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 or Camping out with Grandpa Author: Howard R. Garis Illustrator: Julia Greene Release Date: May 15, 2008 [EBook #25477] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND *** Produced by David Edwards, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) The CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND TED WADED OUT, AND BROUGHT HIS SISTER'S DOLL TO SHORE. Page 134 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 CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY Copyright, 1918, by Cupples & Leon Company The Curlytops on Star Island CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Blue Light 1 II What the Farmer Told 14 III Off to Star Island 32 IV Overboard 42 V The Bag of Salt 56 VI Ted and the Bear 67 VII Jan Sees Something 78 VIII Trouble Falls in 91 IX Ted Finds a Cave 101 X The Grapevine Swing 111 XI Trouble Makes a Cake 123 XII The Curlytops Go Swimming 139 XIII Jan's Queer Ride 157 XIV Digging for Gold 164 XV The Big Hole 175 XVI A Glad Surprise 188 XVII Trouble's Playhouse 197 XVIII In the Cave 211 XIX The Blue Light Again 224 XX The Happy Tramp 236 THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND 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." [1] [2] [3] "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." [4] [5] [6] [7] "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. [8] [9] [10] [11] "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!" Back to contents 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. [12] [13] [14] "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 [15] [16] [17] [18] (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 you 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. [19] [20] [21] [22] "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. [23] [24] [25] 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. [26] [27] [28] [29] "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. Back to contents 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?" [30] [31] [32] "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?" [33] [34] [35] "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 [36] [37] [38] [39] 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. Back to contents CHAPTER IV OVERBOARD "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. [40] [41] [42]