"There he is!" and she pointed.
"That's the tramp!" cried Ted. "They _are_ on the island, only grandpa
couldn't find 'em!"
"Do you--do you s'pose he's goin' to take Trouble?" faltered Janet.
Before Ted could answer, the Curlytops saw what the ragged man was
going to do. They saw him stoop over the spring, reach down into it
and lift something up. The "something" was Baby William, screaming and
crying in fright, and dripping wet.
The ragged man set Trouble down on a rock near the spring, and then,
waving his hand to Ted and Jan, he cried:
"He's all right--swallowed hardly any water. Take him home as soon as
you can, though. I haven't time to stop--have to go to see the
professor!"
With that the man seemed to dive in between some high bushes, and the
Curlytops could not see him any more. But Trouble was still sitting on
the rock, the water from his clothes making a little puddle all around
him, and he was crying hard, his tears running down his cheeks.
"Oh, Trouble!" gasped Jan, putting her arms around him, all wet as he
was.
"Are you hurt?" asked Ted, looking carefully at his little brother.
"I--I--I fal--falled in an'--an' I's all--all wetted!" wailed Trouble,
his breath coming in gasps because of his crying, which he had partly
stopped on seeing his brother and sister. "I failed in de spwing, I
did!"
"What made you?" asked Ted, while Jan tried to wring some of the water
out of the little fellow's waist and rompers.
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