Apparently Mr. Harley knew where Mrs. Clayton lived, for he strode
away with Dot in his arms. Captain Jenks, Meg and Bobby and
Twaddles had to run to keep up with him. He stopped before a
whitewashed cottage with a woman ironing in the large front room.

"Can you dry this baby off and give her something hot to drink?"
asked Captain Jenks, and Mrs. Clayton held out her arms for Dot.

The little girl was indignant at being called "baby" but her teeth
were chattering from cold and fright, and the hot cocoa Mrs.
Clayton presently gave her tasted very good. She went off to sleep
after that, wrapped in a warm blanket, and woke to find her
clothes dry and ironed.

Mrs. Clayton was a stout, comfortable, jolly kind of woman who did
washing and ironing for the Summer people on the various islands
and in the shore towns that bordered Sunset Lake. She promised to
have Mother Blossom's clothes ready a week from that day, and the
children trotted back to the boat, Dot none the worse for her
experience. They knew no one at home would be worried, though Dot
had slept two hours, because they were not expected back till the
afternoon boat.

"We had cocoa and jelly sandwiches while you were asleep,"
Twaddles informed his sister. "And Mrs. Clayton has a ship carved
out of a piece of bone!"

At the wharf they found Mr. Harley and Chris Smith, the boathouse
man, and Captain Jenks, all very glad to see them and glad that
Dot's ducking had not been worse. The captain had several other