d in as had seeped into
his sister's.

"Oh, isn't it a big one!" cried Jan. "It's a big turtle."

"It surely is!" assented Ted. "He could bite hard if he got hold of
you."

"Is he biting my rope?" Janet asked.

"No, it's round one of his front legs," replied Ted. "There! he's got it
loose!"

"There he goes!" shrieked Jan.

By this time the mud turtle, which was a very large one, had struggled
and squirmed about so hard in the water that he had shaken loose the
knot in the end of Jan's rope. The knot had been caught under its left
front leg and when the turtle swam or crawled along on the bottom, the
rope had been held tightly in place, and so the box was pulled along.

But when Jan's boat sank and went aground, the turtle could not pull it
any farther, and had to back up, just as Nicknack the goat sometimes
backed up his cart. This made the rope slack, or loose, and then the
creature could shake the knot of the rope out from under its leg.

"There it goes!" cried Ted, as the turtle swam away. "Oh, what a
whopper! It's bigger than the big muskrat!"

"Your muskrat didn't give you a ride Ted, and my turtle gave me a fine
one," said Jan. "But I can't sail my boat any more."

"Well, we'll have to empty out some of the water. Then it will float
again and you can get in it."

"I'm not going to let the rope drag in the water any more," decided
Janet, after Ted had helped her tip her box over so the water would run
out. "I don't really want any more rides like that. The next turtle
might go out into the lake. I want to paddle."

"I wish a big whale would come along and tow me," laughed Ted. "I
wouldn't let him go loose."

"He _might_ pull you all across the lake," Janet said.

"I'd like that. Come on, we'll have a race."

"All right, Ted."

The Curlytops began paddling their box-boats about the cove once more.
Ted won the race, being older and stronger than Janet, but she did very
well.

Then after some more fun sailing about in their floating boxes the
children were called by their mother, who said they had been in the
water long enough. Besides dinner was ready, and they were hungry for
the good things Nora had made.

"And didn't you find any of them, Father?" asked Mrs. Martin as the
farmer pushed back his chair, when the meal was over.

"No, I didn't see a sign of them, and I looked all over the cave, too.
Some persons have been sleeping in there, for I found a pile of old bags
they had used for a b