CHAPTER XIIICATCHING FISH
What Tom told Teddy as the two boys danced around on the railroad station platform was the second surprise of the day for the Curlytops. The first was in seeing the two Taylor children who had come to visit them at Sunnyside. And the second was when Tom said:
“I know where Skyrocket is!”
Of course that was enough to make Ted and Janet open their eyes very wide and look closely at their little friend.
“Did you bring Skyrocket with you?” asked Janet eagerly.
“Oh, no. I couldn’t do that,” explained Tom. “Anyhow, a man had him. He was a gypsy man, and he had Skyrocket in a red wagon with a lot of looking-glass on the outside. I mean the wagon had looking-glass on the outside—not Skyrocket.”
“I know that!” cried Ted. “I’ve seen gypsy wagons before. But go on! Tell me about Skyrocket! Where is he?”
But Uncle Ben stepped up just then and asked:
“Are you two little visitors all alone? Did any one come with you? Shall I look for your father or mother in the crowd?” For there was quite a crowd of people who got off the train at the Point, and many of them had come either on an excursion or to spend a vacation at Silver Lake.
“We came all alone,” explained Tom. “The conductor took care of my sister and me. We got here all right.”
“And they know where Skyrocket is!” cried Ted.
“Is that so?” asked Uncle Ben.
“Well, I don’t zactly know where he is now,” said Tom Taylor. “But I saw him, and so did Lola.”
“Yes, we saw him in a gypsy wagon,” added Tom’s sister.
“Tell us all about it!” begged Janet, very much excited.
“Not now,” said Uncle Ben. “We had better get back to Sunnyside. Mrs. Martin will want to know that you two youngsters arrived safely. You can talk about Skyrocket on the way home in the boat. But I had better see the conductor and tell him I have his two little travelers safe. Just wait here for me.”
The two Curlytops and their friends were so excited and glad to see each other that they could not possibly stand still. They danced around in circles, they looked at one another, and they talked so fast and had so much to say to one another that it is a wonder they ever finished.
Uncle Ben soon came back, saying he had seen the conductor, who was glad to know that Tom and Lola had met their friends from Silver Lake. The train journey from Cresco was not a long one, and children often traveled in the care of the train conductors, when their fathers or mothers had no time to go along.
“Oh, we’ll have packs of fun!” cried Ted to Tom, as they started for the gasolene launch. “We have a bungalow, and a tent, and lots of boats and there’s a merry-go-round and a shoot-the-chutes, and——”
“And we’re going fishing,” broke in Jan. “And Uncle Ben is going to show me how to sail a boat, and I got stuck in the mud and we played Trouble was a cake of ice and—and—everything!”
She had to stop then, she was so out of breath.
“Oh, say, that’s great!” cried Tom. “Your mother was awful good to ask us to come out and have a vacation here.”
“And we didn’t know a thing about it till we saw you get off the train,” said Teddy. “And now tell us about Skyrocket.”
“Oh, yes! Where is he?” asked the little Curlytop girl.
“Well, I don’t know where he is now,” Tom said. “We saw him just when we were at the station in Cresco waiting for the train. A gypsy wagon came along—all looking-glass and painted red, you know—and I heard a bark inside, a dog’s bark.”
“I heard it, too,” said Lola, “and I said it sounded just like your dog Skyrocket.”
“Yes, she said that,” agreed Tom. “And then we were going to run out to the wagon to see, and, all of a sudden, a dog stuck his head out the back door and it was Skyrocket!”
“Are you sure?” asked Uncle Ben, as he steered the boat out into the open lake, and pointed the bow toward Sunnyside. “There are lots of dogs that may look like Skyrocket, you know.”
“This was Skyrocket all right!” declared Tom. “I whistled to him and called his name.”
“And he wagged his tail, just like Skyrocket used to,” declared Lola. “And then Tom and I were going to run after the wagon and get your dog for you, but then our train came and we had to get on.”
“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet. “Then the gypsy has our dog.”
“Well, I told Mr. Whitter, the station agent, about it,” said Tom. “He said he’d try to find out where the Gypsy wagon was going, and then he’d let you know.”
“Do the gypsies ever camp near Cresco?” asked Uncle Ben.
“They used to,” said Tom. “They sold horses and the gypsy women told fortunes and they had a lot of dogs.”
“Well, it might be that your Skyrocket was taken from the woodshed that night by a prowling gypsy,” said Uncle Ben. “You can have your father write to Mr. Whitter, Ted, and ask if the gypsies are camping near Cresco this year. If they are we’ll go there and see if they have Skyrocket.”
“I hope they’ll be good to him,” murmured Janet.
“I wish he had jumped out of the gypsy wagon when you saw him,” said Ted.
“So do I!” agreed Tom. “If he had, Lola and I could ’a’ brought him along with us in the train.”
“Did they catch the burglars that got in Miss Ransom’s store?” asked Teddy, when the boat was nearing the bungalow dock. “And did she ever get back the funny box with the secret drawer?”
“No, I don’t b’lieve she ever did,” said Tom. “Anyhow, I didn’t hear anything about that. I’ve just been thinking about coming out here to see you and Jan and have fun.”
A little later the motor boat stopped at the pier in front of the Sunnyside bungalow, and Tom and Lola were being made welcome by Mrs. Martin and Nora. Daddy Martin had gone to town to see about ordering some things for his soda-water stand.
“Isn’t this great?” cried Ted to Tom, when the two boys had a chance to roam about the woods near the bungalow.
“It’s just dandy!” cried Tom. “I could live here forever!”
“We’ll get our dolls and take them for a walk in the woods,” said Janet to Lola. “You brought a doll, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I brought my three best ones.”
“Oh, then we can have a lovely time, and play parties and all like that. What is it, Trouble?” Janet asked, for Baby William was pulling at her dress.
“I want some, too!” he exclaimed.
“Some what?” asked Janet.
“Trouble want ’ovey time!” he answered.
“Well, you come with Janet and I’ll get you a sugar cookie,” said his sister. “Then you can have a lovely time eating it.”
He was soon satisfied with a cookie his mother gave him, and a little lunch was also set out for Tom and Lola. And of course Ted and Jan had to have some, too. So there was a lovely, jolly time almost as soon as the visitors reached Sunnyside.
“How get on your old clothes,” said Ted to Tom, after they had finished the simple meal, “and we’ll go off into the woods and have a lot of fun.”
“But be careful!” cautioned Mrs. Martin. “Don’t go in the boats unless Uncle Ben is with you, don’t fall in the mud, don’t play that Trouble is a cake of ice and—— Dear me!” she exclaimed to Nora, “there are so many things to tell the childrennotto do that I can’t remember half of them.”
“We’ll be good!” promised Ted.
Soon he and his boy chum were roaming about in the woods and over to the picnic grounds, which would soon be open to parties from Cresco and other villages and cities. Lola and Janet got out their dolls, and had a play party. Trouble played about in a pile of white sand that Uncle Ben had put in front of the bungalow in a shady spot for the little fellow. So all the boys and girls were having a good time.
During the next two days everything opened at Silver Lake. The merry-go-round started with its organ that played the same tunes over and over again, the shoot-the-chutes and the roller coaster were in operation, and then the excursion parties and picnics arrived. Sometimes the Curlytops, with Tom and Lola, went over to the picnic grounds, but more often they played around Sunnyside, or went out in the boat with Uncle Ben or Mr. Martin.
With the coming of the picnic parties Uncle Ben was kept busy, as were his two helpers—a man and a boy—in hiring out boats, attending the ice-cream and soda-water stand, and in doing other things. But still Uncle Ben had time to take the Curlytops and their two little friends for many a sail, row, or trip in the motor boat. He also went with them on little journeys back into the woods. Sometimes Trouble was taken along.
Tom told Mr. Martin about having seen a dog that looked exactly like Skyrocket in the Gypsy wagon, and Ted’s father wrote to Mr. Whitter, the station agent, asking him to find out if any of the queer folk, who lived in red wagons, with looking-glasses on the sides, were camping near Cresco.
One day, when no picnic parties were expected, and when Uncle Ben was not going to be very busy, he said:
“How would you like some fish to-morrow, Mrs. Martin?”
“I’d like them very much,” answered the mother of the Curlytops. “Do you think you could catch any in Silver Lake?”
“I might try,” answered Uncle Ben, with a funny wink of one eye. “But I think I’d need some help. There are pretty big fish in the lake, and perhaps I couldn’t pull one out all alone.”
“Oh, let me come!” cried Ted, who heard what was being said.
“Can’t I go?” shouted Tom.
“I want to fish!” added Janet, while Lola looked up from the floor where she and Jan were playing jackstones.
“Well, I guess we can get up a regular fishing party,” said Uncle Ben, with a laugh. “What do you say, Mrs. Martin; shall I take the Curlytops fishing?”
“You might,” was the answer. “If you bring home enough I’ll have Nora cook them for dinner.”
“Oh, goodie! We’re going fishing!” cried Ted.
“I hope I get a big one!” sang out Tom.
“I never caught a fish,” confessed Lola.
“It’s fun,” said Janet, who had often gone fishing with her father and brother.
A little later the four children were out in the motor boat with Uncle Ben, ready for fishing. Trouble had been left on shore with his mother, as it was thought that he would be in the way.
“Now we’ll anchor the boat here,” said Uncle Ben, when they had gone about half way across Silver Lake. “I think this will be a good place to catch fish.”
So the anchor—which in itself was like a big fish-hook, only with two sharp points to it instead of one—was thrown overboard, being made fast to a rope that was tied to the motor boat. The anchor kept the boat from drifting away.
Soon Uncle Ben had baited four hooks for the children and tossed them over the side. Then he baited his own and they were all ready to catch fish.
“How are you going to tell when you get one?” asked Lola.
“Oh, you’ll feel something pulling on the line,” said her brother. “But you must keep still, Lola! Fish don’t like to hear you talk.”
“Don’t they?” asked the little girl. “Our parrot likes to hear me talk.”
“Well, a parrot isn’t a fish,” went on Tom. “You must keep still. Mustn’t she, Uncle Ben?”
“It isn’t good to make too much noise when you’re fishing,” was the answer, “though if you talk in low voices it doesn’t so much matter. Now let’s see who’ll catch the first fish.”
For a time no one spoke. The Curlytops and their two little guests eagerly watched their lines, and, now and again, one or another of the children would pull theirs up to see if they had a fish.
“Don’t pull up until you feel a good nibble,” said Uncle Ben.
There was another wait, and then suddenly Tom whispered:
“I have a big bite!”
The next instant Ted called:
“Oh, so have I!”
Tom was fishing from the left side of the boat, and Ted from the right. As they raised their poles Lola and Janet saw that both lines were stretched tight.
“Oh, they’re big fish!” exclaimed Janet.
“Pull up! Pull up!” called Uncle Ben. “Land your fishes, boys!”
Tom pulled and so did Ted. Their poles bent with the strain, but neither one could seem to get the fish he had caught into the boat.
“They must be regular whales!” cried Ted.