On chugged the motor boat, and soon it was alongside the sailboat. Uncle Ben gave a jump from the motor boat into the sailing craft, and, in an instant, had loosed the ropes that held up the sail. Down it came, and, as the wind no longer had anything to blow on, the sailboat moved more slowly. But, no matter how fast it moved, the motor boat was beside it now, and Mr. Martin tied both craft together with a rope.
“Why, Teddy! what made you go sailing all alone?” his father asked the little boy, as he took him into the motor boat. “Didn’t I tell you not to get into a boat unless your mother, Uncle Ben, or I were with you?”
“Yes, Daddy. But I—I—forgot!” confessed Teddy. “I won’t do it again!”
“That’s right!” exclaimed Mr. Martin. “And now how did you come to haul up the sail? 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. You were up in the bungalow—you and Uncle Ben and mother.”
“Yes, I know that part,” said Mr. Martin. “Go on. Tell me who put up the sail for you. He shouldn’t have done it, whoever it was.”