"Swim across the river, then walk."

"I cannot swim."

The children laughed and thought that very strange, but Periwinkle
said, "Well, we will push you on the raft."

"Yes, yes!" cried the other children.

So Thorn told his grandfather that he was going home with the shell
mound people. And when the men had bought their axes, the children all
ran down to the river together.

Some of the boys quickly tied a wild grape vine to the raft. Then they
cried, "Here we go!" and dived into the river and swam away, pulling
the raft. Laughing and shouting and splashing, the others jumped in
and followed. They came up alongside the raft and pushed it with one
hand and swam with the other.

[Illustration: They dived into the river and swam away, pulling the
raft]

Before long, all the children on one side of the raft shouted and waved
their arms and dived. They came up on the other side of the raft.
Then the rest of the children dived and came up far ahead of the raft.
Thorn looked on in wonder. As they came near the other bank, the girls
pulled up the yellow water lilies and tied them in their wet hair.

The children walked along beside the river for a while. Hippopotamuses