, boarding the boat
that rocked at the pier on the big lake, they found comfortable seats on
the shady side and prepared for a pleasant ride.

Mary Jane chose to sit on the side nearest the pier because she loved to
look down from the upper deck and watch the people boarding the boat. She
had never ridden on boats very much, only when she went to Florida, and
this boat they were now aboard seemed very different from the big,
awkward, flat bottomed boat they took their river trip on through Florida
jungles.

"You don't need to sit by me if you want to talk to mother," she said to
her father.

"Humph!" said her father teasingly, "how do I know you're not going to
tumble overboard! You know you have a way of mixing up picnics and water,
Mary Jane, so I don't think I'll take any chances." But when Mary Jane
promised that she would sit very still and not walk around a step and not
lean over the edge, he went to speak to grandpa a few minutes. And while
he was gone, Mary Jane leaned up against the side of the boat and watched
the folks down on the pier.

She thought it must surely be about time for the boat to start because
there was hurrying on the pier, and men were busy taking ropes off of the
big wooden posts along the side nearest the water. While she was watching,
a woman came along the dock toward the boat and with her were two little
children, a girl about Mary Jane's own age and a little boy some two years
younger. Just as they reached the gang plank, ready to step onto the boat,
the little boy began to cry.

"I left my boat! I left my boat! I left my boat!" he cried. Mary Jane
could hear him very plainly even though she sat so far up above him.

She couldn't hear what the mother said, but evidently she promised to get
the missing boat for him, because she left both children by the side of
the gang plank, and hurrying as fast as possible she ran back toward the
shore. And right at that minute, the big bell overhead rang three times
and the engine aboard the boat began to throb--it was time to go.

The men on the dock noticed the two children and one said to the little
girl, "Were you going?" and she nodded yes. So he picked up the boy and
hurried the two children aboard just as the gang plank was hauled in and
the boat made away from the pier.

Mary Jane was so thrilled and excited she could hardly sit still. She
tried to call her father but he was on the other side of the boat and she
had promised to sit st