"it's a bright morning and you're like it," larry greeted the riddle club with enthusiasm at quarter past eight the next morning.

the meeker cottage had been early astir, and the zeal displayed by the younger members of the household was marveled at.

"even though a picnic is to be the attraction, i never remember seeing such a concerted desire to be off," mr. marley remarked.

"well, we can't be late," replied ward, and all the riddle club giggled at some secret joke.

they were ahead of time, each with a large square box of lunch in one hand and a heavy sweater in the other. the mothers had insisted on the sweaters. the grown-ups had started in the car almost as soon as the blackberry island party left, and polly felt relieved, for she believed that if carrie's desire for a picnic was too strong, she might prevail upon the motorists to take her with them.

[pg 198]

"and i do think they ought to have one day without any children to bother them," polly confided to fred and jess.

"especially carrie," fred agreed, with a grin.

larry helped the girls and boys into the boat, and then made them nervous by tinkering with the engine.

"there's nothing the matter with it," he explained; "but i want it to run a bit smoother. we'll be off in a jiffy now."

until the engine sputtered cheerfully, six pairs of anxious eyes kept watch on the wharf. quarter past eight was not half past nine, but, as ward said dismally, "you never can tell."

however, long before half past nine they were well out to sea and heading down the coast for the famous blackberry island.

"i suppose there are blackberries on it," mused artie, who was always interested in names.

"it used to be a solid tangle of briars and bushes," larry informed him. "late years, it's been trimmed up and a stone fireplace built where you can do cooking. and before that, my father used to tell, the finest blackberries in the state was raised there. big, cultivated ones—some man tried experiments and took the island because nobody could steal his secrets."

jess wanted to know where he was now.

[pg 199]

"oh, i suspect he died and is buried and forgotten," larry concluded cheerfully.

it was a hot day with a calm sea. larry had grumbled at the start that he didn't like the looks of that sea.

"why, there isn't a ripple on it," fred said, surprised. "it's as smooth as glass."

"and the color of lead," declared larry. "if the wind doesn't come up before night, i miss my guess."

ward had put his lunch box with the others, but polly detected him taking several looks at it, and once she saw him pinch the corners. something had to be done to distract his attention, she felt sure.

"ward," she said suddenly, "why must the model of a boat be always correct?"

larry leaned forward, his oily rag poised in mid-air.

"that a riddle?" he demanded. "i used to be a great hand for riddles when i was young."

"you did?" polly beamed. "oh, perhaps you know some new ones. we have a riddle club, you know, and we love to hear new riddles."

larry had to hear about the riddle club then and there, and even ward forgot the tantalizing nearness of the lunches. larry had never heard of a riddle club, but he thought it was a fine plan[pg 200] and said he would like to come to a meeting some day.

"we're not holding regular meetings this summer," fred explained. "but if you ever come to river bend, you be sure and come and see our clubrooms. we have two—a winter one and a spring and summer one."

then larry suggested that ward had not answered the riddle polly had given.

"why must the model of a boat be always correct?" polly repeated.

"so folks can sail it and not have it sink," said ward.

"now, is that any kind of an answer?" polly demanded patiently.

"well, i guess it is a hard one and i don't know the answers to hard ones," said ward sadly.

margy could not guess and jess, after two wild attempts, also gave up.

"let me think," said artie, when it was his turn, and he went off into one of his thinking spells from which he emerged several minutes later with the suggestion that perhaps there was no answer.

"isn't it a trick riddle?" he asked engagingly.

"certainly not!" his sister announced coldly. "do you know, fred?"

fred rose to his feet and bowed, not an easy thing to manage in a small boat going at high[pg 201] speed and trembling from bow to stern with the bursting energy of her busy engine.

"i have the honor, ladies and gentlemen," squeaked fred, in a high voice, "to tell you the answer to the riddle. why must the model of a boat be always correct? because it must be shipshape."

"ha-ha!" boomed larry. "that's a good one. because it must be always shipshape! now i wonder who thought that up!"

as usual, ward and artie wanted an explanation.

"shipshape means neat and tidy, in good order, nothing out of place," recited fred obligingly. "everything as it should be—correct, in other words."

"and you know what a model is," polly reminded the two younger boys.

"well, it's a queer riddle, but it may be all right," admitted ward. "now let larry tell one."

larry scratched his head and said he would have to take a little time. while he was thinking he tightened up several screws and nuts on the engine and changed the position of the rudder slightly.

"ha!" he said at last, clearing his throat so deeply that he made margy jump. "i recollect[pg 202] a good one now! what is the resemblance between a part of the year and a sailor?"

"part of the year?" echoed ward. "what part?"

"any part you like," larry answered promptly.

this was one of those deceiving riddles that sounded easy and was not. margy was sure she had solved it, and she offered her answer before any one else was ready to report.

"because they're both stormy?" she asked larry.

artie protested that a sailor wasn't stormy and margy confessed that she had been thinking of the sea, not the sailor.

"maybe it is because they have ragged sailors," jess submitted. "i mean when the flowers come, you know," she hastened to explain. "and some sailors are ragged."

"if their wives don't mend 'em up, the way mine does me, they are ragged," said larry. "but that isn't the way the answer goes, as i remember it."

fred was frowning with his effort to solve the riddle.

"not because they both wear blue?" he suggested. "some flowers are blue, you know, and the hills are in the distance and the ocean—lots of times."

[pg 203]

larry shook his head and tapped a nut with his monkey wrench.

"she's knocking again," he muttered. "no, fred, i begin to think you're a better fisherman than you are a riddle solver."

polly almost had an idea—she opened her mouth and closed it again.

"i know exactly what it is," she said in a moment. "i'm just as sure i have it! wait till i get it straight. ocean—water—sea—that's it!" she cried in triumph. "both are seasons! isn't that it, larry?"

larry smiled at her proudly.

"they made no mistake when they put you at the head of the riddle club," he said admiringly. "'tis right you are. seasons—sea sons—is the answer."

"i thought of the four seasons," polly explained. "then i tried the water and ocean and all the words that mean the sea. i though of 'sea' last, and that was the word i wanted all the time."

"tell another, larry," begged artie. "tell an easy one that i can guess."

"what makes an engine stop when you count on her doing her prettiest?" larry muttered half angrily. "it's dead she is."

artie thought he was asking a riddle till he noticed that larry was staring at the engine. that[pg 204] complicated affair of oily black plates and screws was coughing feebly, and as artie looked at it that noise stopped. the boat began to drift.

"dead!" pronounced larry. "well, i suppose i can start it with a little coaxing. which one of you lads is after wanting to help me?"

all three of the boys and jess hurled themselves forward with offers of help, but larry selected fred.

"the rest of you keep from falling overboard," he directed grimly. "i cannot be rescuing you in the middle of the ocean with a dead motor on my hands. if you fall over you have to sink or float without any help from me."

no one had the slightest desire to tumble into that lead-colored sea. it looked to be very deep where they were, and indeed they were out farther than they had ever been. the shore was a dim, indistinct line of gray.

fred held larry's tools for him, squinted obediently when told to "see if you can see where that screw has buried itself," and handed the oil can and waste rags as larry demanded them.

"i don't know what's the matter with it, unless it is the heat," announced larry, almost crossly. "maybe she will start now."

but the engine refused to sputter or cough and[pg 205] the boat lay as calmly on the water as though it had been anchored.

"it's half-past twelve," said larry, glancing at his watch. "i suppose we might as well have a bite to eat and then go at it again."

polly reached out her hand for the lunch boxes, but to her surprise, he stopped her.

"i never go without some rations," he said. "and there is drinking water. but if you don't mind plain fare, i think you'd better eat my grub. save that stuff in the boxes, because it is wrapped up and will keep."

"my goodness, to hear you talk, you'd think we were going to spend the summer on the clara," margy said lightly. "i'm so thirsty i could drink a barrel of water."

larry brought out a store of cheese and crackers and passed them around, and when they had finished eating, he gave each one a small cup of water.

"next time you can have more," he said gravely. "if we don't get started, food and water will keep you cheerful and it's better to go up in the world than to come down."

by this he meant that it would be easier for them to eat the plainer food first than to eat the best and then be forced to come to less attractive rations.

[pg 206]

"but we won't have any time to stay at blackberry island, if we don't get there pretty soon," said margy, after lunch.

larry did not appear to hear. he was struggling into a heavy jacket that he took from a box on the floor.

"better put on your sweaters," he advised quietly. "a blow is coming."

none of the children knew what a "blow" was, but they put on their sweaters and then looked in the direction larry was staring.

"the ocean looks different over there. is it the wind?" asked polly.

larry nodded. in a few moments they saw white caps scudding beyond them and then a murmur that was the wind rising rapidly.

"here she comes!" cried larry, seizing the rudder. "hold fast!"

with a shriek, the wind pounced upon the boat and sent it scudding. margy clung to polly and fred grasped artie by the arm—he was actually afraid the lighter boy would be blown overboard. polly opened her eyes in time to see something dark over her right shoulder. larry shouted something she could not hear.