of course no one wanted to
miss that. As soon as the last crumb was gone, however, the children
began to tease and Jud said they might as well go. He had laughed at
the idea of another shirt, but half way across the stream he seemed to
change his mind.

"Guess somebody lost his shirt," observed Jud, keeping a firm grip on
Dot, who seemed to be trying to dance.

"Say, wouldn't it be funny," began Bobby, but Meg had the same idea at
the same time.

"Do you suppose it could----" she said slowly.

"It's the raft!" yelled Twaddles, breaking away from Jud, and rushing
into the bushes. "It's our raft--Oh, Jud!" Twaddles had stepped on a
sharp stone.

"I wish you'd be a little more careful," said Jud calmly. "Well, it is
the raft! Can you beat that?"

Tangled in broken reeds and a few prickly bushes, lay their raft,
Geraldine smiling as sweetly as ever and still propped up against
Meg's book. Nothing was missing, not even Twaddles' singing bird or
Bobby's airplane.

"I'm so glad!" Meg kept saying. "I'm so glad! Now let's go home and
play with them."

"It's lucky we've had this long, dry spell," said Jud, picking up
Geraldine and eyeing her critically. "If we'd had one good storm,
good-by toys."

Dot tucked Geraldine under her arm, Twaddles stuffed his bird into his
pocket, Meg took her book and Bobby his airplane, and Jud offered to
tow the raft. So slowly and carefully they made their way back to
where Jud had left his socks and shoes.

Aunt Polly and Linda were surprised and delighted when they saw the
children coming, for they had begun to wonder what they could be
doing.

"You don't mean to tell me you found the raft!" exclaimed Aunt Polly,
when she heard the news. "Why, that's the best luck I ever heard of."

And Linda said "My goodness!" over and over, and wanted to know just
where they had found it and who saw it first and how they had managed
to reach it.

"You've played enough in the water," said Aunt Polly, when each child
had told the story. "Put on your shoes and stockings and see if you
can't find me a maidenhair fern for my fern-box."

Meg found it first, and then Jud lent her his jack-knife and showed
her how to take it up so that the roots would not be injured. Then he
left her for a minute while he went back to get a paper cup from Linda
to plant it in, and when he came back he found her backed up against a
tree and looking frightened.

"What scared you?" he asked quickly. "Did you see a s