The Curlytops at Silver Lake; Or, On the Water with Uncle Ben

by Howard Roger Garis

By this time the swan, flying over the lake, was almost out of sight, and as all the missing rowboats had been gathered together and fastened to the launch, Uncle Ben said it was best to start back for Sunnyside.

“Tom and I didn’t catch a fish,” said Ted. “We had some bites and nibbles, though.”

“We won’t wait here to fish,” decided Uncle Ben. “We can come out in a boat to-morrow. We’d better get back home now. It looks like a storm.”

And it did storm that night. There was a heavy rain and the wind blew very strongly. But the bungalow was snug and comfortable, and the waves from the lake could not reach it.

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.

But the sailor knew what to do to make it lively in the house when it rained outside. He made up little games, as did Daddy Martin, and the Curlytops and their visitors played them.

Trouble, too, had fun with his red rubber ball, playing that it was a baby fox and chasing it as it rolled about the floor under the chairs.

Then Mrs. Martin, too, did her share to make sure that the children had a good time. She let them make candy, and, as you know, that’s lots of fun. The only thing that happened that was not exactly fun, was when Trouble sat down in a pan of candy that had been put on a chair near the back door to cool.

Luckily for Trouble the candy was not hot, and all that happened was that some of the sticks, which Tom and Ted and Lola and Jan had pulled out so carefully from the sweet, sticky lump Mrs. Martin gave them, were spoiled. A pair of bloomers that Trouble wore were all stuck up, of course, but his mother said she could soak the candy out of them in the wash.