ole and digging.

Just then from the camp they heard the sound of the supper bell.

"Come on!" called Ted, not waiting to go down into the big hole. "We can
dig some more after supper and to-morrow. I'm hungry!"

"So'm I," agreed Hal.

Leaving their shovels and the hoe on the pile of dirt, the children
hastened down to the tent where Nora had supper waiting for them, and it
had a most delicious smell.

"Where have you children been?" asked Mrs. Martin.

"Oh, havin' fun," answered Ted.

"Don't forget your 'g,' Curlytop," warned his mother with a laugh. "Are
you hungry, Hal?"

"Indeed I am! This island is a good place for getting hungry."

"And this is a good place to be stopped from getting hungry," laughed
Grandpa Martin, as he pulled his chair up to the well-filled table near
which Nora stood ready to serve the meal.

The Curlytops and Hal had just a little idea that the grown folks would
not like their plan of digging a gold mine, so nothing was said about
it. Hal, Ted and Jan looked at one another when their plates were
emptied, and then all three of them started once more back toward the
big hole.

"Where are you going?" asked Mother Martin.

"We----" began Jan, then stopped.

"Oh, we--we're playing a game," answered Ted. It was a sort of game.

"Can't you take Trouble with you? You haven't looked after him to-day,"
went on Mrs. Martin, "and I want to help Nora. Take Trouble with you."

"All right," agreed Ted, though he thought perhaps Baby William might be
in the way at the gold mine.

"Where is he?" asked Jan.

They looked around for the little fellow. He was not in sight.

"He got down from the table and was playing over there on the path a
while ago," said Grandpa Martin, and he pointed toward the path that led
to the gold mine. But Trouble was not in sight now.

"He must have wandered off into the woods," said his mother. "I've kept
him close by me all day, and he didn't like it. Trouble! William!" she
called aloud. "Where are you?"

Ted and Jan looked at one another. Hal seemed startled. The same thought
came to all three of them:

"Suppose Trouble had fallen down the big hole at the gold mine?"

CHAPTER XVI

A GLAD SURPRISE

Janet, Ted and Hal started to run.

"Where are you going?" called Mrs. Martin after them. "Wait for
Trouble!"

"We're going to find him," answered Janet.

"Maybe he fell down the big hole we dug for a gold mine," added Ted.

"What do you mean?