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He went forward to start the checker game, leaving Bitsy to hold the iron gate shut. With a puff of smoke from the smokestack they were on their way across the river.

Little Bitsy was so happy to be sailing that his feet did a dance as he held the gate. Of course, he did not have long to dance, for soon they were across the river.

Bitsy watched the passengers leaving the ferry. He was very happy. In a little while he would be sailing homeward after his first voyage. How proud Mama and Papa Wire would be when he told them he was a real sailor.

It was a lucky thing that Bitsy had his eyes open, or he might not have noticed the boat slipping away from the dock. The mooring line had broken. Many people were still leaving the boat. Some of them would have fallen into the water if Bitsy had not acted quickly.

Fastening his feet around the rail, he flung his body across the water and grasped the dock with his hands. The boat moved slower.

Little Bitsy tried to cry out for help but so sound came. It took all of the breath in his body to hold on to the dock.

Nobody had noticed the little wire with the red scarf: The passengers were in too much of a rush, and Olsen and the Captain were too busy with their checker game.

Poor Bitsy could feel his body getting longer and longer as the current tugged at the boat.Of course it did not hurt, for a wire does not mind being stretched. But what would happen when he let go of his grip on the dock? That was what worried him.

When the last passenger was ashore, Bitsy felt his strength leaving him. His fingers slipped away from their hold.

There was a loud "twangggggggggggg..." as he snapped back like a rubber band against the rail. Around and around the rail his body spun like a pinwheel.

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