“You’d better be careful,” said Firefly, shaking her head, “or you know what will happen!”
Hawk-Eye laughed and went on chopping. Every day after that the Twins followed their father to the little cove and watched him work. Every evening they nearly burst trying not to tell. One day when they went down to the cove, they found their father taking out the last chips from the inside of the log.
“When the tide comes in, it backs up into
the stream,” said Hawk-Eye, “and the next time it does it, I’m going to push the log into the water and then out into the bay. If it floats right side up, I am going for a ride.”
“How will you push it?” asked Firetop. “Are you going to let your legs hang over and hitch yourself along that way?”
“I shan’t need any turtles to bite me to make me go anyway,” said Hawk-Eye. “I’m going to push it with a pole.”
The pole was already in the log. The tide began to flow in. As soon as the water was deep enough Hawk-Eye pushed the log into the water. It floated, of course. Hawk-Eye waded along beside it into deeper water. Then he undertook to get aboard, but he put his weight too much on one side. It rolled over, and he rolled with it, and went splash on his stomach right into the water! Firetop and Firefly danced on the beach with glee.
Hawk-Eye got up all dripping wet and tried again. This time he stepped into the middle of the boat. He got safely in, but it was still very tippy, so he put sand in the bottom of it and made it heavier. Then he tried again.
It was a proud moment when at last he took his pole and pushed off.