THE CIRCUS
"Oh my!" cried Bunny Brown, as he saw his sister topple out of the boat
into the lake. "Oh, dear!"
By this time Uncle Tad, the old soldier, was ready for action. He took
off his coat, without standing up in the boat, for well he knew how
dangerous that was, and he was just ready to slip overboard into the
water, the bottom of which he could see, when Dix, who had thrust his
head under the surface, came up with Sue held in his strong jaws, his
teeth fastened in her dress near the neck.
"Oh, Dix! Dix!" cried Bunny, in delight. "I'm so glad you saved my
sister. Oh, Dix! I'll love you all my life!"
Dix, holding Sue with her head well above the water, was swimming toward
the boat. Bunny, eager to do what he could to help his sister, was
leaning over the side, ready to reach her as soon as the dog came near
enough. Then Uncle Tad cried:
"Sit still, Bunny! I'll take Sue in. But I must do it at the stern of
the boat, and not over the side, as that might tip us over. You sit
still in the middle of the boat."
Bunny, who had lived near the seashore all his life knew that "stern"
meant the back of the boat. And he remembered that his father had often
told him if ever he fell out of a boat and wanted to get in again
without tipping the boat over, to do so from the stern, or from the bow,
which is the front. A row-boat will not tip backwards or forwards as
easily as it will to either side.
As soon as Bunny heard what Uncle Tad said, he obeyed. He sat down in
the bottom of the boat between the seats. Then the old soldier, going to
the stern, called to Dix:
"Around this way, old dog! Bring her here and I'll take her in. Come on,
Dix!"
Whether the dog knew that it was safer to bring a person in over the
stern of a boat or over the bow instead of over the side, I do not know.
At any rate he did what Uncle Tad told him to do, and in another moment
was close to the boat with Sue in his jaws. Uncle Tad lifted her into
the boat and at once turned her on her face and raised her legs in the
air. This was to let any water that she might have swallowed run out.
Sue began to kick her legs. She gasped and wiggled.
"Keep still!" cried Bunny. "Uncle Tad is giving you first aid." Bunny
had often seen the lifeguards at the beach do this to swimmers who went
too far out.
"I--I won't keep still, Bunny Brown!" gasped Sue. "And I--I don't need
any first aid! I just helded my breath under water, I did, and I didn't
swallow much anyhow. I was holding my breath when Uncle Tad began to
raise up my legs, that's why I wiggled and couldn't speak. I'm all right
now and I'm much obliged to you and Dix, Uncle Tad, and I hope my Sallie
Malinda isn't in the lake."
Sue said this all at one time and then she had to stop for breath. But
what she said was true. Her father had given her swimming lessons, and
Sue was really a good little diver, and perfectly at home where the
water was not too rough or deep. And, as she had said, as soon as she
felt herself in the water she had taken a long breath and held it before
her nose and mouth went under.
So while Sue was holding her breath, Dix had reached down and caught
her, before she had really sunk to the bottom. For Sue had on a light
and fluffy dress, and that really was a sort of life preserver. As it
was, the dog had brought Sue to the boat before she had swallowed more
than a few spoonfuls of water, which did her no harm. Of course she was
all wet.
"You've gone in swimming, anyhow," said Bunny, as soon as he saw that
his sister was all right.
"Yes, and we must get her to shore as soon as we can," said Uncle Tad.
"Climb in, Dix, and don't scatter any more water on us than you can
help, though we'll forgive you almost anything for the way you saved
Sue."
The dog climbed in, over the stern where Uncle Tad told him to, and
then gave himself a big shake.
All dogs do that when they come from the water, and Dix only acted
naturally. He gave Bunny and Uncle Tad a shower bath but they did not
mind. Sue could not be made any wetter than she already was.
"Now for a fast row to shore," said Uncle Tad. "I saw a farmhouse not
far from where we got out of Mr. Jason's wagon, and I guess you can dry
your clothes there, Sue."
As Uncle Tad started to row Sue cried:
"But where's Sallie Malinda? Where's my Teddy bear? I won't go without
her!"
She spoke as if she meant it. Bunny and Uncle Tad looked on both sides
of the boat, and there, on the white sandy bottom of the lake, in about
four feet of water, lay the Teddy bear. It's eyes were lighted which
made it the more easily seen, for Sue must have pressed the switch as
she herself fell overboard. And, as it happened, the batteries and
electric lighted eyes were not harmed by water.
"I'll get her for you," said Uncle Tad, and he reached for the Teddy
bear with a boat hook, soon bringing up the toy.
"Oh, I hope she isn't spoiled!" cried Sue.
"She can dry out with you when you get to the farmhouse," said Bunny,
and then Uncle Tad began to row toward shore.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown were surprised, and not a little worried, when they
heard what had happened to Sue. But the little girl herself was quite
calm about it.
"I just held my breath," she said. "I knew Bunny or somebody would get
me out."
"I was going to," declared Bunny.
"Yes, I guess he'd have dived over in another second," remarked Uncle
Tad. "But Dix was ahead of both of us."
"Well, I'm glad you're all right," said Mother Brown. "I do hope you
won't take cold. We must get your wet clothes off."
Just then Mr. Jason came back with his horses and wagon, and he quickly
drove the whole party to a near-by farmhouse where Sue, and all the
others, were made welcome. Before the warm kitchen fire Sue was dressed
in some dry clothes of a little girl who lived on the farm, while her
own were put near the kitchen stove.
In a few hours the party was ready to go back to the "Ark," meanwhile
having spent a good time at the farmhouse. Sue seemed all right, and
really she had not been in much danger, for the water was not deep, and
Uncle Tad was a good swimmer.
Bunny and Sue slept rather late the next morning, but when they did
awaken they heard a queer rumbling on the road beside which their
automobile was drawn up.
"Is that thunder?" asked Bunny.
"It sounds like it," answered Sue, who showed no signs of having caught
cold from her bath in the lake.
The children peered from the little windows near their bunks. They saw
going along the road a number of gaily painted wagons--great big wagons,
drawn by eight or ten horses each, and with broad-tired wheels.
Together Bunny and Sue cried:
"It's a circus! It's a circus! Hurrah!"