The Curlytops on Star Island or Camping out with Grandpa   By: Howard Roger Garis (1873-1962)

[Illustration]

HOWARD R. GARIS

[Illustration: 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.