The Curlytops and Their Pets | Page 2

house after his "black pirate flag." Janet shoved her ship out
from the shore--her ship laden with diamonds, gold and chocolate cakes.
Of course it was not a real ship. The Curlytops would not have had half
as much fun with real ships as they were having with the pieces of
boards which they were making believe were steamers and sailing
vessels.
"I'll sail my ship away down to the end of the brook before Ted gets
back to be a pirate," said Janet to herself, as, with a long stick, she
directed the flat board which was piled high with brook-pebbles. "Then
when he comes back he can't sink it."
Janet pushed her ship slowly at first, and then a little faster, moving it
along by means of the stick while she stood on the bank. Then, hearing
a noise in the bushes behind her, she thrust harder on the stick.
"I don't want Teddy to pirate my ship!" she thought. "I'll fool him! I'll
sail it around the bend, and then I'll hide behind the big buttonball tree
and he won't know where I've gone!"
In order to do this Janet wanted to make her ship go as fast as possible,
so she shoved harder and harder on the stick. And then, all of a sudden,
her ship upset.
With a splash the stones, pebbles and bits of wood went into the brook.
The whole cargo was sunk and lost as surely as if Ted's pirate vessel
had captured that of his sister. That is, everything sank but the ship
itself and the cargo of little sticks, some of which Janet was pretending
were chocolate cakes. Even at that, I suppose, the chocolate cakes
would be wet and soggy. And soggy chocolate cake isn't good to eat.
The best thing you can do with it is to make it into a pudding.
"Oh, Ted! look what you made me do," cried Janet sadly, as she saw
the ship, which she had loaded with such care, capsized and cleared of
its cargo. "It's all your fault!"
And then she started in surprise as a babyish voice replied:

"I 'idn't do nuffin! I 'ust comed! What's matter, Jan?"
"Oh, it's you, is it, Trouble?" asked the girl, as she turned and saw,
instead of Teddy, her smaller brother William, more often called
"Trouble," because he was in it so often.
"Yep! Me is here!" announced Trouble. Sometimes he talked more
correctly than this, and his mother had told Janet and Teddy to try to
cure him of his baby talk and the wrong use of words. But Ted and Jan
thought it was "cute" to hear Trouble say queer things, so they did not
mend his talk as often as they might.
"I thought you were Ted," went on Janet. "Did you see him? He went
up to the house to get a flag."
"Flag," returned Trouble, in a questioning voice. "Goin' to be soldiers
an' have a 'rade?" He meant parade, of course.
"No, we aren't going to have a parade now, Trouble," said Janet. "Ted
went to get a black flag to be a pirate, so he could sink my ship that was
loaded with diamonds, gold and chocolate cakes."
"I want chocolate cake--two pieces!" demanded Trouble, who had ears
only for the last words of his sister.
"There wasn't any chocolate cake--really, dear," explained the little girl,
as she ruffled up her curly hair. "Ted and I were just pretending. He is
going to have a pirate ship. I didn't want him to get mine, so I was
shoving it hard down the brook, but I made it go too fast and it upset.
Now I've got to load my ship all over again."
"I want s'ip!" demanded William, as Jan began to guide her empty
vessel back to shore by means of the long stick. "Trouble have a s'ip?"
he asked.
"Yes, you may have a ship, and play with us," Janet said, and as she
was looking about for a board which might serve her little brother to
play with, she heard someone coming through the bushes.

"I guess this is Ted," thought Janet. "Anyhow he can't sink my ship
now. I did it myself."
It was her older brother, and he now came bursting through the
shrubbery that lined the bank of the brook, holding in his hands a piece
of black cloth.
"I got the pirate flag!" cried Teddy. "Whoop-la! Now I'm going to sink
your ship! Why, what happened?" he asked, as he saw that Janet's craft
was empty. "Did Trouble upset it?"
"No, I did it myself," Janet answered. "But I didn't mean to. I was
trying to hide it from you, 'cause I don't want you to be a pirate and
upset