Daddy Takes Us to the Garden Part 2

"Oh, what a long game!" cried Hal. "What is it?"

"It is called the Garden Game," said Daddy Blake, smiling. "And after supper I'll tell you all about it."

"The Garden Game," murmured Mab.

"It must be fun," said Hal, "else Daddy wouldn't laugh around his eyes the way he does."

"Yes, I think you'll like this new game," went on Mr. Blake. "And whoever learns to play it best will get a fine prize!"

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Hal and Mab in delight. They could hardly wait to find out all about it.

CHAPTER II

MAKING A GARDEN

"Now children," began Daddy Blake, as the table was cleared of the dishes, when supper had been finished, "I'll start to tell you about the garden game we are going to play."

"Oh, are YOU going to play it, too?" asked Hal in delight "Won't that be fun, Mab?"

"Lots of fun!"

Anything Daddy Blake did was fun for Hal and Mab, whether it was playing a game, or taking them somewhere.

Eagerly the two children watched while their father opened the package he had brought up from down town when he came home to supper.

"Is it some kind of a puzzle?" Hal wanted to know.

"Does it go around with wheels?" asked Mab, as she heard something rattle inside the paper.

"How many can play it?" asked Hal.

"Oh, as many as care to" answered Daddy Blake. I'm going to play it, and so is your mother, I think; and Uncle Pennywait, and Aunt Lollypop, and--no, I guess we can't let Roly-Poly play the garden game, but you two children can."

"Oh, it must be a fine game if so many can play," laughed Hal. "Hurry, Daddy, and show us what it is."

"Do you play sides?" Mab inquired.

"Yes, you can play sides," her father answered with a smile. "As I told you I'm going to give a prize to whoever plays the game best. I'll tell you about it. Now here's the first part of the garden," and, as Mr. Blake opened the paper fully, out rolled a small parcel. The string came off it, and Hal and Mab saw a lot of beans.

For a moment they looked very much disappointed.

"Oh, Daddy Blake!" cried Hal. "This isn't a new game at all! We've got a bean-bag one!"

"And we got tired of playing it to-day," went on Mab, in disappointed tones.

"This isn't exactly a bean-bag game," said Mr. Blake with a smile, "though you can make it one if you like. It's ever so much more fun than just bean-bags, for there are many other different parts to the garden game.

Now if you'll sit down I'll tell you about it."

Hal and Mab saw some brightly colored pictures, among other things, in the big bag that had held the beans, and they thought perhaps they might have fun with the garden game after all.

Some of you have met Hal and Mab Blake before, on one or more of their many trips with Daddy, so I do not need to tell all of you about the children. But to those of you who read this book as the beginning of the Daddy Series I may say that the first volume is called "Daddy Takes Us Camping." In that I told you how Daddy and the two children went to live in a tent, and how they heard a queer noise in the night and--

Well, I'll leave the rest for you to find out by reading the book. Hal and Mab lived with Daddy and Mother Blake in a nice house in a small city, and with them lived Uncle Pennywait and Aunt Lollypop.

These were not their real names. Uncle Pennywait was called that because he so often said to Hal and Mab:

"Wait a minute and I'll give you a penny!"

Aunt Lollypop was more often called Aunt Lolly, and the reason she had such a queer name was because she was always telling the children to buy lollypops with the money Uncle Pennywait gave them. Lollypops, the children's aunt thought, were the best kind of candy for them, and perhaps she was right.

Then there was Roly-Poly, the funny little poodle dog, and once when Daddy Blake took Hal and Mab skating, as you may read in THAT book, Roly slid under the ice and was lost for a long, long time.

Hal and Mab just loved to go places with Daddy, to learn about the birds, trees and flowers. They had gone to the circus with him, had gone coasting, and had hunted birds with a camera to take pictures of them.

There is a book about each one of the different trips Hal and Mab took with their father. They had many adventures each time they went out, and they learned many things.

Just before the story I am going to tell you now, Daddy Blake had taken the children to the woods, telling them about the different kinds of trees.

Sometimes Roly-Poly went along with Hal and Mab when Daddy started off with the children. Once Mab had a little cat that got lost up in a tree, and once her d.i.c.key bird flew away and it was a long time before she found one she loved as much as her first singing pet.

"But I don't see how you are going to take us anywhere, so we can have fun, just with BEANS," said Hal, as he waited for his father to tell something about the new game.

"Oh, it isn't just beans," said Daddy Blake. "See here are some radishes, lettuce, carrots, turnips, potatoes, beets and--"

"Why it sounds just like a GARDEN!" cried Aunt Lollypop, coming in from the hall at that moment.

"It's a garden game, but we don't know how to play it yet," said Mab.

"That's what I'm going to teach you," spoke her father. "We are going to make a garden."

"Where?" Hal wanted to know.

"In our back yard and in the lot next door. I have hired that to use in planting our garden."

"How do you start to make a garden?" asked Hal.

"That's part of the game you and Mab must learn," said Mr. Blake. "Now I'll begin at the beginning and tell you. I think you will like this game as well as any you have ever played, for not only will it be fun, but it will give you work to do, and the best fun in the world is learning to make fun of your work. And don't forget the prize!"

"What's the prize for?" asked Hal.

"For the one who has the best little garden, whether it is Hal, Mab, Uncle Pennywait, Aunt Lolly, Mother or myself. We're all going to play the garden game!"

"What is the prize going to be?" asked Mab.