"I don't care," said Lonnie; "guess you can't drive a nail any better than I can, Susy Parlin, and I can row her some, anyhow. Now, Abner, can't I row her?" "Yes, my boy, I think I've heard you _roar_," replied Abner, with a provoking smile. "Well, can't I row her this way?" "Middlin' well," returned Abner, cautiously; "but little Sue, here, is the water-man for me." Susy's cheeks glowed, and there was a proud flash in her eyes as they met Lonnie's. At that moment she felt equal to the task of steering a ship across the Atlantic Ocean. Not long after this praise from Abner, aunt Martha said that she and Master Lonnie were going over the river, after some wild-flower roots, and would be glad to have the boat sent for them at five o'clock. "Mayn't I be the one to go?" asked Susy. "If you like," replied the grandmother; "that is, if Abner is willing." Susy knew perfectly well that her grandmother had no idea of allowing her to go alone; but it so happened, when she reached the river-bank with the boat-key, that Abner was nowhere to be seen. "Seems to me," thought Susy, "Abner is generally somewhere else." "Where you goin', all alone, 'thout me?" cried Dotty Dimple, from the top of the bank. "You here? What did you come for?" said Susy. For answer, Dotty took a pair of rubber overshoes out of Zip's mouth. "Grandma says to put 'em right on, or you'll catch the hookin' cough; the boat's wet." "There, now," said Susy, putting on the rubbers, "I've forgot the basket for those Jack-in-the-pulpit roots. Didn't grandma send it up?" "No, she sended up _me_," replied Dotty; adding, quickly, "and I'm goin' where you go, you know; and if you don't go anywhere, I'm goin' there, too." "That's just the way it is with you, Dotty Dimple; always coming when I don't expect you." "Prudy coaxed me to," said Dotty, with one of her sweetest smiles and deepest dimples. "Coaxed you?" "Well," faltered Dotty, "she wanted to come her own self. She said she wished I'd stay to home,--so, _of course_ I camed!" "I'll tell you how it is," said Susy, thoughtfully. "That queer old Abner's nowhere to be seen. I suppose he's in the cornfield, or the meadow, or the barn. It's after five; and what will aunt Martha think? I could row across the river well enough by myself, if you'd only run home; you're _such_ a bother!" "O, my darlin' sister Susy! I won't do nothin' but just sit still. Who's your precious comfort?" "Well, I don't know but I'll take you, then. Come, little Miss Trouble, jump into the boat." So Dotty Dimple, being what Mr. Allen had called a "child-queen," had her own way, as usual. "Why, where's the paddles?" said Susy. "The men must have hid them. Dear me, I can't stop to hunt; and here it is five o'clock long ago! O, I'll take this good smooth shingle, I declare! I guess it washed ashore on purpose; it's almost equal to a paddle.--Now we'll go, all so nice," continued Susy, fearlessly dipping the chance-found shingle into the water.