"What's the matter, Ann?" they asked.
"Oh, dear, dear!" sighed Ann. "Whatever will become of us now? We
can't go back. Even if we could climb up the cliff, I'd never pass
that dreadful Goose's house again, no, not for anything! But how are
we going to get any farther without a boat?"
The False Hare pretended to wipe away a tear with the back of his paw.
"No boat," he groaned. "Oh, dear, dear, dear--no boat!"
The faces of the three children brightened immediately, for they were
beginning to understand his ways. "Hurrah!" cried Rudolf, waving his
sword.
Sure enough, coming round a bend in the shore where the bushes had
hidden it from their sight, was a small boat rowed by two white candy
mice.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V
REAL LIVE PIRATES
After neatly and carefully turning up the bottoms of his trousers so
that they should not get wet, the False Hare bounded on a rock that
rose out of the water a few feet from shore, and stood ready to direct
the landing of the boat. There was some sense in this, for certainly
neither of the two mice was what could be called good oarsmen. One of
them had just unshipped the little sail, and--not seeming to know what
else to do with it--had cut it loose from the oar that served as a
mast and wrapped it round and round his body, tying himself tightly
with a piece of string.
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