She
realised at once what had happened and waded in from the bank and pulled
the old pram off her poor little brother! I came up, spluttering, to see
Norah, looking very white, just preparing to dive in after me!"

"You never saw such a drowned rat!" said Norah, taking up the tale.
"Soaked--and muddy--and very cross! And the first thing he did was to
abuse my poor old wheely-boat!"

"Well--wouldn't you?" Jim laughed. "Had to abuse something! Anyhow, we
righted her and Norah waded farther in after the sticks, which had
floated peacefully away, and we pulled the wheely-boat ashore. Then we
roared laughing at each other. I certainly was a drowned rat, but Norah
wasn't much better, as she'd slipped nearly into the hole herself, in
pulling the pram off me. But when we'd laughed, the first thought
was--'How are we going to dodge Mrs. Lister!' It was a nasty problem!"

"What did you do?"

"Well, after consultation we got up near the house, planting the pram in
some trees. We dodged through the shrubbery until we reached that old
summer-house, and there I left Norah and scooted over to the stables,
and borrowed an overcoat belonging to a boy we had working and a pair of
his boots. Dad was away, or I might have gone straight to him. I put on
the borrowed things over my wet togs (and very nice I looked!) and
trotted off to the side of the house. No one seemed about, so I slipped
into my room through the window and then into Norah's, and got a bundle
of clothes, and back I scooted to the summer-house, left Norah's things
there, and found a dressing-room for myself among some shrubs close by.

"Well, do you know, that old cat, Mrs. Lister, had seen us all the time?
She'd actually spotted us coming up the paddock, dripping, and had
deliberately planted herself to see what we'd do. She knew all about my
expedition after clothes; then she followed us to the shrubbery, and
descended upon us like an avalanche, just as we got half-dressed!"

"'May I ask what you naughty little children are doing?' she said.

"Well, you know, that put my back up a bit--'cause I was nearly twelve,
and Dad didn't make a little kid of me. However, I tried to keep civil,
and tell her what had happened; but she told me to hold my tongue. She
grabbed Norah by the shoulder, and called her all the names under the
sun, and shook her. Then she said, 'You'll come to bed at once, miss!'
and caught hold of her wrist to drag her in.

"Now Norah had sprained her