Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble

								

But just then Lulu felt something pulling her down toward where the big
wheel went around and around, and she got frightened. Then she swam just
as hard as she could toward shore, and called to her brother: "Jimmie,
don't go any closer! Come back!"
But Jimmie was a boy duck, and wanted to be brave, so he answered: "I'm
going just a little bit closer."
Now Lulu had a very hard time, indeed, getting to shore, as the current
was so strong, but she finally managed it. Jimmie, however, kept on
swimming nearer and nearer to the falls. Then, all at once, before you
could stick a pin in a cushion, what should take place but that the little
boy duck felt himself being pulled along by the rushing water, just as the
soap floats along when you pull the plug out of the bathtub. Oh, how fast
the water swept him along! Jimmie splashed and paddled with all his might,
and tried to swim ashore, where Lulu was anxiously watching him, but he
couldn't seem to move. There he was, being carried along to the edge of
the falls, with the cruel, sharp stones below, and the big millwheel going
around and around. Then Jimmie knew he was in great danger, and he cried
out: "Help! Help! Help!" three times, as loudly as he could call.
Lulu and Alice heard him, and were much frightened. They started to go to
the aid of their brother, but Grandfather Goosey-Gander warned them not
to.
"But who will save Jimmie?" they cried.
"I will try to," answered the old gentleman duck.
So he got a rope and threw it to Jimmie, but the rope wasn't long enough,
and the poor little boy duck kept getting closer and closer to the edge
of the falls, and the big millwheel. Oh, how hard he was swimming, but the
water was stronger than he was.
"Get a board!" cried Bully, the frog, who came hopping along just then. So
the ducks and the geese got a board and threw it to Jimmie, but it floated
past him, and he couldn't get upon it. Then it surely did look as if he
were going to be carried right over the falls, for he was being swept
nearer and more near, and he could hear the water making a terrible
roaring, splashing sound on the rocks. You have no idea how scared Jimmie
was, and he wished he had never gone near the falls.
Then the other ducks got a long stick and Grandfather Goosey-Gander held
it out, so the little boy duck could grasp it in his bill, but the stick
broke, and every one said it was too bad! Then, just as Jimmie was almost
to the edge of the falls, if Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy didn't call out:
"Stand aside, everybody! I am a good swimmer and I will save him!"
Then what do you think happened? Why that good, kind muskrat jumped right
into the water, and hurried to where Jimmie was. She dived down, and got
hold of his yellow legs in her teeth, but she took hold very gently, so as
not to hurt him. Then she was such a fine swimmer that she managed to get
to shore, towing and pulling Jimmie with her, for the water could not hurt