The Curlytops on Star Island | Page 3

Curlytops will have to go camping with grandpa," added
the farmer, smiling.
"Well, I'm sure they couldn't have better fun than to go with you,"
replied Mother Martin. "But I'm not sure that Baby William and I can
go."
"Oh, yes you can," said her father-in-law. "We'll talk about it again. But
here come Ted and Jan now in the goat-cart. They seem to have
something to ask you. We'll talk about the camp later."
Teddy and Janet Martin, the two Curlytops, came riding up to the
farmhouse in a small wagon drawn by a fine, big goat, that they had
named Nicknack.
"Please, Mother," begged Ted, "may we ride over to the Home and get
Hal?"
"We promised to take him for a ride," added Jan.
"Yes, I suppose you may go," said Mother Martin. "But you must be
careful, and be home in time for supper."
"We will," promised Ted. "We'll go by the wood-road, and then we

won't get run over by any automobiles. They don't come on that road."
"All right. Now remember--don't stay too late."
"No, we won't!" chorused the two children, and down the garden path
and along the lane they went to a road that led through Grandpa
Martin's wood-lot and so on to the Home for Crippled Children, which
was about a mile from Cherry Farm.
Among others at the Home was a lame boy named Hal Chester. That is,
he had been lame when the Curlytops first met him early in the summer,
but he was almost cured now, and walked with only a little limp. The
Home had been built to cure lame children, and had helped many of
them.
Half-way to the big red building, which was like a hospital, the
Curlytops met Hal, the very boy whom they had started out to see.
"Hello, Hal!" cried Ted. "Get in and have a ride."
"Thanks, I will. I was just coming over to see you, anyway. What are
you two going to do?"
"Nothing much," Ted answered, while Jan moved along the seat with
her doll, to make room for Hal. "What're you going to do?"
"Same as you."
The three children laughed at that. "Let's ride along the river road,"
suggested Janet. "It'll be nice and shady there, and if my Red Cross doll
is going to the war she'll like to be cool once in a while."
"Is your doll a Red Cross nurse?" asked Hal. "If she is, where's her cap
and the red cross on her arm?"
"Oh, she just started to be a nurse a little while ago," Jan explained. "I
haven't had time to make the red cross yet. But I will. Anyhow, let's go
down by the river."

"All right, we will," agreed Ted. "We'll see if we can get some sticks
off the willow trees and make whistles," he added to Hal.
"You can make better whistles in the spring, when the bark is softer,
than you can now," said the lame boy, as the Curlytops often called him,
though Hal was nearly cured.
"Well, maybe we can make some now," suggested Ted, and a little later
the two boys were seated in the shade under the willow trees that grew
on the bank of a small river which flowed into Clover Lake, not far
from Cherry Farm. Nicknack, tied to a tree, nibbled the sweet, green
grass, and Jan made a wreath of buttercups for her doll.
After they had made some whistles, which did give out a little tooting
sound, Ted and Hal found something else to do, and Jan saw, coming
along the road, a girl named Mary Seaton with whom she often played.
Jan called Mary to join her, and the two little girls had a good time
together while Ted and Hal threw stones at some wooden boats they
made and floated down the stream.
"Oh, Ted, we must go home!" suddenly cried Jan. "It's getting dark!"
The sun was beginning to set, but it would not really have been dark for
some time, except that the western sky was filled with clouds that
seemed to tell of a coming storm. So, really, it did appear as though
night were at hand.
"I guess we'd better go," Ted said, with a look at the dark clouds.
"Come on, Hal. There's room for you, too, Mary, in the wagon."
"Can Nicknack pull us all?" Mary asked.
"I guess so. It's mostly down hill. Come on!"
The four children got into the goat-wagon, and if Nicknack minded the
bigger load he did not show it, but trotted off rather fast. Perhaps he
knew he was going home to his stable where he would have some
sweet hay and oats to eat, and that was what made him so glad to