"It's lucky these canoes are eighteen feet long," said Allen, as he unfastened the rope. "Otherwise we would have to take turns paddling."
"Who's going to do the work first?" asked Betty. Then she added: "I love to paddle."
"If nobody has any objection," said Allen, "you shall. Grace, you drop into the middle with Frank, until it comes your turn to do the work. Betty may like it, but I must say I'd rather watch you people slave."
"All right, we'll go fifty-fifty with you," Frank agreed cheerily. "Here, Grace, step in the middle--that's the way. Now we are all settled. Let her go, Captain."
Allen swung himself into the stern, and deftly pushed the canoe clear of the swaying float. "All right," he sang out. "Left hand or right, Betty? It makes no difference to me. Now for the moon."
"Look out, Allen, you are getting poetical," warned Betty, as she dipped her paddle into the clear water. "Many a man has reached for the moon, only to find that he had plucked some green cheese."
"Are you sure it wasn't limburger?" asked Frank, mildly for so strong a subject.
"Ugh, don't!" cried Grace. "How I hate even the name of the horrid stuff!"
"And on a night like this, too," said Betty. "Can't we talk about something less odoriferous?"
"Remember you started it," said Frank defensively.
"Yes, I know, but what I spoke of is such a wee little cousin to----"
"Is that the dipper up there, Frank?" Grace asked, in haste to change the subject. "Somehow it doesn't look natural."
Frank squinted aloft. "That's our same old friend," he said. "By the way, speaking of dippers, I am getting thirsty."
"Well, I can't give you a drink, but I can feed you. Have a chocolate?" cried Grace.
"Oh, Grace!" protested Betty, "you never brought chocolates along?"
"Look at that shooting star," said Betty, pointing with her paddle. "Oh, that was a beauty!"
"Did you wish on it?" asked Grace eagerly.
"I didn't know I had to. Goodness, did I throw away an opportunity?" Betty's tone was dismayed.
"Why, of course," said Grace, with an air of superiority. "It's bad luck if you don't."
"All right, I won't let the next one escape," Betty promised.
And so they went on and on, enjoying the shadowy stillness of the night, and later revelling in the silver radiance of the moonlight.