THEN TROUBLE BEGAN TO MAKE A CAKE IN HIS HAT.
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"Troublemake 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 hadenough 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 Trouble's 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. Hesplashed 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! Whathaveyou 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 aresucha sight! And so is Nora's kitchen."
"Oh, well, I don't mind cleaning up," said 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 messaround 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 half-way 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 thebranches 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 mustneverdo 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," saidNora, who came to the flap doorway of the kitchen tent. "Yes, I knowtwothings 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 todo 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 toofar 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 his 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.
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"What'sthe 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 shallowwater 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-waterclam," 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 passedright 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 any more."
"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.
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"What'sthe 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 brotheranswered. "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 clothes-line 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 veryslowly 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 longerswim, 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 thenthe 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."
"Hemightpull 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 wonthe 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'tworry. 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 backto 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 alimp 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 thespring 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 we'll start right away. It must be up near the cave. Come on! We'll dig for the gold ourselves!"
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Hal Chesterwas 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. Youcan 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 well 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 thetents 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 wehaven'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 onlygoing 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. "Well 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 orbegin 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 sothat 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 lookedat 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?"
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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 tiedTrouble 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 Curlytopsloved 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.
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