She's coming! Let's give her the
call!" And all the vigorous young lungs joined in a wild salute of
"Wah-who-wah! wah-who-wah! Come, little breezes! wah-who-wah!"

"I'll stop sculling, and eat in comfort now," said Will, shipping his
oar, and taking a sandwich. "She's safe to come, now."

And the breeze did not belie his confidence, for in ten minutes more the
sail began to flap, and then to fill. The boat instantly responded, and
Archie took the helm. The breeze steadily freshened, and in two minutes
more the _Gentle Jane_ was skimming along like a bird. And so, not long
after six, they landed at the dock.

CHAPTER XX.

A NEW HIDING-PLACE.

The four girls were in an unusually energetic frame of mind the next
day, owing to so many hours confinement on the sailboat.

"Let's do something wild to-day," said Cricket, at the breakfast-table.
"I'd like to ride a crazy horse."

"Are you tired of this world?" asked Will. "If you are, I'll go and
borrow Mr. Gates's Josephus,--his new horse. He's only half broken, and
that's the wrong half."

"Cricket, I put my foot down on your doing anything of the kind," said
auntie, in alarm, not feeling at all sure of Cricket. "Remember you're
strictly forbidden to mount anything but Mopsie."

"And the sawhorse?" broke in Archie.

"Yes, I'll except the sawhorse," conceded his mother.

"Why, auntie, I rode Columbus all around the field, bareback, the other
day," said Cricket. "I didn't know you didn't want me to."

"_Columbus!_ you crazy child! He's not at all safe even for a man to
ride him. Understand, my dear, that's tabooed."

"Oh, auntie!" cried Cricket, clasping her hands, tragically, "If you've
any filial affection for me, you won't say that! I do so love to ride a
horse bareback. Mopsie is dear, but I like something _fiercer_."

"If you have any filial affection for _me_, my dear," returned auntie,
laughing, "you will say no more about it. You know I've undertaken to
restore all you children, as uninjured as possible, to your father and
mother. Riding half-broken horses bareback is not exactly the safest
thing in the world."

"What let's do, then?" asked Edna.

"I'm going to take grandma for a nice long ride after breakfast. Suppose
two of you come with me, and the other two ride or drive Mopsie and
Charcoal," proposed auntie.

"All right. Suppose you and I go in the carriage, Eunice," said Edna,
"and let the children take the ponies."

"The children, i