CHAPTER XIV
THE GROWLERY HOLE
“Pull in! Pull in!” called Uncle Ben from where he was sitting in thestern, or back end of the boat. “Pull in your fish, boys!”
“I’m trying to!” answered Teddy.
“So’m I,” called Tom.
Harder and harder they pulled. Their poles bent more and more, andtheir fishing lines were now straight up and down in the water.
Suddenly Tom turned to look at Ted, who was back of him on the otherside of the boat.
“Hey there! Look out, Ted!” called Tom. “Your line is all tangled upwith mine!”
“And so is your line tangled with mine!” added Ted. “That’s why Ican’t get my fish in!”
Both little boys had turned and were looking at one another. All of asudden Uncle Ben began to laugh.
“What’s the matter?” asked Ted, who was red in the face from pullingso hard on his pole.
“Somebody’s got to help me get my fish!” exclaimed Tom.
“Neither one of you has a fish,” said Uncle Ben, with another laugh.“Your hooks and lines tangled together under the boat and you havebeen pulling one against the other. Ted was pulling on Tom’s line andTom was pulling on Ted’s line. Take it easy, now, and I’ll untangleyour lines.”
The two little boys looked at one another and then at Uncle Ben. Thenthey laughed, and so did Lola and Janet.
As Ted and Tom lowered their poles their lines were no longerstretched tight. Then Uncle Ben pulled on Tom’s line and drew it fromthe water beneath the motor boat. And just as he had said, Tom’s hookwas caught in Ted’s line. The two cords were snarled together, and itwas no wonder each lad felt that he had a big fish when, the truthwas, he was only pulling against his friend on the other side of theboat.
“There! Now you’re all right once more, and you can throw in again,”said Uncle Ben, when he had finished the untangling. “Better move alittle farther apart. Ted, you come back here to the stern, and Tom,you go forward to the bow. Then your lines won’t be so likely to getcrossed under the boat.”
As the two boys started to separate Lola gave a cry.
“I’ve got a fish! I’ve got a fish!” she shouted.
There was no doubt but she had. Something under the water was fast tothe hook on her line and was darting to and fro, making the cord cutthrough the little waves.
“Pull in! Pull in!” cried Uncle Ben.
“Oh, oh!” shrieked Lola, and she pulled and she pushed, but most ofall she waved her pole in the air—she was so excited, you see—and shewas just about to drop her pole, when her brother grabbed it.
“You’ll lose your fish if you don’t pull it in!” he exclaimed.
“All right, you do it!” gasped his sister. And Tom was very ready todo this.
With a quick jerk of the pole he raised it in the air. The line cameup with it, and there, dangling from the hook, and squirming about inthe sun, the water dripping from it, was rather a large fish.
“Oh, I caught the first one! I caught the first one! I did!” criedLola, clapping her hands.
“Yes, but I had to help you!” said Tom, as he landed the fish in thebottom of the boat, where it flapped about.
“Well, we both caught it, then,” said Lola, with a laugh. “We canwrite and tell mother we each caught half a fish.”
“Next time you get a bite pull it in yourself, and then you’ll catch awhole fish,” said Uncle Ben. “Look!” And with that Uncle Ben showedthe little girl how she should handle the rod when trying to land afish.
After the excitement of the first catch had quieted down, the boys andgirls threw in their baited hooks again, and Ted caught the next fish.It was not quite as large as Lola’s, but it was a good fish, Uncle Bensaid. Then Janet caught one, and pulled it in herself.
Soon after that Lola felt a nibble. This time she pulled up quickly,and she had a fish herself—almost as big as the first one she hadcaught.
“Now I got one all myself!” she cried. “Didn’t I, Uncle Ben?”
“Yes, you landed that one all alone—no more half fish for you!” agreedthe old sailor.
The fishing in Silver Lake was very good, and it was not long beforeevery one had made a catch, including Uncle Ben. When there were halfa dozen or more fish in the “cage,” as Ted called the water-filledspace made for keeping the catch fresh, Uncle Ben said:
“We have enough now. No use to take more fish than you need. Save somefor the next time.”
Then they had a nice ride around Silver Lake and got back to Sunnysidein time for supper. Daddy Martin was there, waiting for them, and helaughed when Tom and Ted told him how Tom and he each thought they hada big fish, when, really, they had only caught each other’s lines.
But they all had had a good time, and they said they were goingfishing again with Uncle Ben. Many were the happy days at Silver Lakeand at the Sunnyside Bungalow.
One morning when the Curlytops and Tom and Lola came in to breakfastat the call of Nora Mrs. Martin said:
“Don’t go away when you have finished eating, my dears. I want you tostay around the house.”
“Why?” asked Ted. “May Tom and I go off into the woods? We heard a dogbarking there last night, and maybe it was Skyrocket. Maybe he gotaway from the Gypsies, and has come to find me.”
“Well, I hope he does,” said Mrs. Martin. “I heard that dog barking,too, but it wasn’t Skyrocket. But the reason I don’t want you to goaway is that we are going off into the woods for a little picnic, andI don’t want to have to look all over for you when I am ready.”
“Oh, are we going on a really truly picnic?” cried Janet.
“With things to eat?” asked Ted.
“I don’t believe it would be much of a picnic without things to eat,”said his mother, with a laugh. “Yes, it’s going to be a truly realone. So don’t go too far away!”
“I guess not!” exclaimed Tom, with a laugh. “I like picnics!”
“Specially the kind where you have things to eat!” added Ted.
“That’s the only kind of a picnic worth going on,” added Uncle Ben.
“Are you coming?” asked Janet. Both she and her brother had grown veryfond of Uncle Ben, and Tom and Lola liked him very much, too.
“Uncle Ben is going to take us across the lake in the motor boat,leave us there, and come for us later this afternoon,” explained Mrs.Martin. “He is so busy at the boat dock that he can’t get off thistime. But he’ll come on the next picnic. Now run out and play. I’llcall you when Nora and I have put up the lunch.”
And a little later Mrs. Martin called:
“Come on now, children! All ready for the picnic!”
Down the hill they raced to the boat dock, where Uncle Ben was waitingfor them in the motor launch. Nora carried down the baskets of lunch,and soon the little party was on its way across Silver Lake to thepicnic grounds.
Of course there were plenty of picnic places on the same side of thelake as Sunnyside Bungalow, but Mrs. Martin thought it would be morefun to take a little trip and find a new place. You can often haveplenty of fun in your own yard, but, sometimes, it’s more fun to go toyour chum’s.
Over the shining waters chugged the motor boat, and in a little whileit turned into a shady cove. Up from the shore was a grove of trees,and when Uncle Ben had landed with the children and Mrs. Martin, andhad found a spring of water, it was decided to eat the lunch there.
“But we won’t eat right away,” said Mother Martin. “Run about andplay, children, and when it’s time to eat I’ll call you, but don’t gotoo far off.”
They promised that they would not, and when Uncle Ben had set thebaskets and boxes out of the boat he started back across the lakeagain, promising to come at the close of the day to take them allback.
Mrs. Martin had brought along a book to read, and, finding a shadyspot under the trees, she sat down on a blanket, while Ted, Janet, Tomand Lola, with Trouble, walked around looking at the different thingsto see. The two girls had eac
h brought a doll, Trouble had his ragdoll and a big red rubber ball, which he liked to toss about, and thenrun after. Ted and Tom had not brought anything with which to play, asthey said they wanted to pretend they were boy scouts and look forthings in the woods.
It was when Trouble gave his red rubber ball an extra hard throw thatTom and Ted discovered something. Baby William came up to his brother,after having lost his ball, and began to tell all about it.
“Trouble’s ball gone!” he said.
“Well, where has it gone to, Trouble?” asked Ted.
“Me show!” was the answer. “Down hole. You get hims for me!”
“He’s thrown his rubber ball down a hole, Tom,” said Ted to his chum,who was following a bird through the woods, trying to see where shehad made her nest. “I’ll get it for him, and then we’ll see if we canfind the eggs. But we won’t take any.”
“No, we won’t take any,” agreed Tom.
“Now come on, Trouble, show me where you threw the red ball, and I’llget it for you,” said Ted.
“All wite! Me show!” was the answer, and Baby William put his littlehand into his brother’s. Down one of the woodland paths Trouble ledhis brother, and at last he stopped where a round, black hole showedjust under the edge of an overhanging stone.
“Trouble’s ball down there!” said the little fellow.
“All right! I’ll get it up for you,” offered Ted. He stretched out onthe ground, and reached his arm down into the hole, thinking he couldeasily touch the bottom, and bring up the red ball. But Ted’s hand wasonly half way down the hole, and his fingers had not felt the softrubber ball when he heard a growl from inside the hole.
“Oh! Oh!” cried Ted, jumping up in a hurry. “There’s something down inthat hole besides your rubber ball, Trouble!”
“Yes, Trouble’s ball down there!” said the little fellow. “You gethims.”
“But there’s a wild animal down there—a bear or a wolf, maybe!” saidTeddy. “I’m not going to put my hand down again!”
“What’s the matter?” asked Tom, coming along the path just then. Hehad given up trying to find the bird’s nest.
“Oh, Trouble’s ball rolled down a hole, and when I stuck my hand in toget it something growled at me!” exclaimed Ted.
“I wish I could hear him,” said Tom.
“You can hear him if you stick your hand down the hole,” explainedTed.
“Huh! Think I’m going to get bit?” cried his chum. “I guess not! But Iknow how I can make it growl without that.”
“How?” asked Ted.
“Poke a stick down. That’ll do it!”
“Oh, yes! Let’s!” cried the Curlytop lad.
They hunted about until they found a long, smooth stick and, standingon the edge of the hole down which Trouble had said his ball hadrolled, Tom poked in the branch.
Instantly there was a growl and several queer little barks.
The two boys looked at one another.
“Did you hear that?” cried Tom.
“I should say I did!” agreed Ted.
“It’s your dog Skyrocket,” went on Tom. “The Gypsy man must have lethim go, and he came here. Then he hid in the hole so the Gypsiescouldn’t find him again.”
“Oh, maybe he did!” cried Teddy. “Come on out, Skyrocket! Come onout!” he called.
There was no answer from the hole.
“Let me poke the stick in,” begged Ted, taking the branch from Tom.
“All right. But poke it easy, so’s not to hurt Skyrocket!”
“I will.”
Ted thrust in the stick. Once more there was a growl, followed by anumber of tiny barks, like those of a dog.
“That isn’t Skyrocket,” decided Ted, when his pet did not come outafter being called again and again.
“What is it then?” asked Tom.
“I don’t know,” admitted his chum. “We’d better go and tell my mother.Come on, Trouble!”
“Trouble want wed ball!” cried the little fellow.
“I know you do,” answered his brother. “But it’s down in the hole, andsomething always growls at us. I don’t want to get bit, and Tomdoesn’t either. I guess we’ll have to wait till Uncle Ben comes back.He’ll get the ball for you, Trouble.”
“All wite!” was the answer.
Then Ted and Tom ran to where Mrs. Martin was sitting in the shade andthe boys cried:
“Trouble’s red ball is in the growlery hole, and we can’t get it out!”
The Curlytops at Silver Lake; Or, On the Water with Uncle Ben Page 14