Led by Russ, Mrs. Bunker and Norah hurried down to the brook¹ that ran through the green meadow. It was just like the time they ran when Rose called them about Mun's balloon.  
"Did you see anything happen, Russ?" asked his mother.
 
"No'm, I didn't," he answered. "I was making a box to take some of my things to Grandma Bell's, and I heard Vi yell and Laddie asking a riddle²."
 
"Asking a riddle?"
 
"Well, it sounded like a riddle," Russ answered. "He kept saying: 'What made the boat sink? Oh, Vi, what made the boat sink?'"
 
"I hope it was only a riddle, and that nothing has happened," said Mrs. Bunker.
 
"Maybe it'll be no worse than Mun and his balloon," said Norah. "Anyhow, I can see the two children!" and she pointed³ across the green meadow to the brook. "They seem to be all right."
 
There, on the grassy⁴ bank, was Laddie jumping up and down, and pointing to something in the water. And the something was Vi though she appeared to be out in the middle of the brook, in a part where it was deep enough to come over the knees of Russ.
 
"What's the matter, Laddie?" asked his mother. "Has anything happened to Vi?"
 
"She's in the boat, and it's sunk," was the answer. "Oh, what made the boat sink?"
 
"Silly boy! Stop asking riddles⁵ at a time like this!" cried Mrs. Bunker. "What do you mean, Laddie?"
 
"It isn't a riddle at all," he answered. "The boat did sink and Vi is in it. What made it?"
 
"A boat! Sure there's no boat on the brook, unless the boy made one himself," said Norah.
 
"I did make one—out of a box, and Vi was riding in it, but it sank," said Laddie. "What made it sink?"
 
Then Mrs. Bunker, Norah and Russ came near enough to the shore of the brook to see what had happened. Out in the middle, standing⁶ in a soap box, was Violet. The little girl was crying and holding out her hands to Laddie, who seemed quite worried and excited.
 
"She's sunk! She's sunk!" he said over and over again.
 
"Be quiet, silly boy!" ordered his mother, who saw that Vi was in no danger. "We'll get her out. Why didn't you wade⁷ out to her yourself, and bring her to shore?"
 
"'Cause I thought maybe something was out there," said Laddie.
 
"Something out there? What do you mean?" asked his mother.
 
"I mean something that made the boat sink—something that pulled it down in the water with Vi. A shark maybe, or a whale!"
 
"Nonsense!" laughed Mrs. Bunker. "There are only little baby fishes in the brook."
 
"But something made the boat sink!" insisted Laddie.
 
"We'll see about that when we get Vi to shore," said Mrs. Bunker. "Come on," she called to the little girl. "Wade to shore, Vi. You have your shoes and stockings off, haven't you?"
 
"Oh, yes, Mother."
 
"Then wade to shore. You're all right."
 
So Vi stepped out of the soap box, which Laddie had called the boat, and started for shore. The box floated down the brook, and Russ ran out on a little point of land to catch hold of it when it should float to him.
 
"Now you're all right," said Mrs. Bunker to her little girl, as Vi came ashore⁸. "But what happened?"
 
"We were playing sailor," explained Laddie, "and I made the boat out of a box. Then Vi went for a ride, but the boat sank. What made it sink, Vi?"
 
"'Cause it's full of cracks and holes—that's why!" answered Russ, who had caught the soap box as it floated down to him. "Look! It let in a lot of water, and that's what made it sink," he went on, as he held out the play boat.
 
The bottom and sides of the box were filled with many holes, from which the water now dripped. Laddie told how he had set it afloat in the brook, with Vi as a passenger. He had pushed her out from shore, hoping to give her a nice ride, but in the middle of the stream the boat went down, and Vi was frightened—or maybe just cross because she was not getting the ride she expected. She screamed. Laddie couldn't understand why the boat sank, and called out to know. That was when Russ heard them.
 
"But you're all right now," said Mrs. Bunker. "And it's so warm to-day that wading⁹ in the brook won't hurt you. Only don't upset and fall in. I don't believe you can ride in your boat, Laddie. It won't float when it leaks so much."
 
"'Course not," said Russ, who knew something about boats. "You got to stuff up all the cracks and holes with putty, Laddie."
 
"All right; I'll do that," said the little fellow. "I like a boat. I'll give you a nice ride, Vi, a real long one, after I stuff up the holes."
 
"No, I guess I don............