Howard Roger Garis

“ A gypsy wagon came along—all looking-glass and painted red, you know—and I heard a bark inside, a dog’s bark.”
“I heard it, too,” said Lola, “and I said it sounded just like your dog Skyrocket.”
“Yes, she said that,” agreed Tom. “And then we were going to run out to the wagon to see, and, all of a sudden, a dog stuck his head out the back door and it was Skyrocket!”
“Are you sure?” asked Uncle Ben, as he steered the boat out into the open lake, and pointed the bow toward Sunnyside. “There are lots of dogs that may look like Skyrocket, you know.” ”

“ They hunted about until they found a long, smooth stick and, standing on the edge of the hole down which Trouble had said his ball had rolled, Tom poked in the branch.
Instantly there was a growl and several queer little barks.
The two boys looked at one another.
“Did you hear that?” cried Tom.
“I should say I did!” agreed Ted.
“It’s your dog Skyrocket,” went on Tom. “The Gypsy man must have let him go, and he came here. Then he hid in the hole so the Gypsies couldn’t find him again.”
“Oh, maybe he did!” cried Teddy. “Come on out, Skyrocket! Come on out!” he called. ”

“ In the morning when you wake up, he’ll be ready to play with you.”
There was nothing else to do, and so Teddy and Janet went into the house, after one last, lingering look at the shed where Skyrocket slept at night.
“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet. “Nothing will ever be any fun if Skyrocket is gone!”
“Oh, but he isn’t gone, I’m sure!” said Mr. Martin, in as jolly a voice as he could speak. “I think he’ll be here in the morning, though it certainly is queer about the window being open. But now trot off to bed, Curlytops! It’s long past your time!”
“Don’t feel so bad,” said Mrs. Martin. ”

“ Janet and Ted looked at each other and then at Tom and Lola Taylor when the farmer spoke the word “Gypsy.”
“What’s that you say?” asked Mr. Blake, who was a little deaf. “Did you say you knew where the bad dog was that’s been chasing my sheep and taking my chickens, Mr. Addison?”
“I think I can tell you where you might find him,” was the answer. “I was driving past the Gypsy camp the other day, and I saw a lot of dogs near their tents and wagons. You know those Gypsies always do have a lot of dogs.” ”

“ Martin. “I think you will have lots of fun on the water with Uncle Ben. He will not have to be busy all the time, as he will have a man and a boy to help him.”
“Oh, it’s just dandy here!” cried Teddy, as he ran about on the soft ground under the trees in front of the bungalow.
“We’ll have lots of fun!” echoed Janet.
Trouble got slowly down from his mother’s arms. He walked this way and that, looking out at the lake, which was shining like silver among the trees, and he looked up at the clouds floating overhead. ”

“ I guess you better go and get mother or daddy or Uncle Ben. They can get me out.”
“Wait! Maybe I can do it myself!” said Teddy, after a bit. “If I had a rope I could throw it to you, and you could take hold of it and I could stand up here, where there isn’t any mud, and pull you out.”
“Yes, but you haven’t any rope,” said Janet.
Teddy thought some more.
“No, there isn’t any rope,” he said. “But if I could find a piece of wild grapevine, that would be as good as a rope. Don’t you ’member, when we went to Grandpa’s Cherry Farm, how we swung on a wild grapevine in the woods, just like a swing?” ”

“ Teddy told the simple little story, and also how he and Janet had been looking for their missing pet, and how Trouble had been caught in the carriage wheel.
“I’ll help you look,” offered Tom. “Skyrocket is a nice dog. Maybe some tramp opened the woodshed window and coaxed him out,” he added.
“There’s a tramp up at our house now,” said Ted, rather proud to be able to tell such news as that.
“A tramp! There is?” cried Tom. “Did he take Skyrocket?”
“Well, he isn’t zactly a tramp,” went on Ted, and then he explained about the man his father and Patrick had carried in. ”

“ Ted thought about it for a moment, and then said:
“That’s what we’ll do! We can take off our shoes and stockings, ’cause a raft isn’t like a boat. The water sloshes all up on it. We’ll go barefoot, and we’ll have a lot of fun.”
The pond where the boys had sat down to rest in the shade was not usually deep enough to float a raft, or any boat except tiny toy ones. But since the rain two days before had made the pond larger and deeper, and also muddier, there was, as Tom had said, water enough to let a small raft of boards be paddled around in it. ”

“ A stick will be safer.”
And when she thrust down the same stick that Tom and Ted had used, surely enough there sounded first a growl and then a queer little barking noise.
“Oh, is it Skyrocket?” cried Janet.
“No, I think not,” answered her mother. “It doesn’t sound at all like our little dog. But there’s some animal there, that’s sure, and I don’t believe that it is quite as harmless as a squirrel or a rabbit. I’ll tell you what we’ll do.”
“What?” cried the four larger children in a chorus.
“We’ll wait until Uncle Ben comes,” was the answer. “He knows a lot about the woods and about animals.” ”

“ Drawing this glove on his hand, the old sailor stretched out on the ground, and thrust his hand and arm into the hole as far as it would go. Then he seemed to be feeling around, down inside, and a moment later he pulled something out of the hole.
“Is it my wed ball?” asked Trouble.
“It’s a baby dog!” cried Janet, as she caught sight of something alive and wiggling in Uncle Ben’s gloved hand.
“No, it’s a little baby fox,” said Uncle Ben. “That’s what the growlery hole is, children—the den of a fox. But the big foxes are out now, hunting chickens, perhaps. Only the little ones are at home. ”

“ And indeed Silver Lake was what is called a picnic resort. That is, a company had put up on one of the shores a merry-go-round and a place where you could “shoot the chutes”—that is, slide down a wooden hill into the water, riding in queer little wooden boats. There was also a roller coaster, places to get ice-cream and candy, and one place where you could get a regular dinner.
There were many things to amuse children, and grown-ups also. There were sailboats and rowboats to hire, and there was a motor boat in which one could ride all around the lake for ten cents. ”

“ While he was doing this, the children wandered along to a little shady cove, and Tom and Ted, who always carried fishlines in their pockets, started to try their luck.
Uncle Ben had made fast the last boat, and he was going in search of the children, whom he could hear talking, but not see, when Lola came running up to him.
“Oh, Uncle Ben! Uncle Ben!” she cried. “A big white bird has got hold of Trouble, and it’s trying to fly away with him! Come and get Trouble away from the big, white bird!” ”

“ The Curlytops sat about the table after supper, when the lights were glowing, and told Daddy Martin about the wild swan that had caught hold of Trouble’s bloomers with his yellow bill.
For two days it rained, and the children had to stay either in the bungalow or close to it. No picnics or excursions came to Silver Lake, and if it had not been that Mr. and Mrs. Martin and Uncle Ben found many ways of making fun for the children they would have passed a dull time. ”

“ Martin. “He must have crawled in bed with Teddy. No wonder you felt something like Skyrocket’s fuzzy coat,” he added.
“Oh, get the squirrel for me!” begged Teddy. But the squirrel did not wait to be caught. It was one thing to be in a soft warm bed in the dark with a little boy, but quite another to have big folks looking at him in the light. So the squirrel scurried out of an open window and disappeared in the darkness off the porch. ”

“ Ransom.
“Did you find Skyrocket?” asked Ted eagerly.
“Skyrocket? No. I hadn’t heard that he was lost,” answered Mrs. Ransom. “But there’s a man acting very oddly in your front yard, and I thought your father ought to know about it. I saw the queer man from my store window, and I hurried over to tell you about him. Go in and have your father come out. He ought to do something about the funny man!” ”

“ Daddy Martin was there, waiting for them, and he laughed when Tom and Ted told him how Tom and he each thought they had a big fish, when, really, they had only caught each other’s lines.
But they all had had a good time, and they said they were going fishing again with Uncle Ben. Many were the happy days at Silver Lake and at the Sunnyside Bungalow.
One morning when the Curlytops and Tom and Lola came in to breakfast at the call of Nora Mrs. Martin said:
“Don’t go away when you have finished eating, my dears. I want you to stay around the house.” ”

“ I’m sure there wasn’t any sail on this boat when we arrived at Silver Lake. How did you get the sail up, Teddy? You aren’t strong enough to hoist it yourself.”
“No, I didn’t do it,” admitted Teddy. “A man did it for me.”
“A man? What man?” Mr. Martin asked, and he looked in surprise at Uncle Ben.
“I didn’t do it, that’s sure,” said Mr. Wilson. “And I didn’t see any strange man around the dock.”
“Nor I,” said Mr. Martin. “Are you sure, Teddy, that a man hoisted the sail for you?”
“Well, I didn’t ask him to,” went on the little boy. “I was playing around with Jan and Trouble. ”

“ Then the shining object fell back into the lake again with a splash.
“What was that?” cried Ted.
“Did somebody throw something?” Janet asked.
“Maybe it was a turtle,” said Trouble.
“That was a fish that jumped out of the water and clean over the rowboat,” said Uncle Ben. “Fish sometimes leap out of the water that way when they want to catch a bug or a fly that is just above them. But I did not know there were such large fish in Silver Lake. I must bring a hook, line, and pole the next time I come out.” ”

“ Curlytops, that’s Skyrocket sure enough. He knows his name when you speak it only once, and he came to you without calling, while he was afraid of this Gypsy. Now you have your dog back!”
“And we’ll never let him go again!” said Janet.
“Now look here, you Gypsies!” said Mr. Addison in a stern voice. “You’ll be allowed to camp here just as long as you behave yourselves, and no longer. Get rid of that yellow dog that kills sheep and chickens, and don’t take any more pet dogs and you’ll be better off. Remember what I say—don’t take any more pet dogs that belong to children!” ”

“ Take good care of him.”
“We will!” said Janet and Ted.
You can imagine how glad Mrs. Martin was, and Trouble and Mr. Martin and Nora, also, to welcome Skyrocket to Sunnyside Bungalow. It was a new place for Skyrocket, but he soon made himself at home, and a little bed was got ready for him on the porch.
“And if any Gypsies come to take you away again, I’ll—I’ll scratch ’em!” declared Janet.
“And I’ll help!” added Lola.
“Well, I guess those Gypsies won’t make any more trouble,” said Uncle Ben. “If they don’t behave themselves Mr. Addison will arrest every one of ’em.” ”

“ Then he may have pulled on Trouble’s bloomers to show that he was angry, or maybe that was his way of asking for something to eat.”
“Well, he scared me, ’Cause I thought he wanted Trouble!” exclaimed Jan.
“Bird scared Trouble,” added Trouble.
“And me, too,” said Lola. “I thought he’d fly away with Trouble.”
“No, he couldn’t do that,” explained Uncle Ben. “A swan is quite a large and heavy bird. They have to run along the top of the water for a little distance, to get a start so they can fly, just as an airship has to run along on the ground before it can rise up. ”

“ The Curlytops waited eagerly for their father to come home that night, for they wanted to ask him about Silver Lake.
“Yes,” he told them, after supper, when Janet and Ted had climbed on his knees and Trouble was seated in Uncle Ben’s lap, “we will spend our vacation at Silver Lake. I think you will like it there.”
“Shall we have a tent?” asked Ted.
“And a boat?” asked Jan.
“An’—an’—a drum?” Trouble wanted to know. “I wants a drum!”
“I don’t know about the drum!” said his father with a laugh, “but we’ll have a tent, and also a bungalow. We’ll eat in the tent when it doesn’t rain. ”

“ Martin. “If he is lost he is lost, and that is all there is to it. It’s too bad, of course, and I wish he were back. But you must make the best of it, and, some day, maybe we’ll have another dog.”
“No,” said Ted slowly, as he thought it over. “If I can’t have Skyrocket I don’t want any dog.”
“Me, either,” said Janet. “But maybe he’ll come back to us.”
“And maybe Tom Taylor and me—I mean I—maybe we’ll find the burglars that went into Miss Ransom’s store,” said Teddy.
“How can you, when Tom Taylor isn’t here?” asked Janet.
“That’s so,” agreed her brother. “I wish Tom was here,” he went on. ”