Howard Roger Garis

“ For it did look odd to see so many of them delving in the sand.
“No, Mother, it isn’t a game,” said Janet.
“Mrs. Keller has lost her wedding ring and Mr. Keller has lost his bunch of keys,” added Ted.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “Let me help you look for them. Shall I call Mr. Martin? He is on the porch and——”
“I don’t believe it would do any good—thank you, just the same,” replied Mr. Keller. “We have been looking for some time, but I am afraid both my keys and my wife’s ring are covered with sand. It is like looking for a needle in the haystack.” ”

“ At last the Curlytops were at Sunset Beach, and they loved it very much. It was a wonderful place to spend a summer vacation.
Ted was working away at his sand mill, Janet was playing with her dolls, and Trouble was at work digging a well for a “nellifunt,” far enough up the beach to be out of the reach of the waves.
“Well, children, I see you’re here!” called a pleasant voice.
For a moment Janet thought it might be Mr. and Mrs. Randall, but a glance showed her and Ted that it was Mr. and Mrs. Keller. They were strolling along the shore, smiling and happy. ”

“ And, while it is right and kind to think of the troubles of others, you are too little to be made to worry.”
“Well, anyhow, we’ll look for the keys and the ring if the men don’t find them,” said Teddy.
“Yes, you may do that,” agreed his mother.
“And now let’s go down to the beach and play,” proposed Janet. “Let’s go over by the fishing boats. I want to see them go out in the big waves.”
“Oh, yes!” cried Teddy. “It’s just about time for them to go out now. After we see them we can go back to the place where Mr. Keller lost his keys and see if they found them.” ”

“ Let’s go back in the water and get washed off!” called Ted to his sister, for the dog had spattered them all over with sand.
“All right,” Janet answered. “I’ll be in first!” she shouted, as she raced for the edge of the surf.
“You will not! I’ll beat!” cried Ted.
He leaped to his feet, but one foot slipped on a round stick—one of the sticks he had been tossing for Toto to race after. Down fell the little Curlytop boy in a heap on the sand, almost as soon as he had risen.
“Oh, ho! You will not beat! You will not beat!” laughed Janet, as she raced off ahead of him. ”

“ You don’t have to bait any hooks when you catch crabs.”
“I know you don’t,” said the little girl. “You just tie a chunk of meat to a string and put it in the water. Then Mr. Crab grabs hold of the meat in his claws and you lift him up and then you slip a net under him and you catch him.”
“You do if he doesn’t let go the meat or wiggle out of the net,” returned Teddy, with a laugh.
“Come on—let’s go!” cried Janet. “It will be more fun than playing on the sand. ”

“ Ted Martin wanted to know. He was throwing stones at the fence, trying to send them through a knot hole. And it wasn’t easy, he found. Though he had tossed many pebbles, not one had Ted sent through the hole.
“Pretty soon isn’t very long,” replied Mrs. Martin, with a smile. “As soon as Daddy comes we shall start.”
“I’m going out in the street to see if he’s coming,” announced Janet, bouncing down from the gate.
“No, dear! I’d rather you wouldn’t,” called Mrs. Martin. “There are so many autos in the street now, going to the circus parade, you might get hurt. Stay here, Jan!” ”

“ Janet went on.
“No, he isn’t out here.”
Ted stopped his play in the sand and walked toward his sister. Mrs. Dent and her husband came out to join them.
“This is rather strange,” remarked the lighthouse keeper’s wife. “Does your little brother often run away like this?”
“Yes, lots of times,” answered Ted. “He’s always doing something!”
“I hope nothing has happened,” murmured Mrs. Dent. And, almost without knowing what she was doing, her eyes wandered toward the sea. The ocean was not very rough, but it would not need a very great wave to wash away a little boy like Trouble. ”

“ Teddy was now rowing out toward the middle of the little bay, for there, Jimmie had told him, was the best crabbing. The clumsy punt was not easy to send along, and Teddy was not very strong on the oars. But he and his sister were in no hurry, and they soon found that the tide, which was coming in, helped to carry them along.
“It’s best to catch crabs when the tide comes in,” said Teddy, with the air of an old “sea dog.”
“Why?” asked Janet.
“’Cause it’s then they come in from the ocean to eat up in the inlets and bays, and they’ll bite better,” Teddy answered. ”

“ Often he had to bait his hook a number of times before he caught even one small fish.
The Curlytops sat on the edge of the bank at the inlet and began fishing. Teddy had baited his hook with a worm, and Janet was fishing with clam. This, in itself, was a good thing to do, for on some days fish will take one kind of bait, and the next day they will want something else. So when you go fishing, or rather, when two of you go, it is well to take different kinds of bait, for you never can tell what a fish will like. ”

“ William carried his sand pail and shovel, and Ted had a collection of shingles, some sticks of wood, bits of wire and string.
“I’m going to make something,” he said.
“What?” asked his sister.
“A sand mill. I saw some in a store. You put a lot of sand in a box and the sand runs out and it hits a paddle wheel, like a wheel in a mill, and the sand makes the wheel go around. I’m going to make one.”
“I don’t believe you can,” Janet said.
“Sure, I can!” asserted Ted.
So he began work on what he hoped would be a sand mill, and Janet laid a cloth down on the beach to put her dolls on it. ”

“ The fish were dipped out of the drawn purse net by smaller scoop, or dip, nets, and dumped, flapping and leaping, into the bottom of the boat on top of the shark.
Then, indeed, Ted was glad of the oilskin he had wrapped about him. For some of the fish flapped on him, slapping him with their tails, covering him with salt water and spray. There were some big bluefish in the catch, at the sight of which the eyes of the captain gleamed.
“I’ll get a good price for those,” he said. “Bluefish are scarce. Haven’t had any in a dog’s age. ”

“ Then the lobster crawls in to get the fish bait, and it can’t crawl out again.”
“Why can’t it, and how do you know?” asked Janet.
“I know ’cause Captain Oleson told me,” answered Teddy. “And the lobster can’t get out ’cause he gets tangled in the piece of fish net. A lobster has to crawl backward in the ocean. He can’t go frontwards ’cause his big claws are in the way. He crawls backward into the little hole in the piece of fish net in the pot, and when he wants to crawl out again he can’t do it. He can’t find the hole ’cause he has to go backward all the while.” ”

“ Perched on their high bench, and ready with life lines, they are always on the alert to pull from the waves those who are likely to drown.
So it was that one of the guards saw Janet knocked down by a wave and saw her tumbling about in the surf. He knew there was a strong undertow, or sea puss, running. That is why the bathers had been ordered from the water. The tide had turned, and the sea puss became very strong after Ted and Janet left the water to play with the little dog. ”

“ After Norah had gone Janet strolled out into the kitchen. She saw where Norah had started to make the pies, and at once a bold thought came into Janet’s mind.
“I’ll make a pie myself,” she said. “I’ve often watched mother and Norah, so I know how. I don’t need any cinnamon in my pie. I’ll make it without.”
The flour, water, lard and other things that go to make pie dough were already on the table. Doing as nearly as she could remember having seen her mother and Norah do, Janet mixed up in a brown bowl some flour, lard and milk. ”

“ It’s a sort of seal with a long nose like the trunk of an elephant,” he explained. “But I’ve never seen any in these parts. I guess, little boy, if your brother comes back with a shark and a lobster, besides a boat load of fish, he’ll be doing pretty well.”
“I hope the shark won’t bite him,” sighed Janet.
“Don’t worry, little girl,” said one of the women on the beach. “If the fishermen do catch a shark in their nets they’ll kill it before they lift it into the boat. It can’t hurt your brother.” ”

“ Narr, though, is very particular about his business. He wants everything done just so and right, and he will not take any excuses for mistakes. He is a hard man to work for, but he is not what you could call ugly.”
“He gets cross, doesn’t he?” asked Mrs. Keller.
“Yes, sometimes he gets very cross. I don’t like to work for him; but when you get to be as old as I am,” Mr. Keller said, with a sigh, “you have to work wherever you can. You can’t pick and choose.”
“No, I suppose not,” Mr. Martin said. “Well, we shall see you at Sunset Beach,” he added, as he and his wife made ready to leave. ”

“ There’s a good place down by the inlet, and I saw a fellow catch some big eels there the other day.”
“I wouldn’t like to catch an eel,” objected Janet. “They wiggle too much!”
“That’s what makes it fun!” laughed Ted. “Come on! I’ll get the poles and dig some worms.”
“You needn’t dig me any worms,” declared Janet. “You know I don’t like ’em.”
“What you going to bait your hook with, then?”
“I’ll get a piece of meat from Norah, like I did before.”
“Pooh! Fish won’t bite on meat from the butcher shop.”
“Crabs bite on meat,” said Janet. ”

“ Out of the front gate trooped the Curlytops, their father, mother and little brother—the whole family. The streets were becoming more and more crowded each minute, for the time for the start of the circus parade was drawing near.
As Mr. Martin had said, it was almost impossible to drive an auto, and those who had tried it were beginning to wish they hadn’t. Many were so hemmed about by the crowd that they just had to wait for the traffic to pass by.
Taking a short cut through some back streets, Mr. Martin finally led his family out on one of the main highways of Cresco. ”

“ As I have told you, he and Janet were much interested in seeing the different kinds of fish brought in by the first boat. The children ran from one side to the other of the craft, as it rested on the sand, having been pulled well above the high tide limit.
Then Ted thought he would like to look into the boat that was about to go out to the nets. He wanted to see what it was like. Now, though these motor fishing-boats look rather small when they are out on the ocean, they are, really, quite large and will hold a number of men and many hundreds of fishes—even several big sharks. ”

“ Ted, meanwhile, had traded off a battered top for another rusty hook and tangle of line to Harry Kent, and this second line he gave to Janet.
So they each had a pole and line, though the hooks were more rusty than at first. They were not very sharp, either, for which Mrs. Martin was glad, for she did not wish the Curlytops to get a hook caught in their hands. However, she said little, for she knew that the best way to make children careful is to let them do some things for themselves, after warning them how to look out for danger. ”

“ Keller will find his keys,” said Janet, as she got out her doll with the shoe-button eyes. “And maybe his wife will find her ring. I hope so.”
“I hope so, too,” said Mrs. Martin.
“Why is Mr. Keller so worried about his keys?” asked Ted. “Would that man he works for discharge him just for losing a bunch of keys?”
“I’m afraid so, my dear,” answered his mother. “Mrs. Keller told me something about this Mr. Narr. He is very rich, it seems, and owns a summer home on one of the islands in the bay. Being very rich, he thinks, I suppose, that he can have nearly everything his own way. ”

“ The Curlytops and Trouble were very willing, you may be sure, to drink some of the cool, sweet lemonade, as the day was a hot one and they were warm from their walk down the sandy beach.
Mrs. Dent, the keeper’s jolly wife, gave the children some crackers to nibble with their lemonade, and they had quite a little party there in the lighthouse.
“Could we see the light?” asked Teddy, for he was interested in such things.
“Of course you can,” answered Mr. Dent.
“What does you want a light for in the daytime?” asked Trouble.
“We don’t, little man,” answered Mr. Dent, with a laugh. ”