ar from the shore of the lake, and a little
distance away from the tents.

"What?" asked the little girl.

"We can make a raft like Robinson Crusoe did," answered Teddy, for his
mother had read him a little about the shipwrecked sailor who, as told
in the story book, lived so long alone on an island.

"What's a raft?" asked Janet.

"Oh, it's something like a boat, but it hasn't got any sides to it--only
a bottom," answered her brother. "You make it out of flat boards and you
have to push it along with a pole. We can make a raft out of all the
boards and pieces of wood grandpa took the things out of. It'll be a lot
of fun!"

"Will mother let us?" asked Jan.

"Oh, I guess so," answered Teddy.

But he did not go to ask to find out. He found a hammer where grandpa
had been using it to knock apart the crates and boxes, and, with the
help of Jan, Teddy was soon making his raft. There were plenty of nails
which had come out of the boxes and crates. Some of them were rather
crooked, but when Ted tried to hammer them straight he pounded his
fingers.

"That hurts," he said. "I guess crooked nails are as good as straight
ones. Anyhow this raft is going to be crooked."

And it was very crooked and "wobboly," as Janet called it, when Teddy
had shoved it into the water and, taking off his shoes and stockings,
got on it.

"Come on, Jan!" he cried, "I'm going to have a ride."

"No, it's too tippy," Janet answered.

"Oh, it can't tip over," said Teddy. "That's what a raft is for--not to
tip over. Maybe you can slide off, but it can't tip over. Come on!"

So Janet took off her shoes and stockings.

Now of course she ought not to have done that, nor ought Teddy to have
got on the raft without asking his mother or his grandfather. But then
the Curlytops were no different from other children.

So on the raft got Teddy and Janet, and for a time they had lots of fun
pushing it around a shallow little cove, not far from the shore of Star
Island. A clump of trees hid them from the sight of Mother Martin and
grandpa at camp.

"Let's go farther out," suggested Teddy, after a bit.

"I'm afraid," replied Janet.

"Aw, it'll be all right!" cried Ted. "I won't let it tip over!"

So Janet let him pole out a little farther, until she saw that the
shore was far away, and then she cried:

"I want to go back!"

"All right," answered Ted. "I don't want anybody on my raft who's a
skeered. I'll go alone!"

He poled back to shore