“Say, you have got a big one!” he shouted. “No wonder it pulled you in! Come and help me, Jan! I can’t get him up!”
Forgetting all about their accident and the fact that they were wet from head to foot, the Curlytops pulled on Janet’s pole. The creature that had hold of the hook pulled also, but the children proved the stronger, and at last hauled out on shore—
A big mud turtle!
“Oh, look what was on my hook!” cried Janet.
“A turtle!” gasped Ted. “Say, that’s bigger than a fish!”
“But it isn’t any good,” Janet said. “You can’t eat a mud turtle.”
“Maybe we can,” said Teddy. “We’ll take him home and maybe Norah will know how to cook him.”
“I want to see turkle!” cried Trouble.
“You stay back there!” ordered Ted to his little brother. “If you don’t, you’ll fall in. I’ll bring the turtle up so you can see it.”
“Look out it doesn’t bite you,” warned Janet. “Maybe it’s a snapper! Look out, Ted!”