"For," said Mrs. Brown, "it has given us a chance to camp out and to see this lake, and I would not have missed this sight for a great deal."
"Nor I, either," said her husband. "But suppose we go to take a look at the waterfall before lunch. I know I"ll want to take a nap after I eat, and then it will soon be time for Mr. Jason to come back for us, so if we don"t go now we may miss it."
"That"s what I say," agreed Uncle Tad, and the three arose from the fallen tree on which they had been sitting. Just then Mother Brown caught sight of Bunny and Sue.
"Look at those children!" she cried.
"What"s the matter?" asked Mr. Brown quickly. "They haven"t fallen in, I hope!"
"Well, they"re _in_ all the same!" chuckled Uncle Tad. "Bunny has his knickerbockers rolled up as high as they"ll go, and if Sue"s clothes aren"t wet I"m mistaken!"
For by this time, liking the fun so much, Bunny and Sue had waded out where the water was deeper, and their clothes had become splashed by the little waves they made as they moved along.
"Oh, dear! Such tykes!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "Well, it isn"t too cool for wading, though it is for swimming. But I must get them dry if we are to go to the waterfall."
Mrs. Brown had brought some old towels along, for she knew what might happen when the children were going to play near a lake, and while Bunny and Sue were being told that they should have first asked whether or not they could go in wading, they were drying their pink toes on towels and getting ready to put on their shoes and stockings again.
"But we didn"t think _wading_ was as bad as _swimming_," said Bunny as he rubbed some sand off his fat legs.
"It isn"t _exactly_," his mother answered. "But this time it was _nearly_ as bad. But never mind. Come on and we"ll see the waterfall."
Farmer Jason had told Mr. Brown how to walk to the place where the waters of a small river toppled over the rocks into the lake, and having hidden the bundle of lunch up in a tree, where wandering dogs could not get at it, the family set off, Dix and Splash running on ahead, to see the waterfall.
The way was through a pleasant wood, with little paths running here and there, and if Bunny and Sue had been wandering alone they probably would have gotten lost. But the road to the waterfall was a well-marked one and Mr. Brown kept to it until pretty soon Mrs. Brown said:
"Hark, I hear something."
There was a distant roaring in the woods.
"It"s a trolley car," said Bunny.
His father, mother and Uncle Tad laughed.
"What a boy!" cried Mother Brown. "To think the roar of a beautiful waterfall is but the noise of a trolley car! He will never be a poet, will he Daddy?"
"I don"t want to be," said Bunny quickly. "I"m going to be a policeman when I grow up, and have a gun."
"All right," chuckled Daddy Brown. "But a policeman"s life is not an easy one."
The roaring noise became plainer, and then, as the path turned, the party came in sight of an open glade through which they could see the cataract.
It was not unlike a small Niagara in its way. For a distance back of the edge the waters of the little river bubbled and foamed over rough rocks.
Then came a smooth stretch and, suddenly, the waters plunged over the broken ledge, falling about seventy feet to the lake below where they made a pool of foam.
"Isn"t it wonderful?" murmured Mother Brown.
"It certainly is a beautiful picture," came from Mr. Brown.
"It"s the prettiest little fall I"ve ever seen," added Uncle Tad.
Sue said nothing for a minute. Both she and Bunny were looking at the waterfall closely. Then Sue began to wrap a shawl, which she had brought along, over her Teddy bear.
"What"s the matter?" asked Mother Brown.
"It"s like rain all over Sallie Malinda," answered the little girl. "I don"t want her to catch cold, for she might not shine her "lectric eyes any more."
"That"s all Sue seems to care about the fall," laughed Mother Brown in a whisper to her husband.
As for Bunny, he seemed to think them quite wonderful--for a time. He stood as near the edge as his father would let him, looking up the rapids down which the waters rushed, to fall over the rocky edge, dropping in a smother of foam to the blue lake below. Silently he watched the smooth waters glide down like some ribbon, and then, turning to his father, he asked:
"Is this all they do?"
"All what does?" inquired Mr. Brown, not quite understanding.
"All the waterfall does. Does it just keep falling?"
"All day and all night, day after day and night after night, forever and forever," said Mr. Brown, for really the waterfall was a marvelous sight.
"Then I"ve seen enough," said Bunny, turning away. "If they"ve been doing this a long while, and will do it all next week, I can look at "em then. Now I want to go out in a boat. I saw one as we came through the picnic grounds. I"ve had enough of waterfalls."
Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Uncle Tad looked at one another. But they said nothing. Bunny started down the hill again, toward the lake, Sue following with her Teddy bear.
"Bunny surely will never make a poet," chuckled his mother.
"Oh, well, perhaps there are enough poets in the world now," said Mr.
Brown with a laugh.
Bunny and Sue were first at the place where the boat was kept. There were several of them, and Mr. Jason had said that picnic parties used them. The lake was not deep, he had added, and was very safe, for any one who knew anything about boats.
Bunny and Sue finally prevailed on Uncle Tad to take them out for a row after lunch, and when the two children were in their seats Dix insisted on following.
Mr. Brown, who decided to remain on sh.o.r.e with his wife, tried to call back the dog, but he would not come. Nor would he come when Splash barked and whined at him, asking, in dog language, I suppose, if Dix did not want to come and have a game of "water tag."
But Dix evidently wished to stay in the boat, and finally they let him remain, as he was a quiet dog, not given to jumping about. He curled up in front behind Sue and went to sleep.
Uncle Tad rowed about the lake. Bunny wished he had brought his fishing pole and line along, as they saw fish jumping in several places.
"Never mind, we"re going to be here nearly a week yet," said Uncle Tad.
"We can come again."
Just how it happened Sue herself could not explain. But, somehow or other, her Teddy bear slipped from her lap and was about to fall out of the boat. That would never do, the little girl decided, and of course she made a quick motion to catch her toy.
And, just then, Bunny leaned on the same side of the boat to pick up a floating stick so that the boat tipped.
"Look out!" cried Uncle Tad. "Sit still, children!"
But he spoke too late, for, in an instant, Sue fell out of the boat and into the lake. Uncle Tad was so surprised for a moment that he sat still. But not so Dix. He had awakened in a second, and with a loud bark sprang overboard to the rescue of the little girl.