“Well, we won’t eat until the whistle blows,” agreed Ted. But he made up his mind that he would himself blow a make-believe whistle as soon as Janet came back with the cookies.
The little Curlytop girl had no trouble in getting Mrs. Pitney to give her some cookies, and with these Janet went back to the attic. Ted had placed two chairs in the middle of the attic floor between the two old-fashioned spinning wheels. One of the chairs was a “cabin” for Passenger Trouble. The other was the pilot house where Janet stood to steer the boat.
“All aboard!” cried Engineer Teddy, as he stood with one hand on the spokes of the big wheel, ready to turn it. Ted soon found that if he turned the big wheel, the small flax wheel would spin much faster than the one he turned. This was because of the difference in size. If Ted had turned the flax wheel by hand the larger wheel would have moved more slowly.
“All aboard!” cried Teddy again.
“You mustn’t say that,” objected Janet. “That’s for the captain to say.”
“All right—say it,” agreed Teddy.
“All a-board!” yelled Janet.
“You don’t say it as good as I do, but I guess it will be good enough,” said Ted. “Did you hear it, Trouble?” he asked.
“Yep. I heard her,” was the answer.
“Then why don’t you get on board—in your cabin?” Ted wanted to know.