meat market he
always carried a covered tin pail in which to carry home the meat, and
when he went to the post office, he was given a big leather wallet in
which to carry the letters.

The following afternoon Mrs. Stuart had an engagement with her dentist
and was compelled to leave Lena alone with Waggy. A kind neighbor had
lent Lena a wheel-chair so that she could travel from one part of the
house to the other. At two o'clock she began to watch for the picnickers
and at last saw them--five in all--run down the hill and get into her
Cousin Rob's boat and row out to the pretty island in the middle of the
river. Everyone knew that Cousin Rob was a good boatman and so fathers
and mothers did not worry when their sons and daughters went on the
water with him.

But on this day Rob was a little careless about pulling the boat up far
enough upon the island after all had landed. While the merry party was
on the other side of the island the boat floated away. Then to make
matters worse the sky suddenly became overcast with clouds telling of
the storm that was coming.

Lena saw what happened to the boat and presently she saw the five
picnickers hurrying toward the spot where they had left the boat. She
could imagine how they felt when they saw their boat floating down
stream.

"What can they do!" lamented Lena. "They will be soaked sure and perhaps
the river will rise and sweep them away."

In hard storms Lena had seen the water rise quickly and hide all of the
island except the bushes that grew upon it.

Lena could not telephone for help for there was no telephone in the
house. But she put her mind to work and thought of a way to rescue the
castaways.

"Come, Waggy," she called to her spaniel. "You must go to the market."

Lena wrote a message on a piece of paper and put it into the pail which
Waggy always carried when he went to the meat market.

"Mr. Jones," wrote Lena, "please send somebody to the island near our
house. Rob's boat has floated away and five friends of mine can't get
off the island. There's a big storm coming. Please be quick!"

Waggy took the note in his pail to the butcher thinking of course that
he was going to be given some meat to carry home. But he was surprised
to see Mr. Jones hurry away toward the river.

A little later Lena was overjoyed to see five very wet and draggled
friends of hers coming into her house to wait until the storm was over.

[Illustration: Lena was overjoyed to see fiv