it was a long stretch of rope the men were able to get all the way in to shore with it before pulling at the house.
"Now we'll have a tug of war," said Mr. Mason.
"Wait for us!" cried the boys in the boat "We want to have a pull at that."
All this time the chickens were cackling and screeching, as the house in the water lunged from one side to the other. It was a large new coop and built of strong material that made it very heavy.
"Now," said Uncle Daniel, as the boys reached the shore and secured their boat, "all take a good hold."
Every inch of the rope that crossed the water's edge was soon covered with somebody's hand.
"All pull now!" called Mr. Mason, and with a jerk in came the floating house, chickens, ducks and all, and down went everybody that had pulled. The force of the jerk, of course, threw them all to the ground, but that was only fun and gave the boys a good chance to laugh.
Just as soon as the chickens reached the shore they scampered for home—some flying, some running, but all making a noise.