everything. Then there were the sights to watch from the
deck and the big buildings to count and the boats they passed to
watch--oh, there surely was a lot to do that made that trip interesting
and so very short.

As the boat pulled up near the down town pier, the Merrills saw a taxi
dash up near where the boat was to land: saw a woman get out and, followed
by a policeman, hurry up to the side where the boat would pull in.

"Look!" exclaimed Mary Jane excitedly. "Look!"

The little girl, whose name was Ann, looked along with the others, and
then she gave a happy cry.

"Mother!" she shouted, so loudly that her mother, waiting on the pier
could hear and was so very relieved!

When the boat pulled into the dock, the captain was the first one to step
off; he met the mother and the officer and brought them aboard at once.
Mary Jane was called upon to explain all that she had seen and the
officer, as well as the mother, was satisfied that the whole thing was an
accident and not an attempt to steal the children.

"But how did you get up here so quickly?" asked Mary Jane, when the first
excitement was over.

"My dear child!" laughed Ann's mother, "a person can do a lot when she
thinks something is happening to her children! I took a passing taxi,
dashed to a police station and then on up here. And nothing has happened
at all--except you nice people have given my little folks a very pleasant
trip. Next time, Bobby," she added, "we'll leave your toy boat or we'll
all go together to find it. We won't take any chances of losing each
other!"

"Well," laughed Mr. Merrill when the mother and children and officer and
captain had all gone on about their own business, "what was it we were
going to do to-day?"

Everybody laughed at that! They had been so excited that they had
forgotten, yes, actually forgotten, that this was a sight-seeing trip for
grandma and grandpa. But once they remembered, they knew just what to do.
They climbed aboard a waiting launch, rode up to Lincoln Park, had a
wonderful dinner and fun all the rest of the day.

"I don't see," remarked grandma, as they neared home, late that evening,
"how you girls are ever going to settle down to school again! Did you know
that school was only a few weeks away? Vacation will be over before you
know it!"

SCHOOL BEGINS

When grandma suggested that it was nearly time for school to begin, on
that day of the boat ride, she guessed better than the girls suspec