And they did.

"Never mind," said Sue. "We'll keep on sailing, Bunny, and we'll sail
right after the little ducks, so the hen mamma can watch them."

And this the children did. The little ducks paddled around in the water
at the edge of the raft, and on the middle of it, in a dry place,
perched the hen mother. It was great fun, and Bunny and Sue liked it
very much.

"She is just like a trained hen," said Bunny. "If we have another and
bigger circus, Sue, we can have this hen in it."

"Are we going to have another circus?"

"Maybe--a big one, in two tents. Bunker Blue and Ben are talking about
it."

"Oh, that would be fun!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.

And then, all at once, as soon as Sue did this, the little ducks took
fright, and hurried toward the shore. Perhaps they thought Sue was
shooing them away, as her grandmother sometimes shooed the hens out of
the garden.

Anyhow, the little ducks, half swimming and half flying, rushed for the
shore, and no sooner had the hen mother seen them go, than with a loud
cluck she raised herself up in the air, and flew to shore also. She had
had enough of sailing, and she wanted to be with her little duck
family.

"Oh, I didn't mean to scare them," said Sue.

"Never mind," Bunny comforted her. "I guess they had ride enough. Now
we'll sail down to the other end of the pond."

But the wind was quite strong now. It blew very hard on the bag-sail,
and the raft went swiftly through the water.

All at once there was a cracking sound, and the raft turned to one side.

"Oh, dear!" cried Sue. "What's the matter?"

Something flew down over her head, covering her eyes, and she could see
nothing.

"Stop! Stop!" cried the little girl. "Is that you, Bunny?"

But Bunny did not answer. Sue pulled the thing off her head. When she
could see she noticed that it was the bag sail. The beanpole mast had
broken off close to where it was stuck in a crack in the barn door, and
the sail had fallen on Sue.

But where was Bunny Brown?

Sue looked all around and then saw her brother, off the raft, standing
up in the water behind her.

"What--what's the matter, Bunny?" asked Sue. "Don't you want to sail any
more? What makes you be in the water? Oh, you're all wet!" she cried, as
she saw that he had fallen in, right over his head.

"I--I couldn't help it," said Bunny. "I slipped in when the wind broke
the sail. I--I fell on my back, and a lot of water got in my nose and
mouth, but--b