“Pooh! ‘Halt’ is what you say to soldiers,” declared Flossie. “We said that when we had a snow fort, and played have a snowball fight in the winter. ‘Halt’ is only for soldiers.”
“Oh, well, come on and have a ride,” went on Freddie. “I forget what you say when you want a boat to stop.”
“Oh, I know!” cried Flossie, clapping her hands.
“What?”
“You just blow a whistle. You don’t say anything. You just go ‘Toot! Toot!’ and the boat stops.”
“All right,” agreed Freddie, glad that this part was settled. “When you want this boat to stop, you just whistle.”
“I will,” said Flossie. Then she stepped on the edge of the raft nearest the shore. The boards and rails tilted to one side. “Oh! Oh!” screamed the little girl. “It’s sinking!”
“No it isn’t,” Freddie said. “It always does that when you first get on. Come on out in the middle and it will be all right.”
“But it feels so—so funny on my toes!” said Flossie, with a little shiver. “It’s tickly like.”
“That’s the way it was with me at first,” Freddie answered. “But I like it now.”