"Oh, it was lots of fun!" shouted the little boy, as the raft came into shallow water where it would no longer float. For Zip had reached shore by this time, and had dropped the stick at the feet of Russ. Then Zip stood there, wagging his tail, and shaking the water off his shaggy coat, waiting for Russ to toss the stick into the water again. "Here you go, Zip! Bring it back!" cried Russ. "Bring the stick back again!" and, once more, he tossed it into the water. "Don't you want him to give you a ride?" asked Laddie. "Wait till we see if he gives you another one," suggested Russ. And Zip did. Out he swam to where the piece of wood floated, still tied to the clothesline that was fast to the raft. And when Zip swam along, of course he pulled the raft after him. "Oh, he does it! He does it again!" cried Laddie, capering up and down on the raft. "Now we'll make the boat bigger, Russ, and you can have a ride, and so can----" But then, all of a sudden, something happened. Laddie was doing too much capering about on the raft. Before he knew it he stepped off with one foot, and, though he tried to get back on, he couldn't. Off he fell, right into the water, splashing down with his clothes on. Zip pulled the raft along without the little boy on it. "Hi! What are you doing?" asked Russ. "I--I didn't mean to! I slipped off!" answered Laddie. "But the water isn't cold." "You're all wet, though," Russ said. "Oh, you'll get it!" "These are my old clothes," answered the smaller boy. "Mother said it wouldn't hurt to get 'em wet." "Did she say you could fall in with 'em on?" asked Russ. "No," answered Laddie slowly, "I didn't know I was going to fall in, so I couldn't ask her. But I'm glad I did, 'cause it feels so nice, and he kicked around in the water. The bottom being of clean sand, there was no mud, and, as Laddie had said, he wore old clothes." "Say, Zip is a regular steamboat engine!" exclaimed Russ, as the dog kept on pulling the raft, though Laddie had fallen off. "We'll make it bigger, Laddie, and then I can ride on it." "Maybe we both can," said Laddie, who got up out of the water, and waded to shore. "No, I guess the two of us would be too heavy for Zip to pull. We'll take turns," said Russ. "Come on, we'll make a bigger raft. There's lots of wood out by the barn." And so the boys did. Russ was stronger than Laddie, and could handle bigger boards and pieces of wood. Soon the raft was made big enough so that Russ could stand up on it and not have it sink to the bottom of the lake near the shore. "Do you like it? asked Laddie. "It's lots of fun," answered Russ. "I'm glad you thought of this." "I was trying to think of a riddle," said Laddie. "It was something about what makes the lake wet when it rains, and then I saw some pieces of board floating along and I thought of a raft and I made one." "And I'm glad you thought of it instead of the riddle," said Russ with a laugh. "You can't ride on a riddle."