Across Silver Lake puffed the motor boat, and soon they were all at Sunnyside once more. Daddy Martin was there to greet them, having spent the day at his office in Cresco, coming down on the evening train.
Of course he had to be told all about the picnic and the loss of Trouble’s ball, the finding of it in the growlery hole, and the way the chipmunk took Lola’s jam tart.
“How does it look at our house, Daddy?” asked Ted of his father.
“Oh, just about the same,” was the answer. “It’s lonesome, though, with you Curlytops away. I wouldn’t want to stay in Cresco without you.”
“Did you see Miss Ransom?” asked Janet. “And did she get back her queer box that the burglars took?”
“Yes, I saw her. But she hasn’t her box yet, and they haven’t caught the burglars,” answered her father.
“You didn’t see Skyrocket, did you?” asked Ted.
“No,” was the answer, “I didn’t.”
The next morning after breakfast Uncle Ben came up from the little office on the end of the pier that Mr. Martin owned.
“Some of our rowboats drifted off in the night,” said the sailor to Mr. Martin. “A man told me they were about a mile down the lake shore. I’ll take the motor launch and go after them. Do any of the children want to come?”