Are you--well, I was
going to say the tramp--but are you the man we saw before, wandering
about our camp?"
"I presume I am. I don't mind being called a tramp, for I certainly
look like one. However, now that the fallen star is found I don't need
to be so ragged."
"Are you the ragged man that pulled Trouble out of the spring?" asked
Ted, as they watched the blue light die away.
"I did pull a little boy out of the spring," answered Mr. Weston,
"though I didn't know his name was Trouble."
"That's only his pet name," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But come and sit
down and tell us your story. The children have been wondering a long
while what the blue light meant, and who the ragged man was. And, to-
day, they've been trying to find what became of the blue rocks that
Trouble made into a playhouse."
"I took those rocks, I'm sorry to say," answered the ragged man. "I'm
sorry to have spoiled Trouble's playhouse. I wanted those pieces of
rock, for I thought perhaps they were all I would ever be able to get
of the fallen star."
"Was the blue rock really once a star?" asked Hal.
"Well, yes, a part of one, or at least part of a meteor, or shooting
star, as they are called. Now I'll tell you all that happened, and I'm
sorry if I have frightened you. My friend and I didn't mean to.
"Some time ago," went on Mr. Weston, "we heard about Star Island--this
place that was so named because it was said a big meteor had landed
here many years back.
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