"Everyone is well," said Daddy, "and I have a grand surprise for you."

"What is it, Daddy?" cried little Dot.

Betty and Peggy came near to listen too.

"That's telling," laughed Daddy. "I'd rather show you when we get home."

"May Betty and Peggy go with us?" he asked the two mothers. I think the two mothers must have known the secret. They smiled and said, "Yes, indeed."

So off the three little girls went with Dot's father.

When they reached Dot's house no one was at the door to meet them.

This seemed strange.

At the head of the stairs a strange lady with a cap and ap.r.o.n on was standing and smiling at them. She led them into the front room, still smiling but saying nothing. This made it very exciting.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There in an easy chair was Dot's mother. She was holding something in her arms. At her feet were s...o...b..ll and the kittens sound asleep in their basket.

"O, Mother, Mother!" cried little Dot running to her.

"My own little girl!" said Mother. "See, here is a darling new pet for you and Daddy and me."

She held out the bundle in her arms, and it was a dear little baby brother.

"The very best pet in all the world!" said little Dot.

And Betty and Peggy thought so too.

II

But what have Paul and Bob been doing all this time? We will have to go back to the beginning of vacation and see.

The place where they spent the summer was called Fairport. At Fairport there was a wide, smooth, sandy beach. Here the boys went in bathing, built sand forts, and gathered sh.e.l.ls.

On one part of the sh.o.r.e the beach was very narrow. Great rocks rose like a fort above it. Paul and Bob liked to play on the rocks. Sometimes they played that they were Indians and sometimes that they were cave men.

They found a place under the rocks for their cave. When they pretended that they were pirates, they hid their treasures in the cave. Their treasures were things they found on the beach. There were sh.e.l.ls and boxes, and bottles and queer bits of china and gla.s.s. Hero was a fierce monster guarding the treasure.

Sometimes the boys put Hero in the cave and pretended he was a lion.

Then they stole into his den and captured him and sold him to a circus man. The circus man was Roy, a little boy who liked to play with them.

One day Bob and Paul and Roy saw some big boys standing on the wharf.

They were catching crabs. First they baited their lines and then threw them into the water. When the crabs "bit" they drew them in. It looked very exciting. The three little boys wanted to try.

So they found strings and the big boys gave them some bait. Bob and Roy had good luck. But Paul was so excited he couldn't pull his line in quickly enough to catch a crab. At last he thought, "If I wade into the water I'll be near the crabs. Then it won't be so hard to pull them in."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PAUL AND THE CRAB]

So down he climbed and into the water he waded. Soon Bob and Roy heard him call, "Oh, Oh, Oh, come quick!"

"What is it?" called Bob. "Have you caught a big crab?"

"Oh, no," said Paul. He was half laughing and half crying, and all the time he was shaking his foot as hard as he could. "Oh, no, I haven't caught a crab. A--crab--has--caught me!" And sure enough, a big fat crab had nipped Paul's toe and was holding it fast.

Bob climbed down and pulled it off. Paul went home and tied up his sore toe. Then he came back and sat on the wharf and watched the others.

Somehow, he didn't feel like catching crabs. So he pretended he was a sailor who had been bitten by a big shark.

One day Bob and Paul found a very nice bottle on the beach. It had a tight cork so that the water could not soak in. At first they thought they would hide it in their treasure cave. But that didn't seem exciting enough. So they thought and thought what to do with it. At last Bob said, "I know! Let's write our names and where we live on a piece of paper and put it in the bottle. Then let's throw the bottle out to sea."

So he wrote:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Handwritten: Bob Johnson

Paul Ray

Fairport, Maine]

They put the paper in the bottle and corked the bottle tightly. Then they threw it out into the ocean. At first the bottle bobbed up and down in the water. But soon a big wave caught it and carried it out of sight.

"Suppose," said Paul, "the bottle goes way out to sea and a big whale swallows it. And suppose it makes the big whale so sick that he swims near to the sh.o.r.e. Then some fishermen will catch him and kill him. When they cut him open they will find the bottle, and when they read our names they will know we are the boys who helped them get the great big whale."

"Or," said Bob, "suppose the bottle goes out to sea and a man in a seaplane sees it and opens it. And suppose he comes flying to Fairport and when he lands here he asks where we are. Then when he finds us he takes us for a long, long ride in his seaplane."

It was great fun supposing. The next morning Bob and Paul went to the beach all ready to have some more supposes.

But what was that small thing lying on the sand? It looked very much like a bottle. Yes, it was. It was _the_ bottle!

Bob picked it up and looked rather disappointed. Paul looked disappointed too. "Our supposes are no good now," he said. "Oh yes,"

cried Bob, "I know a fine suppose. It's so good it's almost true. Let's pretend a big wave was the parcel postman." When he saw the bottle away out in the ocean with our names in it, he brought it straight to us.

"Why, of course," said Paul. "The parcel postman had to bring the bottle to us. He couldn't take it to the whale or to the man with the seaplane.

It wasn't addressed to them."

One day Bob's father took Paul and Bob out fishing. They carried their bait in a tin can and they took a larger can to hold their fish. They stood on a high rock and threw their lines out into the deep water. The fish bit very well. Mr. Johnson caught five or six. But the boys were so excited they could not wait. They drew up their lines too soon. Once Paul felt a pull and waited. When he felt another pull he drew in his line. On it was a very tiny fish. "It's too small to keep," said Mr.

Johnson. So he took it carefully off the hook and threw it back into the water.

In a little while Bob felt a pull on his line. He held it very still and waited. Soon there was another pull--a very strong one. Then there came a jerk that almost threw him down. "Now draw in your line," said Mr.

Johnson. "Steady, steady!" Bob pulled. His line almost broke. He pulled and tugged and pulled again. Then up came the line and on it was a fish--a big, beautiful fish flapping and twisting. "Good, good," cried Mr. Johnson. "That's a prize catch."

How proud Bob felt as he landed his fish. He wouldn't let his father help take it off the hook. He did it all himself. For a moment he stood with the beautiful prize fish in his hand. Some people were fishing near-by and he wanted them to see. He wanted them to know of his prize catch. He felt very proud. "Look," said one of them; "what a great big fish!" Bob heard and felt prouder than ever. He threw his fish into the can as if he were saying, "Oh, that's nothing, I _always_ catch the biggest fish." Then he began to bait his hook again.

Just then Paul cried out, "Oh, Oh, Oh!" quickly. Bob turned just in time to see his prize fish flop out of the can and back into the sea.

"Oh, Oh, Oh!" He was no longer a proud fisherman. He was just a very sad little boy.

On another day Bob and Paul stopped in front of a little cottage. A man was in the yard mending a big fish net and they liked to watch him. The man was a strong young fisherman.