The Curlytops on Star Island Part 23

"Oh, well, I don't mind cleaning up," said the good-natured maid. "Come on, Trouble, I'll let your mother wash you and then I'll finish the cake."

"Make a cake for Trouble?" asked Baby William.

"Yes, I guess I'll have to, since you couldn't make one for yourself,"

laughed Nora. "Never mind, you'll be a man when you grow up and you won't have to mess around a kitchen. Here you are!" and she caught him up, all doughy as he was, and carried him to the big tent where his mother soon had him washed and in clean clothes.

Then Nora cleaned up the kitchen and made some real cakes and cookies which Ted and Jan, as well as Trouble, ate a little later. The Curlytops laughed when told of Trouble's attempt to make a cake, and for a long time after that whenever they were telling any of their friends about the queer things their baby brother did, they always told first about the cake he made in his hat one day.

"Oh, Ted, I know what let's do!" cried Janet one day, about a week after Trouble had played with the flour and water.

"What?" asked her brother. "Go fis.h.i.+ng?"

"No, I don't like fis.h.i.+ng. Anyhow we went fis.h.i.+ng once, and I don't like to see the worms wiggle. Let's make a little play tent for ourselves in the woods."

"We haven't any cloth."

"We can make one of leaves and branches, just like the bower we made for Nicknack before grandpa put up the little board barn for him."

"Yes, we can do that," agreed Ted. "It'll be fun. Come on."

A little later the two Curlytops were cutting down branches from low trees, sticking the ends into the soft ground, and tying the leafy tops together with string. This made a sort of tent, and though there were holes in it, where the leaves did not quite come together, it made a shady place.

Jan brought in her dolls, and Ted his sailboat and other toys, and there the two children played for some little time. Trouble was not with them.

"But he'll be along pretty soon," remarked Janet, "and he'll want part of the tent for his. Is it big enough for three, Teddy?"

"Well, we can make Trouble a little bower for himself right next door.

He'll want to bring in a lot of old stones and mud pies anyhow, and we don't want them. We'll make a little bower for him when he comes along."

So, waiting for their little brother to hunt them out, which he always did sooner or later if they went off to play without him, Ted and Jan had fun in the little leafy house they had made for themselves.

They were having a good time, and were wondering if Grandpa Martin would ever find the queer ragged man or if they would see the strange blue light again, when Jan suddenly gave a scream.

"What's the matter?" asked Ted.

"Something tickled the back of my neck," explained his sister. "Maybe it's a big worm, or a caterpillar! Look, Ted, will you?"

Teddy turned to look, but, as he did so, he gave a cry of surprise.

"It's a goat! It's our goat! It's Nicknack!" yelled Teddy. "He's stuck his head right through the bower and, oh, Jan! he's eating it!"

And so Nicknack was. His head was half-way through the side of the tree-tent nearest Jan and the goat was chewing some of the green leaves.

It was Nicknack's whiskers that had tickled Jan on the back of her neck.

"Whoa there, Nicknack!" called Ted, as the goat from the outside pushed his way farther into the tent. "Whoa, there! You'll upset this place in a minute!"

And so it seemed Nicknack would do, for he was hungrily eating the leaves of the branches from which Jan and Ted had made their playhouse.

"How'd he get loose?" asked Jan.

"I don't know," Ted answered. "I tied him good and tight by his rope. I wonder if----"

Just then a voice called:

"Wait for me, Nicknack! Wait for me!"

"It's Trouble!" cried Jan and Ted together.

Ted looked out through the hole the goat had eaten in the side of the bower, and saw Baby William toddling toward him.

"Did you let Nicknack loose?" demanded Ted.

"Ess, I did," answered Trouble. "I cutted his wope with a knife, I did.

I wants a wide. Wait for me, Nicknack!"

The goat was in no hurry to get away, for he liked to eat the green leaves, and Ted, coming out of the bower, which was almost ready to fall down now that the goat was half-way inside it, saw where the rope, fast around his pet's horns, had been cut.

"You mustn't do that, Trouble," Ted said to his little brother. "You mustn't cut Nicknack's rope. He might run away into the lake."

"Trouble wants a wide."

"Well, we'll give you a ride," added Jan. "But did mother or Nora give you the knife to cut the rope?"

"No. Trouble got knife offen table."

"Oh, you must _never_ do that!" cried Jan. "You might fall on the sharp knife and cut yourself. Trouble was bad!"

The little fellow had really taken a knife from the table, and had sawed away with it on Nicknack's rope until he had cut it through. Then Nicknack had wandered over to the green bower to get something to eat, and Trouble, dropping the knife, had followed.

Mrs. Martin, to punish Baby William so he would remember not to take knives again, would not let him have a goat ride, and he cried very hard when Ted and Jan went off without him. But even little boys must learn not to do what is wrong, and Trouble was no different from any others.

One afternoon, when the Curlytops had been wandering around the woods of the island, looking to see if any berries were yet ripe, they came back to camp rather tired and warm.

"I know what would be nice for you," said Nora, who came to the flap doorway of the kitchen tent. "Yes, I know _two_ things that would be nice for you."

"What?" asked Jan, fanning herself with her sunbonnet.

"I hope it's something good to eat," sighed Teddy, as he sat down in the shade.

"Part of it," answered Nora. "How would you like some cool lemonade--that is, when you are not so warm," she added quickly, for Teddy had jumped up on hearing this, and was about to make a rush for the kind cook. "You must always rest a bit, when you are so warm from running, walking or playing, before you take a cold drink of anything."

"But have you any lemonade?" asked Janet, for she, too, was tired and thirsty.

"I'll make some, and you may have it when you are not so heated," went on the cook. "And I'll get some sweet crackers for you."

"That's nice," said Janet. "Are they the two things you were going to tell us to do, Nora?"

"No, I'll count the lemonade and crackers as one," went on the cook with a smile. "The other thing I was going to tell you to do is to take Nicknack and have a ride. That will cool you off if you go in the shade."