Page 120 - A Little Bush Maid

see the canoe whisk over the waterfall!"

"What hard luck!"

"Tt was rather. They started off down-stream to find it, but for a long way
they couldn’t see a trace. Then, right in the calm water, ever so far down,
they found it—bit by bit. Tt was broken into so much matchwood!"

"What did they do?" asked Wally.

"Stood and stared at it from opposite sides, like two wet images," said Jim,
laughing. "Tt’s lowdown to grin, T suppose, but they must have looked

funny. Then one of them swam across and they made their way to our
place, and we fixed them up with dry things and drove them home. T don’t

think they’ve gone in for canoeing since!" finished Jim reflectively.

"Well, T guess it would discourage them a bit," Wally agreed. "Getting

shipwrecked’s no fun."

"Ever tried it?"

"Once--in Albert Park Lagoon," Wally admitted bashfully. "Some of us

went out for a sail one Saturday afternoon. We didn’t know much about it,
and T really don’t know what it was that tipped the old boat over. T was the

smallest, so naturally T wasn’t having any say in managing her."

"That accounts for it," said Jim dryly.

"Didn’t mean that--goat!" said Wally. "Anyhow, T was very much

astonished to find myself suddenly kicking in the mud. Ever been in that
lake? Tt isn’t nice. Tt isn’t deep enough to drown you, but the mud is a
caution. T got it all over me--face and all!"

"You must have looked your best!" said Jim.