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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5989.txt b/5989.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..174d9b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/5989.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6660 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Curlytops on Star Island, by Howard R. Garis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Curlytops on Star Island + +Author: Howard R. Garis + +Posting Date: April 4, 2011 [EBook #5989] +Release Date: June, 2004 +[This file was first posted on October 9, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND + +OR + +Camping out with Grandpa + +BY +HOWARD R. GARIS + +Author of "The Curlytops Series," "Bedtime +Stories," "Uncle Wiggily Series," Etc. + +Illustrations by +JULIA GREENE + +NEW YORK + + + + +THE CURLYTOPS SERIES +By HOWARD R. GARIS + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. + +THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM +Or, Vacation Days in the Country + +THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND +Or, Camping Out With Grandpa + +THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN +Or, Grand Fun With Skates and Sleds + +THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK'S RANCH +Or, Little Folks on Ponyback + + + + +1918 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I THE BLUE LIGHT + II WHAT THE FARMER TOLD + III OFF TO STAR ISLAND + IV OVERBOARD + V THE BAG OF SALT + VI TED AND THE BEAR + VII JAN SEES SOMETHING + VIII TROUBLE FALLS IN + IX TED FINDS A CAVE + X THE GRAPEVINE SWING + XI TROUBLE MAKES A CAKE + XII THE CURLYTOPS GO SWIMMING + XIII JAN'S QUEER RIDE XIV DIGGING FOR GOLD + XV THE BIG HOLE + XVI A GLAD SURPRISE + XVII TROUBLE'S PLAYHOUSE +XVIII IN THE CAVE + XIX THE BLUE LIGHT AGAIN + XX THE HAPPY TRAMP + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BLUE LIGHT + + +"Mother, make Ted stop!" + +"I'm not doing anything at all, Mother!" + +"Yes he is, too! Please call him in. He's hurting my doll." + +"Oh, Janet Martin, I am not!" + +"You are so, Theodore Baradale Martin; and you've just got to stop!" + +Janet, or Jan, as she was more often called, stood in front of her +brother with flashing eyes and red cheeks. + +"Children! Children! What are you doing now?" asked their mother, +appearing in the doorway of the big, white farmhouse, holding in her +arms a small boy. "Please don't make so much noise. I've just gotten +Baby William to sleep, and if he wakes up--" + +"Yes, don't wake up Trouble, Jan," added Theodore, or Ted, the shorter +name being the one by which he was most often called. "If you do he'll +want to come with us, and we can't make Nicknack race." + +"I wasn't waking him up, it was you!" exclaimed Jan. "He keeps pulling +my doll's legs, Mother and--" + +"I only pulled 'em a little bit, just to see if they had any springs +in 'em. Jan said her doll was a circus lady and could jump on the back +of a horse. I wanted to see if she had any springs in her legs." + +"Well, I'm _pretending_ she has, so there, Ted Martin! And if you +don't stop--" + +"There now, please stop, both of you, and be nice," begged Mrs. +Martin. "I thought, since you had your goat and wagon, you could play +without having so much fuss. But, if you can't--" + +"Oh, we'll be good!" exclaimed Ted, running his hands through his +tightly curling hair, but not taking any of the kinks out that way. +"We'll be good, I won't tease Jan anymore." + +"You'd better not!" warned his sister, and, though she was a year +younger than Ted, she did not seem at all afraid of him. + +"If you do I'll take my half of the goat away and you can't ride." + +"Pooh! Which is your half?" asked Ted. + +"The wagon. And if you don't have the wagon to hitch Nicknack to, +how're you going to ride?" + +"Huh! I could ride on his back. Take your old wagon if you want to, +but if you do---" + +"The-o-dore!" exclaimed his mother in a slow, warning voice, and when +he heard his name spoken in that way, with each syllable pronounced +separately, Ted knew it was time to haul down his quarreling colors +and behave. He did it this time. + +"I--I'm sorry," he faltered. "I didn't mean that, Jan. I won't pull +your doll's legs any more." + +"And I won't take the goat-wagon away. We'll both go for a ride in +it." + +"That's the way to have a good time," said Mrs. Martin, with a smile. +"Now don't make any more noise, for William is fussy. Run off and play +now, but don't go too far." + +"We'll go for a ride," said Teddy. "Come on, Jan. You can let your +doll make-believe drive the goat if you want to." + +"Thank you, Teddy. But I guess I'd better not. I'll pretend she's a +Red Cross nurse and I'm taking her to the hospital to work." + +"Then we'll make-believe the goat-wagon is an ambulance!" exclaimed +Ted. "And I'm the driver and I don't mind the big guns. Come on, +that'll be fun!" + +Filled with the new idea, the two children hurried around the side of +the farmhouse out toward the barn where Nicknack, their pet goat, was +kept. Mrs. Martin smiled as she saw them go. + +"Well, there'll be quiet for a little while," she said, "and William +can have his sleep." + +"What's the matter, Ruth!" asked an old gentleman coming up the walk +just then. "Have the Curlytops been getting into mischief again?" + +"No. Teddy and Janet were just having one of their little quarrels. +It's all over now. You look tired, Father." + +Grandpa Martin was Mrs. Martin's husband's father, but she loved him +as though he were her own. + +"Yes, I am tired. I've been working pretty hard on the farm," said +Grandpa Martin, "but I'm going to rest a bit now. Want me to take +Trouble?" he asked as he saw the little boy in his mother's arms. Baby +William was called Trouble because he got into so much of it. + +"No, thank you. He's asleep," said Mother Martin. "But I do wish you +could find some way to keep Ted and Jan from disputing and quarreling +so much." + +"Oh, they don't act half as bad as lots of children." + +"No, indeed! They're very good, I think," said Grandma Martin, coming +to the door with a patch of flour on the end of her nose, for it was +baking day, as you could easily have told had you come anywhere near +the big kitchen of the white house on Cherry Farm. + +"They need to be kept busy all the while," said Grandpa Martin. "It's +been a little slow for them here this vacation since we got in the hay +and gathered the cherries. I think I'll have to find some new way for +them to have fun." + +"I didn't know there was any new way," said Mother Martin with a +laugh, as she carried Baby William into the bedroom and came back to +sit on the porch with Grandpa and Grandma Martin. + +"Oh, yes, there are lots of new ways. I haven't begun to think of them +yet," said Grandpa Martin. "I'm going to have a few weeks now with not +very much to do until it's time to gather the fall crops, and I think +I'll try to find some way of giving your Curlytops a good time. Yes, +that's what I'll do. I'll keep the Curlytops so busy they won't have a +chance to think of pulling dolls' legs or taking Nicknack, the goat, +away from his wagon." + +"What are you planning to do, Father?" asked Grandma Martin of her +husband. + +"Well, I promised to take them camping on Star Island you know." + +"What! Not those two little tots--not Ted and Jan?" cried Grandma +Martin, looking up in surprise. + +"Yes, indeed, those same Curlytops!" + +It was easy to understand why Grandpa Martin, as well as nearly +everyone else, called the two Martin children Curlytops. It was +because their hair was so tightly curling to their heads. Once Grandma +Martin lost her thimble in the hair of one of the children, and their +locks were curled so nearly alike that she never could remember on +whose head she found the needle-pusher. + +"Do you think it will be safe to take Ted and Jan camping?" asked +Mother Martin. + +"Why, yes. There's no finer place in the country than Star Island. And +if you go along--" + +"Am I to go?" asked Ted's mother. + +"Of course. And Trouble, too. It'll do you all good. I wish Dick could +come, too," went on Grandpa Martin, speaking of Ted's father, who had +gone from Cherry Farm for a few days to attend to some matters at a +store he owned in the town of Cresco. "But Dick says he'll be too +busy. So I guess the Curlytops will have to go camping with grandpa," +added the farmer, smiling. + +"Well, I'm sure they couldn't have better fun than to go with you," +replied Mother Martin. "But I'm not sure that Baby William and I can +go." + +"Oh, yes you can," said her father-in-law. "We'll talk about it again. +But here come Ted and Jan now in the goat-cart. They seem to have +something to ask you. We'll talk about the camp later." + +Teddy and Janet Martin, the two Curlytops, came riding up to the +farmhouse in a small wagon drawn by a fine, big goat, that they had +named Nicknack. + +"Please, Mother," begged Ted, "may we ride over to the Home and get +Hal?" + +"We promised to take him for a ride," added Jan. + +"Yes, I suppose you may go," said Mother Martin. "But you must be +careful, and be home in time for supper." + +"We will," promised Ted. "We'll go by the wood-road, and then we won't +get run over by any automobiles. They don't come on that road." + +"All right. Now remember--don't stay too late." + +"No, we won't!" chorused the two children, and down the garden path +and along the lane they went to a road that led through Grandpa +Martin's wood-lot and so on to the Home for Crippled Children, which +was about a mile from Cherry Farm. + +Among others at the Home was a lame boy named Hal Chester. That is, he +had been lame when the Curlytops first met him early in the summer, +but he was almost cured now, and walked with only a little limp. The +Home had been built to cure lame children, and had helped many of +them. + +Half-way to the big red building, which was like a hospital, the +Curlytops met Hal, the very boy whom they had started out to see. + +"Hello, Hal!" cried Ted. "Get in and have a ride." + +"Thanks, I will. I was just coming over to see you, anyway. What are +you two going to do?" + +"Nothing much," Ted answered, while Jan moved along the seat with her +doll, to make room for Hal. "What're you going to do?" + +"Same as you." + +The three children laughed at that. "Let's ride along the river road," +suggested Janet. "It'll be nice and shady there, and if my Red Cross +doll is going to the war she'll like to be cool once in a while." + +"Is your doll a Red Cross nurse?" asked Hal. "If she is, where's her +cap and the red cross on her arm?" + +"Oh, she just started to be a nurse a little while ago," Jan +explained. "I haven't had time to make the red cross yet. But I will. +Anyhow, let's go down by the river." + +"All right, we will," agreed Ted. "We'll see if we can get some sticks +off the willow trees and make whistles," he added to Hal. + +"You can make better whistles in the spring, when the bark is softer, +than you can now," said the lame boy, as the Curlytops often called +him, though Hal was nearly cured. + +"Well, _maybe_ we can make some now," suggested Ted, and a little +later the two boys were seated in the shade under the willow trees +that grew on the bank of a small river which flowed into Clover Lake, +not far from Cherry Farm. Nicknack, tied to a tree, nibbled the sweet, +green grass, and Jan made a wreath of buttercups for her doll. + +After they had made some whistles, which did give out a little tooting +sound, Ted and Hal found something else to do, and Jan saw, coming +along the road, a girl named Mary Seaton with whom she often played. +Jan called Mary to join her, and the two little girls had a good time +together while Ted and Hal threw stones at some wooden boats they made +and floated down the stream. + +"Oh, Ted, we must go home!" suddenly cried Jan. "It's getting dark!" + +The sun was beginning to set, but it would not really have been dark +for some time, except that the western sky was filled with clouds that +seemed to tell of a coming storm. So, really, it did appear as though +night were at hand. + +"I guess we'd better go," Ted said, with a look at the dark clouds. +"Come on, Hal. There's room for you, too, Mary, in the wagon." + +"Can Nicknack pull us all?" Mary asked. + +"I guess so. It's mostly down hill. Come on!" + +The four children got into the goat-wagon, and if Nicknack minded the +bigger load he did not show it, but trotted off rather fast. Perhaps +he knew he was going home to his stable where he would have some sweet +hay and oats to eat, and that was what made him so glad to hurry +along. + +The wagon was stopped near the Home long enough to let Hal get out, +and a little later Mary was driven up to her gate. Then Ted and Jan, +with the doll between them, drove on. + +"Oh, Ted!" exclaimed his sister, "mother'll scold. We oughtn't to have +stayed so late. It's past supper time!" + +"We didn't mean to. Anyhow, I guess they'll give us something to eat. +Grandma baked cookies to-day and there'll be some left." + +"I hope so," replied Jan with a sigh. "I'm hungry!" + +They drove on in silence a little farther, and then, as they came to +the top of a hill and could look down toward Star Island in the middle +of Clover Lake, Ted suddenly called: + +"Look, Jan!" + +"Where?" she asked. + +"Over there," and her brother pointed to the island. "Do you see that +blue light?" + +"On the island, do you mean? Yes, I see it. Maybe somebody's there +with a lantern." + +"Nobody lives on Star Island. Besides, who'd have a blue lantern?" + +Jan did not answer. + +It was now quite dark, and down in the lake, where there was a patch +of black which was Star Island, could be seen a flickering blue glow, +that seemed to stand still and then move about. + +"Maybe it's lightning bugs," suggested Jan. + +"Huh! Fireflies are sort of white," exclaimed Ted. "I never saw a +light like that before." + +"Me, either, Ted! Hurry up home. Giddap, Nicknack!" and Jan threw at +the goat a pine cone, one of several she had picked up and put in the +wagon when they were taking a rest in the woods that afternoon. + +Nicknack gave a funny little wiggle to his tail, which the children +could hardly see in the darkness, and then he trotted on faster. The +Curlytops, looking back, had a last glimpse of the flickering blue +light as they hurried toward Cherry Farm, and they were a little +frightened. + +"What do you s'pose it is?" asked Jan. + +"I don't know," answered Ted. "We'll ask Grandpa. Go on, Nicknack!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WHAT THE FARMER TOLD + + +"Well, where in the world have you children been!" + +"Didn't you know we'd be worried about you?" + +"Did you get lost again?" + +Mother Martin, Grandpa Martin and Grandma Martin took turns asking +these three questions as Ted and Jan drove up to the farmhouse in the +darkness a little later. + +"You said you wouldn't stay late," went on Mother Martin, as the +Curlytops got out of the goat-wagon. + +"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Ted. + +"Oh, but we're so scared!" exclaimed Jan, and as Grandma Martin put +her arms about the little girl she felt Jan's heart beating faster +than usual. + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked the old lady. + +"Me wants a wide wif Nicknack!" demanded Baby William, as he stood +beside his mother in the doorway. + +"No, Trouble. Not now," answered Ted. "Nicknack is tired and has to +have his supper. Is there any supper left for us?" he asked eagerly. + +"Well, I guess we can find a cold potato, or something like it, for +such tramps as you," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But where on earth have +you been, and what kept you?" + +Then Ted put Nicknack in the barn. But when he came back he and Jan +between them told of having stayed playing later than they meant to. + +"Well, you got home only just in time," said Mother Martin as she took +the children to the dining-room for a late supper. "It's starting to +rain now." + +And so it was, the big drops pelting down and splashing on the +windows. + +"But what frightened you, Jan?" asked Grandma Martin. + +"It was a queer blue light on Star Island." + +"A light on Star Island!" exclaimed her grandfather. "Nonsense! Nobody +stays on the island after dark unless it's a fisherman or two, and the +fish aren't biting well enough now to make anyone stay late to try to +catch them. You must have dreamed it--or made-believe." + +"No, we really saw it!" declared Ted. "It was a fliskering blue +light." + +"Well, if there's any such thing there as a 'fliskering' blue light +we'll soon find out what it is," said Grandpa Martin. + +"How?" asked Ted, his eyes wide open in wonder. + +"By going there to see what it is. I'm going to take you two Curlytops +to camp on Star Island, and if there's anything queer there we'll see +what it is." + +"Oh, are we really going to live on Star Island?" gasped Janet. + +"Camping out with grandpa! Oh, what fun!" cried Ted. "Do you mean it?" +and he looked anxiously at the farmer, fearing there might be some +joke about it. + +"Oh, I really mean it," said Grandpa Martin. "Though I hardly believe +you saw a real light on the island. It must have been a firefly." + +"Lightning bugs aren't that color," declared Ted, "It was a blue +light, almost like Fourth of July. But tell us about camping, +Grandpa!" + +"Yes, please do," begged Jan. + +And while the children are eating their late supper, and Grandpa +Martin is telling them his plans, I will stop just a little while to +make my new readers better acquainted with the Curlytops and their +friends. + +You have already met Theodore, or Teddy or Ted, Martin, and his sister +Janet, or Jan. With their mother, they were spending the long summer +vacation on Cherry Farm, the country home of Grandpa Martin outside +the town of Elmburg, near Clover Lake. Mr. Richard Martin, or Dick, as +Grandpa Martin called him, owned a store in Cresco, where he lived +with his family. Besides Ted and Jan there was Baby William, aged +about three years. He was called Trouble, for the reason I have told +you, though Mother Martin called him "Dear Trouble" to make up for the +fun Ted and Jan sometimes poked at him. + +Then there was Nora Jones, the maid who helped Mrs. Martin with the +cooking and housework. And I must not forget Skyrocket, a dog, nor +Turnover, a cat. These did not help with the housework--though I +suppose you might say they did, too, in a way, for they ate the scraps +from the table and this helped to save work. + +In the first book of this series, called "The Curlytops at Cherry +Farm," I had the pleasure of telling you how Jan and Ted, with their +father, mother and Nora went to grandpa's place in the country to +spend the happy vacation days. On the farm, which was named after the +number of cherry trees on it, the Curlytops found a stray goat which +they were allowed to keep, and they got a wagon which Nicknack (the +name they gave their new pet) drew with them in it. + +Having the goat made up for having to leave the dog and the cat at +home, and Nicknack made lots of good times for Ted and Jan. In the +book you may read of the worry the children carried because Grandpa +Martin had lost money on account of a flood at his farm, and so could +not help when there was a fair and collection for the Crippled +Children's Home. + +But, most unexpectedly, the cherries helped when Mr. Sam Sander, the +lollypop man, bought them from Grandpa Martin, and found a way of +making them into candy. And when Ted and Jan and Trouble were lost in +the woods once, the lollypop man-- + +But I think yon would rather read the story for yourself in the other +book. I will just say that the Curlytops were still at Cherry Farm, +though Father Martin had gone away for a little while. And now, having +told you about the family, I'll go back where I left off, and we'll +see what is happening. + +"Yes," said Grandpa Martin, "I think I will take you Curlytops to camp +on Star Island. Camping will do you good. You'll learn lots in the +woods there. And won't it be fun to live in a tent?" + +"Oh, won't it though!" cried Ted, and the shine in Jan's eyes and the +glow on her red cheeks showed how happy she was. + +"But I'd like to know what that blue light was," said the little girl. + +"Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Grandpa Martin. "I'll get that +blue light and hang it in our tent for a lantern." + +I think I mentioned that Jan and Ted had such wonderful curling hair +that even strangers, seeing them the first time, called them the +"Curlytops." And Ted, who was aged seven years, with his sister just a +year younger (their anniversaries coming on exactly the same day) did +not in the least mind being called this. He and Jan rather liked it. + +"Let's don't go to bed yet," said Jan to her brother, as they finished +supper and went from the dining-room into the sitting-room, where they +were allowed to play and have good times if they did not get too +rough. And they did not often do this. + +"All right. It _is_ early," Ted agreed. "But what can we do?" + +"Let's pretend we have a camp here," went on Jan. + +"Where?" asked Ted. + +"Right in the sitting-room," answered Jan. "We can make-believe the +couch is a tent, and we can crawl under it and go to sleep." + +"I wants to go to sleeps there!" cried Trouble. "I wants to go to +sleeps right now!" + +"Shall we take him back to mother?" asked Ted, looking at his sister. +"If he's sleepy now he won't want to play." + +"I isn't too sleepy to play," objected Baby William. "I can go to +sleeps under couch if you wants me to," he added. + +"Oh, that'll be real cute!" cried Janet. "Come on, Ted, let's do it! +We can make-believe Trouble is our little dog, or something like that, +to watch over our tent, and he can go to sleep--" + +"Huh! how's he going to _watch_ if he goes to _sleep?_" Ted demanded. + +"Oh, well, he can make-believe go to sleep or make-believe watch, +either one," explained Janet. + +"Yes, I s'pose he could do that," agreed Teddy. + +Baby William opened his mouth wide and yawned. + +"I guess he'll do some _real_ sleeping," said Janet with a laugh. +"Come on, Trouble, before you get your eyes so tight shut you can't +open 'em again. Come on, we'll play camping!" and she led the way into +the sitting room and over toward the big couch at one end. + +Many a good time the children had had in this room, and the old couch, +pretty well battered and broken now, had been in turn a fort, a +steamboat, railroad car, and an automobile. That was according to the +particular make-believe game the children were playing. Now the old +couch was to be a tent, and Jan and Ted moved some chairs, which would +be part of the pretend-camp, up in front of it. + +"It'll be a lot of fun when we go camping for real," said Teddy, as he +helped his sister spread one of Grandma Martin's old shawls over the +backs of some chairs. This was to be a sort of second tent where they +could make-believe cook their meals. + +"Yes, we'll have grand fun," agreed Jan. "No, you mustn't go to sleep +up there, Trouble!" she called to the little fellow, for he had +crawled up on top of the couch and had stretched himself out as though +to take a nap. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"'Cause the tent part is under it," explained his sister. "That's the +top of the tent where you are. You can't go to sleep on _top_ of a +tent. You might fall off." + +"I can fall off now!" announced Trouble, as he suddenly thought of +something. Then he gave a wiggle and rolled off the seat, bumping into +Ted, who had stooped down to put a rug under the couch-tent. + +"Ouch!" cried Ted. "Look out what you're doing, Trouble! You bumped my +head." + +"I--I bumped _my_ head!" exclaimed the little fellow, rubbing his +tangled hair. + +"He didn't mean to," said Janet. "You mustn't roll off that way, +Trouble. You might be hurt. Come now, go to sleep under the couch. +That's inside the tent you know." + +She showed him where Ted had spread the rug, as far back under the +couch as he could reach, and this looked to Trouble like a nice place. + +"I go to sleeps in there!" he said, and under the couch he crawled, +growling and grunting. + +"What are you doing that for?" asked Ted, in some surprise. + +"I's a bear!" exclaimed Baby William. "I's a bad bear! Burr-r-r-r!" +and he growled again. + +"Oh, you mustn't do that!" objected Janet. "We don't want any bears in +our camp!" + +"Course we can have 'em!" cried Ted. "That'll be fun! We'll play +Trouble is a bear 'stead of a dog, and I can hunt him. Only I ought to +have something for a gun. I know! I'll get grandpa's Sunday cane!" and +he started for the hall. + +"Oh, no. I don't want to play bear and hunting!" objected Janet. + +"Why not?" + +"'Cause it's too--too--scary at night. Let's play something nice and +quiet. Let Trouble be our watch dog, and we can be in camp and he can +bark and scare something." + +"What'll he scare?" asked Ted. + +Meanwhile Baby William was crawling as far back under the couch as he +could, growling away, though whether he was pretending to be a bear, a +lion or only a dog no one knew but himself. + +"What do you want him to scare?" asked Ted of his sister. + +"Oh--oh--well, chickens, maybe!" she answered. + +"Pooh! Chickens aren't any fun!" cried Ted. "If Trouble is going to be +a dog let him scare a wild bull, or something like that. Anyhow +chickens don't come to camp." + +"Well, neither does wild bulls!" declared Janet. + +"Yes, they do!" cried Ted, and it seemed as if there would be so much +talk that the children would never get to playing anything. "Don't you +'member how daddy told us about going camping, and in the night a wild +bull almost knocked down the tent." + +"Well, that was real, but this is only make-believe," said Janet. "Let +Trouble scare the chickens." + +"All right," agreed Ted, who was nearly always kind to his sister. "Go +on and growl, Trouble. You're a dog and you're going to scare the +chickens out of camp." + +They waited a minute but Trouble did not growl. + +"Why don't you make a noise?" asked Janet. + +Trouble gave a grunt. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ted. + +"I--I can't growl 'cause I'm all stuck under here," answered the voice +of the little fellow, from far under the couch. "I can't wiggle!" + +"Oh, dear!" cried Janet. + +Teddy stooped and looked beneath the couch. + +"He's caught on some of the springs that stick down," he said. "I'll +poke him out." + +He caught hold of Trouble's clothes and pulled the little fellow +loose. But Trouble cried--perhaps because he was sleepy--and then his +mother came and got him, leaving Teddy and Janet to play by +themselves, which they did until they, too, began to feel sleepy. + +"You'll want to go to bed earlier than this when you go camping, my +Curlytops," said Grandpa Martin, as the children came out of the +sitting-room. + +"Are you really going to take them camping?" asked Mother Martin after +Jan and Ted had gone upstairs to bed. + +"I really am. There are some tents in the barn. I own part of Star +Island and there's no nicer place to camp. You'll come, too, and so +will Dick when he comes back from Cresco. We'll take Nora along to do +the cooking. Will you come, Mother?" and the Curlytops' grandfather +looked at his gray-haired wife. + +"No, I'll stay on Cherry Farm and feed the hired men," she answered +with a smile. + +"Why do they call it Star Island?" asked Ted's mother. + +"Well, once upon a time, a good many years ago," said Grandpa Martin, +"a shooting star, or meteor, fell blazing on the island, and that's +how it got its name." + +"Maybe it was a part of the star shining that the children saw to- +night," said Grandma Martin. "Though I don't see how it could be, for +it fell many years ago." + +"Maybe," agreed her husband. + +None of them knew what a queer part that fallen star was to have in +the lives of those who were shortly to go camping on the island. + +Early the next morning after breakfast, Ted and Jan went out to the +barn to get Nicknack to have a ride. + +"Where is you? I wants to come, too!" cried the voice of their little +brother, as they were putting the harness on their goat. + +"Oh, there's Trouble," whispered Ted. "Shall we take him with us, +Jan?" + +"Yes, this time. We're not going far. Grandma wants us to go to the +store for some baking soda." + +"All right, we'll drive down," returned Ted. "Come on, Trouble!" he +called. + +"I's tummin'," answered Baby William. "I's dot a tookie." + +"He means cookie," said Jan, laughing. + +"I know it," agreed Ted. "I wish he'd bring me one." + +"Me too!" exclaimed Janet. + +"I's dot a 'ot of tookies," went on Trouble, who did not always talk +in such "baby fashion." When he tried to he could speak very well, but +he did not often try. + +"Oh, he's got his whole apron _full_ of cookies!" cried Jan. "Where +did you get them?" she asked, as her little brother came into the +barn. + +"Drandma given 'em to me, an' she said you was to have some," +announced the little boy, as he let the cookies slide out of his apron +to a box that stood near the goat-wagon. + +Then Baby William began eating a cookie, and Jan and Ted did also, for +they, too, were hungry, though it was not long after breakfast. + +"Goin' to wide?" asked Trouble, his mouth full of cookie. + +"Yes, we're going for a ride," answered Jan. "Oh, Ted, get a blanket +or something to put over our laps. It's awful dusty on the road to- +day, even if it did rain last night. It all dried up, I guess." + +"All right, I'll get a blanket from grandpa's carriage. And you'd +better get a cushion for Trouble." + +"I will," said Janet, and her brother and sister left Baby William +alone with the goat for a minute or two. + +When Jan came back with the cushion she went to get another cookie, +but there were none. + +"Why Trouble Martin!" she cried, "did you eat them _all?"_ + +"All what?" + +"All the cookies!" + +"I did eat one and Nicknack--he did eat the west. He was hungry, he +was, and he did eat the west ob 'em. I feeded 'em to him. Nicknack was +a hungry goat," said Trouble, smiling. + +"I should think he was hungry, to eat up all those cookies! I only had +one!" cried Jan. + +"What! Did Nicknack get at the cookies?" cried Ted, coming back with a +light lap robe. + +"Trouble gave them to him," explained Janet. "Oh dear! I was so hungry +for another!" + +"I'll ask grandma for some," promised Ted, and he soon came back with +his hands full of the round, brown molasses cookies. + +"Hello, Curlytops, what can I do for you to-day?" asked the +storekeeper a little later, when the three children had driven up to +his front door. "Do you want a barrel of sugar put in your wagon or a +keg of salt mack'rel? I have both." + +"We want baking soda," answered Jan. + +"And you shall have the best I've got. Where are you going--off to +look for the end of the rainbow and get the pot of gold at the end?" +he asked jokingly. + +"No, we're not going far to-day," answered Ted. + +"Well, stop in when you're passing this way again," called out the +storekeeper as Ted turned Nicknack around for the homeward trip. "I'm +always glad to see you." + +"Maybe you won't see us now for quite a while," answered Jan proudly. + +"No? Why not? You're not going to leave Cherry Farm I hope." + +Ted stopped Nicknack that they might better explain. + +"We're going camping with grandpa on Star Island." + +"Where's that you're going?" asked a farmer who had just come out of +the store after buying some groceries. + +"Camping on Star Island in Clover Lake," repeated Ted. + +"Huh! I wouldn't go there if I were you," said the farmer, shaking his +head. + +"Why not?" asked Ted. "Is it because of the blue light?" and he looked +at his sister to see if she remembered. + +"I don't know anything about a blue light," the farmer answered. "But +if I were your grandfather I wouldn't take you there camping," and the +man again shook his head. + +"Why not!" asked Janet, her eyes opening wide in surprise. + +"Well, I'll tell you why," went on the farmer. "I was over on Star +Island fishing the other day, and I saw a couple of tramps, or maybe +gypsies, there. I didn't like the looks of the men, and that's why I +wouldn't go there camping if I were you or your grandpa," and the +farmer shook his head again as he unhitched his team of horses. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OFF TO STAR ISLAND + + +"Oh Ted!" exclaimed Janet, as she drove home in the goat-wagon with +her brother and Baby William, "do you s'pose we can't go camping with +grandpa?" + +"Why can't we?" demanded Teddy. + +"'Cause of what that farmer said." + +"Oh, well, I guess grandpa won't be 'fraid of tramps on the island. +It's part his, anyhow, and he can make 'em get off." + +"Yes, he could do that," agreed Janet, after thinking the matter over. +"But if they were gypsies?" + +"Well, gypsies and tramps are the same. Grandpa can make the gypsies +get off the island too." + +"They--they might take Trouble," faltered Jan in a low voice. + +"Who?" asked Ted. + +"The gypsies." + +"Who take me?" demanded Trouble himself. "Who take me, Jam?" + +Sometimes he called his sister Jam instead of Jan. + +"Who take me?" he asked, playfully poking his fingers in his sister's +eyes. + +"Oh--nobody," she answered quickly, as she took him off her lap and +put him behind her in the cart. She did not want to frighten her +little brother. "Let's hurry home and tell grandpa," Jan said to Ted, +and he nodded his curly head to show that he would do that. + +On trotted Nicknack, Trouble being now seated in the back of the wagon +on a cushion, while Ted and Jan were in front. + +"Maybe it was tramps making a campfire that we saw last night," went +on Jan after a pause, during which they came nearer to Cherry Farm. + +"A campfire blaze isn't blue," declared Ted. + +"Well, maybe this is a new kind." + +Ted shook his head until his curls waggled. + +"I don't b'lieve so," he said. + +"Bang! There, me shoot you!" suddenly cried Trouble, and Ted and Jan +heard something fall with a thud on the ground behind them. + +"Whoa, there!" cried Ted to Nicknack. "What are you shootin', Trouble +baby?" he asked, turning to look at his little brother. + +"Me shoot a bunny rabbit," was the answer. + +"Oh, there _is_ a little bunny!" cried Jan, pointing to a small, brown +one that ran along under the bushes, and then came to a stop in front +of the goat-wagon, pausing to look at the children. + +"Me shoot him," said Trouble, laughing gleefully. + +"What with?" asked Ted, a sudden thought coming into his mind. + +"Trouble frow store thing at bunny," said the little boy, "It bwoke +an' all white stuff comed out!" + +"Oh, Trouble, did you throw grandma's soda at the bunny?" cried Jan. + +"Yes, I did," answered Baby William. + +"And it's all busted!" exclaimed Ted, as he saw the white powder +scattered about on the woodland path. "We've got to go back to the +store for some more. Oh, Trouble Martin!" + +"I's didn't hurt de bunny wabbit," said Trouble earnestly. "I's only +make-be'ieve shoot him--bang!" + +"I know you didn't hurt the bunny," observed Jan. "But you've hurt +grandma's soda. Is there any left, Ted?" she asked, as her brother got +out of the wagon to pick up the broken package. + +"A little," he answered. "There's some in the bottom. I guess we'll go +back to the store and get more. I want to ask that farmer again about +the tramps on Star Island." + +"No, don't," begged Jan. "Let's take what soda we have to grandma. +Maybe it'll be enough. Anyhow, if we did go back for more Trouble +might throw that out, too, if he saw a rabbit." + +"That's so. I guess we'd better leave him when we go to the store next +time. How'd he get the soda, anyhow?" + +"It must have jiggled out of my lap, where I was holding it, and then +it fell in the bottom of the wagon and he got it. He didn't know any +better." + +"No, I s'pose not. Well, maybe grandma can use this." + +Teddy carefully lifted up the broken package of baking soda, more than +half of which had spilled when Trouble threw it at the little brown +rabbit. Baby William may have thought the package of soda was a white +stone, for it was wrapped in a white paper. + +"Well, I'm glad he didn't hit the little bunny, anyhow," said Jan. +"Where is it?" and she looked for the rabbit. + +But the timid woodland creature had hopped away, probably to go to its +burrow and tell a wonderful story, in rabbit language, about having +seen some giants in a big wagon drawn by an elephant--for to a rabbit +a goat must seem as large as a circus animal. + +"I guess Trouble can't hit much that he throws at," observed Ted, as +he started Nicknack once more toward Cherry Farm. + +"He threw a hair brush at me once and hit me," declared Jan. + +"Yes, I remember," said Teddy. "Here, Trouble, if you want to throw +things throw these," and he stopped to pick up some old acorns which +he gave his little brother. "You can't hurt anyone with them." + +Trouble was delighted with his new playthings, and kept quiet the rest +of the way home tossing the acorns out of the goat-wagon at the trees +he passed. + +Grandma Martin said it did not matter about the broken box of soda, as +there was enough left for her need; so Ted and Jan, did not have to go +back to the store. + +"But I'd like to ask that farmer more about the tramps on Star +Island," said Ted to his grandfather, when telling what the man had +said at the grocery. + +"I'll see him and ask him," decided Grandpa Martin. + +It was two days after this--two days during which the Curlytops had +much fun at Cherry Farm--that Grandpa Martin spoke at dinner one +afternoon. + +"I saw Mr. Crittendon," he said, "and he told me that he had seen you +Curlytops at the store and mentioned the tramps on Star Island." + +"Are they really there?" asked Jan eagerly. + +"Well, they might have been. But we won't let them bother us if we go +camping. I'll make them clear out. Most of that island belongs to me, +and the rest to friends of mine. They'll do as I say, and we'll clear +out the tramps." + +"I hope you will, Grandpa," said Janet. + +"Did Mr. Crittendon say anything about the queer blue light Jan and +Ted saw?" asked Grandma Martin. + +"No, he hadn't seen that." + +"Where did the tramps come from? And is he sure they weren't gypsies?" +asked Jan's mother. + +"No, they weren't gypsies. We don't often see them around here. Oh, I +imagine the tramps were the regular kind that go about the country in +summer, begging their way. They might have found a boat and gone to +the island to sleep, where no constable would trouble them. + +"But we're not afraid of tramps, are we, Curlytops?" he cried, as he +caught Baby William up in his arms and set him on his broad shoulder. +"We don't mind them, do we, Trouble?" + +"We frow water on 'em!" said Baby William, laughing with delight as +his grandfather made-believe bite some "souse" off his ears. + +"That's what we will! No tramps for us on Star Island!" + +"When are we going?" asked Ted excitedly. + +"Yes, when?" echoed Jan. + +"In a few days now. I've got to get out the tents and other things. +We'll go the first of the week I think." + +Ted and Jan could hardly wait for the time to come. They helped as +much as they could when Grandpa Martin got the tents out of the barn, +and they wanted to take so many of their toys and playthings along +that there would have been no room in the boat for anything else if +they had had their way. + +But Mother Martin thinned out their collection of treasures, allowing +them to take only what she thought would give them the most pleasure. +Boxes of food were packed, and a little stove made ready to take +along, for although a campfire looks nice it is hard to cook over. + +Trouble got into all sorts of mischief, from almost falling out of the +haymow once, to losing the bucket down the well by letting the chain +unwind too fast. But a hired man caught him as he toppled off the hay +in the barn, and Grandpa Martin got the bucket up from the well by +tying the rake to a long pole and fishing deep down in the water. + +At last the day came when the Curlytops were to go camping on Star +Island. The boat was loaded with the tents and other things, and two +or three trips were to be made half-way across the lake, for the +island was about in the middle. Nicknack and his wagon were to be +taken over and a small stable made for him under a tree not far from +the big tent. + +"All aboard!" cried Ted, as he and Jan took their places in the first +boat. "All aboard!" + +"Isn't this fun!" laughed Janet, who was taking care of Trouble. + +"Dis fun," echoed the little chap. + +"I'm sure we'll have a nice time," said Mother Martin. "And your +father will like it when he, too, can camp out with us." + +"I hope the tramps don't bother you," said Mr. Crittendon, who had +come to help Grandpa Martin get his camping party ready. + +"Oh, we're not afraid of them!" cried Ted. + +"Well, be careful; that's all I've got to say," went on the farmer. +"I'll let you have my gun, if you think you'll need it," he said to +Grandpa Martin. + +"Nonsense! I won't need it, thank you. I'm not afraid of a few tramps. +Besides I sent one of my men over to the island yesterday, and he +couldn't find a sign of a vagrant. If any tramps were there they've +gone." + +"Wa-all, maybe," said the farmer, with a shake of his head. "Good luck +to you, anyhow!" + +"Thanks!" laughed Grandpa Martin. + +"All aboard!" called Ted once more. + +Then Sam, the hired man, and Grandpa Martin began to row the boat. + +The Curlytops were off for Star Island, to camp out with grandpa. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OVEBBOARD + + +"Trouble! sit still!" ordered Janet. + +"Yes, Trouble, you sit still!" called Mother Martin, as the Curlytops' +grandfather and his man pulled on the oars that sent the boat out +toward the middle of the lake. "Don't move about." + +"I wants to splash water." + +"Oh, no, you mustn't do that! Splashing water isn't nice," said Baby +William's mother. + +"'Ike drandpa does," Trouble went on, pointing to the oars which the +farmer was moving to and fro. Now and then a little wave hit the broad +blades and splashed little drops into the boat. + +"Trouble want do that!" declared the little fellow. + +"No, Trouble mustn't do that," said his mother. "Grandpa isn't +splashing the water. He's rowing. Sit still and watch him." + +Baby William did sit still for a little while, but not for very long. +His mother held to the loose part of his blue and white rompers so he +would not get far away, but, after a bit, she rather forgot about him, +in talking to Ted and Jan about what they were to do and not to do in +camp. + +Suddenly grandpa, who had been rowing slowly toward Star Island, +dropped his oars and cried: + +"Look out there, Trouble!" + +"Oh, what's the matter?" asked Mother Martin, looking around quickly. +"Trouble nearly jumped out of the boat," explained Grandpa Martin. "I +just grabbed him in time." + +And so he had, catching Baby William by the seat of his rompers and +pulling him back on the seat from which he had quickly sprung up. + +"What were you trying to do?" asked Mrs. Martin. + +"Trouble want to catch fish," was the little fellow's answer. + +"Yes! I guess a fish would catch _you_ first!" laughed Ted. + +"I'll sit by him and hold him in," offered Janet, and she remained +close to her small brother during the remainder of the trip across the +lake. He did not again try to lean far over as he had done when his +grandfather saw him and grabbed him. + +"Hurray!" cried Teddy, as he sprang ashore. "Now for the camp! Can I +help put up the tents, Grandpa?" + +"Yes, when it's time. But first we must bring the rest of the things +over. We'll finish that first and put up the tents afterward. We have +two more boatloads to bring." + +"Then can't I help do that?" + +"Yes, you may do that," said Grandpa Martin with a smile. + +"Can't I come, too?" asked Janet. "I'm almost as strong as Teddy." + +"I think you'd better stay and help me look after Trouble," said Mrs. +Martin. "Nora will be busy getting lunch ready for us, which we will +eat before the tents are up." + +"Oh, then I can help at that!" cried Janet, who was eager to be busy. +"Come on, Nora! Where are the things to eat, Mother? I'm hungry +already!" + +"So'm I!" cried Ted. "Can't we eat before we go back for the other +boatload, Grandpa?" + +"Yes, I guess so. You Curlytops can eat while Sam and I unload the +boat. I'll call you Teddy, when I'm ready to go back." + +"All right, Grandpa." + +The tents were to be put up and camp made a little way up from the +shore near the spot at which they had landed. Grandpa Martin took out +of the boat the different things he had brought over, and stacked them +up on shore. Parts of the tents were there, and things to cook with as +well as food to eat. More things would be brought on the next two +trips, when another of the hired men was to come over to help put up +the tents and make camp. + +"Oh, I just know we'll have fun here, camping with grandpa!" laughed +Jan, as she picked up her small brother who had slipped and fallen +down a little hill, covered with brown pine needles. + +"Let's go and look for something," proposed Ted, when he had run about +a bit and thrown stones in the lake, watching the water splash up and +hundreds of rings chase each other toward shore. + +"What'll we look for?" asked Janet, as she took hold of Trouble's +hand, so he would not slip down again. + +"Oh, anything we can find," went on Ted. "We'll have some fun while +we're waiting for grandpa to get out the things to eat." + +"I want something to eat!" cried Trouble. "I's hungry!" + +"So'm I--a little bit," admitted Jan. + +"Maybe we could find a cookie--or something--before they get +everything unpacked," suggested Teddy, and this was just what +happened. Grandpa Martin had some cookies in a paper bag in his +pocket. Grandma Martin had put them there, for she felt sure the +children would get hungry before their regular lunch was ready on the +island. And she knew how hungry it makes anyone, children especially, +to start off on a picnic in the woods or across a lake. + +"There you are, Curlytops!" laughed Grandpa Martin, as he passed out +the molasses and sugar cookies. "Now don't drop any of them on your +toes!" + +"Why not?" Ted wanted to know. + +"Oh, because it might break them--I mean it might break your cookies," +and Grandpa Martin laughed again. + +"Come now, we'll go and look for things," proposed Ted, as he took a +bite of his cookie, something which Jan and Trouble were also doing. + +"What'll we look for!" Jan asked again. + +"Oh, maybe we can find a cave or a den where a--where a fox lives," he +said, rather stumbling over his words. + +At first Ted had been going to say that perhaps they would look for a +bear's den, but then he happened to remember that even talk of a bear, +though of course there were none on Star Island, might scare his +little brother and Jan. So he said "fox" instead. + +"Is there a fox here!" Jan asked. + +"Maybe," said Ted. "Anyhow, let's go off and look." + +"Don't go too far!" called Grandpa Martin after them, as he started to +unload the boat and get the camp in order. "And don't go too near the +edge of the lake. I don't want you to fall in and have your mother +blame me." + +"No, we won't!" promised Ted. "Come on," he called to his little +brother and sister. "Oh, there you go again!" he cried, as he saw +Trouble stumble and fall. "What's the matter?" he asked. + +"It's these pine needles. They're awfully slippery," answered Janet. +"I nearly slipped down myself. Did you hurt yourself, Trouble?" she +asked the little fellow. + +He did not answer directly, but first looked at the place where he had +fallen. He could easily see it, because the pine needles were brushed +to one side. Then Baby William tried to turn around and look at the +back of his little bloomers. + +"No, I isn't hurted," he said. + +Janet and Ted laughed. + +"I guess maybe he thought he might have broken his leg or something," +remarked Teddy. "Now come on and don't fall any more, Trouble." + +But the little fellow was not quite ready to go on. He stooped over +and looked at the ground where he had fallen. + +"What's the matter?" asked Janet, who was waiting to lead him on, +holding his hand so he would not fall. + +"Maybe he lost something," said Teddy. "Has he got any pockets in his +bloomers, Jan?" + +"No, mother sewed 'em up so he wouldn't put his hands in 'em all the +while--and his hands were so dirty they made his bloomers the same +way. He hasn't any pockets." + +"Then he couldn't lose anything," decided Ted. He was always losing +things from his pockets, so perhaps he ought to know about what he was +talking. "What is it, Trouble?" he asked, for the little fellow was +still stooping over and looking carefully at the ground near the spot +where he had fallen. + +"I--I satted right down on him," said Trouble at last, as he picked up +something from the earth. "I satted right down on him, but I didn't +bust him," and he held out something on a little piece of wood. + +"What's he got?" asked Ted. + +"Oh, it's only an ant!" answered Janet. "I guess he saw a little ant +crawling along, just before he fell, and he sat down on him. Did you +think you'd hurt the little ant, Trouble?" + +"I satted on him, but I didn't hurt him," answered the little boy. "He +can wiggle along nice--see!" and he showed the ant, crawling about on +the piece of wood. Perhaps the little ant wondered how in the world it +was ever going to get back to the ground again. + +"Put him down and come on," said Ted. "We want to find something +before grandpa puts up the tent. Maybe we can find the den where the +fox lives." + +Trouble carefully put the little ant back on the ground. + +"I satted on him, but I didn't hurted him," again said the little +fellow, grunting as he stood up straight again. Janet took his hand +and they followed Teddy off through the forest. + +It was very pleasant in the woods on Star Island. The sun was shining +brightly and the waters of the lake sparkled in the sun. The children +felt glad and happy that they had come camping with their grandpa, and +they knew that the best fun was yet to happen. + +"Let's look around for holes now," said Teddy, after they had gone a +little way down a woodland path. + +"What sort of holes?" asked Janet. + +"Holes where a fox lives," answered her brother. "If we could find a +fox maybe we could tame it." + +"Wouldn't it bite?" the little girl asked. + +"Well, maybe a little bit at first, but not after it got tame," said +Teddy. "Come on!" + +They walked a little way farther, and then Jan suddenly cried: + +"Oh, I see a hole!" + +She pointed to one beneath the roots of a big tree. + +"That's a fox den, I guess!" exclaimed Teddy. "We'll watch and see +what comes out." + +The children hid in the bushes where they could look at the hole in +the ground. For some time they waited, and then they began to get +tired. The Curlytops were not used to keeping still. + +"I'm going to sneeze!" said Trouble suddenly, and sneeze he did. And +just then a little brown animal bounced out from under a bush and ran +into the hole. + +"Oh, it's a bunny rabbit!" cried Janet. "He lives in that hole! Come +on, Ted, let's walk. We've found out what it was. It isn't a fox, it's +a bunny! Let's go and find something else on the island. Maybe we can +find a big cave." + +"And maybe well find out what that blue light was," cried Ted eagerly. + +"I guess I don't want to look for that," remarked Jan slowly. + +"Why not?" + +"'Cause don't you 'member what Hal said about there bein' ghosts on +this island?" and Janet looked over her shoulder, though it was broad +daylight. + +"Pooh!" laughed her brother. "I thought you didn't believe in ghosts." + +"I don't--but--" + +"I'm not afraid!" declared Teddy. "And I'm going to look and see if I +can't find the lost star that fell on the island." + +"Grandpa said it all burned up." + +"Well, maybe a little piece of it was left. Anyhow I'm going to look." + +So they looked, but they found nothing like the blue light, and then +Ted said he was hungry and wanted to eat. + +Nora and Mrs. Martin had set out a little lunch for the children on +top of a packing box, and the Curlytops and Trouble were soon enjoying +the sandwiches and cake, while their grandfather and the hired man +finished unloading the boat. In a little while Grandpa Martin called: + +"All aboard, Teddy, if you're going back with me!" + +"I'm coming!" was the answer. "I'm coming!" + +It did not take Grandpa Martin long to pull back to the mainland in +the boat which was empty save for himself and Ted. The lake was +smooth, a little wind making tiny waves that gently lapped the side of +the boat. + +"I think we'd better bring Nicknack over this trip," said Grandpa +Martin, when a second farm hand met him on shore and began to help +load the boat for the second trip. "The sooner we get that goat over +on the island, the better I'll feel." + +"Why, you're not afraid of him, are you?" asked the hired man whose +name was George. + +"No. But I don't know how easy it's going to be to ferry him over. He +may start some of his tricks. So we won't put much in the boat this +time. We'll leave plenty of room for the goat and the cart." + +"Oh, Nicknack will be good," declared Ted. "I know he will. Won't you, +Nicknack?" and he put his arms around his pet. The goat had been +driven down near the dock whence the boat started for Star Island. + +"Well, unharness him and we'll get him on board," said the farmer. +"Then we'll see what happens next." + +Nicknack made no fuss at all about being unharnessed. His wagon was +first wheeled on the boat, which was a large one and broad. Then Ted +started Nicknack toward the craft. + +"Giddap!" cried Teddy to Nicknack. "We're going to camp on Star +Island, and you can have lots of fun! Giddap!" + +Nicknack stood still on the dock for a few seconds, and he seemed to +be sniffing the boat and the water in which it floated. Then with a +little wiggle of his funny, short tail, he jumped down in near his +wagon, and began eating some grass which Ted had pulled and placed +there for him. + +"It's a sort of bait, like a piece of cheese in a mouse trap," +remarked Ted, as he saw the goat nibbling. "Isn't he good, Grandpa?" + +"He's good now, Teddy; but whether he'll be good all the way over is +something I can't say. I hope so." + +George put in the boat as much as could safely be carried, with the +goat as a passenger, and then he and Grandpa Martin began rowing +toward Star Island. At first everything went very well. Nicknack +seemed a little frightened when the boat tipped and rocked, but Ted +patted him and fed him more grass, which Nicknack liked very much. + +"I knew he'd be good!" Teddy said, when they were almost at the +island, and could see Jan waving to them. "I knew he'd like the boat +ride, Grandpa." + +"Yes, he seems to like it. Now if we--" + +But just then something happened. + +The wind suddenly blew rather hard, roughening the water and causing +the boat to tip. Nicknack was jostled over against the wagon, and some +water splashed on him. + +"Baa-a-a-a-a!" bleated the goat. + +Then, before anyone could stop him, he gave a leap over Teddy's head, +and into the water splashed Nicknack. + +The goat had leaped overboard into the deepest part of Clover Lake! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BAG OF SALT + + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Teddy. "Oh, there goes my nice goat! Catch him, +Grandpa! Stop him!" + +Grandpa Martin stopped rowing and looked in surprise at the goat. So +did the hired man. + +"Well, just look!" exclaimed George. + +"Oh, he'll be drowned! He'll be drowned!" wailed Teddy, tears coming +into his eyes, for he loved Nicknack. "He'll be drowned!" + +Grandpa Martin rested his hands on the oars and looked into the water. +Then he smiled. + +"I guess you'd have hard work drowning that goat," he said. "He's +swimming like a fish!" + +"And right straight for Star Island!" added the hired man. "That's a +smart goat all right! He knows where he wants to go, and the shortest +way to get there!" + +Surely enough Nicknack was swimming toward the island. When he jumped +out of the boat he floundered a little in the water, and splashed some +on Teddy. Then he struck out, paddling as a dog does with his front +feet. Nicknack turned himself about until he was headed toward the +island, and then he swam straight toward it. + +"Oh, won't he drown, Grandpa?" asked Teddy. + +"I don't believe so, my boy! I guess Nicknack knows more than we +thought he did. Maybe he didn't like the way we rowed, or he may have +wanted a bath. Anyhow he jumped overboard, but he'll be all right." + +"See him go!" cried the hired man. + +Nicknack was swimming quite fast. Of course a goat is not as good a +swimmer as is a duck or a fish, but Ted's pet did very well. On shore +were Nora, Mrs. Martin, Janet, Trouble, and the farm hand who had gone +over in the first boatload. They were watching the goat swimming +toward them. + +"Did you throw him into the water, Teddy?" asked Janet, as soon as the +boat was near enough so that talking could be heard. + +"He jumped in," Ted answered. "Isn't he a good swimmer?" + +"I should say so! Here, Nicknack! Come here!" Janet called. + +The goat, which had been headed toward a spot a little way down the +island from where Janet and her mother stood, turned at the sound of +the little girl's voice and came in her direction. + +"Oh, he knows me!" she cried in delight "Now don't shake yourself the +way Skyrocket does, and get me all wet!" she begged, as Nicknack +scrambled out on shore, water dripping from his hairy coat. + +But the goat did not act like a dog, who gives himself a great shaking +whenever he comes on shore after having been in the water. Nicknack +just let it drip off him, and began to nibble some of the grass that +grew on the island. He was making himself perfectly at home, it +seemed. + +The goat-wagon and the other things were soon landed, and then Grandpa +Martin and one of the hired men went back for the last load. When that +came back and the things were piled up near the tents, the work of +setting up the camp went on. There was much yet to be done. + +Ted and Jan helped all they could in putting up the tents. So did +Mother Martin and Nora, who was large and strong. She could pull on a +rope about as well as a man, and there were many ropes that needed +tightening and fastening around pegs driven into the ground so the +tents would not blow over in the wind. + +Nicknack had been tied to a tree, near which, a little later, Ted and +Jan were going to make him a little bower of leaves and branches. That +was to be his stable until a better one could be built by Grandpa +Martin--one that would keep Nicknack dry when it rained. + +At last the tents were up, one for sleeping, another for cooking, and +a third where the Curlytops and the others would eat their meals. It +was a fine camp that Grandpa Martin made, and he knew just how to do +it right, even to digging little trenches, or ditches, around the +tents so the water would run off when it stormed. + +"And now let's take a walk and see what we can find," suggested Ted to +Janet, when Mother Martin said they might play about until supper was +ready, for they had called the lunch they had eaten their dinner. + +"Don't go too far," cautioned Mother Martin. + +"Oh, we can't get lost on this island," said Ted. "All we'd have to +do, if we were, would be to walk along the shore until we came to this +camp." + +"I know that. But it wasn't so much about your getting lost that I was +thinking," said Mrs. Martin. + +"Oh, you mean--the tramps?" half whispered Janet. + +"Well, I don't know whether there are any here or not," went on her +mother. "But it's best to be careful until grandpa has had a chance to +look about. Where is grandpa now?" + +"He's getting some water at the spring," Ted answered. + +There was a fine spring on Star Island, not far from the place where +the tents had been set up, and Mr. Martin was now bringing pails of +water from that and pouring them into a barrel which would hold so +much that even Trouble would have plenty to drink no matter how +thirsty he was. + +"Well, don't go too far away until either grandpa or I have a chance +to go with you," added Mrs. Martin. + +"Me come, too," called Trouble, as he saw his brother and sister +starting off. + +"Oh, Mother!" exclaimed Teddy. + +"No, you stay with mother," said Mrs. Martin. "I'll give you a nice +drink of milk." + +"Don't want milk. I's had milk. Trouble want Ted an' Jan." + +"But you can't go with them, my dear. Come on, we'll go and throw +stones into the lake and make-believe it's a great, big ocean!" + +Baby William pouted a little at first. He liked to have his own way. +But when he saw what fun his mother was having tossing stones into the +lake and making the water splash up, Trouble did the same, laughing at +the fun he was having. + +"Dis a ocean, Momsey?" he asked as he set a little stick afloat, +making believe it was a boat. + +"Well, we'll call it an ocean," Mrs. Martin answered. "But this water +is fresh, and that in the ocean is very salty. Some day I'll take you +and my two little Curlytops to the real ocean, and you can taste how +salty the waves are. Now we'll throw some more stones." + +Meanwhile Ted and Jan started for a little walk down the path that +went the whole length of Star Island. + +"Shall we take Nicknack?" asked Jan. + +"No, let's wait until he dries off after his bath," decided Teddy. "I +don't like wet goats." + +"Why, Teddy Martin! Nicknack got dried out hours ago!" + +"Well, anyway, a goat isn't like a dog. We don't want a goat along +when we are going out walking." + +So Nicknack was left to nibble the grass, while the Curlytops wandered +on and on. Grandpa and the hired men, having finished putting up the +tents, were getting the stove ready so Nora could get supper. + +"What are you looking for?" asked Jan when she noticed that her +brother walked along as if searching for something. "Are you trying to +see if any tramps or gypsies are here on the island?" + +"No. I was thinking maybe I could find that fallen star." + +"But didn't grandpa say it all melted up?" + +"Maybe a piece of it's left," went on Ted. This was the second time +that he had spoken of the star that day. "If I can't find a chunk of +it, maybe I can find the hole it made when it hit," he added. "I'd +like to find that. Maybe it would be bigger than the one I dug when I +thought I could go all the way through to China." + +"Yes. The time Skyrocket fell in!" laughed Jan. "'Member that, Teddy?" + +"I guess I do! Daddy had to go out in the night and bring him in. Come +on, let's look for the hole the shooting star made." + +"All right." + +The two Curlytops walked on over the island, looking here and there +for star-holes. They found a number of deep places, but after looking +at them, and poking sticks down into them, Ted decided that none of +them had ever held a shooting star. + +"Maybe bears made them," half whispered Jan. + +"There aren't any bears on this island!" Teddy declared. + +"I hope not," murmured his sister, as she looked over her shoulder and +then kept close to her brother during the rest of the walk. + +Pretty soon the children heard their mother's voice calling them. They +could hear very plainly, for the air was clear. + +"I guess supper is ready," said Janet. + +"I hope it is!" sighed Ted. "I'm awful hungry!" + +Supper was ready, smoking hot on the table in the dining-tent, when +Ted and Jan reached the camp grandpa had made. + +"Oh, how good it smells!" cried Ted. + +"And how nice the white tents look under the green trees," added his +sister. "I just love it here!" + +"It is the nicest place we have yet been for the summer vacation," +said Mother Martin. "This and Cherry Farm are two lovely places." + +They sat down under the tent and began to eat. Nora had gotten up a +fine supper, for a regular cook stove had been brought along, and it +was almost like eating at Grandma Martin's table, only this was out of +doors, for the sides of the tent were raised to let in the air and the +rays of the setting sun. + +"What's the matter, Father?" asked Mrs. Martin, as she saw the +children's grandfather pause after tasting the potatoes. "Is anything +wrong?" + +"I think I'd like a little more salt on these." + +"Yes, they do need salting. Nora, bring the salt please." + +"There isn't any, except what I used when I was cooking--a little I +had in a salt-shaker." + +"Oh, yes, there must be. I brought a whole bagful. I saw it when I +unpacked some of the things. There was a sack of salt." + +"Well, it isn't here now," said Nora, as she looked among her kitchen +things. + +"Has anyone seen the bag of salt?" asked Mrs. Martin. + +She looked at Ted and Jan, who shook their heads. Then Trouble's +mother looked at him. He was busy with a piece of bread and jam. One +could have told Trouble had been eating bread and jam just by looking +at his mouth and face. + +"Did you see the salt. Trouble?" asked his mother. + +"Iss, I did," he answered, taking another bite. + +"Where is it?" + +"In de water," he replied. "I puts it in de water." + +"You put the salt in the water? What water? Tell mother, Trouble." + +"I puts salt in de lake water to make him 'ike ocean. Trouble 'ike +ocean. Come on, I show!" and, getting down out of his chair, he +toddled toward a little cove near the camp. The others, following him, +saw something white on the ground near the edge of the lake. Grandpa +Martin touched it with his finger and tasted. + +"The little tyke did empty the whole bag of salt in the lake!" cried +the farmer. "Fancy his trying to make it like the ocean! Ho! Ho!" + +"Oh, Trouble!" cried Mrs. Martin. "You wasted a whole bag of salt, and +now grandpa hasn't any for his potatoes!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TED AND THE BEAR + + +Baby Williams looked a little bit frightened and ashamed as his mother +spoke to him in that way. He loved his grandfather, and of course he +would not have done anything to make him feel bad if he had thought. +But Trouble was a very little fellow, though his father often said he +could get into as many kinds of mischief as could the larger +Curlytops. + +"Oh dear! This is too bad!" went on Mrs. Martin. "Why did you do it, +Trouble! What made you empty the bag of salt into the lake?" + +"Want to make ocean wif salt water," was the answer. + +"I suppose it's my fault, for telling him so much about the big sea +and its salt water," said Trouble's mother. "He liked to hear me talk +about the ocean, and I guess he must have been thinking about it more +than I had any idea of. + +"He must have tasted the water of the lake, and found it wasn't salty, +and then he thought that, to make an ocean and big waves out of a +lake, all he had to do was to put in the salt. I'm sorry, Father." + +"Oh, that's all right," laughed Grandpa Martin. "I guess I can get +along without any more salt." + +"Trouble sorry, too," said the little fellow, when he understood that +he had done something wrong. "Me get salt water for you," and he +started toward the place where he had emptied the bag into the water, +carrying a spoon from the table. + +"No, Trouble! Come back!" ordered his mother. "I guess he wants to dip +up some salt water for you," she said laughingly to the children's +grandfather, "but he'd be more likely to fall in himself." + +She caught Trouble up in her arms and kissed him, and then Nora +managed to find a little salt in the bottom of the shaker, so Grandpa +Martin had some on his potatoes after all. But Trouble was told he +must never again do anything like that. + +He promised, of course, but Jan said: "He'll do something else, just +as bad." + +"I guess he will," laughed Teddy. + +Supper over, Mr. Martin took his two men over to the mainland. On his +return they all gathered about a little campfire grandpa made in front +of the sleeping tent. The cot beds had been set up, and a mosquito +netting was hung at the "front door" of the white canvas house, though +really there was no door, just two flaps of the tent that could be +tied together. But the netting kept out the bugs. Fortunately there +were no mosquitoes, though all sorts of moths, snapping bugs and other +flying things came around whenever a lantern was lighted. + +"Tell us a story, Grandpa!" begged Janet, when they had finished +talking about the many things that had happened during the first day +in camp. + +"Tell us about the shooting star that fell on this island," begged +Teddy. + +"Tell us about de twamps!" exclaimed Trouble, who ought to have been +asleep, but who had begged to stay up a little longer than usual. + +"I don't know anything about the tramps," laughed grandpa, "and I +don't believe there are any on the island, though it is a large one, +and it will take two or three days for us to walk all about it. + +"As for the shooting star, which Teddy thinks about so much, I really +didn't see it fall, and all I know is what the old men in the village +have told me. It was many years ago." + +"And did you ever see the blue light?" asked Ted, thinking of what he +and his sister had seen the night they were coming home from the +little visit to Hal Chester. + +"No, I never did; though I'd like to, so I might know what it was." + +"Children, how is grandpa ever going to tell you a story if you keep +asking him so many questions?" laughed Mrs. Martin. + +"All right--now we'll listen," promised Teddy, and Grandpa Martin told +a tale of when he was a little boy, and lived further to the north and +on the edge of a big wood where there were bears and other wild +animals. His father was a good hunter, Grandpa Martin said, and often +used to kill bears and wolves, for the country was wild, with never so +much as one automobile in it. + +Grandpa finished his story of the olden days by telling of once when +he was a small boy, coming home through the woods toward dark one +evening and being chased by a bear. But he crawled into a hollow log +where the bear could not get him, and later his father and some other +hunters came, shot the bear and got the little boy safely out. + +"Whew!" whistled Teddy, when this was finished. "I'd like to have been +there!" + +"In the log, hiding away from the bear?" asked his mother. + +"No, I--I guess not that," Ted answered. "I'd just like to have seen +it up in a tree, where the bear couldn't get me." + +"Bears can climb trees," remarked Janet. + +"Well, I'd go up in a little tree too small for a bear," her brother +answered. + +"I guess you'd all better go to your little beds!" laughed Mother +Martin. "It's long past your sleepy time." + +And the Curlytops and Trouble were soon sound asleep. + +It must have been about the middle of the night---anyhow it was quite +late--when Teddy, who was sleeping in his cot next to one of the side +walls of the tent, was suddenly awakened by a noise outside, and +something seemed to be trying to get through. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Teddy, quickly sitting up in bed, and wide awake all +at once. "Oh, Mother! Something's after me! It's a bear! It's a bear!" + +"Hush!" quickly exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "You'll waken William, and +frighten him!" + +"But Mother! I'm sure it's a bear! He growled!" + +"What is it?" asked Jan, from her cot on the other side of the tent. + +"It's a bear!" cried Ted again. + +There did seem to be something going on outside the tent near Ted's +side. There was a crackling in the bushes, and once something came +pushing hard against the side of the white canvas house with force +enough to make a bulge in it. Teddy jumped up from his cot and ran +over to his mother, who was sitting up on her bed. + +"Oh, Mother! It's coming in!" cried Teddy. + +"Nonsense!" and Mrs. Martin laughed as she put her arms around her +small son. + +"What is it?" asked Grandpa Martin from the curtained-off part of the +tent where he slept. + +"It's a bear!" cried Janet. + +Just then, from outside came a loud: + +"Baa-a-a-a-a!" + +Teddy looked very much surprised. Then he smiled. Then he laughed and +cried: + +"Why, it's our goat Nicknack!" + +"I guess that's what it is," added Grandpa Martin. "But he seems to be +in trouble. I'll go outside and look." + +Taking a lantern with him, while Mrs. Martin and the children waited a +bit anxiously, Grandpa Martin went to see what had happened. The +Curlytops heard him laughing as they saw the flicker of his light +through the white tent. Then they heard Nicknack bleating again. The +goat seemed, to those inside, to be kicking about with his little +black hoofs. + +"Whoa there, Nicknack!" called Grandpa Martin. "I'll soon get you +loose!" + +There was more noise, more tramping in the bushes and then, after a +while, Grandpa Martin came back. + +"What was it?" asked Ted and Jan in whispers, for their mother had +begged them not to awaken Trouble, who was still sleeping peacefully. + +"It was your goat," was the answer. "He had got loose, and his horns +were caught between two trees where he had tried to jump. He was held +fast by his horns and he was kicking his heels up in the air, trying +to get loose." + +"Did you get him out?" asked Jan. + +"Yes, I pried the trees apart and got his head loose. Then he was all +right. I tied him good and tight in his stable, and I guess he won't +bother us again to-night." + +"Then it wasn't a bear after all," remarked Jan, laughing at her +brother. + +"No, indeed! There aren't any bears on this island," said her +grandfather. "Go to sleep." + +Nothing else happened the rest of the night, and they all slept rather +late the next morning, for they were tired from the work of the day +before. The sun was shining over Clover Lake when Nora rang the +breakfast bell, and Ted and Jan hurried with their dressing, for they +were eager to be at their play. + +"What'll we do to-day?" asked Janet, as she tried to get a comb +through her thick, curly hair. + +"We'll go for a ride with Nicknack," decided Ted, who was also having +a hard time with his locks. "Oh, I wish I was a barber!" he cried, as +the comb stuck in a bunch of curls. + +"Why?" asked his mother, who was giving Trouble his breakfast. + +"'Cause then I'd cut my own hair short, and I'd never have to comb +it." + +"Oh, I wouldn't want to see you without your curls," Mother Martin +said. "Here, I'll help you as soon as I feed Trouble." + +Trouble could feed himself when his plate had been set in front of +him, and while he was eating Mrs. Martin made her two Curlytops look +better by the use of their combs. + +After breakfast the children ran to hitch Nicknack to the wagon. +Grandpa Martin was going back in the rowboat to the mainland to get a +few things that had been forgotten, and also another bag of salt. + +"And I'll hide it away from Trouble," said Nora with a laugh. "We +don't want any more salty oceans around here." + +"Let's drive away before Trouble sees us," proposed Jan to her +brother. "He'll want to come for a ride and we can't go very far if he +comes along." + +"All right. Stoop down and walk behind the bushes. Then he can't see +us." + +Jan and Ted managed to get away unseen, and were soon hitching their +goat to the wagon. Trouble finished his breakfast and called to them, +wanting to go with them wherever they went. But his mother knew the +two Curlytops did not want Trouble with them every time, so Baby +William had to play by himself about camp, while the two older +children drove off on a path that led the long way of the island. + +"Maybe we'll have an adventure," suggested Jan, as she sat in the cart +driving the goat, for she and her brother took turns at this fun. + +"Maybe we'll see some of the tramps," he added. + +"I don't want to," said Jan. + +"Well, maybe we'll see a bear." + +"I don't want that, either. I wish you wouldn't say such things, +Teddy." + +"Well, what do you want to see?" + +"Oh, something nice--flowers or birds or maybe a fairy." + +"Huh! I guess there's no fairies on this island, either. Let's see if +we can find an apple tree. I'd like an apple." + +"So would I. But we mustn't eat green ones." + +"Not if they're too green," agreed Teddy. "But a little green won't +hurt." They drove on, Nicknack trotting along the path through the +woods, now and then stopping to nibble at the leaves. At last the +children came to a beautiful shady spot, where many ferns grew beneath +the trees, and it was so cool that they stopped their goat, tied him +to an old stump and sat down to eat some cookies their mother had +given them. The Curlytops nearly always became hungry when they were +out on their little trips. + +"Wouldn't it be funny," remarked Ted, after a bit, "if we should see a +bear?" + +"The-o-dore Martin!" gasped Janet. "I wish you'd keep quiet! It makes +me scared to hear you say that." + +"Well, I was only foolin'," and Teddy dropped a "g," a habit of which +his mother was trying to break him. And he did not often forget. + +"If I saw a bear," began Janet, "I'd just scream and--" + +Suddenly she stopped because of a queer look she saw on her brother's +face. Teddy dropped the cookie he had been about to bite, and, +pointing toward a hollow log that lay not far off, said, in a hoarse +whisper: + +"Look, Jan! It _is_ a bear!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JAN SEES SOMETHING + + +For a moment after her brother had said this Janet did not speak. She, +too, dropped the cookie she had just taken from the bag, and turned +slowly around to see at what Teddy was pointing. + +She was just in time to see something furry and reddish-brown in color +dart into the hollow log, which was open at both ends. Then Jan gave a +scream. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ted, who was as much frightened by Janet's shrill +voice as he was at what he had seen. "Oh, Jan! Don't!" + +"I--I couldn't help it," she answered. "I told you I'd scream if I saw +a bear, and I _did_ see one. It is a bear, isn't it, Teddy?" + +"It is," he answered. "I saw it first. It's my bear!" + +"You can have it--every bit of it," said Jan, quickly getting up from +the mossy rock on which she had been sitting. "I don't want any of it, +not even the stubby tail. I like to own half of Nicknack with you, but +I don't want half a bear." + +"Then I'll take all of it--it's my bear," went on Ted. "Where're you +going, Jan?" he asked, as he saw his sister hurrying away. + +"I'm going home. I don't like it here. I'm going to make Nicknack run +home with me." + +Teddy got up, too. He did not stop to pick up the cookie he had +dropped. + +"I--I guess I'll go with you, Jan," he said. "I guess my bear will +stay in the log until I come back." + +"Are you coming back?" asked Janet, as with trembling fingers she +unfastened Nicknack's strap from around the stump to which he had been +tied. + +"I'm going to get grandpa to come back with me and shoot the bear," +replied Ted. "I want his skin to make a rug. You know--like grandpa +did with the bear his father shot." + +Jan did not say anything. She got into the cart and turned the goat +about, ready to leave the place. She gave a look over her shoulder at +the hollow log into which she and Ted had seen the furry, brown animal +crawl. It did not seem to be coming out, and Jan was glad of that. + +"Giddap, Nicknack!" she called to the goat, and as the animal started +off Ted jumped into the wagon from behind. + +"I wish I had a gun," he said. + +"You're too little," declared Jan. "Oh, Ted! what if he should chase +us? Was it an awful big bear? I didn't dare look much." + +"It wasn't so very big." + +"Was it as big as Nicknack?" + +"Oh, bigger'n him--a lot." + +"Oh!" and again Jan looked back over her shoulder. "I hope he doesn't +chase us," she added. + +"I'll fix him if he does!" threatened Ted. "I'll fix him!" + +"How? You haven't any gun, and maybe you couldn't shoot it if you had, +lessen maybe it was your Christmas pop gun." + +"Pooh! Pop guns wouldn't be any good to shoot a bear! You've got to +have real bullets. But I can fix this bear if he chases us," and Ted +tried to look brave. + +"How?" asked Jan again. She felt safer now, for Nicknack was going +fast, and the hollow log, into which the furry animal had crawled, was +out of sight. + +"I'll make our goat buck the bear with his horns if he chases us, +that's what I'll do!" declared Ted. + +"Oh, that would be good!" exclaimed Jan in delight. "Nicknack is brave +and his horns are sharp. 'Member how he stuck 'em in the fence one +day?" + +"Yes," answered Ted, "I do. And I'll get him to stick 'em in the bear +if he comes too close. Giddap, Nicknack!" and Ted flicked the goat +with the ends of the reins. I think he wanted the goat to go faster so +there would be no danger of the bear's chasing after him and his +sister. Perhaps Ted thought Nicknack might be afraid of the bear, even +if the goat did have sharp horns. + +The Curlytops were greatly excited when they reached the camp. Trouble +was playing out in front and Grandpa Martin had just landed in the +boat. + +"What's that?" he cried, when he heard Ted's story. "A bear in a +hollow log? Nonsense! There are no bears on Star Island." + +"But I saw it, and so did Janet. Didn't you, Jan?" cried Ted. "I saw +something fuzzy with a big tail going inside the log," answered +Teddy's sister. + +"Then it couldn't have been a bear," laughed Grandpa Martin. "For a +bear has only a little short, stubby tail. I'll go to see what it is. +I think I know, however." + +"What?" asked Mother Martin. "Don't go into any danger, Father." + +"I won't," promised the farmer. "But I won't tell you what I think the +animal is until I see it. I may be mistaken." + +"Maybe it's a twamp," put in Trouble, who seemed to be thinking about +them as much as Ted thought about the fallen star. + +"Tramps aren't animals," laughed Jan. + +"Furry animals, anyway," added Ted. + +"Well, you stay here and I'll go see what it was," went on grandpa, +and he started off toward the hollow log with a big club. He was not +gone very long, and when he came back he was laughing, as he had the +night before when Nicknack gave them a scare. + +"Just as I thought!" cried the children's grandpa. "It was a big, red +fox in the hollow log." + +"And not a bear?" asked Ted. + +"Not a bear, Curlytop! Only a fox that was more frightened by you than +you were by him, I guess. I knew it couldn't be a bear." + +"How did you get it out of the log?" asked Jan. + +"Oh, I just tapped on the log with my club, and Mr. Fox must have +thought it was somebody knocking at his front door. For out he ran, +looked at me with his bright eyes, and then away he ran into the +woods. So you Curlytops needn't be afraid. The fox won't hurt you." + +"I'm glad of that," said Jan. "Now let's go fishing, Ted." + +"All right," he agreed. + +"Can't you take Trouble with you?" asked his mother. "I want to help +Nora and grandpa do a little work around the camp." + +"Yes, we'll take him," agreed Jan. "But you mustn't put any salt in +the water, Trouble, and scare the fish." + +"I not do it. I tatch a fiss myself." + +They gave him a pole and a line without any hook on it so he could not +scratch himself, and then Jan and Ted sat down under a shady tree, not +far from camp, to try to catch some fish. + +They knew how, for their father had taught them, and soon Jan had +landed a good-sized sunfish. A little later Ted caught a perch which +had stripes on its sides, "like a zebra," as Jan said. After that Jan +and Ted each caught two fish, and they soon had enough to cook. + +"What do you Curlytops want me to do with these?" asked Nora, as the +two children came along, laughing and shouting, with the fish dangling +from strings each of them carried. + +"Cook 'em, of course!" cried Teddy. "That's what we caught them for, +Nora--to have you cook them." + +"But won't they bite me?" asked the cook, pretending to be afraid. + +"Oh, no! They can't!" explained Jan. + +"They bit on our hooks, and now they can't bite any more, but we can +bite them," said Teddy. + +"Oh, would you bite the poor fish?" asked Nora. + +For a moment the Curlytops did not know what to answer. Then Teddy +replied: + +"Oh, well, it can't hurt 'em to bite 'em after they're cooked, can +it?" + +"No, I guess not," laughed Nora, "no more than it can hurt a baked +potato. Well, run along and I'll get the fish ready for dinner, or +whatever you call the next meal. I declare, I'm so mixed up with this +camping business that I hardly know breakfast from supper. But run +along, and I'll fry the fish for you, anyhow." + +"Let's go and take a walk," proposed Jan, when they had washed their +hands in the tin basin that Mother Martin had set on a bench under a +tree, with a towel and soap near by, for fish did leave such a funny +smell on your hands, the little girl said. + +"Where'll we walk to?" asked Teddy. + +"Oh, let's go and look. Maybe we can find that cute little bunny we +saw when we were looking for the den where the fox lived but didn't +find him," proposed Jan. "All right," answered Teddy, and they set +off. + +They had not gone very far before Teddy stopped near a bush and began +to look about him. + +"What's the matter?" asked his sister. + +"Why, I saw a bird fly out of here," answered her brother, "and it +seemed just as if it had a broken wing. It couldn't fly--hardly." + +"Where is it?" asked Jan eagerly. "Maybe if we take it to mother she +can fix the wing. Once she mended a dog's broken leg, and he could +walk 'most as good as ever when he got well, only he limped a little." + +"But a dog can't fly," said Teddy. + +"I know it," agreed Jan. "But if mother can mend a broken leg, she can +fix a broken wing, can't she?" + +"Maybe," admitted her brother. "Oh, there's the bird again, Jan! See +how it nutters along!" and the little boy pointed to one that was +dragging itself along over the ground as though its wings or legs were +broken or hurt. + +"Come on!" cried Teddy. "Maybe we can catch the bird, Jan!" + +Brother and sister started after the little feathered songster, which +was making a queer, chirping noise. Then Jan suddenly called: + +"Oh, here's another!" + +And, surely enough, there was a second bird acting almost as was the +first--fluttering along, half hopping and half flying through the +grass. + +"We'll get 'em both!" yelled Teddy, and he and Jan hurried along. But, +somehow or other, as soon as they came almost to the place where they +could reach out and touch one of the birds, which acted as though it +could not go a bit farther, the little creature would manage to +flutter on just beyond the eager hands of the children. + +"That's funny!" exclaimed Teddy. "I almost had one of 'em that time!" + +"So did I!" added Janet. "Now I'm sure I can get this one!" and she +ran forward to grasp the fluttering bird, but it managed to hop along, +just out of her reach. + +The one Ted was after did the same thing, and for some time the +children hurried on after the birds. At last the two songsters, with +little chirps and calls, suddenly flew high in the air and circled +back through the woods. + +"Well, would you look at that!" cried Teddy, in surprise. + +"They can fly, after all!" gasped Janet. "What d'you s'pose made 'em +pretend they couldn't?" + +"I--I guess they wanted to fool us," said her brother. + +And that really was it. The little birds had built a nest in a low +bush, close to the ground where the children could easily have reached +it if they had seen it. And they were very close to it, though their +eyes had not spied it. + +But the birds had seen the Curlytops and, fearing that Jan and Ted +might take out the eggs in the nest, the wise little birds had +pretended to be willing to let the boy and girl catch them instead of +robbing the nest. + +Of course, Jan and Ted wouldn't have done such a thing as that! But +the birds, knew no differently. Not all birds act this way--pretending +to be hurt, or that they can't fly--to get people to chase after them, +and so keep far away from the little nests. But this particular kind +of bird always does that. + +Some day, if you are in the woods or the fields, and see one bird--or +two--acting in this queer way, as though it could not fly or walk, and +as though it wanted you to hurry after it and try to catch it--if you +see a bird acting that way you may be sure you are near its nest and +eggs and this is the way the bird does to get you away. + +"Let's look for their nest," suggested Teddy, when the two birds had +flown far away, back through the woods. + +"Oh, no," answered Jan. "We don't want to scare them. Maybe we can +look at the nest of a bird that won't mind if we watch her feeding her +little ones." + +And, a little later, they came to a bush in which was a robin's nest. +In it were some tiny birds, and, by standing on their tiptoes, and +bending the nest down a little way, the Curlytops could look in. The +baby birds, which had only just begun to grow feathers, opened their +mouths as wide as they could, thinking, I suppose, that Jan and Ted +had worms or bugs for them. + +But the children did not have. + +"Your mother will soon be along to feed you," said Janet, and soon the +mother bird did come flying back from the field. She seemed afraid at +first, when she saw how close Jan and Ted were to her nest, but the +children soon walked away, and then the robin fed her young. + +Ted and Jan had a nice walk through the woods and then they went back +to camp. + +"We'll take Trouble for a walk, so mother won't have to look after him +so much," said Janet. "Come, Trouble!" + +"Show me where the fox was," begged Baby William, and Ted and Jan +turned their steps that way. But there was no sign of the big-tailed +animal in the hollow log, though the children pounded on it as Grandpa +Martin said he had done. + +Then they wandered on a little farther in the beautiful woods. Jan saw +some flowers she wanted to gather, and leaving the path where Ted +stood to take care of his little brother, she began picking a handful. + +Janet saw so many pretty blossoms that she went a little farther than +she meant to, and, before she knew it, she had lost sight of her two +brothers, though she could hear them talking. + +Suddenly, after crawling through some bushes, Jan found herself on +another path. On the other side of it she saw some black-eyed Susans. + +"Oh, I must get some of them!" she cried. + +She darted across the path, and, as she was about to pick the flowers, +she saw, standing behind a big tree, a man who had on very ragged +clothes. He looked at Jan, who dropped her bouquet and gasped: + +"Oh! Oh, dear!" + +The ragged man looked at Janet and smiled. But Jan did not smile. One +thought only was in her mind. + +"Here is one of the tramps!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TROUBLE FALLS IN + + +Janet Martin thought it must have been all of five minutes that she +stood staring at the ragged man and he at her, though, very likely, it +was only a few seconds. A little while seems very long sometimes; for +instance, waiting for a train, or for the day of the party to come. + +"Are you looking for anything?" the man asked of Janet after a while. + +"He doesn't speak like a tramp," thought the little girl, who had +occasionally heard them asking Nora, at the back door at home, for +something to eat. "I guess I'll answer him." + +So she replied: + +"I'm looking for flowers." + +"Well, there are some pretty ones here in the woods," went on the +ragged man. "I saw some fine red ones a little while ago. If I had +known I should meet you I would have picked them for you." + +"I wonder if he _can_ be a tramp," thought Janet. "Do tramps pick +flowers, or want to pick them?" + +What she said was: + +"Thank you, but I think I have enough now." + +"Yes, you have a nice bouquet," went on the ragged man, still smiling. + +He was dressed like a tramp, that was certain. But, somehow or other, +Janet did not feel as afraid as she expected she would be when she +thought of meeting a tramp. + +"Do you live around here?" the man continued. + +"Yes, we're camping in a tent," Jan replied. "My grandfather owns part +of this island and we're with him--my mother and my brothers. We like +it here." + +"Yes, it's fine," said the ragged man, who Janet thought must be a +tramp, even if he did not talk like most of them. "So you live in a +tent? Does the professor stay here all the while?" + +"The professor?" repeated Janet, and she wondered what the long word +meant. She was sure she had heard it before. Pretty soon she +remembered. At school she had heard some of the teachers speak of the +principal as "Professor." + +"My grandpa isn't a professor," explained Janet with a smile. "He's a +farmer." + +"Well, some farmers are scientists. Maybe he is a scientist," went on +the tramp. "I was wondering if some one else was on this island +looking for the same thing I'm looking for. Can you tell me, little +girl---?" + +But just then, from somewhere back in the woods, a voice called. The +ragged man listened a moment, and then he cried: "All right! I'm +coming!" + +Janet saw him stoop and pick up off the ground a canvas bag, through +the opening of which she saw stones, such as might be picked up on the +shore of the lake or almost anywhere on the island. + +"I hope I shall see you again, little girl," went on the tramp, as +Janet called him afterward when telling the story. "And when I do, I +hope I'll have some red flowers for you. Good-bye!" + +Janet was so surprised by the quick way in which the man ran off +through the woods with his bag of stones that she did not answer or +say good-bye. She just stood looking at the quivering bushes which +closed up behind him and showed which way the man had gone. Janet +could not see him any longer. + +A moment later she heard the bushes behind her crackling, and, turning +quickly, she saw Ted and Trouble coming toward her. + +"What's the matter?" called her older brother. "Did you see another +bear--I mean a fox?" + +"No. But I saw a tramp man," replied Janet. "Oh, but he was awful +ragged!" + +"A tramp!" cried Ted. "Then we'd better get away from here. We'd +better go and tell grandpa!" + +Janet thought the same thing, and, after telling Ted all that had +happened and what she and the man had said, the Curlytops hurried back +through the woods to the camp. + +"A ragged man on the island; is that it?" asked Grandpa Martin, when +Jan told him what had happened. "It must be as Mr. Crittendon said, +that there are tramps here. Though what they are doing I don't know. +There isn't anything to eat here, except what we brought. And you +haven't missed anything, have you, Nora? Has anybody been taking your +strawberry shortcake or apple dumplings from the tent kitchen?" + +"No, Mr. Martin, they haven't," Nora answered. + +"Well, maybe it was a tramp and perhaps it wasn't," said Grandpa +Martin. "Still it will be a good thing to have a look about the +island. I don't want strange men roaming where they please, scaring +the children." + +"Oh, he didn't scare me, except at first," Janet hastened to say. "He +spoke real nice to me, but his clothes were old and awful ragged. He +wanted to know if you were a professor." + +"Well, I guess I'm professor enough to drive away tramps that won't +work, and only want to eat what other people get," returned the +farmer. "I'll have a look around this island to-morrow, and drive away +the tramps." + +"And until then, don't you Curlytops go far away. Stay where I can +watch you," went on Mrs. Martin, shaking her finger at them, half in +fun, but a great deal in earnest. + +"We'll stay near the tent," promised Jan. + +"I'm going to help grandpa hunt the tramps," declared Ted. + +"No, Curlytop, you'd better stay with your sister and mother," said +the farmer. "I don't really believe there are any tramps here." + +"But I saw him!" insisted Janet. + +"I know you saw some one, Curly Girl," and grandpa smiled at her. "Of +course there may be a strange man--maybe two, for you say you heard +one call to the other. But they may have just stopped for a little +while on this island. Ill have to ask them to go away, though, for we +want to be by ourselves while camping. So, as there might be strangers +around here who would not be pleasant, you'd better stay here, too, +Teddy." + +"All right, I'll stay," Teddy promised, and he tried to be happy and +contented about it, though he did want to go with his grandfather on +the "tramp-hunt" as he called it. But, though Teddy was quite a good- +sized boy for his age, there were some things that it was not wise for +him to do. This was one of them. + +The next day Grandpa Martin, rowing over to the mainland, brought back +with him one of his hired men. The two walked all over the island, +only stopping for their lunch, and at night they had found no trace of +anyone. + +"If tramps were here they have gone," said Grandpa Martin. "I can't +think why that man who talked to Janet should speak of a professor, +though." + +"It _is_ queer," said Mrs. Martin. "Never mind, I'm glad it is safe +for the children to run about now. It has been hard work to keep them +about the tents all this day." + +"I guess it has been," laughed Grandpa Martin. "Well, to-morrow they +can run as much as they like." + +Ted and Janet had lots of fun, playing on the shores of Clover Lake. +They took off their shoes and stockings, and went wading. Trouble did +the same, splashing about in his bare feet until he saw a little +crawfish, darting from one stone to another under water to hide away. + +"Trouble 'fraid of dem big water-bugs," he said, as he ran out on the +grassy bank. "Don't want to wade any more," and Ted and Jan could not +get him to come in again that day. + +By this time the camp was well settled. They had stored away in the +cooking tent many good things to eat, and whenever they wanted +anything more Grandpa Martin would row over to the store on the +mainland for it. + +Daddy Martin wrote from Cresco, where he was looking after his store, +that he would soon be back at Cherry Farm, and then he would come out +to the camp and spend a week. + +The Curlytops played all the games they knew. They took long rides +with Nicknack, and often Trouble went with them. But it was not all +play. Mrs. Martin thought it wise for Ted and Jan to have some work to +do; so, each day, she gave them little tasks. They had to bring a +small pail of water from the spring, gather wood for the evening +campfire, and also some for Nora to use when she made the fire in the +cook-stove. For Nora was a good cook, and many a fine pie or cake came +out of the oven. Sometimes Ted and Jan helped around the kitchen by +drying the dishes or helping set the table or clear it off. + +One afternoon, when it was almost time to get supper, Mrs. Martin sent +Ted to the spring for a pail of water. She wanted one so they could +all have a fresh drink, as it was rather warm that day. + +"I'll go with you," offered Janet. + +"Me come too," added Trouble. + +"Yes, take him," said his mother to Janet. "He hasn't been out much +to-day." So Trouble toddled off with his brother and sister. + +Ted filled the pail at the bubbling spring, which was a large one, out +of sight of the tents of the camp. Then he heard a strange bird +whistling in a tree overhead, and, setting down the pail, he ran to +see what it was. + +"Oh, Jan," called her brother a moment later, "it's a big red and +black bird. Awful pretty! Come and see him!" + +Jan ran to get a look at the scarlet tanager, as grandpa said later it +was, and, without thinking, she left Trouble alone. + +Well, you can well imagine what Trouble did! + +For a long while--ever since he had been in camp, in fact--Baby +William had wanted to dip a pail of water out of the spring. But of +course he could not be allowed to do this, for he might fall in. Now, +however, he saw his chance. + +"Trouble bring de water," he said, talking to himself while Teddy and +Janet were looking at the pretty bird. + +The little fellow carefully emptied the pail his brother had filled. +Then with it in his hand he went slowly toward the spring. He leaned +over, but longer arms than his were needed to reach the pail down into +the bubbling water. + +Trouble reached and stretched and reached again, and then--- + +"Splash!" + +Baby William had fallen in! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TED FINDS A CAVE + + +Janet and Ted returned from looking at the pretty scarlet bird just in +time to see what happened to Trouble. They saw him fall into the +spring. + +"Oh!" cried Janet, clasping her hands. "Oh, look!" + +"He'll be drowned!" yelled Ted, and then he ran as fast as he could +toward the place where he had last seen his little brother, for Baby +William was not in sight now. He was down in the water. + +Perhaps Trouble might not have come to any harm, more than to get wet +through by the time Ted reached him. Perhaps the little fellow might +not have been drowned. At any rate, no harm came to him, even though +Jan and her brother did not get there in time to help. + +The two Curlytops, their fuzzy hair fluttering in the wind, were half +way to the spring when they saw coming from the bushes a ragged man. + +"There he is!" cried Janet. + +"Who?" asked Ted. + +"The man who--talked to me--while I was picking flowers," and Jan's +voice came in gasps, for she was getting out of breath from having run +so hard. "There he is!" and she pointed. + +"That's the tramp!" cried Ted. "They _are_ on the island, only grandpa +couldn't find 'em!" + +"Do you--do you s'pose he's goin' to take Trouble?" faltered Janet. + +Before Ted could answer, the Curlytops saw what the ragged man was +going to do. They saw him stoop over the spring, reach down into it +and lift something up. The "something" was Baby William, screaming and +crying in fright, and dripping wet. + +The ragged man set Trouble down on a rock near the spring, and then, +waving his hand to Ted and Jan, he cried: + +"He's all right--swallowed hardly any water. Take him home as soon as +you can, though. I haven't time to stop--have to go to see the +professor!" + +With that the man seemed to dive in between some high bushes, and the +Curlytops could not see him any more. But Trouble was still sitting on +the rock, the water from his clothes making a little puddle all around +him, and he was crying hard, his tears running down his cheeks. + +"Oh, Trouble!" gasped Jan, putting her arms around him, all wet as he +was. + +"Are you hurt?" asked Ted, looking carefully at his little brother. + +"I--I--I fal--falled in an'--an' I's all--all wetted!" wailed Trouble, +his breath coming in gasps because of his crying, which he had partly +stopped on seeing his brother and sister. "I failed in de spwing, I +did!" + +"What made you?" asked Ted, while Jan tried to wring some of the water +out of the little fellow's waist and rompers. + +"I wanted to get de pail full for mamma." + +"But I filled the pail, Trouble. You oughtn't to have touched it," +said Teddy. He went to the spring and looked down in it. The pail was +at the bottom of the little pool. + +"It's a good thing that tramp got him out," remarked Janet. "He must +be a nice man, even if his clothes are ragged." + +"I guess so, too," agreed Ted. "But he said we must take Trouble home. +I guess we'd better." + +"Yes," assented Jan. "But he isn't hurt." + +"He wasn't in very long," Ted said. "The man got him out awful quick-- +quicker than we could. You lead him home, Jan, and I'll get the pail +out of the spring. It's sunk like a ship." + +"How're you going to get it?" + +"With a stick, I guess. You mustn't lean over the spring any more, +Trouble." + +"No," promised Baby William. + +But the Curlytops could not be sure he would keep his promise. He +might for a time, while he remembered what had happened to him. + +With a crooked stick Teddy managed to fish up the pail after two or +three trials. Then, filling it with water from the spring, he carried +it back to camp, while Jan led the wet and dripping Trouble. + +"Oh, my goodness! What's happened now?" asked Nora, as she saw the +three children coming into camp. "Did you go in swimming with all your +clothes on, Trouble?? + +"No. I failed into de spwing, I did!" + +"And the tramp got him out!" added Jan. + +Then she and Teddy, taking turns, told what had happened. Mrs. Martin +scolded Trouble a little, to make him more careful the next time. Then +Grandpa Martin said: + +"Well, there must be strangers on this island after all, though I +could not find them. They must be hiding somewhere, and I'd like to +know what for." + +"Maybe they're living in gypsy wagons," suggested Jan. + +"Or in a cave," added Ted. "They look as if they lived in a cave." + +"There isn't any cave on the island, as far as I know," his +grandfather told Ted. "But I don't like those strange men roaming +about our place here. They may not do any harm, but I don't like it. +I'll have another look for them." + +"So will I," added Teddy, but he did not say this aloud. Teddy had +made up his mind to do something. He was going to look for those men +himself, either in a cave or a gypsy wagon. Ted wanted to find the +ragged man--find all of them if more than one; and there seemed to be +at least two, for the one who had pulled Teddy out of the spring had +spoken of another--a "professor." + +"What's a professor?" asked Jan. + +"Oh, it's a man or a woman who has studied his lessons and teaches +them to others," answered her mother. "One who knows a great deal +about something, such as about the stars or about the world we live +in. Professors find out many things and then tell others--young people +generally--about them." + +"I'm going to be a professor," said Teddy. + +"Are you?" inquired his mother with a smile. "I hope you will get wise +enough to be one." + +But Teddy did not speak all that was in his mind. If a professor was +one who found out things, then the small boy decided he would be one +long enough to find out about the tramps, and perhaps find the cave +where they lived, and then he could tell Jan. + +When Trouble had been put into dry clothes and sent to sleep by his +mother's singing, "Ding-dong bell, Pussy's in the well," Jan and Ted +sat by themselves, talking over what had happened that day. Ted was +making a small boat to sail on the lake, and Jan was mending her +doll's dress, where a prickly briar bush had torn a little hole in it. + +Early the next morning Ted slipped away from his place at the +breakfast table, and motioned to Jan to join him behind the sleeping +tent. Ted held his finger over his lips to show his sister that he +wanted her to keep very quiet. + +"What's the matter?" she whispered, when they were safe by themselves. +"Did you see the tramp-man?" + +"No, but I'm going to find him!" + +"You are?" cried Janet, and her eyes opened wide with wonder and +surprise. + +"Don't tell anybody," went on Ted. "We don't want Trouble to follow +us. Come on off this way," and he pointed to a path that led through +the bushes back of the tent. + +Trouble was busy just then, playing in the sand on the shore of Clover +Lake, while Mrs. Martin and Nora were clearing away the breakfast +things. Grandpa Martin was raking up around the tents, so no one saw +the Curlytops slip away. + +"Which way are you going?" asked Jan of her brother. + +"Over to the spring." + +"What for? To get more water? Where's your pail?" + +"I don't have to get water yet," answered Ted. "I'm going to the +spring to look to see if I can tell which way that tramp went. Don't +you know how Indians do--look at the leaves and grass in the woods, +and they can tell by the marks which way anybody went? Mother read us +a story once like that." + +"I don't like Indians," remarked Jan somewhat shortly, half turning +back. + +"Oh, there's no Indians!" exclaimed Ted impatiently. "I was only +sayin' what they did. Come on!" + +So Jan followed her brother, though she was a little bit afraid. +However, she saw nothing to frighten her, and it was nice in the +woods. The wind was blowing through the trees, the birds were singing +and it was cool and pleasant. The Curlytops soon came to the spring +where Trouble had fallen in. + +"Now we must look all around," declared Teddy. + +"What for?" his sister demanded again. + +"To tell which way the tramp-man went. Then we can find his cave." + +"Maybe he lives in a wagon or a tent." + +"Then we'll find them. Come on, help look!" + +"I don't know how," confessed Janet. + +"Well, look for a place where the bushes are broken down and where you +see footprints in the dirt. That's the way Indians tell. Mother read +it out of a book to us." + +So Jan and Ted looked all around the spring, and at last Ted found a +place where it seemed as if some one had run through in a hurry, for +twigs were broken off the bushes, and, by looking down at the ground, +he saw the marks of shoes in the dirt. + +Of course Ted could not tell who had made them, but he thought surely +it must have been the tramp who had pulled Trouble from the spring. +Ted was sure they were not the footprints of himself and his sister, +for their own were much smaller. + +"Come on, Jan!" cried Teddy. "We'll find that tramp now or, anyway, +the place where he hides." + +He pushed on through the bushes. There seemed to be a sort of path +leading away from the spring, which was not the same path that Ted and +Grandpa Martin took when they went from the camp to the water-hole to +fill the pail each day. On and on went Ted, with Jan following. She +was so excited now at the thought that perhaps they might find +something, that she was not a bit frightened. + +"Wait a minute! Wait for me, Teddy!" she called, as her brother +hurried on ahead of her. + +"Come on, Jan!" he called. "There's a good path here, and I guess I +see something. Oh, look here! Oh, Jan! Oh! Oh!" suddenly cried Teddy. +Then his voice seemed to fade away, as if he had all at once gone down +the cellar, and Jan could hear him calling faintly. + +"Oh, Teddy! What's the matter? What's the matter?" she cried as she +ran on through the bushes. + +"I've found the cave!" was his answer, so faint and far away that Jan +could hardly hear. "I've found the cave. I fell right into it! Come +on!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GRAPEVINE SWING + + +Wondering what had happened to her brother, Jan hurried on toward the +place from which his voice came. It sounded more than ever as if he +were down a cellar. + +"But there can't be any cellars in these woods," thought the little +girl. + +"Where are you, Teddy?" she called after a bit. "I can't see you!" + +"Here I am, right behind you!" was the answer, and Jan, turning +quickly, saw the head of her brother sticking up out of a hole in the +ground. + +"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Ted's sister. "Where's the rest of you? Where's +your legs and your feet?" + +"Down in the hole," explained Teddy. "I'm in the cave. I fell in. +That's how I found it." + +"Is it a real cave?" asked Janet. + +"It is. It goes away back under the ground, only I didn't go in 'cause +it's so dark. I'm going to get a light and see what's there." + +"I'm not!" said Jan, very decidedly. + +"Well, then I'll get grandpa. Maybe this is the cave where the tramps +live. Come and look where I am. You won't fall in." + +"How did you find it?" asked Janet, as she walked toward the hole, +down in which Teddy was standing. It was a little way from the path +the two Curlytops had walked along through the woods--the path leading +from the spring. + +"I just fell in it, I told you," Ted answered. "I was walking along, +and, all at once, I slipped down through the dried leaves. First I +thought I was going down in a big hole, but it isn't over my head and +a lot of leaves went down with me, so I didn't get jounced hardly at +all." + +Jan went to the edge and looked down in the hole. It seemed to be a +large one in between two big rocks, and Ted showed her where the hole +slanted downward and went farther underground. It was dark there, and +Jan made up her mind she would never go into it, even if Ted did. + +"You'd better come up," she said at last. "Maybe mother wouldn't like +it. Besides, there might be snakes down in there." + +"Oh! I didn't think about them!" exclaimed Ted, and he tried to +scramble up, but it was not so easy as he had hoped. He was a little +excited, too, since Janet had spoken of snakes. Teddy did not like +them, and they might be in among the leaves that had fallen down into +the hole with him. + +"Can't you get up?" Jan asked, when her brother had slipped back two +or three times. + +"Maybe I could if you'd let me take hold of your hand," suggested +Teddy. + +"Then you'd pull me in, and we'd both be down there." + +Ted saw that this was so. He tried again to get out, but could not, +for mixed with the leaves were many dry, brown pine needles from the +trees growing overhead; and if you have ever been in the woods you +know how slippery pine needles are when the ground is covered with +them. Teddy slipped back again and again. + +"Oh, Ted! can't you _ever_ get up?" asked Janet, almost ready to cry. + +"Oh, I'll get out somehow," he said. Then dangling down from a tree +behind his sister, he saw a long wild grapevine, which was almost like +a piece of rope. + +"If I had hold of that I could pull myself out," Teddy said. "See if +you can reach it to me, Jan." + +After two or three trials his sister did this. Then, holding to a +loose end of the grapevine while the other end was twined fast round a +tree, Teddy pulled himself out of the hole. Once on firm ground he +made the loose end of the grapevine fast to a stone that lay near the +edge of the hole. + +"What made you do that?" asked Janet. + +"So the next time I get down there I can pull myself out," Teddy +answered. + +"Are you going down there again?" Jan queried. + +"Course I am!" declared Ted. "I didn't half look in the cave. It's a +big place. I could see in only a little way, 'cause it was so dark. +I'm goin' to tell grandpa and have him bring a lantern." + +Grandpa Martin was surprised when Ted and Jan told him what they had +found in the woods. + +"I didn't suppose there was a cave on the island," said the farmer. "I +must have a look at it." + +"And may I come? And will you take a lantern?" asked Teddy eagerly. + +"Well, yes, I guess so," said grandpa slowly. + +"Oh, Father, do you think it is safe?" asked Mrs. Martin. + +"Yes, I think so. I won't go very far in with the children. It may be +only the den of a fox or some small animal, and not a real cave." + +"I think it's a big cave," declared Ted. "Come on, Grandpa." + +"Me come!" cried Trouble, as the two Curlytops set off with Grandpa +Martin through the woods, toward the place where Teddy had fallen down +with the pile of leaves. "Me come!" + +"No, you stay with me," laughed Mother Martin, catching him up in her +arms. Trouble did not want to stay behind, not having been with his +brother and sister of late as much as he wished. "We'll bake a patty- +cake!" Mrs. Martin added, and then Trouble laughed, for he liked to +help Nora bake. That is, he thought he helped. And at least he helped +to eat what Nora took out of the oven. + +"Now show me where the cave is," said Grandpa Martin to Ted, as they +neared the place. "But be careful not to fall into it again." + +"Oh, I've got a grapevine rope so I can pull myself out," said Jan's +brother. "Here it is, over this way." + +Teddy Martin was an observing little fellow. He could find his way +around in the woods very well, once he had been to a place, and he did +not go wrong this time. He led his grandfather right to the entrance +of the cave. + +And it proved to be a real cave. Grandpa Martin found this out when he +jumped down into the place where Teddy had fallen, and when the +lantern had been lighted and flashed into the dark hole. + +"Yes, it's a cave all right," the children's grandfather said. "And to +think the many times I've been on this island I never found it! Well, +I'll go in a little way." + +"Can't I come?" asked Ted, as he saw his grandfather start into the +dark hole which spread out from the open place into which Ted had +fallen. + +"I'm not coming," declared Janet, "and I don't want to stay here all +alone." + +"You stay there with your sister, Curlytop," directed Mr. Martin. "If +I find out it's all right and is safe, I'll come back and take you +both in a little way." + +Grandpa Martin walked into the dark hole, his lantern flickering like +a firefly at night. The Curlytops watched it until they could no +longer see the gleam. Then they waited expectantly. + +"Maybe somethin'll grab grandpa," said Jan, after a bit. + +"What?" asked Ted. + +"A fox--or somethin'!" + +"Pooh, he isn't afraid of a fox!" + +"Well, a bear, maybe!" + +"There isn't any bears here, Janet Martin! I'm not afraid." + +Perhaps Ted said this because, just then, he saw his grandfather +coming out of the cave. The farmer had not been gone very long. + +"Is it a cave?" called Ted. + +"A sure-enough one?" added his sister. + +"Yes, it's a sure-enough cave. But there's nothing in it." + +"No wild animals?" Jan demanded. + +"Not even a mouse, as far as I could see," laughed Mr. Martin. "But +some one had been in the cave eating his lunch." + +"Maybe there was a picnic, Grandpa," suggested Ted. + +"No, I think only one or two persons were in the big hole," said his +grandfather. "For it _is_ a big hole, larger than I thought it was. I +could stand up straight once I was inside." + +"Take us in!" begged Ted. + +"Yes, I think it will be all right. Come along, Jan. I'll hold your +hand, and there isn't anything of which to be afraid. Come on!" + +So Janet and Teddy went into the cave. By the light of grandpa's +lantern they could see that it was a large place, a regular +underground house--a cave just like those of which they had read in +fairy stories. + +"And was there somebody here, really?" asked Ted eagerly. + +"Yes," answered his grandfather. "See. Here are bits of bread +scattered about, and papers in which some one brought his lunch here." + +"Maybe it was the tramps," whispered Janet. + +"Maybe," agreed Mr. Martin. "I must have another look over the +island." + +There was not much else in the cave that they could see with the one +lantern. Grandpa Martin wanted to look about more, and back in the far +corners, but he did not like to take the children along, and Jan held +tightly to his hand as if she feared she would lose him. + +"I'll come here alone some other time, and see what I can find," +thought Grandpa Martin to himself, as they came out. + +"I don't like it in there," said Jan, once they were again out in the +sunshine. "I don't like caves." + +"I do," declared Ted. "When Hal Chester comes to visit me, as he said +he would, he and I will look all through this cave." + +"Is Hal coming?" asked Jan, remembering the boy, once lame but now +cured, who had played with them and told them about Princess Blue +Eyes. + +"Yes, mother asked him to come and spend a week, and he said he would. +We'll have some fun in the cave." + +"What do you suppose the big hole can be?" asked Mrs. Martin, when +Grandpa Martin and the children reached camp after their visit to the +strange place. + +"I don't know," he answered. "It doesn't seem to have been dug with +picks and shovels. It's just a natural cave I guess, and some +fishermen may have eaten their lunch there one day when it rained. But +there is no one in it now." + +Ted and Jan talked much about the cave the rest of that day. They went +for a ride in the wagon drawn by Nicknack, taking Trouble with them. +On their way back Jan said: + +"Oh, I wish I had a swing." + +"It would be fun," agreed Ted. "Maybe I can make one." + +"You'll have to get a rope," said his sister. "Grandpa is going to row +over in the boat to-morrow. Ask him to bring us one." + +"No, he don't need to bring us a rope," went on her brother. + +"Why not?" + +"'Cause I can get a rope in the woods." + +"A rope in the woods? Oh, Teddy Martin, you can not! Ropes don't grow +on trees." + +"The kind I mean does," answered Ted with a laugh. "Wait and I'll show +you." + +When Nicknack had been put in the new stable which Grandpa Martin had +built for him, Teddy, followed by Jan and Trouble, walked a little way +into the woods. Ted carried with him a piece of old carpet. + +"What's that for?" his sister asked. + +"For a swing board," he answered. + +"But where's the swing rope?" + +"Here!" cried Ted suddenly. He pointed to a long wild grapevine, which +hung dangling between two trees, around which it was twined. The vine +was a very long one, and as thick around as the piece Teddy had used +to pull himself out of the hole near the cave. It did seem like a +regular swing. + +"Well--maybe," murmured Jan. + +"Now we can have some fun!" cried Ted. He folded the piece of carpet +and laid it over the grapevine. Then he sat down, gave a push on the +ground with his feet, and away he swung as nicely as though he was in +a regular swing, made with a rope from the store. + +"Oh, how nice!" cried Janet. "Let me try it, Teddy." + +"Wait till I see if it's strong enough." + +He swung back and forward several more times and then let his sister +try it. She, too, swayed to and fro in the grapevine swing, which was +in a shady place in the woods. Then Trouble, who had seen what was +going on, cried: + +"I want to swing, too! I want to swing!" + +"I'll take you on my lap," offered Janet, and this she did. + +"I'll push you," offered Teddy, and he gave his sister and his baby +brother a long push in the grapevine swing. + +But, just as they were going nicely and Trouble was laughing in +delight, there was a sudden cracking sound and Janet cried: + +"Oh, I'm falling! I'm falling! The swing is coming down!" + +And that is just what happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TROUBLE MAKES A CAKE + + +With a crackle and a snap the grapevine swing sagged down on one side. +Janet tried to hold Trouble in her arms, but he slipped from her lap, +just as she slipped off the piece of carpet which Ted had folded for +the seat of the swing. Then Janet toppled down as the vine broke, and +she and her little brother came together in a heap on the ground. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ted. "Are you hurt?" + +Neither Jan nor Trouble answered him for a moment. Then Baby William +began to cry. Jan lay still on the ground for a second or two, and +then she jumped up with a laugh. + +"I'm not hurt a bit!" she said. "I fell right in a pile of leaves, and +it was like jouncing up and down in the hay." + +"What's the matter with Trouble?" asked Ted. + +Baby William kept on crying. + +"Never mind!" put in Jan. "Sister'll kiss it and make it all better! +Where is you hurt, Trouble dear?" + +The little fellow stopped crying and looked up at Jan, his eyes filled +with tears. + +"My posy-tree is hurted," he said, holding a broken flower out to his +sister. "Swing broked my posy-tree!" + +Trouble called any weed, flower or bunch of grass he happened to pick +a "posy-tree." + +"Oh, I guess he isn't hurt," remarked Teddy. "If it's only a broken +posy-tree I'll get you another," he said kindly. "Are you all right, +Trouble? Can you stand up?" for he feared, after all, lest Baby +William's legs might have been hurt, since they were doubled up under +him. + +Trouble showed he was all right by getting up and walking about. He +had stopped crying, and Ted and Jan could see that he, too, had fallen +on a pile of soft leaves near the swing, so he was only "jiggled up," +as Jan called it. + +One side of the grapevine swing had torn loose from the tree, and thus +it had come down with Jan and Trouble. + +"I guess it wasn't strong enough for two," said Ted. "Maybe I can find +another grapevine." + +"I'd like a rope swing better," Janet said. "Then it wouldn't tumble +down." + +"I guess that's so," agreed her brother. "We'll ask grandpa to get +one." + +Grandpa Martin laughed when he heard what had happened to the +grapevine swing, and promised to make a real one of rope for the +Curlytops. This he did a day or so afterward, so that Ted and Jan had +a fine swing in their camp on Star Island, as well as one at Cherry +Farm. They were two very fortunate children, I think, to have such a +grandfather. + +"Where are you going now, Grandpa?" called Jan one day, as she saw the +farmer getting the boat ready for use. + +"I'm going over to the mainland to get some things for our camp," +answered Mr. Martin. "They came from a big store in some boxes and +crates, and they're at the railroad station. I'm going over to get +them. Do you Curlytops want to come along?" + +"Well, I just guess we do!" cried Ted. + +"Me want to come!" begged Trouble. + +"Not this time, Dear," said his mother. + +"You stay with me, and we will have some fun. Let Jan and Ted go." + +Trouble was going to cry, but when Nora gave him a cookie he changed +his mind and ate the little cake instead, though I think one or two +tears splotched down on it and made it a bit salty. But Trouble did +not seem to mind. + +Ted and Jan had lots of fun riding back in the boat to the main shore +with their grandfather. When the boat was almost at the dock Mr. +Martin let the two children take hold of one of the oars and help him +row. Of course the Curlytops could not pull very much, but they did +pretty well, and it helped them to know how a boat is made to go +through the water, when it has no steam engine or gasolene motor to +make it glide along, or sails on which the wind can blow to push it. + +"You can't know too much about boats and the water, especially when +you are camping on an island in the middle of a lake," said Grandpa +Martin. "When you get bigger, Ted and Jan, you'll be able to row a +boat all by yourselves." + +"Maybe day after to-morrow," suggested Jan. + +"I wish I could now," said Ted. + +"Oh, but you're too small!" his grandfather said. + +The boat was tied to the wharf, and then, getting an expressman to go +to the depot for the boxes and crates, Mr. Martin took the children +with him on the wagon. + +"We're having lots of fun!" cried Jan, as the horse trotted along. +"We're camping and we had a ride in a boat and now we're having a ride +in a wagon." + +"Lots of fun!" agreed Ted. "I'm glad we've got grandpa!" + +"And grandpa is glad he has you two Curlytops to go camping with him!" +laughed the farmer, as the expressman made his horse go faster. + +At the depot, while the children were waiting to have the boxes and +crates of things for the camp loaded into the wagon, Ted saw Arthur +Weldon, a boy with whom he sometimes played. + +"Hello, Art!" called Ted. + +"Hello!" answered Arthur. "I thought you were camping on Star Island." + +"We are," answered Teddy. + +"It doesn't look so!" laughed Arthur, or "Art," as most of his boy +friends called him. + +"Well, we just came over to get some things. There's grandpa and the +expressman with them now," went on Ted, as the two men came from the +freight house with a number of bundles. + +"I wish I was camping," went on the other boy. "It isn't any fun +around here." + +"You can come over to see us sometimes," invited Jan. "I'll ask my +mother to let you, and you can play with us." + +"He don't want to play girls' games!" cried Ted. + +"Well, I guess I can play boys' games as well as girls' games!" +exclaimed Janet, with some indignation. + +"Oh, yes, course you can," agreed her brother. + +"And maybe Art can bring his sister to the island to see us, and then +we could play boys' games and girls', too," went on Jan. + +"I'll ask my mother," promised Arthur. + +Grandpa and the expressman soon had the wagon loaded, and Arthur, rode +back in it with the Curlytops to the wharf where the boat was tied. + +"All aboard for Star Island!" cried Mr. Martin, when the things were +in the boat, nearly filling it. "All aboard!" + +"I wish I could come now!" sighed Arthur. + +"Well, we'd like to take you," said Grandpa Martin, "but it wouldn't +be a good thing to take you unless your mother know you were coming +with us, and we haven't time to go up to ask her now. The next time +maybe we'll take you back with us." + +There was a wistful look on Arthur's face as he watched the boat being +rowed away from the main shore and toward the island. Ted and Janet +waved their hands to him, and said they would ask their mother to +invite him for a visit, which they did a few weeks later. + +Once back on the island the things were taken out of the boat and then +began the work of taking them out of the boxes and crates. There was a +new oil stove, to warm the tent on cool or rainy days, and other +things for the camp, and when all had been unpacked there was quite a +pile of boards and sticks left. + +"I know what we can do with them," said Teddy to Janet, when they had +been piled in a heap not far from the shore of the lake, and a little +distance away from the tents. + +"What?" asked the little girl. + +"We can make a raft like Robinson Crusoe did," answered Teddy, for his +mother had read him a little about the shipwrecked sailor who, as told +in the story book, lived so long alone on an island. + +"What's a raft?" asked Janet. + +"Oh, it's something like a boat, but it hasn't got any sides to it-- +only a bottom," answered her brother. "You make it out of flat boards +and you have to push it along with a pole. We can make a raft out of +all the boards and pieces of wood grandpa took the things out of. +It'll be a lot of fun!" + +"Will mother let us?" asked Jan. + +"Oh, I guess so," answered Teddy. + +But he did not go to ask to find out. He found a hammer where grandpa +had been using it to knock apart the crates and boxes, and, with the +help of Jan, Teddy was soon making his raft. There were plenty of +nails which had come out of the boxes and crates. Some of them were +rather crooked, but when Ted tried to hammer them straight he pounded +his fingers. + +"That hurts," he said. "I guess crooked nails are as good as straight +ones. Anyhow this raft is going to be crooked." + +And it was very crooked and "wobboly," as Janet called it, when Teddy +had shoved it into the water and, taking off his shoes and stockings, +got on it. + +"Come on, Jan!" he cried, "I'm going to have a ride." + +"No, it's too tippy," Janet answered. + +"Oh, it can't tip over," said Teddy. "That's what a raft is for--not +to tip over. Maybe you can slide off, but it can't tip over. Come on!" + +So Janet took off her shoes and stockings. + +Now of course she ought not to have done that, nor ought Teddy to have +got on the raft without asking his mother or his grandfather. But then +the Curlytops were no different from other children. + +So on the raft got Teddy and Janet, and for a time they had lots of +fun pushing it around a shallow little cove, not far from the shore of +Star Island. A clump of trees hid them from the sight of Mother Martin +and grandpa at camp. + +"Let's go farther out," suggested Teddy, after a bit. + +"I'm afraid," replied Janet. + +"Aw, it'll be all right!" cried Ted. "I won't let it tip over!" + +So Janet let him pole out a little farther, until she saw that the +shore was far away, and then she cried: + +"I want to go back!" + +"All right," answered Ted. "I don't want anybody on my raft who's a +skeered. I'll go alone!" + +He poled back to shore and Janet got off the raft. Then Teddy shoved +the wabbly mass of boards and sticks, fastened together with crooked +nails, out into the lake again. He had not gone very far before +something happened. One end of the raft tipped up and the other end +dipped down, and--off slid Teddy into the water. + +"Oh! Oh!" screamed Janet. "You'll be drowned! I'm going to tell +grandpa." + +She ran to the camp with the news, and Mr. and Mrs. Martin came +hurrying back. By this time Teddy had managed to get up and was +standing in the water, which was not deep. + +"I--I'm all right," he stammered. "Only I--I'm--wet!" + +"I should say you _were!"_ exclaimed his mother. "You mustn't go on +any more rafts." + +Teddy promised that he would not, and then, when he had put on dry +clothes, he and Janet played other games that were not so dangerous. +They had lots of fun in the camp on Star Island. + +"Come on, Jan!" called her brother one morning after breakfast. "Come +on down to the lake." + +"What're you goin' to do?" she asked. + +"I think he had better look for the 'g' you dropped," said Mrs. Martin +with a laugh. + +"What 'g?' asked Jan. + +"The one off 'going,'" was the answer. "You must be more careful of +your words, Janet dear. Learn to talk nicely, and don't drop your 'g' +letters." She had been trying to teach this to the Curlytops for a +long while, and they were almost cured of leaving off the final "g" of +their words. But, once in a while, just as Jan did that time, they +forgot. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Janet, slowly and carefully this +time. + +"Sail my boat," answered Ted. "I'll give your doll a ride if you want +me to." + +"Not this one," replied his sister, looking at the one she carried. It +had on a fine red dress. "Why not that doll?" Ted inquired. + +"'Cause your boat might tip over and spill my doll in the lake. Then +she'd be spoiled and so would her dress. Wait. I'll get my rubber +doll. Water won't hurt her." + +"My boat won't tip over," Ted declared. "It's a good one." + +But even Jan's rubber doll must have been too heavy for Ted's small +boat, for, half way across a little shallow cove in the lake, where +the Curlytops waded and Ted sailed his ships, the boat tipped to one +side, and the doll was thrown into the water. + +"There! I told you so!" cried Janet. + +"Well, she's rubber, and you can pretend she has on a bathing suit an' +has gone in swimming!" declared Ted. + +"But maybe a fish'll bite a hole in her and then she can't whistle +through the hole in her back!" wailed Jan, ready to cry. + +"There's no fish here, only baby ones; and they can't bite," Ted +answered. "But I'll get her for you, Jan." + +He waded out, set his ship upright again, and brought his sister's +doll to shore. Nancy--which was the doll's name--did not seem to have +been hurt by falling into the lake. Her painted smile was the same as +ever. + +"I guess I'll dress her now so she won't get cold after her bath," +said Jan, who sometimes acted as though her dolls were really alive. +She liked her playthings very much indeed. + +While his sister went back to the tent with her doll Ted sailed his +boat. Then Trouble came down to the edge of the little cove, and began +to take off his shoes and stockings to go wading as Ted was doing. Ted +was not sure whether or not his mother wanted Baby William to do this, +so he decided to run up to the camp to ask. + +"Don't go in the water until I come back, Trouble," Ted ordered his +little brother. + +But the sight of the cool, sparkling water was too much for Baby +William. + +Off came his shoes and stockings without waiting for Ted to come back +to say whether or not Mother Martin would let him go splashing in the +water. Into the lake Baby William went. And he was not careful about +getting wet, either, so that when Ted came back with his mother, who +wanted to make sure that her baby boy was all right, they saw him out +in the middle of the cove with Ted's boat. And the water was half way +up to Trouble's waist, the lower part of his bloomers being soaked. + +"Oh, you dear bunch of Trouble!" cried his mother. "You mustn't do +that!" + +"Havin' fun!" was all Trouble said. + +"Come here!" cried Mrs. Martin. + +"Wait till I sail boat," and he pushed Ted's toy about in the cove, +splashing more water on himself. + +"I guess you'll have to get him," said Mrs. Martin to Teddy, who half +dragged, half led his little brother to shore. Trouble got wetter than +ever during this, and his mother had to take him back to the tent to +put dry things on him. + +"Trouble," she said, "you are a bad little boy. I'll have to keep you +in camp the rest of the day now. After this you must not go in wading +until I say you may. If you had had your bathing suit on it would have +been all right. Now you must be punished." + +Trouble cried and struggled, but it was of no use. When Mother Martin +said a thing must be done it was done, and Trouble could not play in +the water again that day. + +Toward the middle of the afternoon, however, as he had been pretty +good playing around the tent, he was allowed to roam farther off, +though told he must not go near the water. + +"You stay with me, Baby," called Nora. "I'm going to bake a cake and +I'll give you some." + +"Trouble bake a cake, too?" he asked. "No, Trouble isn't big enough to +bake a cake, but you can watch me. I'll get out the flour and sugar +and other things, and I'll make a little cake just for you." + +On a table in the cooking tent Nora set out the things she was to use +for her baking. There was the bag of flour, some water in a dish and +other things. Just as she was about to mix the cake Mrs. Martin called +Nora away for a moment. + +"Now, Trouble, don't touch anything until I come back!" warned the +girl, as she hurried out of the tent. "I won't be gone a minute." + +But she was gone longer than that. Left alone in the tent, with many +things on the table in front of him, Trouble looked at them. He knew +he could have lots of fun with some of the pans, cups, the egg beater, +the flour, the water and the eggs. A little smile spread over his +tanned, chubby face. + +"Trouble bake a cake," he said to himself. "Nora bake a cake--Trouble +bake a cake. Yes!" + +First Baby William pulled toward him the bag of flour. He managed to +do it without upsetting it, for the bag was a small one. Near it was a +bowl of water with a spoon in it. Trouble had seen his mother and Nora +bake cakes, and he must have remembered that they mixed the flour and +water together. Anyhow that was the way to make mud pies--by mixing +sand and water. + +Trouble looked for something to mix his cake in. The tins and dishes +were so far back on the table that he could not get them easily. He +must take something else. + +Off his head Trouble pulled his white hat--a new one that grandpa had +brought only that day from the village store. + +"Make cake in dis," murmured Baby William to himself. + +He pushed a chair up to the table and climbed upon it. From the chair +he got on the table and sat down. Then he began to make his cake in +his hat. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CURLYTOPS GO SWIMMING + + +"Trouble make a cake--Trouble make a nice cake for Jan an' Ted," +murmured Baby William to himself. Certainly he thought he was going to +do that--make a nice cake--but it did not turn out just that way. + +Trouble's hat, being of felt, held water just as a dish or a basin +would have done, but the little fellow had to hold it very carefully +in his lap between his knees as he sat on the table, or he would have +squeezed his hat and the water would have spilled out. But when +Trouble really wanted to do anything he could be very careful. And he +wanted, very much this time, to make that cake. + +So, when he had the water in his hat he began to dip up some flour +from the bag with a large spoon. + +When the little fellow thought he had enough flour sifted into the +water in his hat he began to stir it, just as he had seen Nora stir +her cake batter. Around and around he stirred it, and then he found +that his cake was much too wet. He had not enough flour in it, just +as, sometimes, when he and Jan made mud pies, they did not have enough +sand or dirt in the water to make the stuff for the pies as thick as +they wanted it. + +So Trouble stirred in more flour. And then, just as you can easily +guess, he made it too thick, and had to put in more water. + +By this time Troubles small hat was almost full of flour and water, +and some dough began to run over the edges, down on his little bare +legs, and also on his rompers and on the table and even to the floor +of the kitchen tent. + +Trouble did not like that. He wanted to get his cake mixed before Nora +came back, so she could bake it in the oven for him. For he knew cakes +must be baked to make them good to eat, and he really hoped, knowing +no better, that his cake would be good enough to eat. + +"Trouble make a big cake," he said, as he slowly put a little more +water into his hat, and stirred the dough some more. He splashed some +of the flour and water on the end of his stubby nose, and wiped it off +on the back of his hand. Then, as he kept on stirring, some more of +the dough splashed on his cheeks, and he had to wipe that off. So +that, by this time, Baby William had on his hands and face at least as +much dough as there was in the spoon. + +But finally the little mischief-maker got the dough in his hat just +about thick enough--not too much flour and not too much water in it. +When this point was reached he knew that it was time to get ready for +the baking part--putting the dough in the pans so it would go into the +oven. + +Trouble wanted to do as much toward making his own cake as he could +without asking Nora to help. So now he thought he could put the dough +in the baking pans himself. But they were on the table beyond his +reach. He must get up to reach them. + +So Trouble got up, and then-- + +Well, you can just imagine what happened. He forgot that he was +holding in his lap the hat full of dough and as soon as he stood up of +course that slipped from his lap and the table and went splashing all +over the floor. + +"Squee-squish-squash!" the hat full of dough dropped. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Trouble. "Oh!" + +His feet were covered with the white flour and water. Some splashed on +Nora's chair near the table, some splashed on the table legs and more +spread over the tent floor and ran in little streams toward the far +edges. And, in the midst of it, like a little island in the middle of +a lake of dough, was Trouble's new hat. Only now you could hardly tell +which was the hat and which was the dough. + +"Trouble's cake all gone!" said the little fellow sadly, and just as +he said that back came Nora. She gave one look inside her nice, clean +tent-kitchen--at least it had been clean when she left it--and then +she cried: + +"Oh, Trouble Martin! What _have_ you gone and done?" + +"Trouble make a cake but it spill," he said slowly, climbing down from +the table. + +"Spill! I should say it did spill!" cried Nora. "Oh, what a sight you +are! And what will your mother say!" + +"What is it now, Nora?" asked Mrs. Martin, who heard the noise in the +kitchen. + +"Oh, it's Trouble, as you might guess. He's tried to make a cake. But +--such a mess!" + +Mrs. Martin looked in. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, +but, as that is rather hard to do, she did neither. She just stood and +looked at Trouble. He had picked up his hat, which still had a little +of the paste in it, and this was now dripping down the front of his +rompers. + +"Well, it's clean dirt, not like the time he was stuck in the mud of +the brook at home, that's one consolation," said Nora at last. Nora +had a good habit of trying to make the best of everything. + +"Yes, it's clean dirt and it will wash off," agreed Mother Martin. +"But, oh, Trouble! You are _such_ a sight! And so is Nora's kitchen." + +"Oh, well, I don't mind cleaning up," paid the good-natured maid. +"Come on, Trouble, I'll let your mother wash you and then I'll finish +the cake." + +"Make a cake for Trouble?" asked Baby William. + +"Yes, I guess I'll have to, since you couldn't make one for yourself," +laughed Nora. "Never mind, you'll be a man when you grow up and you +won't have to mess around a kitchen. Here you are!" and she caught him +up, all doughy as he was, and carried him to the big tent where his +mother soon had him washed and in clean clothes. + +Then Nora cleaned up the kitchen and made some real cakes and cookies +which Ted and Jan, as well as Trouble, ate a little later. The +Curlytops laughed when told of Trouble's attempt to make a cake, and +for a long time after that whenever they were telling any of their +friends about the queer things their baby brother did, they always +told first about the cake he made in his hat one day. + +"Oh, Ted, I know what let's do!" cried Janet one day, about a week +after Trouble had played with the flour and water. + +"What?" asked her brother. "Go fishing?" + +"No, I don't like fishing. Anyhow we went fishing once, and I don't +like to see the worms wiggle. Let's make a little play tent for +ourselves in the woods." + +"We haven't any cloth." + +"We can make one of leaves and branches, just like the bower we made +for Nicknack before grandpa put up the little board barn for him." + +"Yes, we can do that," agreed Ted. "It'll be fun. Come on." + +A little later the two Curlytops were cutting down branches from low +trees, sticking the ends into the soft ground, and tying the leafy +tops together with string. This made a sort of tent, and though there +were holes in it, where the leaves did not quite come together, it +made a shady place. + +Jan brought in her dolls, and Ted his sailboat and other toys, and +there the two children played for some little time. Trouble was not +with them. + +"But he'll be along pretty soon," remarked Janet, "and he'll want part +of the tent for his. Is it big enough for three, Teddy?" + +"Well, we can make Trouble a little bower for himself right next door. +He'll want to bring in a lot of old stones and mud pies anyhow, and we +don't want them. We'll make a little bower for him when he comes +along." + +So, waiting for their little brother to hunt them out, which he always +did sooner or later if they went off to play without him, Ted and Jan +had fun in the little leafy house they had made for themselves. + +They were having a good time, and were wondering if Grandpa Martin +would ever find the queer ragged man or if they would see the strange +blue light again, when Jan suddenly gave a scream. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ted. + +"Something tickled the back of my neck," explained his sister. "Maybe +it's a big worm, or a caterpillar! Look, Ted, will you?" + +Teddy turned to look, but, as he did so, he gave a cry of surprise. + +"It's a goat! It's our goat! It's Nicknack!" yelled Teddy. "He's stuck +his head right through the bower and, oh, Jan! he's eating it!" + +And so Nicknack was. His head was halfway through the side of the +tree-tent nearest Jan and the goat was chewing some of the green +leaves. It was Nicknack's whiskers that had, tickled Jan on the back +of her neck. + +"Whoa there, Nicknack!" called Ted, as the goat from the outside +pushed his way farther into the tent. "Whoa, there! You'll upset this +place in a minute!" + +And so it seemed Nicknack would do, for he was hungrily eating the +leaves of the branches from which Jan and Ted had made their +playhouse. + +"How'd he get loose?" asked Jan. + +"I don't know," Ted answered. "I tied him good and tight by his rope. +I wonder if--" Just then a voice called: + +"Wait for me, Nicknack! Wait for me!" + +"It's Trouble!" cried Jan and Ted together. + +Ted looked out through the hole the goat had eaten in the side of the +bower, and saw Baby William toddling toward him. + +"Did you let Nicknack loose?" demanded Ted. + +"Ess, I did," answered Trouble. "I cutted his wope with a knife, I +did. I wants a wide. Wait for me, Nicknack!" + +The goat was in no hurry to get away, for he liked to eat the green +leaves, and Ted, coming out of the bower, which was almost ready to +fall down now that the goat was half-way inside it, saw where the +rope, fast around his pet's horns, had been cut. + +"You mustn't do that, Trouble," Ted said to his little brother. "You +mustn't cut Nicknack's rope. He might run away into the lake." + +"Trouble wants a wide." + +"Well, we'll give you a ride," added Jan. "But did mother or Nora give +you the knife to cut the rope?" + +"No. Trouble got knife offen table." + +"Oh, you must _never_ do that!" cried Jan. "You might fall on the +sharp knife and cut yourself. Trouble was bad!" + +The little fellow had really taken a knife from the table, and had +sawed away with it on Nicknack's rope until he had cut it through. +Then Nicknack had wandered over to the green bower to get something to +eat, and Trouble, dropping the knife, had followed. + +Mrs. Martin, to punish Baby William so he would remember not to take +knives again, would not let him have a goat ride, and he cried very +hard when Ted and Jan went off without him. But even little boys must +learn not to do what is wrong, and Trouble was no different from any +others. + +One afternoon, when the Curlytops had been wandering around the woods +of the island, looking to see if any berries were yet ripe, they came +back to camp rather tired and warm. + +"I know what would be nice for you," said Nora, who came to the flap +doorway of the kitchen tent. "Yes, I know _two_ things that would be +nice for you." + +"What?" asked Jan, fanning herself with her sunbonnet. + +"I hope it's something good to eat," sighed Teddy, as he sat down in +the shade. + +"Part of it," answered Nora. "How would you like some cool lemonade-- +that is, when you are not so warm," she added quickly, for Teddy had +jumped up on hearing this, and was about to make a rush for the kind +cook. "You must always rest a bit, when you are so warm from running, +walking or playing, before you take a cold drink of anything." + +"But have you any lemonade?" asked Janet, for she, too, was tired and +thirsty. + +"I'll make some, and you may have it when you are not so heated," went +on the cook. "And I'll get some sweet crackers for you." + +"That's nice," said Janet. "Are they the two things you were going to +tell us to do, Nora?" + +"No, I'll count the lemonade and crackers as one," went on the cook with +a smile. "The other thing I was going to tell you to do is to take +Nicknack and have a ride. That will cool you off if you go in the +shade." + +"Oh, so it will!" cried Ted. "We'll do it! And can we take the +lemonade in a bottle, and the crackers in a bag, and put them in the +goat-wagon?" + +"Do you mean to give the crackers and lemonade a ride, too?" asked +Mother Martin, who came out of her tent just then. + +"No, but we can take them with us, and have a little picnic in the +woods," explained Teddy. "We didn't find any berries, and so we didn't +have any picnic." + +"All right, Nora, give them the lemonade and crackers to take with +them," said Mrs. Martin, smiling at the Curlytops. + +"I'll go and make the cool drink now," said the cook. + +"And I'll get the crackers," said the children's mother. + +"And we'll go and get Nicknack and harness him to the cart," added +Ted. + +He and Janet were soon on their way to the little leafy bower where +the goat was kept, for it was so warm on Star Island that the goat did +not stay more than half the time in the stable Grandpa Martin had made +for him. + +"Here, Nicknack! where are you?" called Teddy, as he neared the bower. + +"Here, Nicknack!" called Janet. + +But the goat did not answer. Nearly always, when he was called to in +that way, he did, giving a loud "Baa-a-a-a-a!" that could be heard a +long way. + +"Oh, Nicknack isn't here!" cried Jan, when she saw the empty place. +"Maybe he's run away, Ted." + +"He must be on the island somewhere," said the little boy. "He can't +row a boat and get off, and he doesn't like to swim, I guess, though +he did fall into the water once." + +"But where is he?" asked Janet. + +"We'll look," Teddy said. + +So the children peered about in the bushes, but not a sign of Nicknack +could they see. They called and called, but the goat did not bleat +back to them. + +"Oh, where can he be?" asked Janet, and her eyes filled with tears, +for she loved the pet animal very much. + +"We'll look," said Teddy. "And if we can't find him we'll ask grandpa +to help us look." + +They wandered about, but not going too far from the leafy bower, and, +all at once, Ted cried: + +"Hark! I hear him!" + +"So do I!" added Janet. "Oh, where is he?" + +"Listen!" returned her brother. + +They both listened, hardly breathing, so as to make as little noise as +possible. Once more they heard the cry of the goat: + +"Baa-a-a-a-a-a!" went Nicknack. "Baa-a-a-a!" + +"He's over this way!" cried Teddy, and he started to run to the left. + +"No, I think he's here," and Janet pointed to the right. + +"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Mrs. Martin, who came out just +then to see what was keeping the children. + +"We can hear Nicknack, but we can't see him," answered Ted. + +Mrs. Martin listened to the goat's call. + +"I think he's down this path," she said, and she took one midway +between those Ted and Janet would have taken. "Come along!" she called +back to the two children. "We'll soon find Nicknack." + +"Here, Nicknack! Here, Nicknack!" called Ted. + +"Come on, we want you to give us a ride!" added Janet. + +But though the goat answered, as he nearly always did, his voice +sounded afar off, and he did not come running to see his little +friends. + +"Oh, I wonder if anything is the matter with him?" asked Ted. + +"We'll soon see," said Mrs. Martin. + +Just then the barking of a dog was heard. + +"Oh, I wonder if that's Skyrocket?" asked Janet. + +"No, we left our dog home," said Mrs. Martin. "That sounds like a +strange dog, and he seems to be barking at Nicknack. Come on, +children. We'll see what the matter is!" + +They hurried on, and, in a little while, they saw what had happened. +Nicknack was caught in a thick bush by the rope around his horns. He +had pulled the rope loose from his leafy bower, and it had dragged +along after him as he wandered away. Then the end of the rope had +become tangled in a thick bush and the goat could not pull it loose. +He was held as tightly as if tied. + +In front of him, but far enough away so the goat could not butt him +with his horns, which Nicknack tried to do, was a big, and not very +nice-looking, dog. This dog was barking fiercely at Nicknack, and the +goat could not make him go away. + +"Oh, Mother! don't let the dog hurt our goat!" begged Janet. + +"I'll drive him away," cried Ted, catching up a stone. "No, you had +better let me do it," said Mrs. Martin. She picked up a stick and +walked toward the dog, but he did not wait for her to get very close. +With a last howl and a bark at Nicknack, the dog ran away, jumped into +the lake and swam off toward shore. Then the rope was loosed and +Nicknack, who was badly frightened, was led back by Ted and Jan and +hitched to the wagon. He then gave them a fine ride. The dog was a +stray one, which had swum over from the mainland, Grandpa Martin said. + +Ted and Janet took the lemonade and crackers with them in the goat- +wagon and had a nice little picnic in the woods. + +"What can we do to-day?" asked Janet, as she and Teddy finished +breakfast in the tent one morning, and, after playing about on the +beach of the lake, wanted some other fun. + +"Let's go swimming!" cried Teddy. + +"And take Trouble with us," added Ms sister. + +In their bathing suits and with Nora on the bank to watch them, the +children were soon splashing in the cool water. Ted could swim a +little bit, and Jan was just learning. + +"Come on out where it's a little deeper," Ted urged his sister. "It +isn't up to your knees here, and you can't swim in such shallow +water." + +"I'm afraid to go out," she said. + +"Afraid of what?" + +"Big fish or a crab." + +"Pooh! those little crabs won't bite you, and when we splash around we +scare away all the fish. They wouldn't bite you anyhow." + +"Maybe a water snake would." + +"No, it wouldn't," declared Ted. "Come on and see me swim." + +So Jan waded out a little way with him. Ted was just taking a few +strokes, really swimming quite well for so small a boy, when, all at +once, he heard a cry from his sister. + +"Oh, Ted! Ted!" she called. "Come on in, quick. A big fish is goin' to +bite you!" + +Ted gave one look over his shoulder and saw something with a pointed +nose, long whiskers and two bright eyes swimming toward him. + +"Oh!" yelled Ted, and he began running for shore as fast as he could +splash through the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +JAN'S QUEER RIDE + + +"What's the matter? What is it?" cried Nora from the bank where she +was tossing bits of wood into the lake for Trouble to pretend they +were little boats. "Have you got a cramp, Teddy boy?" + +"It's a--a big fish--or--somethin'," he panted, as he kept on running +and splashing the water all about, which, after all, did not matter as +he was in his bathing suit. + +"It's a shark after him!" cried Jan, who, by this time, was safe on +shore, stopping on her way to grasp Trouble by the hand and lead him +also to safety. "It's a shark!" + +She had heard her mother read of bathers in the ocean being sometimes +frightened by sharks, or by big fish that looked like sharks. + +"Oh, a shark! Good land! We mustn't bathe here any more!" cried Nora. + +By this time Ted was in such shallow water that it was not much above +his ankles. He could see the bottom, and he hoped no very big fish +could swim in so little water. So he thought it would be safe to stop +and look back. + +"Oh, it's coming some more!" cried Jan, from where she stood on the +bank with Nora and Trouble. "Look, Ted! It's coming." + +The animal, fish, or whatever it was, indeed seemed to be coming +straight for the shore near the place where the Curlytops were +playing. Ted, Jan and Nora could see the sharp nose and the bright +eyes more plainly now. As for Trouble, he did not know what it was all +about, and he wanted to go back in the water to wade, which was as +near swimming as he ever came. + +Then the strange creature turned and suddenly made for a small rock, +which stood out of the water a little way from the sandy beach. It +climbed out on the rock, while the children and Nora watched eagerly, +and then Ted gave a laugh. + +"Why!" he exclaimed, "it's nothing but a big muskrat!" + +"A muskrat?" echoed Jan. + +"Yes." + +"And see, he has a mussel, or fresh-water clam," said Nora. "Look at +him crack the shell." + +And this is what the muskrat was really doing. It had been swimming in +the lake--for muskrats are good swimmers--when it had found a fresh- +water mussel, which is like a clam except that it has a longer shell +that is black instead of white. Muskrats like mussels, but they cannot +eat them in water. + +They have to bring them up on shore, or to a flat rock or stump that +sticks up out of water, where they can crack the shell and eat the +mussel inside. + +"If I'd a known what it was I wouldn't 'a' been scared," said Ted, who +felt a little ashamed of himself for hurrying toward shore. "You +frightened me yelling so, Jan." + +"Well, I didn't want to see you get bit by a shark, Teddy. First I +thought it was a shark." + +"Well, sharks live in the ocean, where the water is salty," declared +Ted. + +"Anyhow maybe a muskrat bites," went on Janet. + +"Well, maybe," agreed Ted. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't stay +there when he came swimming in," for the big rat passed right over the +place where Ted had been about to swim. "I'm glad you yelled, Janet." + +"So'm I. I'm not going in swimming here anymore." + +"Oh, he won't come back," Ted said. "Come on!" + +But Janet would not go, and as it was no fun for Ted to splash in the +water all alone he stayed near shore and went wading with Trouble and +his sister. + +This was fun, and the Curlytops had a good time, while Nora, now that +she knew there was no danger from sharks, sat in the shade and mended +holes in the children's stockings. + +"I wish we had a boat," said Ted after a while. + +"Why, we have," answered Jan. + +"Yes, I know, the big rowboat. But that's too heavy for me and you--I +mean you and me," and Ted quickly corrected himself, for he knew it +was polite always to name oneself last. "But I want a little boat that +we can paddle around in." + +Jan thought for a moment and then cried: + +"Oh, I know the very thing!" + +"What?" asked Ted eagerly. + +"One of the boxes grandpa brought the things in from the store. +They're long, and we can make box-boats of them. There's two of 'em!" + +"That's what we can!" cried Teddy, as he thought of the boxes his +sister meant. Groceries from the store had been sent to the camp in +them. The boxes were strong, and long; big enough for Jan or Ted to +sit down in them and reach over the sides to paddle, not being too +high. + +Mother Martin said they might take the boxes and make of them the +play-boats they wanted, and, in great delight, Ted and his sister ran +to get their new playthings. + +Grandpa Martin pulled out all the nails that might scratch the +children, and he also fastened strips of wood over the largest cracks +in the boxes. + +"That will keep out some of the water, but not all," he said. "Your +box-boats won't float very long. They'll sink as soon as enough water +runs in through the other cracks." + +"Oh, well, we'll paddle in them in shallow water," promised Ted. "And +sinking won't hurt, 'cause we've got on our bathing suits. Come on, +Jan!" + +Trouble wanted to sail in the new boats, also, but they were not large +enough for two. Besides Mrs. Martin did not want the baby to be in the +water too much. So she carried him away, Trouble crying and screaming +to be allowed to stay, while Jan and Ted got ready for their first +trip. They pretended the boats were ocean steamers and that the cove +in the lake, near grandpa's camp, was the big ocean. + +They had pieces of wood which their grandfather had whittled out for +them to use as paddles, and, as Ted said, they could sit down in the +bottoms of the box-boats and never mind how much water came in, for +they still had on their bathing suits. + +"All aboard!" called Teddy, as he got into his boat. + +"I'm coming," answered Janet, pushing off from shore. + +"Oh, I can really paddle!" cried Ted in delight, as he found that his +box floated with him in it and he could send it along by using the +board for a paddle, as one does in a canoe. "Isn't this great, Janet?" + +"Oh, it's lots of fun!" + +"I'm glad you thought of it. I never would," went on Ted. He was a +good brother, for, whenever his sister did anything unusual like this +he always gave her credit for it. + +Around and around in the little cove paddled the Curlytops, having fun +in their box-boats. + +"I'm going to let the wind blow me," said Jan, after a bit. "I'm tired +of paddling." + +"There isn't any wind," Ted remarked. + +"Well, what makes me go along, then?" asked his sister. "Look, I'm +moving and I'm not paddling at all!" + +She surely was. In her boat she was sailing right across the little +cove, and, as Ted had said, there was not enough wind to blow a +feather, to say nothing of a heavy box with a little girl in it. + +"Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Janet. "What makes me go this way, Ted? +You aren't sailing." + +Ted's boat was not moving now, for he had stopped paddling. + +Still Jan's craft moved on slowly but surely through the water. Then +Ted saw a funny thing and gave a cry of surprise. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DIGGING FOR GOLD + + +"What's the matter?" called Jan. Her boat was now quite a little +distance away from her brother's. "Do you see anything, Teddy?" + +"I see you are being towed, Janet." + +"Being what?" + +"Towed--pulled along, you know, just like the mules pull the canal +boats." + +Once the Curlytops had visited a cousin who lived in the country near +a canal, and they had seen the mules and horses walking along the +canal towpath pulling the big boats by a long rope. + +"Who's towing me, Ted?" asked Jan, trying to look over the side of her +box. But, as she did so it tipped to one side and she was afraid it +would upset, so she quickly sat down again. + +"I don't know what it is," her brother answered. "But something has +hold of the rope that's fast to the front part of your box, and it's +as tight as anything--the rope is. Something in the water is pulling +you along." + +On each of the box-boats the Curlytops had fastened a piece of +clothesline their mother had given them. This line was to tie fast +their boats to an overhanging tree branch, near the shore of the cove, +when they were done playing. + +And, as Ted had said, the rope fast to the end of Jan's box was +stretched out tightly in front, the end being down under water. + +"Oh, maybe it's the big muskrat that has hold of my rope and is giving +me a ride," cried Janet. "It's fun!" + +"No, I don't guess it's a rat," answered Teddy. "A muskrat wouldn't do +that. Oh, I see what it is!" he cried suddenly. "I see it!" + +"What?" asked Janet. + +Again she got up and tried to look over the side of the box, but once +more it tipped as though going to turn over and she sat down. + +By this time both her box and Ted's was half full of water, and so +went only very slowly along the little cove. The weight of the water +that had leaked in through the cracks and the weight of the Curlytops +themselves made the boxes float low in the lake. + +"Can you see what's pulling me?" asked Janet. + +"Yes," answered Teddy, "I can. It's a great big mud turtle!" + +"A mud turtle!" cried Janet. + +"I guess he's scared, too," said her brother, "for he's swimmin' all +around as fast as anything!" + +"Where is he?" asked Janet. + +"Right in front of your boat. I guess your rope got caught around one +of his legs, or on his shell, and he can't get it loose. He must have +been swimming along and run into the rope. Or maybe he's got it in his +mouth." + +"If he had he could let go," answered Janet. "Oh, I see him!" she +cried. She had stood up in her box and was looking over the front. The +box had now sunk so low in the water that it was on the bottom of the +little cove and no longer was the turtle towing it along. + +The turtle, finding that it could no longer swim, had come to the top +of the water and was splashing about, trying to get loose. Jan could +see it plainly now, as Ted had seen it before from his boat, which was +still floating along, as not so much water had leaked in as had seeped +into his sister's. + +"Oh, isn't it a big one!" cried Jan. "It's a big turtle." + +"It surely is!" assented Ted. "He could bite hard if he got hold of +you." + +"Is he biting my rope?" Janet asked. + +"No, it's round one of his front legs," replied Ted. "There! he's got +it loose!" + +"There he goes!" shrieked Jan. + +By this time the mud turtle, which was a very large one, had struggled +and squirmed about so hard in the water that he had shaken loose the +knot in the end of Jan's rope. The knot had been caught under its left +front leg and when the turtle swam or crawled along on the bottom, the +rope had been held tightly in place, and so the box was pulled along. + +But when Jan's boat sank and went aground, the turtle could not pull +it any farther, and had to back up, just as Nicknack the goat +sometimes backed up his cart. This made the rope slack, or loose, and +then the creature could shake the knot of the rope out from under its +leg. + +"There it goes!" cried Ted, as the turtle swam away. "Oh, what a +whopper! It's bigger than the big muskrat!" + +"Your muskrat didn't give you a ride Ted, and my turtle gave me a fine +one," said Jan. "But I can't sail my boat any more." + +"Well, we'll have to empty out some of the water. Then it will float +again and you can get in it." + +"I'm not going to let the rope drag in the water any more," decided +Janet, after Ted had helped her tip her box over so the water would +run out. "I don't really want any more rides like that. The next +turtle might go out into the lake. I want to paddle." + +"I wish a big whale would come along and tow me," laughed Ted. "I +wouldn't let him go loose." + +"He _might_ pull you all across the lake," Janet said. + +"I'd like that. Come on, we'll have a race." + +"All right, Ted." + +The Curlytops began paddling their box-boats about the cove once more. +Ted won the race, being older and stronger than Janet, but she did +very well. + +Then after some more fun sailing about in their floating boxes the +children were called by their mother, who said they had been in the +water long enough. Besides dinner was ready, and they were hungry for +the good things Nora had made. + +"And didn't you find any of them, Father?" asked Mrs. Martin as the +farmer pushed back his chair, when the meal was over. + +"No, I didn't see a sign of them, and I looked all over the cave, too, +Some persons have been sleeping in there, for I found a pile of old +bags they had used for a bed, but I didn't find anyone." + +"Find who?" Ted inquired. + +"The tramps, or the ragged man you and Jan saw," answered his +grandfather. "I have been looking about the island, but I could not +find any of the ragged men, for I think there was more than one. So I +guess they've gone, and we needn't think anything more about them." + +"Did you see the blue light?" asked Ted. + +"No, I didn't see that, either. I guess it wouldn't show in the +daytime. But don't worry. Just have all the fun you can in camp. We +can't stay here very much longer." + +"Oh, do we have to go home?" cried the Curlytops, sorrowfully. + +"Well, we can't stay here much longer," said Mother Martin. "In +another month the weather will be too cold for living in a tent. +Besides daddy will want us back, and grandpa has to gather in his farm +crops for the winter. So have fun while you can." + +"Isn't daddy coming here?" asked Jan. + +"Yes, he'll be here next week to stay several days with us. Then he +has to go back to the store." + +The Curlytops had great fun when Daddy Martin came. They showed him +all over the island--the cave, the place where Nicknack nearly ate up +the bower-tent, the place where Ted saw the muskrat, and they even +wanted him to go riding in the box-boats. + +"Oh, I'm afraid I'm too big!" laughed Daddy Martin. "Besides, I'd be +afraid if a mud turtle pulled me along." + +"Oh, Daddy Martin! you would not!" laughed Janet. + +And so the happy days went by, until Mr. Martin had to leave Star +Island to go back to his business. He promised to pay another visit, +though, before the camp was ended. + +Several times, before and after Daddy Martin's visit, Ted and Jan +talked about the queer ragged man they had seen, and about the blue +light and the cave. + +"I wonder if we'll ever find out what it all means," said Jan. "It's +like a story-book, isn't it, Ted?" + +"A little, yes. But grandpa says not to be scared so I'm not." + +"I'm not, either. But what do you s'pose that ragged man is looking +for, and who is the professor?" + +Teddy did not know, and said so. Then, when he and Jan got back to the +tent, having been out with Trouble for a ride in the goat-cart, they +found good news awaiting them. + +"Here is a letter from Hal Chester, the little boy who used to be +lame," said Mrs. Martin, for grandpa had come in, bringing the mail +from the mainland post-office. + +"Oh, can he come to pay us a visit?" asked Ted. His mother had allowed +him to invite Hal. + +"Yes, that's what he is going to do," went on Mrs. Martin. "His doctor +says he is much better, and can walk with hardly a limp now, and the +trip here will do him good. So to-morrow Grandpa Martin is going to +bring him to Star Island." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Ted and Jan, jumping up and down and clapping their +hands. Trouble did the same thing, though he did not know exactly what +for. + +"We'll have fun with Hal!" cried Ted. "Maybe he'll help us find the +tramp-man. Hal's smart--he can make kites and lots of things." + +The next day Hal Chester came to visit the camp on Star Island. + +"Say, this is a dandy place!" he exclaimed as he looked about at the +tents and at the boat floating in the little cove. "I'll just love it +here!" + +"It's awful nice," agreed Jan. + +"And there's a mystery here, too," added Ted + +"What do you mean?" Hal demanded. "What's a mystery?" + +"Oh, it's something queer," went on Ted. "Something you can't tell +what it is. This mystery is a tramp." + +"A tramp?" + +"Yes. Jan saw him when she was picking flowers, and he pulled Trouble +out of the spring afterward. And there's a cave here where maybe he +sleeps, 'cause there's some bags for beds in it. He's looking for +something on this island, that tramp-man is," declared Ted. + +"Looking for something?" repeated Hal, quite puzzled. + +"Yes. He goes all around, and we saw him picking up some stones. +Didn't we, Jan?" + +"Yes, we did." + +"Picking up stones," repeated Hal slowly. Then he sprang up from where +he was sitting under a tree with the Curlytop children. + +"I know what he's looking for!" Hal cried. + +"What?" + +"Gold!" and Hal's voice changed to a whisper. "That tramp knows +there's gold on this island, and he's trying to dig it up so you won't +know it. He's after gold--that's what he is!" + +"Oh!" gasped Jan, her eyes shining brightly. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ted. "Can't we stop him? This is grandpa's island. He +mustn't take grandpa's gold." + +"There's only one way to stop him," said Hal quickly. + +"How?" demanded Ted and Janet in the same breath. + +"We'll have to dig for the gold ourselves! Come on, let's get some +shovels and well start right away. It must be up near the cave. Come +on! We'll dig for the gold ourselves!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE BIG HOLE + + +Hal Chester was very much in earnest. His eyes shone and he could not +keep still. He fairly danced around Janet and Ted. + +"Do you really think that tramp-man was looking for gold?" asked Ted. + +"'Deed I do," declared Hal. "What else was he after?" + +Neither Ted nor Janet could answer that. + +"But how will we know where it is?" asked Janet. "We don't know where +there's any gold, and mother won't want us to go near that tramp-man." + +"And I don't want to, either," answered Hal. "But we can dig down till +we find the gold, can't we?" + +"If we knowed--I mean if we knew where to dig," agreed Ted, after +thinking about it. "But digging for gold isn't like digging for angle- +worms to go fishing. You can dig them anywhere. But you've got to have +a gold mine to dig for gold." + +"Well, we'll start a mine," decided Hal. "That's what the miners do +out West. I read about it in a book at the Home when I was crippled +and couldn't walk much. The miners just start to dig, and if they +don't find gold in one place they dig in another. That's what we'll +do. We'll dig till we find the gold, then we'll have a gold mine." + +"Oh, yes, let's do it!" cried Jan. "I'd love to have some gold to make +a pair of bracelets for my doll." + +"Pooh!" scoffed Ted, "if we get gold we aren't going to waste it on +doll's bracelets! Are we, Hal?" + +"Well, if Jan helps us dig she can have her share of the gold. That's +what miners always do. They divide up the gold and each one takes his +share. Of course Jan can do what she likes with hers." + +"There, see, Mr. Smarty!" cried Jan to her brother. "I'll make my gold +into doll's bracelets." + +"Maybe you won't get any," objected Ted. + +"Well, I'll help you dig, anyhow. I helped grandpa dig trenches around +tents so the rain water would run off, and I can help dig a gold mine. +I know where the shovels are." + +"Good!" cried Hal. + +"We don't want any girls in this gold mine!" objected Ted, as his +sister hurried off to where Grandpa Martin kept the shovels, hoes and +other garden tools he used about the camp. + +Usually Ted did not mind what game his sister played with him, but +since Hal had spoken of gold the little Curlytop boy had acted +differently. + +"We don't want girls in the gold mine," repeated Ted. + +"Course we do!" laughed Hal. "Jan's a strong digger, and I can't do +very much, as my foot that used to be lame isn't all well yet. It used +to be almost as strong as the other, but now it isn't. So you and Jan +will have to do most of the digging, though I can shovel away the +dirt. Anyhow they always have girls or women in gold camps, you know." + +"They do?" cried Ted. + +"Of course! They do the cooking where there aren't any Chinamen. +Mostly Chinamen do the cooking in gold camps, but we haven't any, so +we'll have to have a girl. She can be Jan." + +"There's a Chinaman who washes shirts and collars in our town," +remarked Ted. "Maybe we could get him to cook for us." + +"No! What's the use when we've got Jan? Anyhow it'll be only make- +believe cooking, and I don't guess that shirt-Chinaman would want to +come here just for that. Anyhow we'd have to pay him and we haven't +any money." + +"We'll get some out of the gold mine," Ted answered. + +"Well, maybe we won't find any gold for a week or so." + +"Does it take as long as that?" + +"Oh, yes. Sometimes longer. And that Chinaman would want to be paid +for his cooking every week, or every night maybe. We won't have to pay +Jan." + +"That's so. Well, then I guess she can come. But we can get my mother +or Nora to make us sandwiches and we won't have to cook much of +anything." + +"That's what I thought, Teddy. But we can let Jan set the table and +things like that when she isn't digging. She'll help a lot." + +"Yes, she's almost as strong as I am," agreed Ted. "Hurry up, Jan!" he +called. "Got those shovels yet?" + +"Yes, but I can't carry 'em all. You must help. Come on!" + +Jan was walking back toward the boys, dragging two heavy shovels. +Seeing this, Hal hurried to help her and Ted followed. They got +another shovel and a hoe and with these they started off toward the +cave, about which Ted had told Hal. + +"That'll be the place where the gold is," decided the visitor. "The +tramps must have been looking for it there. We'll start our gold mine +right near the cave." + +"What about something to eat?" asked Ted, pausing as they started up +the path that led to the hole out of which the cave opened. + +"That's so. We ought to have something. I'm getting hungry now," +remarked Jan, though it was not long since they had had a meal. + +"So'm I," announced Ted. + +"Better not stop to go back for anything to eat now," decided Hal. +"Your mother or grandma might make us stay in camp. Did you tell them +we were going to dig for gold, Jan?" + +"No. I didn't see any of them when I got the shovels." + +"Well then, we'll go on up to the cave. One of us can come back later +and get something to eat. They call it 'grub' in the books." + +"Call what grub?" Ted asked. + +"Stuff the miners eat. We'll send Jan back for the grub after we start +the gold mine. You're going to be the cook," Hal informed Ted's +sister. + +"I am not!" she cried, dropping her shovel. "I'm going to be a gold +miner just like you two. If I can't be that I won't play, and I'll +take my shovel right back! So there now!" + +"Oh, you can be a gold miner too," Hal made haste to say. "But we've +got to have a cook--they always do in a gold camp." + +"Well, I'll be a cook when I'm not digging gold," agreed Jan. "But I +want to get enough for my doll's bracelets." + +"That's all right," agreed Hal. It would not do to have Jan leave them +right at the start. + +If Mrs. Martin or grandpa saw the children starting out with hoe and +shovels they probably thought the Curlytops were only going to dig +fish worms, as they often did. Grandpa Martin was very fond of +fishing, but he did not like to dig the bait. But Trouble was fretful +that day, and his mother had to take care of him, so she did not pay +much attention to Jan or Ted, feeling sure they would come to no harm. + +So on the three children hurried toward the hole into which Ted had +fallen just before they found the queer cave. + +"This is just the place for a gold mine!" cried Hal when he looked at +the ground around the big hole. "I guess some one must have started a +mine here once before." + +"It does look so," agreed Ted. + +"Let's go into the cave," proposed the visitor. + +"No, grandpa told us we must never go in without him," objected Jan. +"It's all right to stay outside here and dig, but we mustn't go +inside. The tramps might be in there." + +"That's right," chimed in Ted. "We'll stay outside." + +Hal was not very anxious, himself, to go into the dark hole, so they +looked at the place where Ted had fallen through the loose leaves and +talked about whether it would be better to start to make that hole +larger or begin a new one. The children decided the last would be the +best thing to do. + +"We'll start a new mine of our own," said Hal. "I guess maybe somebody +dug there and couldn't find any gold. So we'll start a new mine." + +This suited the Curlytops and they soon began making the dirt fly with +shovels and hoe, digging a hole that was large enough for all three of +them to stand in. Hal said they didn't want to start by making too +small a mine. + +"If we've got to divide it into three parts we want each one's part +big enough to see," he said, and Ted and Jan agreed to this. + +The ground was of sand and very easy to dig. There were no big rocks, +only a few small stones, and of course this was just what the children +liked. So that in about half an hour they had really dug quite a deep +hole. It was almost as easy digging as it is in the sand at the +seashore, and if any of you have been there you know how soon, even if +you use only a big clam shell for a shovel, you can make a hole deep +enough for you and your playmates to stand up in. + +"Do you see any gold yet?" asked Jan of the two boys, when they had +dug down so that only the top parts of their bodies were out of the +big hole. + +"No, not yet. But we'll come to it pretty soon," Hal said. + +"Say, how're we going to get up when the hole gets too deep?" asked +Ted. "We ought to have a ladder or something." + +"There's a ladder in camp," answered Jan. "Grandpa had it when he put +up our real rope swing. Don't you remember, Ted?" + +"Yes, that's right. We'd better get it if we're going any deeper, +Hal," he added. + +"Course we're going deeper. Gold mines are real deep. I guess the +ladder would be a good thing." + +"Then we'll go for it. Jan, you can come and get us something to eat, +too. I'm awful hungry." + +"So'm I," said Hal. + +While Jan was in the tent-kitchen begging Nora for some cookies and +sandwiches, Ted and Hal carried the small ladder, which was not very +heavy, up to the big hole they had started. By putting one end of the +ladder down inside, allowing it to slant up to the top of the hole, +the children could easily get down in and climb up. + +After they had eaten the things Jan got from Nora, they began digging +again. The hole was soon so deep that the dirt which was shoveled and +hoed away from the bottom and sides could no longer be tossed out by +Ted and Jan. + +"We've got to get a pail and hoist up the dirt," decided Hal. "That's +what they do in gold mines. One of us must stay at the bottom and dig +the dirt and fill the pail, and the other pull it up by a rope." + +"We'll take turns," said Teddy. + +"And I want to help, too!" cried Jan, so the boys agreed to let her, +especially as they had seen that she could dig and toss dirt almost as +well as they could. They found an old pail and part of a clothes-line +for the rope, and the work at the "gold mine," as they called it, went +on more merrily than before. + +By this time the hole was really quite deep--so deep that Hal Chester +could not see over the rim when he stood up straight on the bottom, +and only by using the ladder could the children get down and up. + +"We ought to find gold pretty soon now," said Hal, as he climbed up to +let Ted take a turn at going down in the hole and digging. Just then +from the camp they heard the sound of the supper bell. + +"Come on!" called Ted, not waiting to go down into the big hole. "We +can dig some more after supper and to-morrow. I'm hungry!" + +"So'm I," agreed Hal. + +Leaving their shovels and the hoe on the pile of dirt, the children +hastened down to the tent where Nora had supper waiting for them, and +it had a most delicious smell. "Where have you children been?" asked +Mrs. Martin. + +"Oh, havin' fun," answered Ted. + +"Don't forget your 'g,' Curlytop," warned his mother with a laugh. +"Are you hungry, Hal?" + +"Indeed I am! This island is a good place for getting hungry." + +"And this is a good place to be stopped from getting hungry," laughed +Grandpa Martin, as he pulled his chair up to the well-filled table +near which Nora stood ready to serve the meal. + +The Curlytops and Hal had just a little idea that the grown folks +would not like their plan of digging a gold mine, so nothing was said +about it. Hal, Ted and Jan looked at one another when their plates +were emptied, and then all three of them started once more back toward +the big hole. + +"Where are you going?" asked Mother Martin. + +"We----" began Jan, then stopped. + +"Oh, we--we're playing a game," answered Ted. It was a sort of game. + +"Can't you take Trouble with you? You haven't looked after him to- +day," went on Mrs. Martin, "and I want to help Nora. Take Trouble with +you." + +"All right," agreed Ted, though he thought perhaps Baby William might +be in the way at the gold mine. + +"Where is he?" asked Jan. + +They looked around for the little fellow. He was not in sight. + +"He got down from the table and was playing over there on the path a +while ago," said Grandpa Martin, and he pointed toward the path that +led to the gold mine. But Trouble was not in sight now. + +"He must have wandered off into the woods," said his mother. "I've +kept him close by me all day, and he didn't like it. Trouble! +William!" she called aloud. "Where are you?" + +Ted and Jan looked at one another. Hal seemed startled. The same +thought came to all three of them: + +"Suppose Trouble had fallen down the big hole at the gold mine?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A GLAD SURPRISE + + +Janet, Ted and Hal started to run. + +"Where are you going?" called Mrs. Martin after them. "Wait for +Trouble!" + +"We're going to find him," answered Janet. + +"Maybe he fell down the big hole we dug for a gold mine," added Ted. + +"What do you mean?" gasped Mrs. Martin. + +"What have you Curlytops been up to now?" asked Grandpa Martin. + +"We dug a big hole to find the gold the tramps are looking for on this +island," explained Hal, who walked on slowly, following Mrs. Martin, +who had run after Ted and Janet. "Maybe the little boy fell into it." + +"Where did you dig the big hole?" asked grandpa, and he, too, began to +be afraid that something had happened. + +"Up near what Ted calls the cave. It's got a ladder in it, our gold +mine hole has, and maybe Trouble could climb out on that." + +"If it's a hole deep enough for a ladder, I'm afraid he couldn't," +said Grandpa Martin. "You children must have dug a pretty big hole." + +"We wanted to find the gold," explained Hal. + +"What gold?" + +"The gold the tramps are looking for here on Star Island. Ted told me +about them, and I suppose they were after gold. We want to find it +first." + +"There isn't any gold here, and you mustn't dig holes so deep that +Trouble--or anyone else--would wander off and fall into them," said +Mr. Martin. "However, I presume it will be all right. But we must +hurry there and find out what has happened." + +He and Hal hastened on, following Mrs. Martin and the Curlytops, who +were now out of sight around a turn in the path that led to the big +hole. Hal was rather frightened, for he knew it was his idea, more +than the plans of Jan and Ted, that had caused the "gold mine" to be +dug. + +On and on, along the path and up the hill hurried grandpa and Mrs. +Martin and the children. They called aloud for Trouble, but he did not +answer. At least they could not hear him if he did. He must have gone +quietly away from the table when no one noticed him. He had had his +supper before the Curlytops and Hal came from their digging. + +"There's the pile of dirt," called back Ted, who was running on ahead. +He pointed to the mound of yellow sand that he, Hal and Jan had dug +out of the hole. + +"And some one is there, digging!" cried Jan. "Oh, maybe it's Trouble!" + +"I only hope he hasn't fallen in and hurt himself!" murmured Mrs. +Martin. + +By this time Grandpa Martin and Hal had caught up to the others. They +could all see some one making the dirt fly on top of the yellow mound +of sand at one side of the big hole. + +As Ted came nearer he saw a man on top of the dirt, using a shovel. +The man was digging quickly, and at first Teddy thought it was one of +the tramps. But a second look showed him he was wrong. And then came a +glad surprise, for the man called: + +"I'll have him out in a minute. He isn't under very deep!" + +"Why it's the lollypop man!" cried Jan. + +And so it was, Mr. Sander, the jolly, fat man who sold waffles and +lollypops. + +"Is Trouble in the hole? Are you digging him out?" gasped Mrs. Martin, +and she felt as though she were going to faint, she said afterward. + +"No! Trouble isn't here--I mean he isn't in the hole!" cried Mr. +Sander. "It's your goat, Nicknack, who's buried under the sand. But +his nose is sticking out so he won't smother, and I'll soon have him +all the way out." + +"But where is Trouble?" cried Baby William's mother. + +"There he is, safe and sound, tied to a tree so he can't get in the +way of the dirt I'm shoveling out. I didn't want to throw sand in his +eyes!" cried the lollypop man. "Trouble is all right!" + +And so the little fellow was, though he had been crying, perhaps from +fright, and his face was tear-streaked and dirty. But he was safe. + +With a glad cry his mother loosed the rope by which Mr. Sander had +carefully tied Trouble to a near-by tree and gathered him up in her +arms. + +Meanwhile Grandpa Martin caught up one of the shovels and began to +help the lollypop man dig in the sand. The Curlytops and Hal saw what +had happened. A lot of the dirt they had shoveled out had slid back +into the big hole, almost filling it. And caught under this dirt was +Nicknack, their goat. Only the black tip of his nose stuck out, and it +is a good thing this much of him was uncovered, or he might have +smothered under the sand. + +"How did it happen?" asked Ted. + +"There must have been a cave-in at our gold mine," said Hal. + +"But how did Nicknack get here?" Ted went on. + +"I guess Trouble must have untied him and brought him here." suggested +Janet. + +Then they all watched while Grandpa Martin and the lollypop man dug +out the goat. + +"Baa-a-a-a-a!" bleated Nicknack as he scrambled out after most of the +sand had been shoveled off his back. "Baa-a-a-a!" + +"My! I guess he's glad to get out!" cried Ted. + +"I guess so!" agreed the lollypop man. "I got here just as the dirt +caved in on him, and I began to dig as soon as I tied Trouble out of +the way so he'd be safe." + +"But how did you come to be here?" asked Grandpa Martin. + +"And how did our goat get here?" asked Janet. + +"I saw Trouble leading him along by the strap on his horns," explained +Mr. Sander. "I guess he must have taken him out of his stable when you +folks weren't looking. Trouble led the goat up on top of the pile of +sand near the hole. I called to him to be careful. + +"Just as I did so the sand slid down and I saw the goat go down into +the hole. Baby William fell down, but he didn't slide in with the +dirt. Then I ran and picked him up, and I tied him to the tree with a +piece of rope I found fast to a pail. I thought that was the best way +to keep him out of danger while I dug out the goat." + +"I guess it was," said Grandpa Martin. + +"Poor Trouble cried when I tied him fast, but I knew crying wouldn't +hurt him, and falling under a lot of sand might. I dug as fast as I +could, for I knew how you Curlytops loved your goat. He's all right, I +guess." + +And Nicknack was none the worse for having been buried under the +sliding sand. As they learned afterward Trouble had slipped off to +have some fun by himself with the pet animal. Baby William had, +somehow, found his way to the "gold mine," and pretending the pile of +sand was a mountain had led Nicknack up it. Then had come the slide +down into the big hole which Hal and the Curlytops had dug. If it had +not been for Mr. Sander appearing when he did, poor Nicknack might +have died. + +"But, Trouble. You must never, never, never go away again alone with +Nicknack!" warned Mother Martin. "Never! Do you hear?" + +"Me won't!" promised the little fellow. + +"And you children mustn't dig any more deep holes," said Grandpa +Martin. "There isn't any gold on this island, so don't look for it." + +"But what are the tramps looking for?" Ted asked. + +"I can't tell you. But, no matter about that, don't dig any more deep +holes. They're dangerous!" + +"We won't!" promised the Curlytops and Hal. + +"How did you come to pay a visit to Star Island, Mr. Sander?" asked +the children's mother. + +"Well, I'm stopping for the night on the main shore just across from +here," was the answer, "so, having had my supper and having made my +bed in my red wagon, I thought I'd come over and pay you a visit. I +heard you were camping here, so I borrowed a boat and rowed over. I +walked along this path, and I happened to see Trouble and the goat. +Then I knew I had found the right place, but I did not imagine I'd +have to come to the rescue of my friend Nicknack," and with a laugh he +patted the shaggy coat of the animal, that rubbed up against the kind +lollypop man. + +"Well, come back to the tent and visit a while," was Grandpa Martin's +invitation. "We're ever so much obliged to you." + +"What does all this mean about tramps and a gold mine?" asked Mr. +Sander. "If there's gold to be had in an easier way than by selling +hot waffles from a red wagon with a white horse to pull it, I'd like +to know about it," he added with a jolly laugh. + +"Oh, ho! Oh, ho!" he cried. "Hot waffles do I sell. Hot waffles I love +well!" + +"Did you bring any with you?" asked Ted eagerly. + +"Indeed I did, my little Curlytop. They may not be hot now, but maybe +your mother can warm them on the stove," and picking up a package he +had laid down near the tree to which he had tied Trouble, the lollypop +man gave it to Mrs. Martin with a low bow. + +"Waffles for the Curlytops," he said laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TROUBLE'S PLAYHOUSE + + +Safe once more in their camp, the children ate the waffles which Nora +made nice and crisp again over the fire. Trouble was comforted and +made happy by two of the sugar-covered cakes, and then everyone told +his or her share in what had just happened. + +"So you think there are gold-hunting tramps here?" asked the lollypop +man, just before he got ready to go back to the mainland where he had +left his red wagon and white horse. + +"Well, there are ragged men here--tramps I suppose you could call +them," answered Grandpa Martin. "But I don't know anything about gold. +That's one of Hal's ideas." + +"I couldn't think of anything else they'd be looking for," explained +Ted's friend. "Don't you think it might be gold, Mr. Martin?" + +"Hardly--on this island. Anyhow we haven't seen the ragged men lately, +so they may have gone. Perhaps they were only stray fishermen. We +would like to thank one for having pulled Trouble out of the spring, +only we haven't had the chance." + +"No. He ran away without stopping for thanks," said Baby William's +mother. "He must be a kind man, even if he is a tramp." + +After a little more talk while they were seated about the campfire +Grandpa Martin built in front of the tents, during which time the +lollypop man told of his travels since he had helped sell the cherries +for the chewing candy, Mr. Sander rowed back to the main shore to +sleep in his red wagon, which was like a little house on wheels. + +"Come again!" invited Mrs. Martin. + +"I will when any more goats fall into gold mines," he promised with a +laugh. + +The next day Grandpa Martin filled up the hole Ted, Jan and Hal had +dug, thus making sure that neither Trouble nor anyone else, not even +Nicknack the goat, would again fall down into it. For when the sand +slid into the "gold mine," carrying the goat with it, the hole was not +altogether filled. Then Grandpa Martin brought away the hoe and +shovels, and told the children they must play at some other game. + +"Where are you going now?" called Mrs. Martin to the two Curlytops, as +they started away from camp one morning. Hal stayed in the tent, as he +was tired. + +"Oh, we're just going for a walk," answered Teddy. + +"We want to have some fun," added his sister. + +"Well, don't go digging any more gold mines," warned Grandpa Martin, +with a laugh. "All the fun of camping will be spoiled if you get into +that sort of trouble again." + +"We won't," promised Janet, and Teddy nodded his head to show that he, +too, would at least try to be good. + +It was not that the Curlytops were bad--that is, any worse than +perhaps you children are sometimes, or, perhaps, some boys or girls +you know of. They were just playful and full of life, and wanted to be +doing something all the while. + +"Do you want to take Trouble with you?" asked Mrs. Martin, as Ted and +Janet started away from camp, and down a woodland path. + +"Yes, we'll take him," said Janet. "Come on, little brother," she went +on. "Come with sister and have some fun." + +"Only I can't play in de dirt 'cause I got on a clean apron," said Baby +William. + +"No, we won't let you play in the dirt," Teddy remarked. "But don't +fall down, either. That's where he gets so dirty," Teddy told his +mother. "He's always falling down, Trouble is." + +"It--it's so--s'ippery in de woods!" said the little fellow. + +"So it is--on the pine needles," laughed Grandpa Martin, who was going +to the mainland in the boat. But this time he did not want to take the +children with him. "It is slippery in the woods, Trouble, my boy. But +keep tight hold of Jan's hand, and maybe you won't fall down." + +"Me will," said Trouble, but he did not mean that he would fall down. +He meant he would keep tight hold of Jan's hand. Then he started off +by her side, with Ted walking on ahead, ready for anything he might +see that would make fun for him and his sister. + +Through the woods they wandered, now and then stopping to gather some +pretty flowers, on graceful, green ferns, and again waiting to listen +to the song of some wild bird, which flitted about from branch to +branch, but which seemed always to keep out of sight amid the leaves +of the forest trees. + +"Oh, isn't it just lovely here!" said Janet, as they came to a little +grassy dell, around which the trees grew in a sort of circle, or +magic, fairy ring. "It's just like in a picture book, Teddy!" + +"Yes, it is," agreed her brother. + +"I don't see any pisshures," complained Trouble. + +"No, there aren't _real_ pictures here," explained Janet; "only make- +believe ones. But you can sit down on the grass and roll, Trouble. The +grass is so clean I guess it won't make your apron dirty. Roll on the +grass." + +Trouble liked nothing better than this, and he was soon sitting on the +soft, green grass, pulling bits and tossing them in the air like a +shower. The grass was soft and thick, and did not soil his clean +clothes at all. + +"Exceptin' maybe a little stain," explained Janet to Teddy; "and Nora +can get that out in the wash." + +After they had sat in the shade for a while, in the green, grassy +place, Ted and Janet wandered off among the trees, leaving Trouble by +himself. But they were not going far. + +"He'll be all right for a little while," said Teddy, "and maybe we can +find some sassafras or wintergreen." + +"But we mustn't eat anything we find in the woods, lessen we show it +to grandpa or mother," returned Janet. + +"No, that's so," agreed her brother. They had been told, as all +children should be who live near the woods or fields, never to eat any +strange berries or plants unless some older person tells them it is +all right to do so. + +But Teddy and Janet could easily tell sassafras and wintergreen by the +pleasant smell of the leaves. They did not find any, however. They +found a bird's empty nest, though, with broken egg shells in it, +showing that the little birds had been hatched out and had flown away. + +All at once, as the Curlytops were wondering what else they could do, +they heard Trouble calling, and his voice sounded very strange. + +"Oh, what has happened to him now?" cried Janet. + +"We'd better go to see!" exclaimed Teddy. + +They ran back to where they had left their little brother. All they +could see of him was his back and legs. He did not seem to have any +head. + +"Oh! Oh!" gasped Janet. "Where is Trouble's head?" + +Ted did not know, and said so, and then the little fellow cried: + +"Tum an' det me out! Tum an' det me out!" + +Then Janet saw what had happened. Trouble had thrust his head between +the crotch, or the T-shaped part, of a tree, and had become so tightly +wedged that he could not get out. + +"Oh, what shall we do?" cried Janet. + +"I'll show you," answered Teddy. "You can help me." Then he pushed on +the little boy's head, and Janet pulled, and he was soon free again, a +little scratched about the neck, and frightened, but not hurt. + +"You must never do such a thing again," said Mrs. Martin, when the +children reached camp and told her what had happened. + +"No, we won't do it any more," promised Trouble, feeling of his neck, +where he had thrust it between the parts of the tree. + +"And you mustn't go off again, and leave him by himself," said their +mother to the Curlytops. "There is no telling what he'll do." + +"That's right," said Grandpa Martin with a laugh. "You may go away, +leaving Trouble standing on his feet, but when you come back he's +standing on his head. Oh, you're a great bunch of trouble!" and he +caught the little fellow up in his arms and kissed him. + +For several days Teddy and Janet and Hal had many good times on Star +Island. Then they wanted something new for amusement. + +"Let's make a trap and catch something," said Ted, after he and Jan +had spoken of several ways of having fun. + +"How can you make a trap?" Hal asked. + +"I'll show you," offered Ted. "You just take a box, turn it upside +down, and raise one end by putting a stick under it. Then you tie a +string to the stick, and when you pull the string the stick is yanked +out and the box falls down and you catch something." + +"What do you catch?" Hal asked. + +"Oh, birds, or an animal--maybe a fox or a muskrat--whatever goes +under the box when it's raised up." + +"But what makes them go under?" Hal inquired. + +"To get something to eat. You see you put some bait under the box-- +some crumbs for birds or pieces of meat for a fox or a muskrat. Then +you hide in the bushes, with the end of the string in your hand and +when you see anything right under the box you pull it and catch 'em!" + +"Oh, but doesn't it hurt them?" asked Hal, who had a very kind heart. + +"Maybe it might, Ted," put in Jan. + +"No. It doesn't hurt 'em a bit," declared Ted. "They just stay under +the box, you know, like in a cage." + +"I wouldn't like to catch a bird," said Hal softly. "You see the birds +are friends of Princess Blue Eyes. She wouldn't like to have them +caught." + +"Oh, well, we could let them go again," Ted decided, after a little +thought. + +"Does Princess Blue Eyes like foxes and muskrats too?" Jan asked +softly. + +"I guess she likes everything--birds, animals and flowers. Anyway I +make-believe she does," and Hal smiled. "Of course she's only a +pretend-person, but I like to think she's real. I like to dream of +her." + +"I would, too," said Janet softly. "We mustn't catch any birds, Ted, +nor animals, either." + +"Not if we let them go right off quick?" Ted asked. + +"No," and Janet shook her head. "It might scare 'em you know. And the +box might fall on their legs, or their wings, if it's a bird, and hurt +them." + +"Well, then, we won't do it!" decided Ted. "I wouldn't want to hurt +anything, and I wouldn't want to make your friend, Princess Blue Eyes, +feel bad," he added to Hal. He remembered the story Hal had told about +the make-believe Princess, when they sat in the green meadow studded +with yellow buttercups and white daisies. + +"Let's play store!" suggested Jan. "There's lots of pretty stones and +shells on the shore, and we can use them for money." + +"What'll we sell?" asked Hal. + +"Oh, we can sell other stones--big ones--for bread, and sand for sugar +and leaves for cookies and things like that," Janet proposed. + +"I wish we had something real to eat, and then we could sell that and +it would be some good," remarked Ted. "I'm going to ask Nora." + +"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Jan. "Come on, Hal. We'll get the store +ready and Ted can go in and ask Nora for some real cookies and maybe a +piece of cake." + +Nora, good-natured as she always was, gave Ted a nice lot of broken +cookies, some crackers and some lumps of sugar so the children could +play store and really eat the things they sold. Hal gathered some +mussel shells and colored stones on the shore of the lake, and these +were money. + +The store counter was made by putting a board across two boxes and +they took turns being the storekeeper. Trouble wanted to play, too. +But he only wanted to buy bits of molasses cookies, and he ate the +pieces as fast as he got them, without pretending to go out of the +store to take them home. + +"Me buy more tookie!" he would say, swallowing the last crumb and +hurrying up to the board counter with another "penny," which was a +shell or a stone. + +"You mustn't eat them up so fast, Trouble," said Janet. "Else we won't +have any left to play store with." + +"Oh, well, we can get more from Nora," said Ted. "And the cookies +taste awful good." + +They played store until there were no more good things left to eat and +Nora would not hand out any others from her boxes and pans in the +kitchen tent. Then the Curlytops and Hal got in the rowboat and +paddled about in the shallow cove. + +Trouble did not go with them, his mother saying he must have a little +sleep so he would not be so cross in the afternoon. And when Jan, her +brother and Hal came up from the lake they found the little fellow +making what he called a "playhouse." + +"Oh, what funny stones Trouble has!" cried Ted as he saw them. +"They're blue." + +"They're pretty," decided Janet. "Where'd you get them, Trouble?" + +"Over dere," and he pointed to a spot some distance from the camp. + +"He found them himself and brought them here in his apron," said Mrs. +Martin. "He's been piling them up into what I called a castle, but he +says it's a playhouse. He's been very good playing with the blue +stones." + +"Let's get some too, and see who can build the biggest castle!" cried +Janet. "Show us where you got them, Trouble." + +But when Baby William toddled to the place where he had picked up the +blue stones there were no more. He had gathered them all, it seemed, +and now would not let his brother or sister take any from his pile. + +However they found other stones which did as well, though they were +not blue in color, and soon the Curlytops and Hal, as well as Trouble, +were making a little house of stones. + +"This is more fun than playing store!" cried Janet, as she made a +little round tower as part of her castle. + +"Are you making a palace for Princess Blue Eyes, Hal?" asked Ted. + +"Yes," he answered, for his stone castle was rather a large one. "But +I can't be sure she'll like it. She doesn't want to stay in one place +very long. She's like a firefly--always dancing about." + +And so they pretended and played, having a very good time, while +Mother Martin watched them and smiled. The children were having great +fun camping with grandpa. + +The castles finished--Trouble's being the prettiest because of the +blue stones, though not as large or fancy as the others--the +Curlytops, Hal and Baby William went on a little picnic in the woods +that afternoon, taking Nicknack with them. Or rather, the goat took +them, for he pulled them in the cart along the forest path. + +When Jan, Hal and Ted were eating breakfast the next morning they +heard a cry from Trouble, who had toddled out of the tent as soon as +he had finished his meal. + +"Oh, what has happened to him now?" exclaimed Mother Martin. "Run and +see, Jan, dear, that's a good girl!" + +Janet found her little brother at the place where they had made the +castles the night before. Trouble's eyes were filled with tears. + +"My p'ayhouse all gone!" he cried. "Trouble's house all goned away!" + +It was true. Not a trace of his playhouse was left! In the night +someone or something had taken the blue stones away. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE CAVE + + +Trouble felt very bad about his playhouse of blue stones which had +been taken away. He was only a little fellow, and when he had gone to +so much work, building up what looked like a fairy castle, he surely +thought he would find it where he left it at night to have it to play +with the next morning. But it was gone. + +"All goned," sobbed Trouble. + +"Isn't it funny, though?" said Teddy. "Mine is all right, and so is +yours, Jan, and Hal's, too. They just spoiled Trouble's." + +"Maybe it was Nicknack," suggested Jan. "He might have got loose in +the night and knocked it down. But he didn't mean to I guess, for he's +a good goat." + +"It couldn't have been Nicknack," declared Hal. + +"Why not?" asked Ted. "Didn't he fall down into the big hole when +Trouble led him to it?" + +"Yes, but Nicknack is there in his stable. He isn't loose at all, and +he'd have to be loose to come here and knock over Trouble's playhouse. +The goat is tied fast just where he was last night." + +So Nicknack was; and Grandpa Martin, who was the first one up in the +camp that morning, said the goat was lying quietly down in his stable +when he went to give him a drink of water. So it couldn't have been +Nicknack. + +"Anyhow, Trouble's blue-stone castle wasn't just knocked down," went +on Hal, "it's gone--every stone is gone. Somebody took 'em!" + +Jan and Ted noticed this for the first time. When Trouble had called +out that his playhouse was gone they had thought he meant it was just +knocked over. But, instead, it was gone completely. Not a blue stone +was left. + +And, strangely enough, none of the other three castles was touched. +Hal had built quite a large one, but not a stone had been taken from +it. + +"Where my p'ayhouse?" asked Trouble, looking all about. "I want my +p'ayhouse." + +"We'll find it for you," promised Jan, though she did not know how she +was going to do it. Perhaps Hal could think of a way. Hal was older +than Jan and Ted. + +"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Mother Martin as she came out of +the tent. "Has anything happened? Why is Trouble crying? Did he get +hurt?" + +"No, but someone took away his nice blue stone castle," explained Jan, +and she and the others took turns telling what had happened. + +"It is queer," said Grandpa Martin, when he came up and heard what had +taken place. "I wonder if any of those--" + +Then he stopped talking and looked at the children's mother in a queer +way. She nodded her head, glanced down at the Curlytops and Hal, and +put her finger across her lips as your teacher does in school when she +wants someone to stop whispering. + +Hal saw what Mrs. Martin did, but neither Jan nor Ted noticed, for +they were running around looking for any of the blue stones that might +have been scattered from Trouble's playhouse. + +"Never mind," said Mother Martin. "I'll find you something else to +play with, Trouble. You shall have a nice ride with Nicknack. You'll +take him, won't you, Jan and Ted?" + +"Yes," they answered. + +"I want my p'ayhouse!" sobbed Baby William, and for a time he made a +fuss about his missing blue stones. + +'"I guess I know what happened to them," said Hal in a whisper to Jan +and Ted when their mother had taken Trouble into the tent to find +something with which to amuse him. + +"What?" asked Ted in a whisper. + +"The tramps!" exclaimed Hal, looking over his shoulder to make sure no +one but Ms two little friends heard him. "That's what your grandfather +was going to say the time he stopped so quick. Your mother didn't want +him to speak of them. But I'm sure the tramps took the blue stones +from Trouble's castle." + +"What would they do with 'em?" Ted demanded. + +"There's gold in 'em!" whispered Hal, more excited than ever now. +"There's gold in those blue stones, and the tramps know it. That's +what they've been looking for, and when Trouble had 'em all in a nice +pile made into a playhouse, the tramps came along in the night and +took 'em away." + +"Oh, do you s'pose it could happen that way, really?" asked Jan, her +eyes big with wonder. + +"Course it could!" said Hal, growing more excited all the while. "I +remember now, gold doesn't always look yellow when you find it, the +way it does in a watch or a ring. Sometimes gold is inside stones and +they have to melt 'em in the fire to get the gold out. My nurse at the +Crippled Home read me about it. And there was gold in the blue stones. +That's why the tramps came and got 'em--I mean _them_," and he +corrected himself. "They told me not to say 'em,'" he added with a +smile. + +"Do you really think the blue stones had gold in 'em--them?" asked +Ted. + +"Yes, I do! Else why would the tramps want them? They came last night +and took Trouble's castle--every stone, and now they've hid the gold +away." + +"Where?" asked Jan, as excited as the boys. + +"I think it must be up in the cave," went on Hal. "If we could only go +there and look we could find it too. Let's go." + +"Maybe mother wouldn't let us." suggested Ted. + +"We don't have to tell her," said Jan. + +"I don't mean to do anything bad, nor have you," went on Hal. "But +wouldn't it be great if we could go up to the cave, without anybody +knowing it, and get the gold? Then your mother would be glad, and your +grandpa, too." + +"Maybe they would--if there was gold in the blue stones," agreed Ted. + +"We could pretend there was," said Janet. "Wouldn't that be fun? But I +don't want to go into that dark cave 'cept maybe grandpa goes, too, +with a light." + +"You wouldn't be afraid with us, would you?" asked Hal. + +"Hal and I would be with you," added Ted. + +"Well, maybe I wouldn't be afraid if you took hold of my hands. But +it's dark there--awful dark." + +"I've got one of those little electric lights," Hal said. "My father +sent it to me for my birthday when I was in the Home, and I didn't use +it hardly at all, 'cause I wasn't up nights. It flashes bright. I +brought it with me when I came to visit you, and I can get it and take +it to the cave with us." + +"That'll be fun!" cried Ted. "Let's go, Jan!" he pleaded. + +"Well, maybe I will. But hadn't we better ask mother?" + +"Maybe she'd say we couldn't," suggested her brother, speaking very +slowly. "We'll tell her when we come back." + +Of course this was not just the right thing to do, especially after +Ted and his sister had been told not to go to the cave alone. But they +forgot all about that when Hal spoke about gold being in the blue +stones. Ted and Jan thought it would be wonderful if they could get +some gold for their mother and grandfather, who was not as rich as he +had been, even if he did sell a lot of cherries. + +"We can't take Trouble along," said Jan, as she saw her little brother +coming out of the tent. "We've got to leave him here." + +"Yes," agreed Hal. "But we don't need to go right away. We can play +with him awhile. You and Ted take care of Trouble and I'll go to get +my flashlight. I put it under my pillow last night." + +"And I'll get something to eat from Nora," added Ted. "We'll make- +believe we're going on a little picnic in the woods." + +"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Jan. She was not afraid to think of the +dark cave now. + +"Trouble want p'ayhouse!" cried Baby William, as he toddled up to his +sister. "Want b'ue stones." + +"I can't get you the blue stones--not now," said Janet. "But I guess +Teddy will let you knock down his playhouse and build up another one. +And you can knock down my playhouse, too. Come on, Trouble!" + +Knocking over the playhouses of stone which his brother and sister had +built the night before seemed such great fun to the little boy, and he +had such a good time doing this and, with Jan's help, making another +and larger house of his own, that he forgot all about his blue stones. + +Ted and Hal did not forget them, though, and the more they thought of +the queer way they had been taken away in the night, the more they +felt sure that the stones must have gold in them, or, at least, +something that the tramps wanted badly enough to come and take it. + +And that it was the tramps, or some man, or men, who had taken the +blue stones, Hal and Ted felt certain. + +"For no dog or other animal could carry away every stone," said Hal. +"Anyhow a dog wouldn't want them, nor a fox either. It was the tramps +all right." + +"Maybe they wouldn't like us to go to the cave and get the stones +back," suggested Ted. + +"Well, the tramps can't have the blue stones," said Hal, shaking his +head. "We found 'em, and they're Trouble's. But he's so little he +don't want any gold, so we'll give it to your grandfather and +grandmother." + +"Don't you want any?" asked Ted. + +"No. My father's got lots of money. I just want to find some gold for +you. I got my light from under my pillow," and Hal showed it to Ted. +They were out behind the sleeping tent talking, and Ted had his +pockets full of cookies and little cakes he had begged from Nora. + +"Though what in the world the child is going to do with them all, is +more than I can guess," laughed the maid. "But I s'pose the children +are always hungry." + +Ted and Hal were now ready to go to the cave. They looked around the +corner of the tent and saw Janet still playing with Trouble. He had +gotten over crying for his blue stones, and was now busy making a +play-house of the rocks and pebbles his brother and sister had used. + +"Come on, Janet! We're going!" called Ted in a loud whisper, as his +sister looked at him. He also made motions with his hands to show that +he and Hal were ready to start for the cave. + +Janet saw that her little brother was too busy playing to need her to +stay with him--at least for a time. Still she could not leave him +alone without calling her mother or Nora to watch what he did. + +Very quietly, while Baby William was trying to make one stone stay on +top of another in one side of the castle he was making, Janet stepped +up to the flap of the tent, inside which her mother was sitting +sewing. + +"I'm going with Ted and Hal into the woods," said the little girl. +"Will you watch Trouble, Mother?" + +"Yes, Janet. But be careful, and don't go too far." + +Janet did not answer but hurried away. Of course she did not do just +right, for she knew her mother would not want her to go to the cave, +nor would Mrs. Martin have let Ted and Hal go had she known it. But +the Curlytops and Hal were very desirous of finding the blue stones +and of seeing if there was any gold in them, and they did not stop to +think of what was right and what was wrong. + +"Hurry up now!" exclaimed Hal as he went on ahead up the path that led +from behind the tents to the queer cave. "We want to get there before +anybody knows it." + +"What'll we do if the tramps are there?" asked Ted. + +"They won't be there," said Hal, though how he could tell that he did +not say. + +"I've got a little hatchet and we can cut down some clubs," said Ted. +He had brought with him a little Boy Scout hatchet, with a covering +over the sharp blade. His grandfather had given it to Ted, but had +told him never to take it out alone. But Ted did, and this was another +wrong thing. + +I'm afraid if I speak of all the wrong things the Curlytops did that +day I'd never finish with this story. But it wasn't often they did so +many acts they ought not to have done. + +On they hurried through the woods, the boys hurrying ahead of Janet. +She did her best to keep up with them, but her legs were shorter than +Ted's or Hal's and it was hard work for the little girl. + +"Oh, wait for me!" she called at last. "I'm awful tired." + +"Hurry up!" begged Ted. "We want to get the blue stones before the +tramps take 'em away!" + +"Are they going to?" asked Janet, sitting down on a stone to rest, +after she had caught up to the boys. + +"Well, they might," answered Hal. "We've got to hurry." + +They went on again, walking a little more slowly this time, and when +they came to a muddy puddle in the middle of the woodland path, Ted +tried to jump over it. But he slipped on the edge and one leg, from +his foot to above his knee, got very wet and muddy. + +"Oh, wow!" he cried. "Now I've got to stop and clean this off." + +He began to wipe off the worst of the mud on bunches of grass, while +Janet sat down on a log near by. + +"I'm sorry you fell in the mud, Teddy," she said, "but I'm glad I can +rest, for I'm awful tired. You go so fast!" + +"Come on, hurry up!" called Hal, as Ted still brushed away with the +bunch of grass. "Let it dry and it will come off easier." + +"I guess it will," agreed Ted, looking at his muddy stocking. "It +won't come off this way." + +However, the accident had given his sister a little chance to rest, +and now Janet was able to keep up with the boys. Pretty soon they were +near the hole into which Ted had fallen, and out of which the cave +opened. + +"Now be careful!" whispered Hal, as he got out his flashlight. "Maybe +the tramps are there!" + +"I've got my hatchet!" exclaimed Ted. + +"I'm not going in if the tramps are there," declared Janet. + +"We'll look first, and see," offered Hal. + +"But I don't want to stay here alone!" objected Janet, as her brother +and Hal slid down into the hole and looked into the black opening of +the cave. + +"We won't go very far," promised Ted. "We'll be back in a minute. +Don't be afraid." + +Then he and Hal went into the cave, while Jan, half wanting to cry, +waited outside. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE BLUE LIGHT AGAIN + + +Flashing his light about, Hal walked boldly into the dark cave. Ted +followed, just a little bit afraid, though he did not want to say so. + +"Don't go too far," begged Janet's brother. "Jan'll be afraid if we +leave her alone." + +"I won't go far," promised Hal. "I just want to see if there're any +tramps in here." + +"Listen an' maybe you can hear them talking," suggested Ted. + +Hal, though larger and older than Ted, was not quite brave enough to +go very far into the dark cave, even if he did have his light with +him. So, after taking a few steps, he stopped and listened. So did +Ted. + +They could hear nothing but the voice of Janet calling to them from +outside. + +"Ted! Hal!" cried the little girl. "Where are you? I'm going back to +camp!" + +"We're coming!" answered Ted. "Come on back and get her," he added to +his chum. "Then we'll look for the blue rocks." + +"I guess we can't find them unless they're right around here," +returned Hal, as he moved his light about in a circle. + +"Why not?" asked Ted. + +"Because this cave is so dark, and my flashlamp doesn't give much +light. We could hardly see the stones if they were here." + +"Then how are we going to get 'em?" Ted demanded. + +"I guess we'll have to bring a big lantern. Maybe we ought to bring +your grandfather along." + +"I guess we had better," agreed Ted. "But we can look a little bit +when we're here. Let's go for Janet. She's crying." + +Janet was crying by this time, not liking to be left alone outside +while the boys were in the cave. They ran back to her and her tears +were soon dried. + +"Will you come in a little way with us?" asked her brother. "There +isn't anything to be afraid of. Is there, Hal?" + +"No, not a thing. We won't go in very far, Jan. And maybe you can see +the blue stones. We couldn't, but sometimes girls' eyes are better +than boys. Come on!" + +So with Hal holding a hand on one side, and Ted on the other, Janet +went slowly into the cave with her brother and his chum. Hal flashed +his light, and by its gleam the Curlytops could see that the cave was +large, larger even than it had seemed when they were in it with their +grandfather. + +"Look on the floor for the rocks," suggested Hal. "That's where the +tramp-man would put 'em if he brought 'em here." + +But they did not see the blue rocks, nor any others. The floor of the +cave seemed to be of stone or hard clay, and there was nothing on it. +They did not go in far enough to see the sacks which Grandpa Martin +said someone had used for a bed, nor did the children see the bread +and other bits of food which might have meant that someone had had a +picnic in the cave. + +"I guess the rocks aren't here," said Hal, in disappointed tones as +Janet said she wanted to turn back, for she did not like it in the +cave. "Or else maybe they're away at the far end." + +"I'm not going there!" exclaimed Ted. + +"No, I guess we won't go," agreed Hal. "We'll go and tell your +grandfather and have him come with a big lantern." + +"Hark! What's that?" suddenly called Jan, taking a tighter hold of her +brother's hand. + +From the back part of the cave came a noise. It was as though a rock +had fallen--probably it had--from the roof of the cavern. + +"Someone's throwing stones at us!" cried Ted. + +"Who? Who? Who?" a voice seemed to ask. + +"Oh, dear! We don't know who it was!" cried Janet. "Come on out of +here! I'm afraid!" + +"That was only an owl," said Hal with a laugh. "Owls live in dark +caves in the daytime and when it's dark they hoot and call 'who!' I've +heard 'em lots of times around the Home." + +"There isn't any cave at the Home," objected Ted, who was as +frightened as Janet was. + +"No, but there were owls in the trees. I heard 'em lots of times. But +we'll go out. I guess maybe that was a loose stone that fell down and +made the first noise. But we don't want any to fall on our heads. Come +on!" called Hal. + +Together he and Ted led Janet back to the mouth of the cave, where +they could see the sunshine. And even Hal, who was not so frightened +as the Curlytops had been, was glad to get out. + +"It's too bad we couldn't find the blue gold-stones," he said. "But +maybe the tramps didn't hide them there, anyhow. We'll look around +some more." + +"Let's eat," suggested Ted. "I'm hungry, and I've got a lot of cookies +in my pockets." + +So they sat down on a stone in a shady place not far from the cave and +ate the things Nora had given Ted. They then got a drink from a +bubbling spring not far away, and pretended they were on a picnic. + +Ted's muddy stocking had dried by this time, and he and Jan, using +sticks, scraped most of the dirt off. + +"Now we'd better be going home," Jan suggested after a bit. "There +isn't any fun here." + +"Yes, we might as well go," agreed Hal. "And I'll tell you what let's +do!" + +"What?" demanded Ted. + +"Let's look in the place where Trouble found those blue stones and see +if we can find anymore." + +"Oh, yes, let's!" cried Janet. She was happy again, now that she was +out in the bright sunshine. + +The children remembered where Baby William had found the pretty rocks +from which he had made his castle, but when they reached the place not +a one was to be had, though they searched all about. + +"I guess Trouble took them all," said Janet. "I remember now. I helped +him look for more and we couldn't find any." + +"Well, maybe there'll be some more somewhere else," suggested Hal +hopefully. "Let's look." + +So they looked, wandering about in the woods not far from camp, until +they heard Nora ringing the bell for dinner. + +"Well, where have you children been?" asked Mrs. Martin as they came +trooping up to the tent, tired, hungry and dirty. + +"Oh, we've been looking for gold," explained Ted, but he did not say +they had visited the cave, where they had been told not to go. + +"You didn't dig any more deep holes, did you?" asked his grandfather. + +"No, sir," answered Ted. + +After dinner Ted asked Hal why he didn't speak of having Grandpa +Martin go to the cave with the big lantern. + +"I thought you were going to do that," he said to Hal. + +"Well, I was. But maybe we can find some more of the blue stones for +ourselves. We'll look around before we ask your grandpa to help." + +Janet wanted to stay around camp and play with her dolls that +afternoon, and she took care of Trouble. + +"Then we'll go for a goat ride," said Ted. "Come on, Hal." + +The two boys hitched Nicknack to the wagon, and set off down the +island. + +"We'll look for some more blue rocks," suggested Hal, and Ted was +willing. + +On and on the two boys rode, now stopping to look at some pretty +flower, again waiting to hear the finish of some bird's song. They +looked on both sides of the woodland path for some of the blue rocks, +but, though they saw some of other colors, there were none like those +they wanted. + +"Whoa there, where are you going now?" Ted suddenly called to +Nicknack, and the little boy pulled on the reins by which he guided +the goat--or "steered" it, as he sometimes called it. + +"What's the matter?" asked Hal. + +"Nicknack wants to go over that way and I want him to go straight +ahead," answered Ted. + +"Maybe he sees some of those blue rocks the way he wants to go," +suggested Hal. + +"Oh, I don't guess so," replied his chum. "I guess he just wants to +get some new kind of grass to eat. Whoa, Nicknack, I tell you!" and +Teddy pulled as hard as he could on the reins, without hurting his +goat, for he never wanted to do that. + +But the goat would not go straight down the island path. He kept +pulling off to one side, and at last Ted cried: + +"Here, Hal, you take hold of the lines and pull with me. Maybe we can +steer him around then." + +"Can we pull real hard--I mean will the lines break?" asked Hal. + +"Oh, no, they're good and strong," answered Ted. + +So he and his chum both pulled on the one rein--the one to get +Nicknack's head pointed straight down the path instead of off to one +side, but it did no good. The goat knew what he wanted to do, and he +was going to do it. + +"Look out!" suddenly cried Teddy. "We're going to tip over!" + +The next minute the front wheels of the wagon ran up on a little pile +of dirt at one side of the path, and the cart gently tilted to one +side and then went over with a rattle and a bang. + +"There!" laughed Hal, as he rolled out on some soft grass. "We are +over, Ted." + +"I knew we were going," said Teddy as he, too, laughed and got up. +"Whoa there, Nicknack!" he shouted, for the goat was still going on, +dragging the overturned wagon after him. + +But Nicknack did not stop until he reached a little bush, on which +were some green leaves that he seemed to like very much, for he began +to chew them. + +"That's what he wanted all the while," said Teddy. + +"Well, let him eat all he wants, and then he won't be hungry any more +and he'll pull us where we want to go," advised Hal. + +They did this, after setting the cart up on its wheels. When Nicknack +turned away from the bush, and looked at the two waiting boys, Ted +said: + +"Well, I guess we can go on now." + +"Yes," added Hal, "and I hope we'll find those blue rocks. But I don't +believe we're ever going to." + +At last, however, when it was getting rather late in the afternoon and +Ted had said it was time to go back, Hal, who was driving the goat +through a part of the woods they never before had visited, pointed to +a big stone buried in the side of a hill and cried: + +"Look! Isn't that rock blue, Ted?" + +"It does look kind of blue, yes." + +"Then it's just what we're looking for. See, there's lots of little +blue rocks, too. Let's take some back to camp. Maybe they're the same +kind Trouble had, and there may be gold in 'em! Come on." + +They piled the rocks, which were certainly somewhat blue in color, +into the wagon, and started back with them. + +"We found 'em! We found 'em!" they called as they came within sight of +the tents. "We got the blue rocks!" + +"Well, they're pretty, certainly," said Grandpa Martin, as he picked +up one from the wagon, "but they're no better than any other rocks +around here, as far as I can see." + +"They've got gold in 'em, Hal says," Ted stated. + +"Gold? Oh, no, Curlytop!" laughed his grandfather. "I've told you +there is no gold on this island." + +"There's _something_ in the blue rocks," declared Hal. "Feel how heavy +they are--lots heavier than any other stones around here." + +"Yes, they are," agreed Grandpa Martin, as he weighed one of the +stones in his hand. "There might be some iron in them, but not gold. +Look out!" he suddenly called as the stone slipped from his hand. +"Look out for your toes!" + +Laughing, the Curlytops and Hal jumped back. The blue stone which +Grandpa Martin dropped, struck on the edge of the shovel which was out +in front of the tent. As the rock hit the steel tool with a clang, +something queer happened. + +At once the rock began to burn with a curious blue flame, and a +yellowish smoke curled up. + +"Oh, the rock's on fire!" cried Janet. "The rock's on fire!" + +"Yes, and look!" added Ted. "It's burning blue, just like the light we +saw on the island one night." + +"And how queer it smells!" exclaimed Hal. + +"Sulphur!" ejaculated Grandpa Martin. + +He and the children looked at the queer blue fire that seemed to come +from inside the rock. What could it mean? + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE HAPPY TRAMP + + +Grandpa Martin stood looking down at the queer, burning rock. The blue +fire was flaming up brighter now, and it made a strange light on the +faces of the Curlytops and Hal as they gathered about. The sky was +cloudy and it was getting dark. + +"Oh, what is it? What is it?" asked Ted and Jan. + +"It smells just like old-fashioned sulphur matches that my grandmother +used to light," said Nora, who had come out, having seen the queer +light from the cook-tent. + +"And it _is_ sulphur that is burning," said Grandpa Martin. "That rock +has sulphur in it, not gold, Hal. And it is the sulphur that is +burning with the blue fire." + +"But what makes it?" asked the children. + +Grandpa Martin did not answer for a few seconds. He stood again +looking down at the flaming blue rock. Mrs. Martin, who had started to +put Trouble to bed early, came out and looked. + +"It's like something I once saw in the theater," said the maid. "I +don't like it--that blue light. It reminds me of the time our house +was struck by lightning--that sulphur smell." + +"It is the same smell," said Mr. Martin. "Curlytops, I think you have +found something very queer in this blue rock. I don't know just what +it is, but we'll find out. See, the stone is burning like a lump of +coal now, but with a blue flame instead of red." + +"Just like the night we saw the blue fire on the island before we came +camping here." said Ted. "Is it the same thing, Grandpa?" + +"I don't know. Perhaps it is. Where did you get the blue rocks?' + +"Over in the woods," answered Hal. "There's a great big one there. As +big as this tent." + +"Is there?" some one suddenly asked. "Then please show me where it is! +Oh, can it be that at last I have found what I have been looking for +so long?" + +The Curlytops and the others turned at the sound of this new and +strange voice. A man seemed to spring out of the bushes back of the +tent. By the light of the blue fire Ted and Jan saw that his clothes +were ragged and torn in many places. + +"Oh! Oh!" gasped Jan. "That's the tramp!" + +"Well, I guess maybe I do look like a tramp, all ragged and dirty as I +am," laughed the man, and his voice sounded pleasant. "But I am not a +regular tramp. I am Mr. Weston--Alfred Weston," he went on, speaking +to Grandpa Martin. "I haven't a card with me, but when I get washed +and dressed and shaved I'll look more like what I am. Excuse me for +intruding this way, but I could not keep from speaking when I heard +what you were talking about." + +"Then aren't you a tramp?" asked Ted. + +"No, though I have been _tramping_ all over this island looking for +the very blue rock you children seem to have found. I wear my oldest +clothes, just as my friend Professor Anderson does, for we have been +going through briar bushes, into caves and mud holes and our clothes +are a sad sight. But we are not tramps." + +"Is there someone with you?" asked Grandpa Martin, looking over the +man's head toward the bushes, out of which he had come. + +"There was another. Anderson is his name. But he has gone to the +village, and I was on my way to row across the lake to join him when I +happened to pass by your tent, saw the blue light, and heard what your +children said. Do you really know where there is a big blue rock like +this little one that is on fire?" he asked as he pointed to the +flaming blue light. + +"Yes, we found a big one," said Hal. + +"If you will show me where it is you will get a lot of money," said +Mr. Weston. "That is, if you will sell me the meteor," he went on to +Grandpa Martin. "I understand you own part of this island," he added. + +"About half of it, yes. But are you looking for a meteor?" + +"Yes, for a meteor, or fallen star, and the blue rock your children +found is part of it. We have been looking for it a long time, my +friend and myself, and we had about given up. Now we may get it. Will +you sell me the fallen star?" he asked. + +"I'll see about it," promised Mr. Martin with a smile. "Perhaps you +will come into our tent and tell us about it. Are you--well, I was +going to say the tramp--but are you the man we saw before, wandering +about our camp?" + +"I presume I am. I don't mind being called a tramp, for I certainly +look like one. However, now that the fallen star is found I don't need +to be so ragged." + +"Are you the ragged man that pulled Trouble out of the spring?" asked +Ted, as they watched the blue light die away. + +"I did pull a little boy out of the spring," answered Mr. Weston, +"though I didn't know his name was Trouble." + +"That's only his pet name," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But come and sit +down and tell us your story. The children have been wondering a long +while what the blue light meant, and who the ragged man was. And, to- +day, they've been trying to find what became of the blue rocks that +Trouble made into a playhouse." + +"I took those rocks, I'm sorry to say," answered the ragged man. "I'm +sorry to have spoiled Trouble's playhouse. I wanted those pieces of +rock, for I thought perhaps they were all I would ever be able to get +of the fallen star." + +"Was the blue rock really once a star?" asked Hal. + +"Well, yes, a part of one, or at least part of a meteor, or shooting +star, as they are called. Now I'll tell you all that happened, and I'm +sorry if I have frightened you. My friend and I didn't mean to. + +"Some time ago," went on Mr. Weston, "we heard about Star Island--this +place that was so named because it was said a big meteor had landed +here many years back. Professor Anderson and I decided to come here +and see if we could find it for the museum which is connected with the +college in which Anderson teaches. + +"For we knew that, though most meteors are burned up as they shoot +through the air before they strike the earth, yet some come down in +big chunks, and we wanted such a one if we could get it. So we hunted +for it all over this island. We saw you, but you were never very near. +Sometimes we stayed in the cave at night, but usually went back to the +mainland. All the while we were hunting for the blue rocks, for that +is the color of this particular meteor. + +"A few nights before you folks came here to camp, when we were digging +in the ground hoping to find what we wanted, our shovel must have +struck a piece of the meteor, for there was a flash of blue fire that +burned for quite a while." + +"We saw it," cried Ted, "and we didn't know what it was!" + +"Teddy and me--we saw it!" added Jan. + +"Well, that was all of the meteor we could find for some time," went +on Mr. Weston. "And as that burned up--was consumed--we didn't have +any. Then, the other night through the bushes we happened to come upon +some blue stones, and I took them away. + +"Then my friend and I hunted again to find the big piece of the fallen +star, but we could not come across it. I was about to give up, but now +we are all right. I am so glad! Can you take me to the big blue rock?" + +"We will to-morrow," answered Hal. "It's too dark to find it now." + +"You had better stay in our camp until morning," was Grandpa Martin's +kindly invitation, and Mr. Weston did so. + +"This meteor is a good bit like a sulphur match," said Mr. Weston. +"When anything hard, like iron or steel, strikes it, blue fire starts +and burns up the rock. The big piece will be very valuable. + +"But we'll have to be careful not to set it ablaze. We picked up a lot +of different rocks on the island, hoping some of them might be pieces +of the meteor. But none was. Once I saw your little girl picking +flowers, as I was gathering rocks. I guess she thought I was a tramp. +Did I scare you?" he asked Janet. + +"A little," she answered with a smile. "Sometimes we stayed in a cave +we found on the island," went on Mr. Weston. "I thought once the +meteor might be there, but it was not." + +The next day Ted, Janet and Hal, followed by all the others in camp, +even down to Trouble, whose mother carried him, went to the place +where the big blue rock was buried in the side of the hill. As soon as +he had looked at it Mr. Weston said it was the very meteor for which +he and Professor Anderson had been looking so long. They seemed to +have missed coming to the hill. + +The museum directors bought the fallen star from Grandpa Martin, on +whose part of the island it had fallen many years before, and so the +owner of Cherry Farm had as much money as before the flood spoiled so +many of his crops. + +Thus the story of the fallen star, after which the island was named, +was true, you see, though it had happened so many years ago that most +folk had forgotten about it. + +A few days after Mr. Weston had been led to the queer blue rock, he +and Professor Anderson, no longer dressed like tramps, brought some +men to the island and the big rock was carefully dug out with wooden +shovels, as the wood was soft and could not strike sparks and make +blue fire. + +"For a time," said Mr. Weston to Grandpa Martin, after the meteor had +been taken to the mainland in a big boat, "I thought you were a +scientist." + +"Me--a scientist!" laughed the children's grandfather. + +"Yes. I thought maybe you had heard about the fallen star and had come +here and were trying to find it, too." + +"No, I haven't any use for fallen stars," said Mr. Martin. "I had +heard the story about one being on this island, but I never quite +believed it. I just came here to give the children a good time +camping." + +"Well, I think they had it--every one of them," laughed Mr. Weston, as +he looked at the brown Curlytops, who were tanned like Indians. + +"Oh, we've had the loveliest time in the world!" cried Jan, as she +held her grandfather's hand. "We're going to stay here a long while +yet. Aren't we, Grandpa?" + +"Well, I'm afraid not much longer," said Grandpa Martin. "The days are +getting shorter and the nights longer. It will soon be too cold to +live in a tent on Star Island." + +"Oh, Grandpa!" And Jan looked sad. + +"But we want to have fun!" cried Ted. + +"Oh, I guess you'll have fun," said his mother. "You always do every +winter." + +And the children did. In the next volume of this series, to be called +"The Curlytops Snowed In; or, Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds," you +may read about the good times they had when they went back home. + +"Come on, Jan, we'll have a last ride with Nicknack!" called Ted to +his sister about a week after the meteor had been dug up. In a few +days the Curlytops were to leave their camp on Star Island. Hal +Chester had gone back to his home, promising to visit his friends +again some day. + +"I'm coming!" cried Jan. + +"Me, too!" added Trouble. "I wants a wide!" + +Into the goat cart they piled and off started Nicknack, waggling his +funny, stubby tail, for he enjoyed the children as much as they did +him. + +"Hurray!" yelled Ted. "Isn't this fun?" and he cracked the whip in the +air. + +"Hurray!" yelled Jan and Trouble. + +"Baa-a-a-a!" bleated Nicknack. That was his way of cheering. + +And so we will leave the Curlytops and say good-bye. + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Curlytops on Star Island, by Howard R. Garis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 5989.txt or 5989.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/8/5989/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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