"I'm afraid to go out," she said.

"Afraid of what?"

"Big fish or a crab."

"Pooh! those little crabs won't bite you, and when we splash around we scare away all the fish. They wouldn't bite you anyhow."

"Maybe a water snake would."

"No, it wouldn't," declared Ted. "Come on and see me swim."

So Jan waded out a little way with him. Ted was just taking a few strokes, really swimming quite well for so small a boy, when, all at once, he heard a cry from his sister.

"Oh, Ted! Ted!" she called. "Come on in, quick. A big fish is goin' to bite you!"

Ted gave one look over his shoulder and saw something with a pointed nose, long whiskers and two bright eyes swimming toward him.

"Oh!" yelled Ted, and he began running for sh.o.r.e as fast as he could splash through the water.

CHAPTER XIII

JAN'S QUEER RIDE

"What's the matter? What is it?" cried Nora from the bank where she was tossing bits of wood into the lake for Trouble to pretend they were little boats. "Have you got a cramp, Teddy boy?"

"It's a--a big fish--or--somethin'," he panted, as he kept on running and splashing the water all about, which, after all, did not matter as he was in his bathing suit.

"It's a shark after him!" cried Jan, who, by this time, was safe on sh.o.r.e, stopping on her way to grasp Trouble by the hand and lead him also to safety. "It's a shark!"

She had heard her mother read of bathers in the ocean being sometimes frightened by sharks, or by big fish that looked like sharks.

"Oh, a shark! Good land! We mustn't bathe here any more!" cried Nora.

By this time Ted was in such shallow water that it was not much above his ankles. He could see the bottom, and he hoped no very big fish could swim in so little water. So he thought it would be safe to stop and look back.

"Oh, it's coming some more!" cried Jan, from where she stood on the bank with Nora and Trouble. "Look, Ted! It's coming."

The animal, fish, or whatever it was, indeed seemed to be coming straight for the sh.o.r.e near the place where the Curlytops were playing.

Ted, Jan and Nora could see the sharp nose and the bright eyes more plainly now. As for Trouble, he did not know what it was all about, and he wanted to go back in the water to wade, which was as near swimming as he ever came.

Then the strange creature turned and suddenly made for a small rock, which stood out of the water a little way from the sandy beach. It climbed out on the rock, while the children and Nora watched eagerly, and then Ted gave a laugh.

"Why!" he exclaimed, "it's nothing but a big muskrat!"

"A muskrat?" echoed Jan.

"Yes."

"And see, he has a mussel, or fresh-water clam," said Nora. "Look at him crack the sh.e.l.l."

And this is what the muskrat was really doing. It had been swimming in the lake--for muskrats are good swimmers--when it had found a fresh-water mussel, which is like a clam except that it has a longer sh.e.l.l that is black instead of white. Muskrats like mussels, but they cannot eat them in water.

They have to bring them up on sh.o.r.e, or to a flat rock or stump that sticks up out of water, where they can crack the sh.e.l.l and eat the mussel inside.

"If I'd a known what it was I wouldn't 'a' been scared," said Ted, who felt a little ashamed of himself for hurrying toward sh.o.r.e. "You frightened me yelling so, Jan."

"Well, I didn't want to see you get bit by a shark, Teddy. First I thought it was a shark."

"Well, sharks live in the ocean, where the water is salty," declared Ted.

"Anyhow maybe a muskrat bites," went on Janet.

"Well, maybe," agreed Ted. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't stay there when he came swimming in," for the big rat pa.s.sed right over the place where Ted had been about to swim. "I'm glad you yelled, Janet."

"So'm I. I'm not going in swimming here any more."

"Oh, he won't come back," Ted said. "Come on!"

But Janet would not go, and as it was no fun for Ted to splash in the water all alone he stayed near sh.o.r.e and went wading with Trouble and his sister.

This was fun, and the Curlytops had a good time, while Nora, now that she knew there was no danger from sharks, sat in the shade and mended holes in the children's stockings.

"I wish we had a boat," said Ted after a while.

"Why, we have," answered Jan.

"Yes, I know, the big rowboat. But that's too heavy for me and you--I mean you and me," and Ted quickly corrected himself, for he knew it was polite always to name oneself last. "But I want a little boat that we can paddle around in."

Jan thought for a moment and then cried:

"Oh, I know the very thing!"

"What?" asked Ted eagerly.

"One of the boxes grandpa brought the things in from the store. They're long, and we can make box-boats of them. There's two of 'em!"

"That's what we can!" cried Teddy, as he thought of the boxes his sister meant. Groceries from the store had been sent to the camp in them. The boxes were strong, and long; big enough for Jan or Ted to sit down in them and reach over the sides to paddle, not being too high.

Mother Martin said they might take the boxes and make of them the play-boats they wanted, and, in great delight, Ted and his sister ran to get their new playthings.

Grandpa Martin pulled out all the nails that might scratch the children, and he also fastened strips of wood over the largest cracks in the boxes.

"That will keep out some of the water, but not all," he said. "Your box-boats won't float very long. They'll sink as soon as enough water runs in through the other cracks."