"Can we catch her?" asked Sue. "You know it's hard work to catch a
chicken. You couldn't catch the old rooster."

"Oh, this is easier," Bunny said. "The hen mother won't run away from
her little ducks."

And, for a wonder, Bunny was right. But then, as Grandma Brown told him
afterward, the old hen was a very tame one, and was used to being picked
up and petted.

So when Bunny and Sue reached the shore the hen did not run away. She
let Bunny pick her up, and she only clucked a little when he set her
down in a dry place on the door raft.

"Now we'll go sailing again," Bunny said, as he pushed off from the
shore.

The old hen clucked and fluttered her wings. She was calling to her
little ducks. And they came right up on to the raft, too. Perhaps they
wanted to see what sailing was like, and then, too, they may have had
enough of swimming and paddling for a time. At any rate, there the old
mother hen and her little ducks were on the raft, with the two children.

"Now we'll give them a fine ride!" cried Sue. "Aren't they cute,
Bunny?"

"Yes," said Bunny. He steered the raft, while Sue picked up one of the
little ducks and petted it in her hand.

"Oh, you dear, cute, sweet little thing!" murmured Sue. "I wish I had