"Here's Number One, then," said Ethel Brown, and she pulled the legs as far apart as she could and as far back as possible, the feet still being horizontal; "and here's Number Two," and she brought the legs together again, the heels touching.
"I forgot to wag my feet when you did that last one," panted Ethel Blue. "If you wag them it gives you an extra push forward you know."
"I know; it really does; I did it accidentally yesterday and I popped right ahead some distance. Now let me try," and she took her turn on the bench while Ethel Blue counted and pulled laboriously, "Number One, Number Two, Make Ready."
"I floated for two minutes to-day."
"You did!" There was envy in Ethel Brown's voice as she resumed her upright position and helped her cousin move the bench back against the wall.
"I thought I'd try, so I turned over on my back and put my nose and mouth as high out of water as I could and tried to forget that my forehead was being swashed. Then I filled my lungs up full and there I was, just like a cork."
"Or a barrel," substituted Roger, poking his head in again. "Grandfather sends you his compliments—or he would if he happened to think of it—and says that when he was a boy they used to ask him 'What does a duck go down for?' Do you know the answer?"
"Grandfather told me that when I was Dicky's age—'for divers' reasons'; and he comes up again 'for sun—dry reasons.'"
"You're altogether too knowing, you kids. Where's Helen?"
"Gone on a tramp with the Vacation Club. Mother and Grandfather have gone to the five o'clock reading hour, Grandmother is taking her embroidery lesson at the Arcade, and Mary is down on the lake front. There isn't a soul in the house except Dicky and he's taking a nap."