“Don’t go too far, and keep out of the boats!” called Mrs. Martin to her two little boys, as they walked away, hand in hand.
There was quite a lot of work to do about the bungalow to get it in order for the summer visit, and soon Mrs. Martin, her husband, and Uncle Ben were busy. Trouble and Ted were in plain sight down on the shore of the lake, looking for turtles, so their mother was not worried about them. Janet was on the porch, taking some of her toys from the box in which they had been packed, and Uncle Ben was getting ready to fix the rudder of the motor boat. The rudder was under water, and Uncle Ben said he would put on a pair of rubber boots to wade out and see what was wrong with the steering gear.
“Hello! Something is wrong here!” exclaimed Uncle Ben, as he put his left foot in one of the pair of boots that Daddy Martin brought out of a closet for him.
“Something wrong? Aren’t they big enough for you?” asked Mr. Martin.
“One is, but the other doesn’t seem to be,” answered the man who had once been a sailor. “There’s something in this boot. I can’t get it on!”
He had his foot half way in, but now he pulled it out and thrust in his hand. As he did this Uncle Ben gave a laugh.
“I’ve found Trouble’s lost turtle,” he called.
“Where was it?” asked Mrs. Martin.
“In this rubber boot,” answered Uncle Ben. “Trouble must have dropped the turtle in the boot, and then he forgot about it. Here it is!”
He drew forth his hand and there, surely enough, out came the turtle in it.