“Her name is Freda,” Hanny said. “If she sees us, she may speak crossly. She does not like me or Uncle Peter.”
“Say, my feet are wet!” Vevi suddenly cried.
“The water is coming into this boat faster and faster,” Connie declared uneasily. “Hanny, you must pull up on shore.”
“Mrs. Mattox won’t like it.”
“Who cares about her?” Vevi demanded. “We are getting wet, Hanny.”
The little Dutch girl guided the boat to a sandy stretch of beach along the canal. After Connie and Vevi had leaped out, she pulled the craft up on shore so it would not drift away.
“Mrs. Mattox has seen us,” Hanny said, glancing over her shoulder. “Oh! Oh! She has dropped her hoe and is coming this way.”
“Let’s get the wooden shoe as fast as we can and run!” Vevi urged.
Abandoning the boat, the children ran to the clutter of debris where the runaway shoe had caught fast.
But when Connie tried to capture it, she only succeeded in setting it free. Off it floated again down the canal.