ed solve a strange mystery, too.

The book just before this one that you are reading is named "The
Curlytops at Silver Lake," and in that you may learn what Ted, Janet and
Trouble did when they went on the water with Uncle Ben, and how they
helped capture some bad men.

The summer had been filled with adventures, and there were some good
times in the winter that followed. Now it was summer again, and the
Curlytops were ready for more fun.

Mr. Richard Martin was the father of the Curlytops. He was a storekeeper
in the city of Cresco, in one of our eastern states. There were just
three of the Curlytops, Theodore Baradale, Janet and William Anthony
Martin. But Theodore was nearly always called Ted or Teddy, Janet's name
was shortened to Jan and William answered to the call of Trouble as often
as to any other.

In addition to the children there was Skyrocket, the dog, and Turnover,
the cat. The cat was called that name because she had a trick of lying
down and rolling over when she wanted something to eat. There had also
been Nicknack, a goat, and Clipclap, a pony, but these had been sent away
for a time, and the dog and cat were the only pets the children had at
present. But they were soon going to have more, as I will tell you
presently.

It was a warm, pleasant, sunny day when Ted and Jan went down to the
brook to play that pieces of boards were their "ships." Then Trouble had
joined them, and, just after the mail carrier left the strange letter
from Uncle Toby, Trouble had, as usual, gotten into trouble.

Janet and Teddy were not quite certain who Uncle Toby might be. They had
heard of him, once or twice, as a distant relative of their father or
their mother, but they had not seen him in a number of years. They only
dimly remembered him as an old man who lived in a city about fifty miles
from Cresco, but they had not visited him in some time.

Just now the plight of Trouble so filled the minds of Ted and Jan that
they had no thought for Uncle Toby or his strange letter. Nor did Mrs.
Martin give any heed to the missive she had dropped.

"Be careful, Teddy!" she called, as she saw her older son splashing his
way through the water. "Don't fall!"

"I--I won't, Mother! Not if--if I--I can help----"

But just as Teddy got that far he stumbled on a round stone in the brook,
and down he went with a splash!

"Oh, he'll be drowned!" screamed Janet, who was following her mother
along the bank of the brook, while Trou