by had engaged to start
the fires and to have everything in readiness for the coming of the
Curlytops.

"Well, we're glad to get here, Jim Nelson," said Aunt Sallie, for she
knew the man.

Uncle Toby put the car in the barn and came in with some of the boxes
and bundles that had been piled in the automobile--bundles of clothes
and things for the children.

"Well, you got here all right, I see," remarked Jim Nelson. "Have any
trouble on the way?"

"Not to amount to anything," answered Uncle Toby. "Funny thing, though,
down at Newt Baker's cabin. I stopped there to get some water from his
deep well. And as I got near the cabin a man ran out and down the hill."

"A man!" exclaimed Mr. Nelson, while the children listened to the talk.
"I didn't know anybody was living there."

"There isn't--that is, not living there regularly," said Uncle Toby.
"But a man ran out. I took him for a tramp at first, only he wasn't
ragged. But after he ran away I went and looked in."

"What did you see?" asked Mr. Nelson, and this the Curlytops and others
wished to hear about.

"Well, it looked as if he'd been living there and doing his cooking for
some time," went on Uncle Toby. "There were a lot of tin cans and odds
and ends of loaves of bread, cracker crumbs, and the like on the table
in the kitchen. Looked to me as if this man had been camping out in Newt
Baker's shack."

"Very likely," said Mr. Nelson. "I don't like such characters hanging
around Crystal Lake. We'll have to keep watch for him. If there are
tramps around they may take things. As a matter of fact, food and little
comforts of small value have been taken from some of the cottages and
camps. Fred Tuller's son Tom wrote to the Pocono paper and made a whale
of a story out of it. But from what you say the matter may be of more
importance than we thought. At any rate, we'd better look into it."

"We'll keep a lookout, then," said Uncle Toby. "And I'll take another
run down to the cabin some day, after I get the Curlytops settled here
having fun," and he laughed at the boys and girls so they would not be
afraid of the talk of tramps and men who might take things.

Mr. Nelson left a little after this, promising to come over the next day
to see how they were.

Then came busy times in Uncle Toby's cabin at Crystal Lake. Aunt Sallie
and the three girls got ready the supper, while the boys opened boxes
and bundles. Skyrocket ran about here and there, poking his nose into
e