The Curlytops on Star Island | Page 4

hurry

along.
The wagon was stopped near the Home long enough to let Hal get out,
and a little later Mary was driven up to her gate. Then Ted and Jan,
with the doll between them, drove on.
"Oh, Ted!" exclaimed his sister, "mother'll scold. We oughtn't to have
stayed so late. It's past supper time!"
"We didn't mean to. Anyhow, I guess they'll give us something to eat.
Grandma baked cookies to-day and there'll be some left."
"I hope so," replied Jan with a sigh. "I'm hungry!"
They drove on in silence a little farther, and then, as they came to the
top of a hill and could look down toward Star Island in the middle of
Clover Lake, Ted suddenly called:
"Look, Jan!"
"Where?" she asked.
"Over there," and her brother pointed to the island. "Do you see that
blue light?"
"On the island, do you mean? Yes, I see it. Maybe somebody's there
with a lantern."
"Nobody lives on Star Island. Besides, who'd have a blue lantern?"
Jan did not answer.
It was now quite dark, and down in the lake, where there was a patch of
black which was Star Island, could be seen a flickering blue glow, that
seemed to stand still and then move about.
"Maybe it's lightning bugs," suggested Jan.
"Huh! Fireflies are sort of white," exclaimed Ted. "I never saw a light

like that before."
"Me, either, Ted! Hurry up home. Giddap, Nicknack!" and Jan threw at
the goat a pine cone, one of several she had picked up and put in the
wagon when they were taking a rest in the woods that afternoon.
Nicknack gave a funny little wiggle to his tail, which the children could
hardly see in the darkness, and then he trotted on faster. The Curlytops,
looking back, had a last glimpse of the flickering blue light as they
hurried toward Cherry Farm, and they were a little frightened.
"What do you s'pose it is?" asked Jan.
"I don't know," answered Ted. "We'll ask Grandpa. Go on, Nicknack!"

CHAPTER II
WHAT THE FABMER TOLD
"Well, where in the world have you children been!"
"Didn't you know we'd be worried about you?"
"Did you get lost again?"
Mother Martin, Grandpa Martin and Grandma Martin took turns asking
these three questions as Ted and Jan drove up to the farmhouse in the
darkness a little later.
"You said you wouldn't stay late," went on Mother Martin, as the
Curlytops got out of the goat-wagon.
"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Ted.
"Oh, but we're so scared!" exclaimed Jan, and as Grandma Martin put
her arms about the little girl she felt Jan's heart beating faster than
usual.

"Why, what is the matter?" asked the old lady.
"Me wants a wide wif Nicknack!" demanded Baby William, as he
stood beside his mother in the doorway.
"No, Trouble. Not now," answered Ted. "Nicknack is tired and has to
have his supper. Is there any supper left for us?" he asked eagerly.
"Well, I guess we can find a cold potato, or something like it, for such
tramps as you," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But where on earth have you
been, and what kept you?"
Then Ted put Nicknack in the barn. But when he came back he and Jan
between them told of having stayed playing later than they meant to.
"Well, you got home only just in time," said Mother Martin as she took
the children to the dining-room for a late supper. "It's starting to rain
now."
And so it was, the big drops pelting down and splashing on the
windows.
"But what frightened you, Jan?" asked Grandma Martin.
"It was a queer blue light on Star Island."
"A light on Star Island!" exclaimed her grandfather. "Nonsense!
Nobody stays on the island after dark unless it's a fisherman or two, and
the fish aren't biting well enough now to make anyone stay late to try to
catch them. You must have dreamed it--or made-believe."
"No, we really saw it!" declared Ted. "It was a fliskering blue light."
"Well, if there's any such thing there as a 'fliskering' blue light we'll
soon find out what it is," said Grandpa Martin.
"How?" asked Ted, his eyes wide open in wonder.
"By going there to see what it is. I'm going to take you two Curlytops

to camp on Star Island, and if there's anything queer there we'll see
what it is."
"Oh, are we really going to live on Star Island?" gasped Janet.
"Camping out with grandpa! Oh, what fun!" cried Ted. "Do you mean
it?" and he looked anxiously at the farmer, fearing there might be some
joke about it.
"Oh, I really mean it," said Grandpa Martin. "Though I hardly believe
you saw a real light on the island. It must have been