CHAPTER XI
TROUBLE MAKES A CAKE
With a crackle and a snap the grapevine swing sagged down on one side.Janet tried to hold Trouble in her arms, but he slipped from her lap,just as she slipped off the piece of carpet which Ted had folded for theseat of the swing. Then Janet toppled down as the vine broke, and sheand her little brother came together in a heap on the ground.
"Oh!" exclaimed Ted. "Are you hurt?"
Neither Jan nor Trouble answered him for a moment. Then Baby Williambegan to cry. Jan lay still on the ground for a second or two, and thenshe jumped up with a laugh.
"I'm not hurt a bit!" she said. "I fell right in a pile of leaves, andit was like jouncing up and down in the hay."
"What's the matter with Trouble?" asked Ted.
Baby William kept on crying.
"Never mind!" put in Jan. "Sister'll kiss it and make it all better!Where is you hurt, Trouble dear?"
The little fellow stopped crying and looked up at Jan, his eyes filledwith tears.
"My posy-tree is hurted," he said, holding a broken flower out to hissister. "Swing broked my posy-tree!"
Trouble called any weed, flower or bunch of grass he happened to pick a"posy-tree."
"Oh, I guess he isn't hurt," remarked Teddy. "If it's only a brokenposy-tree I'll get you another," he said kindly. "Are you all right,Trouble? Can you stand up?" for he feared, after all, lest BabyWilliam's legs might have been hurt, since they were doubled up underhim.
Trouble showed he was all right by getting up and walking about. He hadstopped crying, and Ted and Jan could see that he, too, had fallen on apile of soft leaves near the swing, so he was only "jiggled up," as Jancalled it.
One side of the grapevine swing had torn loose from the tree, and thusit had come down with Jan and Trouble.
"I guess it wasn't strong enough for two," said Ted. "Maybe I can findanother grapevine."
"I'd like a rope swing better," Janet said. "Then it wouldn't tumbledown."
"I guess that's so," agreed her brother. "We'll ask grandpa to get one."
Grandpa Martin laughed when he heard what had happened to the grapevineswing, and promised to make a real one of rope for the Curlytops. Thishe did a day or so afterward, so that Ted and Jan had a fine swing intheir camp on Star Island, as well as one at Cherry Farm. They were twovery fortunate children, I think, to have such a grandfather.
"Where are you going now, Grandpa?" called Jan one day, as she saw thefarmer getting the boat ready for use.
"I'm going over to the mainland to get some things for our camp,"answered Mr. Martin. "They came from a big store in some boxes andcrates, and they're at the railroad station. I'm going over to get them.Do you Curlytops want to come along?"
"Well, I just guess we do!" cried Ted.
"Me want to come!" begged Trouble.
"Not this time, Dear," said his mother. "You stay with me, and we willhave some fun. Let Jan and Ted go."
Trouble was going to cry, but when Nora gave him a cookie he changed hismind and ate the little cake instead, though I think one or two tearssplotched down on it and made it a bit salty. But Trouble did not seemto mind.
Ted and Jan had lots of fun riding back in the boat to the main shorewith their grandfather. When the boat was almost at the dock Mr. Martinlet the two children take hold of one of the oars and help him row. Ofcourse the Curlytops could not pull very much, but they did pretty well,and it helped them to know how a boat is made to go through the water,when it has no steam engine or gasolene motor to make it glide along, orsails on which the wind can blow to push it.
"You can't know too much about boats and the water, especially when youare camping on an island in the middle of a lake," said Grandpa Martin."When you get bigger, Ted and Jan, you'll be able to row a boat all byyourselves."
"Maybe day after to-morrow," suggested Jan.
"I wish I could now," said Ted.
"Oh, but you're too small!" his grandfather said.
The boat was tied to the wharf, and then, getting an expressman to go tothe depot for the boxes and crates, Mr. Martin took the children withhim on the wagon.
"We're having lots of fun!" cried Jan, as the horse trotted along."We're camping and we had a ride in a boat and now we're having a ridein a wagon."
"Lots of fun!" agreed Ted. "I'm glad we've got grandpa!"
"And grandpa is glad he has you two Curlytops to go camping with him!"laughed the farmer, as the expressman made his horse go faster.
At the depot, while the children were waiting to have the boxes andcrates of things for the camp loaded into the wagon, Ted saw ArthurWeldon, a boy with whom he sometimes played.
"Hello, Art!" called Ted.
"Hello!" answered Arthur. "I thought you were camping on Star Island."
"We are," answered Teddy.
"It doesn't look so!" laughed Arthur, or "Art," as most of his boyfriends called him.
"Well, we just came over to get some things. There's grandpa and theexpressman with them now," went on Ted, as the two men came from thefreight house with a number of bundles.
"I wish I was camping," went on the other boy. "It isn't any fun aroundhere."
"You can come over to see us sometimes," invited Jan. "I'll ask mymother to let you, and you can play with us."
"He don't want to play girls' games!" cried Ted.
"Well, I guess I can play boys' games as well as girls' games!"exclaimed Janet, with some indignation.
"Oh, yes, course you can," agreed her brother.
"And maybe Art can bring his sister to the island to see us, and then wecould play boys' games and girls', too," went on Jan.
"I'll ask my mother," promised Arthur.
Grandpa and the expressman soon had the wagon loaded, and Arthur rodeback in it with the Curlytops to the wharf where the boat was tied.
"All aboard for Star Island!" cried Mr. Martin, when the things were inthe boat, nearly filling it. "All aboard!"
"I wish I could come now!" sighed Arthur.
"Well, we'd like to take you," said Grandpa Martin, "but it wouldn't bea good thing to take you unless your mother knew you were coming withus, and we haven't time to go up to ask her now. The next time maybewe'll take you back with us."
There was a wistful look on Arthur's face as he watched the boat beingrowed away from the main shore and toward the island. Ted and Janetwaved their hands to him, and said they would ask their mother to invitehim for a visit, which they did a few weeks later.
Once back on the island the things were taken out of the boat and thenbegan the work of taking them out of the boxes and crates. There was anew oil stove, to warm the tent on cool or rainy days, and other thingsfor the camp, and when all had been unpacked there was quite a pile ofboards and sticks left.
"I know what we can do with them," said Teddy to Janet, when they hadbeen piled in a heap not far from the shore of the lake, and a littledistance away from the tents.
"What?" asked the little girl.
"We can make a raft like Robinson Crusoe did," answered Teddy, for hismother had read him a little about the shipwrecked sailor who, as toldin the story book, lived so long alone on an island.
"What's a raft?" asked Janet.
"Oh, it's something like a boat, but it hasn't got any sides to it--onlya bottom," answered her brother. "You make it out of flat boards and youhave to push it along with a pole. We can make a raft out of all theboards and pieces of wood grandpa took the things out of. It'll be a lotof fun!"
"Will mother let us?" asked Jan.
"Oh, I guess so," answered Teddy.
But he did not go to ask to find out. He found a hammer where grandpahad been using it to knock apart the crates and boxes, and, with thehelp of Jan, Teddy was soon making his raft. There were plenty of nailswhich had come out of the boxes and crates. Some of them were rathercrooked, but when Ted tried to hammer them straight he pounded hisfingers.
"That hurts," he said. "I guess crooked nails are as good as straightones. An
yhow this raft is going to be crooked."
And it was very crooked and "wobboly," as Janet called it, when Teddyhad shoved it into the water and, taking off his shoes and stockings,got on it.
"Come on, Jan!" he cried, "I'm going to have a ride."
"No, it's too tippy," Janet answered.
"Oh, it can't tip over," said Teddy. "That's what a raft is for--not totip over. Maybe you can slide off, but it can't tip over. Come on!"
So Janet took off her shoes and stockings.
Now of course she ought not to have done that, nor ought Teddy to havegot on the raft without asking his mother or his grandfather. But thenthe Curlytops were no different from other children.
So on the raft got Teddy and Janet, and for a time they had lots of funpushing it around a shallow little cove, not far from the shore of StarIsland. A clump of trees hid them from the sight of Mother Martin andgrandpa at camp.
"Let's go farther out," suggested Teddy, after a bit.
"I'm afraid," replied Janet.
"Aw, it'll be all right!" cried Ted. "I won't let it tip over!"
So Janet let him pole out a little farther, until she saw that theshore was far away, and then she cried:
"I want to go back!"
"All right," answered Ted. "I don't want anybody on my raft who's askeered. I'll go alone!"
He poled back to shore and Janet got off the raft. Then Teddy shoved thewabbly mass of boards and sticks, fastened together with crooked nails,out into the lake again. He had not gone very far before somethinghappened. One end of the raft tipped up and the other end dipped down,and--off slid Teddy into the water.
"Oh! Oh!" screamed Janet. "You'll be drowned! I'm going to tellgrandpa."
She ran to the camp with the news, and Mr. and Mrs. Martin came hurryingback. By this time Teddy had managed to get up and was standing in thewater, which was not deep.
"I--I'm all right," he stammered. "Only I--I'm--wet!"
"I should say you _were_!" exclaimed his mother. "You mustn't go on anymore rafts."
Teddy promised that he would not, and then, when he had put on dryclothes, he and Janet played other games that were not so dangerous.They had lots of fun in the camp on Star Island.
"Come on, Jan!" called her brother one morning after breakfast. "Come ondown to the lake."
"What're you goin' to do?" she asked.
"I think he had better look for the 'g' you dropped," said Mrs. Martinwith a laugh.
"What 'g?'" asked Jan.
"The one off 'going,'" was the answer. "You must be more careful of yourwords, Janet dear. Learn to talk nicely, and don't drop your 'g'letters."
She had been trying to teach this to the Curlytops for a long while, andthey were almost cured of leaving off the final "g" of their words. But,once in a while, just as Jan did that time, they forgot.
"What are you going to do?" asked Janet, slowly and carefully this time.
"Sail my boat," answered Ted. "I'll give your doll a ride if you want meto."
"Not this one," replied his sister, looking at the one she carried. Ithad on a fine red dress.
"Why not that doll?" Ted inquired.
"'Cause your boat might tip over and spill my doll in the lake. Thenshe'd be spoiled and so would her dress. Wait. I'll get my rubber doll.Water won't hurt her."
"My boat won't tip over," Ted declared. "It's a good one."
But even Jan's rubber doll must have been too heavy for Ted's smallboat, for, half way across a little shallow cove in the lake, where theCurlytops waded and Ted sailed his ships, the boat tipped to one side,and the doll was thrown into the water.
"There! I told you so!" cried Janet.
"Well, she's rubber, and you can pretend she has on a bathing suit an'has gone in swimming!" declared Ted.
"But maybe a fish'll bite a hole in her and then she can't whistlethrough the hole in her back!" wailed Jan, ready to cry.
"There's no fish here, only baby ones; and they can't bite," Tedanswered. "But I'll get her for you, Jan."
He waded out, set his ship upright again, and brought his sister's dollto shore. Nancy--which was the doll's name--did not seem to have beenhurt by falling into the lake. Her painted smile was the same as ever.
"I guess I'll dress her now so she won't get cold after her bath," saidJan, who sometimes acted as though her dolls were really alive. Sheliked her playthings very much indeed.
While his sister went back to the tent with her doll Ted sailed hisboat. Then Trouble came down to the edge of the little cove, and beganto take off his shoes and stockings to go wading as Ted was doing. Tedwas not sure whether or not his mother wanted Baby William to do this,so he decided to run up to the camp to ask.
"Don't go in the water until I come back, Trouble," Ted ordered hislittle brother.
But the sight of the cool, sparkling water was too much for BabyWilliam.
Off came his shoes and stockings without waiting for Ted to come back tosay whether or not Mother Martin would let him go splashing in thewater. Into the lake Baby William went. And he was not careful aboutgetting wet, either, so that when Ted came back with his mother, whowanted to make sure that her baby boy was all right, they saw him out inthe middle of the cove with Ted's boat. And the water was half way up toTrouble's waist, the lower part of his bloomers being soaked.
"Oh, you dear bunch of Trouble!" cried his mother. "You mustn't dothat!"
"Havin' fun!" was all Trouble said.
"Come here!" cried Mrs. Martin.
"Wait till I sail boat," and he pushed Ted's toy about in the cove,splashing more water on himself.
"I guess you'll have to get him," said Mrs. Martin to Teddy, who halfdragged, half led his little brother to shore. Trouble got wetter thanever during this, and his mother had to take him back to the tent to putdry things on him.
"Trouble," she said, "you are a bad little boy. I'll have to keep you incamp the rest of the day now. After this you must not go in wading untilI say you may. If you had had your bathing suit on it would have beenall right. Now you must be punished."
Trouble cried and struggled, but it was of no use. When Mother Martinsaid a thing must be done it was done, and Trouble could not play in thewater again that day.
Toward the middle of the afternoon, however, as he had been pretty goodplaying around the tent, he was allowed to roam farther off, though toldhe must not go near the water.
"You stay with me, Baby," called Nora. "I'm going to bake a cake andI'll give you some."
"Trouble bake a cake, too?" he asked.
"No, Trouble isn't big enough to bake a cake, but you can watch me. I'llget out the flour and sugar and other things, and I'll make a littlecake just for you."
On a table in the cooking tent Nora set out the things she was to usefor her baking. There was the bag of flour, some water in a dish andother things. Just as she was about to mix the cake Mrs. Martin calledNora away for a moment.
"Now, Trouble, don't touch anything until I come back!" warned the girl,as she hurried out of the tent. "I won't be gone a minute."
But she was gone longer than that. Left alone in the tent, with manythings on the table in front of him, Trouble looked at them. He knew hecould have lots of fun with some of the pans, cups, the egg beater, theflour, the water and the eggs. A little smile spread over his tanned,chubby face.
"Trouble bake a cake," he said to himself. "Nora bake a cake--Troublebake a cake. Yes!"
First Baby William pulled toward him the bag of flour. He managed to doit without upsetting it, for the bag was a small one. Near it was a bowlof water with a spoon in it. Trouble had seen his mother and Nora bakecakes, and he must have remembered that they mixed the flour and watertogether. Anyhow that was the way to make mud pies--by mixing sand andwater.
Trouble looked for something to mix his cake in. The tins and disheswere so far back on the table that he could not get them easily. He musttake something else.
Off his head Trouble pulled his white hat--a new one that grandpa hadbr
ought only that day from the village store.
"Make cake in dis," murmured Baby William to himself.
He pushed a chair up to the table and climbed upon it. From the chair hegot on the table and sat down. Then he began to make his cake in hishat.
THEN TROUBLE BEGAN TO MAKE A CAKE IN HIS HAT. _Page138_]
The Curlytops on Star Island; Or, Camping out with Grandpa Page 11