But when Connie tried to capture it, she only succeeded in setting it free. Off it floated again down the canal.
The “boat” drifted lazily along until finally it lodged against a footbridge.
“And Mrs. Mattox will get us,” added Hanny nervously. “She is walking straight to our boat.”
The children walked quickly out on the footbridge. The narrow planking bent under their weight and dipped low into the water.
“It’s going to break!” Vevi exclaimed fearfully.
“Oh, a footbridge always wobbles,” Connie reassured her. “Here, hold my hand while I grab the old shoe.”
Vevi steadied her so she could bend down and rescue the shoe.
“Now back to the boat!” Hanny urged. “We are going to get a scolding, I can tell you.”
Mrs. Mattox did not pay very much attention to the three girls as they hurried up the canal. In fact, she seemed deeply engrossed examining something in the bottom of the boat.
“What is she doing?” Vevi asked curiously.
“Maybe she is trying to stop the leak in our boat,” Connie speculated.
“She is looking at our tulips,” she told her companions. “Just see her poking about among the blossoms.”
“Why would she do that?” Vevi whispered. By this time the children had drawn quite close to the boat.
“She’s trying to see what varieties Uncle Peter is raising this year,” Hanny declared. “I think she is hoping to find out if we have a tulip that will win the blue ribbon.”
Mrs. Mattox had heard the children come up. She straightened, dropping a red tulip.
For a minute the girls thought she intended to scold them for coming onto her property. Instead, she merely stared at them.
“Our boat is leaking,” Hanny said politely. “That is why we walked on your land.”
“It isn’t the first time you have done it,” the woman answered. She kept eyeing the tulips in the boat.
“Hanny gave us some flowers,” Connie said to make conversation. She always tried to be friendly with everyone. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Humph! Very ordinary tulips I would say,” replied Mrs. Mattox. “Which one is your uncle entering in the flower show, Hanny?”
Hanny remained silent. Her unwillingness to talk angered the woman.
“How many times have I told you not to come onto my property?” she berated the children. “You tramp the flowers and damage our plantings.”