The Curlytops on Star Island Part 27

"There it goes!" cried Ted, as the turtle swam away. "Oh, what a whopper! It's bigger than the big muskrat!"

"Your muskrat didn't give you a ride Ted, and my turtle gave me a fine one," said Jan. "But I can't sail my boat any more."

"Well, we'll have to empty out some of the water. Then it will float again and you can get in it."

"I'm not going to let the rope drag in the water any more," decided Janet, after Ted had helped her tip her box over so the water would run out. "I don't really want any more rides like that. The next turtle might go out into the lake. I want to paddle."

"I wish a big whale would come along and tow me," laughed Ted. "I wouldn't let him go loose."

"He _might_ pull you all across the lake," Janet said.

"I'd like that. Come on, we'll have a race."

"All right, Ted."

The Curlytops began paddling their box-boats about the cove once more.

Ted won the race, being older and stronger than Janet, but she did very well.

Then after some more fun sailing about in their floating boxes the children were called by their mother, who said they had been in the water long enough. Besides dinner was ready, and they were hungry for the good things Nora had made.

"And didn't you find any of them, Father?" asked Mrs. Martin as the farmer pushed back his chair, when the meal was over.

"No, I didn't see a sign of them, and I looked all over the cave, too.

Some persons have been sleeping in there, for I found a pile of old bags they had used for a bed, but I didn't find anyone."

"Find who?" Ted inquired.

"The tramps, or the ragged man you and Jan saw," answered his grandfather. "I have been looking about the island, but I could not find any of the ragged men, for I think there was more than one. So I guess they've gone, and we needn't think anything more about them."

"Did you see the blue light?" asked Ted.

"No, I didn't see that, either. I guess it wouldn't show in the daytime.

But don't worry. Just have all the fun you can in camp. We can't stay here very much longer."

"Oh, do we have to go home?" cried the Curlytops, sorrowfully.

"Well, we can't stay here much longer," said Mother Martin. "In another month the weather will be too cold for living in a tent. Besides daddy will want us back, and grandpa has to gather in his farm crops for the winter. So have fun while you can."

"Isn't daddy coming here?" asked Jan.

"Yes, he'll be here next week to stay several days with us. Then he has to go back to the store."

The Curlytops had great fun when Daddy Martin came. They showed him all over the island--the cave, the place where Nicknack nearly ate up the bower-tent, the place where Ted saw the muskrat, and they even wanted him to go riding in the box-boats.

"Oh, I'm afraid I'm too big!" laughed Daddy Martin. "Besides, I'd be afraid if a mud turtle pulled me along."

"Oh, Daddy Martin! you would not!" laughed Janet.

And so the happy days went by, until Mr. Martin had to leave Star Island to go back to his business. He promised to pay another visit, though, before the camp was ended.

Several times, before and after Daddy Martin's visit, Ted and Jan talked about the queer ragged man they had seen, and about the blue light and the cave.

"I wonder if we'll ever find out what it all means," said Jan. "It's like a story-book, isn't it, Ted?"

"A little, yes. But grandpa says not to be scared so I'm not."

"I'm not, either. But what do you s'pose that ragged man is looking for, and who is the professor?"

Teddy did not know, and said so. Then, when he and Jan got back to the tent, having been out with Trouble for a ride in the goat-cart, they found good news awaiting them.

"Here is a letter from Hal Chester, the little boy who used to be lame,"

said Mrs. Martin, for grandpa had come in, bringing the mail from the mainland post-office.

"Oh, can he come to pay us a visit?" asked Ted. His mother had allowed him to invite Hal.

"Yes, that's what he is going to do," went on Mrs. Martin. "His doctor says he is much better, and can walk with hardly a limp now, and the trip here will do him good. So to-morrow Grandpa Martin is going to bring him to Star Island."

"Oh, goody!" cried Ted and Jan, jumping up and down and clapping their hands. Trouble did the same thing, though he did not know exactly what for.

"We'll have fun with Hal!" cried Ted. "Maybe he'll help us find the tramp-man. Hal's smart--he can make kites and lots of things."

The next day Hal Chester came to visit the camp on Star Island.

"Say, this is a dandy place!" he exclaimed as he looked about at the tents and at the boat floating in the little cove. "I'll just love it here!"

"It's awful nice," agreed Jan.

"And there's a mystery here, too," added Ted.

"What do you mean?" Hal demanded. "What's a mystery?"

"Oh, it's something queer," went on Ted. "Something you can't tell what it is. This mystery is a tramp."

"A tramp?"

"Yes. Jan saw him when she was picking flowers, and he pulled Trouble out of the spring afterward. And there's a cave here where maybe he sleeps, 'cause there's some bags for beds in it. He's looking for something on this island, that tramp-man is," declared Ted.

"Looking for something?" repeated Hal, quite puzzled.

"Yes. He goes all around, and we saw him picking up some stones. Didn't we, Jan?"

"Yes, we did."

"Picking up stones," repeated Hal slowly. Then he sprang up from where he was sitting under a tree with the Curlytop children.

"I know what he's looking for!" Hal cried.

"What?"