Jane, Rosemary and Sunny ran along the bank beside the boat. When they reached the fence that separated Mr. Van Der Lann’s property from the Mattox farm, they had to stop. Hanny began to row. She handled the oars very well and kept the boat steady in the middle of the canal. “Say, this old boat is leaking fast!” Vevi observed very soon. “My feet are getting wet.” “So are mine,” declared Connie, shifting to another place in the boat. Hanny told Vevi to look for a bailing can under the seat. The container could not be found. “I remember, I used it for something else last week and forgot to put it back,” Hanny admitted. Vevi and Connie began to squirm nervously. The water was not deep but it kept spreading over the bottom of the boat. “I want out of this old tub,” Vevi suddenly announced. “It is going to sink!” Hanny insisted that the boat was safe. “I can’t let you out because we are at the Mattox place now,” she added. “We will soon have that runaway shoe and be back home.” Vevi and Connie forgot the leaking boat as they looked about with interest. From the Van Der Lann place tall trees and bushes had screened their view of the other nursery. Now they saw the big greenhouse with its glass roof and a small cottage very much in need of paint. A few tulips were in bloom, but the flowers were not as large or as showy as those on Peter’s place. “The Mattoxes lived here before my uncle started his nursery,” Hanny told her friends. “They were annoyed when he bought land next to their property. They had expected to add it to their own place.” “Is that Mrs. Mattox?” Connie asked. She had noticed a woman in a blue straw hat working in the fields. “Her name is Freda,” Hanny said. “If she sees us, she may speak crossly. She does not like me or Uncle Peter.” “Say, my feet are wet!” Vevi suddenly cried. “The water is coming into this boat faster and faster,” Connie declared uneasily. “Hanny, you must pull up on shore.” “Mrs. Mattox won’t like it.” “Who cares about her?” Vevi demanded. “We are getting wet, Hanny.” The little Dutch girl guided the boat to a sandy stretch of beach along the canal. After Connie and Vevi had leaped out, she pulled the craft up on shore so it would not drift away. “Mrs. Mattox has seen us,” Hanny said, glancing over her shoulder. “Oh! Oh! She has dropped her hoe and is coming this way.” “Let’s get the wooden shoe as fast as we can and run!” Vevi urged. Abandoning the boat, the children ran to the clutter of debris where the runaway shoe had caught fast. But when Connie tried to capture it, she only succeeded in setting it free. Off it floated again down the canal. “Hey, come back here, shoe!” she cried. The “boat” drifted lazily along until finally it lodged against a footbridge. “Now we can get it,” declared Vevi. “And Mrs. Mattox will get us,” added Hanny nervously. “She is walking straight to our boat.”