diff options
Diffstat (limited to '25143.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 25143.txt | 6727 |
1 files changed, 6727 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/25143.txt b/25143.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7aab6e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/25143.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6727 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Curlytops and Their Playmates, by Howard R. Garis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Curlytops and Their Playmates + or Jolly Times Through the Holidays + +Author: Howard R. Garis + +Illustrator: Julia Greene + +Release Date: April 23, 2008 [EBook #25143] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + _The_ CURLYTOPS + _and_ THEIR PLAYMATES + + [Illustration] + + HOWARD R. GARIS + + + + + [Illustration: LOOKING IN THROUGH THE WINDOW SHE SAW THE FACE OF + A MAN. Page 160] + + + THE CURLYTOPS + AND + THEIR PLAYMATES + + OR + + _Jolly Times Through the Holidays_ + + BY + + HOWARD R. GARIS + + AUTHOR OF "THE CURLYTOPS SERIES," "UNCLE WIGGILY + BEDTIME STORIES," "UNCLE WIGGILY + ANIMAL STORIES," ETC. + + _Illustrations by + JULIA GREENE_ + + NEW YORK + CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + + + COPYRIGHT, 1922, + BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + + THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES + + Printed in U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I TROUBLE IN TROUBLE 1 + + II THE POSTMAN'S WHISTLE 14 + + III WHAT SHALL WE DO? 25 + + IV UNCLE TOBY AGAIN 36 + + V OFF TO THE COUNTRY 48 + + VI A FLURRY OF SNOW 60 + + VII IN THE STORM 70 + + VIII A STALLED TRAIN 80 + + IX NEW PLAYMATES 91 + + X AMONG THE PETS 104 + + XI WHERE DID TROUBLE GO? 115 + + XII OFF TO CRYSTAL LAKE 128 + + XIII THE LONELY CABIN 139 + + XIV AT CRYSTAL LAKE 149 + + XV ON THE SLIPPERY HILL 161 + + XVI A REAL TOBOGGAN 174 + + XVII THE SNOW HOUSE 184 + + XVIII THANKSGIVING 197 + + XIX SKYROCKET IS GONE 206 + + XX TROUBLE IS MISSING 216 + + XXI TROUBLE AND SKYROCKET 229 + + XXII A HAPPY REUNION 238 + + + + +THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES + +CHAPTER I + +TROUBLE IN TROUBLE + + +"When do you s'pose it'll come, Teddy?" + +"Oh, pretty soon now, I guess. We're all ready for it when it does +come," and Ted Martin glanced from where he sat over toward a slanting +hill made of several long boards nailed to some tall packing boxes. The +boxes were piled high at one end, and on top was a little platform, +reached by some steps made of smaller boxes. + +"It's a good while coming though, isn't it, Ted?" asked his sister +Janet, looking up toward the sky. + +"Yes, I wish it would hurry," said the boy, giving his cap a twist, +thereby making more of a tangle than ever the curly, golden hair that +had given him and Janet the nicknames of "Curlytops." + +The two children walked around the wooden structure which they had +built, with the help of Tom and Lola Taylor, their playmates, after much +hard work in hammering, pounding, and the straightening of crooked +nails. Now and then Ted and Janet turned their faces to the gray clouds +which floated above them. + +"I wish it would hurry!" murmured Janet. + +"So do I!" exclaimed Ted. + +There was a sudden chorus of shouts and laughter coming from around the +corner of the house, and another boy and girl rushed up the path. + +"What you looking for, Ted?" asked Tom. "An airship?" for Ted's eyes +were again turned toward the clouds. + +"Or maybe birds," added Lola, with a laugh. "Are you watching to see +some of the birds fly south, because it's soon going to be winter? Are +you, Ted?" + +"Nope!" as the answer. "I'm looking to see when it's going to snow. +Mother said a snowstorm was coming, and I'm watching for the first +flakes. What's the good of a toboggan slide when there isn't any snow?" + +"That's right," chimed in Tom Taylor. "Now we have this toboggan slide +made, we want some snow or else we can't ride down on it." + +That is what the wooden structure in the yard of the Curlytops was--a +toboggan slide. Tom and Ted, with the help of some other boys and the +aid of a few jolly girls, who brought up boards and boxes (though they +couldn't drive the nails straight) had, after much hard work, built up a +sort of toboggan slide. + +Now all that was needed was snow so they could ride down it on their +sleds, for none of the children had toboggans--those queer, low, flat +sleds, all of wood, with the round curved piece in front. + +A pile of big packing boxes fastened together made the high part of the +slide. To get to the top of this pile one had to climb on a number of +smaller boxes arranged in the form of steps--and crazy, tottering steps +they were, but the children didn't mind it. It was all the more fun when +they nearly fell down in climbing up. + +From the top of the high pile of big boxes there sloped down a hill of +boards, nailed in some places and in others fastened together with ropes +to make an incline, or hill. This was about twenty feet long, and ended +in a little upturn so that a sled would shoot up with a jerk and come +down with a bang. More fun! + +After several days of hard work the toboggan slide had been finished, +and now, as Ted remarked, all they needed was some snow to fall, to +cover the incline and make it slippery enough for the sleds to glide +down. + +But where was the snow? The gray clouds floating high in the air seemed +to promise a fall of the white flakes, but though the Curlytops and +their playmates, the Taylor children, strained their eyes and made their +necks ache looking up, not a feathery crystal did they see. + +"Maybe if we whistled it would do some good," said Janet, as all four +sat in rather gloomy silence. + +"Whistle for what?" asked Ted, throwing a stick for Skyrocket, his dog, +to race after, a game that Skyrocket was very glad to play. + +"Whistle for snow," went on Janet. "Didn't mother read us a story about +some sailors on a desert island whistling for snow?" + +Ted and Tom both laughed, much to the surprise of Janet, who seemed a +little hurt at their chuckles. + +"Well?" she asked. "What's the matter?" + +"You don't whistle for _snow_!" shouted Ted. "You whistle for _wind_! +Ha! Ha!" + +"She's got it twisted!" laughed Tom. + +"I don't care!" exclaimed Janet, getting up and walking toward the +house. "What's the difference? Wind brings snow, and if you whistle for +wind, and it comes and brings snow, it's just the same as whistling for +snow." + +"I think so, too," agreed Lola. "Smarty!" she exclaimed, thrusting her +tongue out at her brother and his chum. + +"That's a good one--whistling for _snow_!" laughed Ted, clapping his +playmate on the back. "We'll tell the fellows!" + +"If you do I'll never speak to you again!" cried Janet. "And if you want +to make any more of your old toboggan slides I won't help you. Will we, +Lola?" + +"Nope, we won't at all! Let's go get our dolls!" + +"You'll want to coast down this slide when the snow does come!" taunted +Ted. "And then we won't let you; will we, Tom?" + +"Nope! And maybe it's going to snow pretty soon," added Tom, with +another squint at the sky. It was a very hopeful sort of look, but it +did not seem to bring down any of the swirling, white flakes. + +The girls walked on toward the house. The boys were beginning to feel +rather disappointed. They had worked so hard to get the toboggan slide +finished, and now there was no snow so they could use it! Suddenly Tom +Taylor gave a cry, causing the girls to turn around and making Ted look +up from where he was playing with Skyrocket. + +"What's the matter?" asked Lola. + +"I've got an idea!" her brother answered. + +"Tell us!" begged Ted. + +"I know how we can have some toboggan rides without waiting for snow!" +exclaimed Tom. + +"How? Make believe?" asked Janet. She was very fond of this game of +pretending. + +"No, not make believe!" answered Tom. "Listen! Have you got any candles +in your house, Ted?" + +"Candles? I guess we have some. I saw my mother rubbing one on a +flatiron the other day when she was ironing a dress for Jan. I don't +know why she rubbed the candle on the flatiron, but she did." + +"She did it so the iron wouldn't stick to the starched dress," explained +Janet. "I should think anybody would know that! Wouldn't you, Lola?" she +asked in a rather "snippy" manner and with an upward turn of her little +nose. + +"Of course!" agreed Lola. "Candles makes irons slippery." + +"Well, if you've got some candles we can make our sled runners slippery +the same way, and we can toboggan even if there isn't any snow," went on +Tom. "I just happened to think I read a story once about some fellows +who put candle grease on their sleds and rode down a wooden hill like +this when there wasn't any snow. We can do like that! Get the candles, +Ted, and I'll go get my sled!" + +"Oh, maybe we can have some fun!" cried Janet. "Come on, Lola, let's get +our sleds." + +"You've got to grease your own runners," Ted warned the girls. "We +aren't going to do it for you." + +"Oh, I guess we can do it," answered Lola. "Boys aren't so smart!" + +Tom and Lola hastened back to their house to get their sleds, which they +had not brought over to the newly built toboggan slide, as there seemed +no use of doing this until snow came. Janet hastened after her sled, and +Ted went in the house to beg some candle ends of his mother. + +"What are you going to do with them?" Mrs. Martin wanted to know. "You +mustn't play with lighted candles." + +Teddy told about the new plan, and his mother said: + +"Well, you must be careful. I believe the candles, rubbed on your sled +runners, will make them slippery enough to coast down the wooden hill. +But be careful. And don't make any noise, for I've just gotten William +to sleep." + +"Don't let Trouble come out when we're on the toboggan," begged Ted. "He +might get hurt." Trouble was the pet name for William Anthony Martin, +the youngest member of the Martin family. And he was called "Trouble" +because he was in it so often--sometimes through his own fault, and +often because of Ted and Janet. + +"Yes, I'll keep Trouble in," said Mrs. Martin, with a smile. "And here +are your candle ends," she added, giving Ted a handful. "Be careful." + +Ted promised and ran out into the yard to meet his playmates. Tom had +also found some candle ends, and the boys and girls were soon busy +rubbing the paraffine on their sled runners. For the candles mostly sold +nowadays are made of paraffine, instead of beeswax or tallow, as +old-fashioned candles were made. Paraffine is made from crude oil, as is +kerosene and gasolene. + +"Now we'll have some nifty fun!" cried Tom, as, having rubbed as much of +the candle on his sled runners as the steel would hold, he turned his +coaster over right side up. + +"We'll have races!" cried Ted. + +"But we have to take turns going down," said Janet. "The toboggan slide +isn't wide enough for two to go on at a time." + +"We can have sorter--now--sorter races to see who can go the farthest," +remarked Ted, stumbling over his words in his excitement. + +"That'll be fun," agreed Lola. She and Janet were also greasing their +sled runners, all the little quarrels forgotten in the jolly good times +they were hoping to have. + +"All ready now!" cried Tom, picking up his sled. "Who's going to have +the first coast?" + +"I think Janet or Ted ought to have it, for they started the toboggan +and it's in their yard," said Lola. + +"That's right!" agreed her brother. + +"No, company ought to have the first ride!" decided Janet, who made up +her mind she would be as polite as her playmate. + +"Jinks!" cried Tom, with a laugh. "Nobody'll ride if we keep on talking +like this! Come on, Ted!" he added. "Let's you and me go down together!" + +"Oh, don't!" begged Janet. "'Tisn't wide enough, and you might get +hurt." + +"Oh, we'll not!" insisted Tom. "And it'll be more fun that way. I guess +it's wide enough, Ted. Let's try, anyhow." + +They found that there was just about room enough on the toboggan slide +for their sleds side by side. They climbed up the rickety stairs, made +of small boxes nailed one to the other, and soon the two boys stood on +the little platform at the top of the wooden slope. They had carried up +their sleds with them--the sleds with the candle-greased runners. + +"Are you ready?" asked Ted of his playmate. + +"All ready," answered Tom. "Let's start!" + +They put down their sleds and stretched themselves out on the coasters. + +"Wouldn't it be funny if they got stuck half way down?" giggled Lola, +who, with Janet, was waiting on the ground below off at one side to see +what luck the boys would have. + +"Oh, we won't get stuck!" laughed Tom. "Come on now, Ted! Push!" + +Together they pushed themselves from the level platform down the wooden +hill. The sleds hung on the brink for a moment and then went coasting +down as nicely as you please, and quite swiftly. + +"Hurray!" cried Ted, as he felt himself gliding along, coasting almost +as well as if there had been snow on the wooden toboggan hill. "This is +nifty!" + +"Great!" added Tom. + +The boys were so surprised to find out how well they could coast without +snow that they forgot about having a race. As it was, they both came to +the end of the slope at the same time. The sleds shot up the little +incline and landed on the grass beyond with a bump. Teddy fell off his, +but only laughed. + +"How is it?" asked Lola. + +"Dandy!" cried her brother. "You girls take a ride now!" + +Rather timidly at first, Janet and Lola went down the incline one at a +time, but they soon grew bolder and liked it as much as did the boys. It +really was lots of fun, and as the boards became more slippery when +partly covered with flakes of paraffine from the candles the coasting +was swifter. + +"Now let's have a real race!" cried Ted, after they had been sliding for +some time. "I mean let's see who can go farthest from the end of the +slide." + +They took turns at this, one at a time coasting down the wooden hill and +marking where the sleds landed on the grass. Tom and Ted seemed able to +make their sleds jump farther than did the girls. + +"I beat!" cried Tom, pointing to the mark his sled had made on the +grass, after jumping up and away from the little end bump of the slide. + +"You did not! My sled went farther!" shouted Ted. "Here, girls, I'll +leave it to you!" + +The four were trying to decide who had won the race when Janet, glancing +back toward the toboggan slide, gave a cry of alarm. + +"Look at Trouble!" she exclaimed. + +There, on top of the pile of big boxes, having climbed to the platform +by means of the rickety steps, stood baby William. + +"I s'ide down!" he cried, jumping up and down in delight. "I s'ide!" + +"No! No! Don't! Stand still, Trouble! Don't move! I'll come and get +you!" shouted Ted. + +He started on a run, but he was too late. A moment afterward Trouble was +in trouble, for the little fellow toddled toward the back edge of the +platform, which had no railing to guard it, and a second later he seemed +to topple off backward. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE POSTMAN'S WHISTLE + + +"Oh, Trouble has fallen! Trouble has fallen!" screamed Jan, as she ran +around toward the back of the toboggan. + +"Come on, Tom!" yelled Ted. "I guess my little brother's hurt!" + +Lola followed the others, and as the four children raced to the aid of +baby William a shrill whistle was heard near the front of the house. + +"Is that a policeman?" cried Tom to his chum. + +"No, it's the postman," answered Ted. "He's taking a letter into our +house. Hey, Mr. Brennan!" he called, as he saw the gray-uniformed mail +carrier entering the yard. "My little brother's hurt!" + +Screams coming from the mouth of William seemed to tell that he was +badly frightened, anyhow, and also hurt, very likely. + +"Trouble hurt? I'm coming!" cried the postman dropping his bag of mail +and running around the side path. + +Another moment and the Curlytops and their playmates had reached the +rear of the high pile of boxes from which the toboggan slide started. +They looked on the ground, expecting to see Trouble huddled there in a +crumpled heap. + +But he wasn't there. His voice, however, could be heard crying lustily, +and it seemed to come from overhead. Yet the little boy was not on the +high platform, from which he had been seen to topple backward. + +Where was Trouble? + +This was the question the Curlytops asked themselves. And it was what +their playmates wanted to know, as did the postman. + +But before we settle that question I want to answer several inquiries +that I feel sure some of my new readers are asking, and among these is +this: + +"Who are the Curlytops?" + +Those who have read the previous books of this series do not need to go +over this part I am writing now. They may skip it and get on with the +story. Others may wish to know something about Ted, Janet and Trouble. + +"Curlytops" was not their right name. As you have noticed, it was +Martin. Theodore Baradale Martin was called Ted, or Teddy, and Janet's +name was more often shortened to Jan. William was called Trouble as I +have mentioned. + +The name "Curlytops" was given the two older children because of their +curly, golden heads of hair. They lived with their father and mother, +Mr. and Mrs. Richard Martin in the city of Cresco, in one of our Eastern +states. Mr. Martin kept a store. + +The Curlytops were introduced first in the book about Cherry Farm. After +that they had fun and adventures on Star Island, they were snowed in, as +the book of that name tells, and later they went to Uncle Frank's ranch +in the West. At Silver Lake they had fun on the water with Uncle Ben. + +The book which was written just before this is called "The Curlytops and +their Pets," and tells how the children cared for some dogs, a cat, a +monkey, a parrot and an alligator that Uncle Toby left in their charge +when he thought he had to go to South America. + +Instead of going there Uncle Toby went to Canada. And it was from some +of the stories he told of seeing toboggan slides there that the +Curlytops had made one in their yard. Then came trouble with Trouble. + +"But where is your little brother?" asked the postman of Ted and Janet, +as he rushed around behind the high pile of boxes. "You say he fell off +the platform, but where is he?" + +"I hear him crying!" exclaimed Lola. + +"So do I," added her brother. The two Taylor children were among the +many playmates of the Curlytops. + +"He didn't fall to the ground, that's sure, or else he'd be here now," +declared the postman. "There isn't a sign of him. Maybe--" + +But Mr. Brennan never finished what he started to say, for just then a +little voice, above the heads of the postman and the children, cried +out: + +"Here I is!" + +"Oh, look!" exclaimed Jan. + +They all glanced up and saw the head of Trouble thrust out of one of the +big packing boxes which Ted and his friends had made into the highest +part of the toboggan slide. + +The opening of this large packing box was toward the rear of the slide +and Trouble was in the box. How he got there could only be guessed, but +there he was, tears streaming down his little red face as he looked out. + +"I--I wants to tum down!" he sobbed. + +At times Trouble talked fairly well and plainly, but when he was +excited, as he was now, he said wrong words. Nobody minded that, +however. + +"Don't jump, Trouble! Don't jump!" shouted the postman. "I'll get you +down all right. Is there a ladder anywhere around?" he asked the +children. + +"There's a stepladder in the shed," answered Ted. "I'll get it." + +"I'll help," offered Tom. + +Away sped the boys, while Jan and Lola remained with Mr. Brennan looking +up at Trouble, who seemed like some little animal in a circus cage. + +"How'd you get in there, William?" asked Jan. Whenever the name +"William" was used there was always more seriousness than when the +youngest Martin child had been called by his pet title. + +"I--I falled in!" sobbed Trouble. + +"We saw you tumble over backward," remarked Lola. "But how did you get +inside the box? Why didn't you fall all the way to the ground?" + +"Suffin ketched me and I fell in here," was all Trouble could explain +about it. + +"I guess part of his clothes caught on a nail, or a piece of wood that +was sticking out," said the postman, "and he was swung inside the box. A +good thing, too, for it saved him a bad fall. He didn't go far." + +This was true enough, for Trouble had swung into an open packing box not +far from the top of the platform, so he had really only fallen a few +feet--not enough to harm such a fat, chubby little fellow as he was. + +"Well, we'll soon have you down," said Mr. Brennan cheerfully. "Don't +cry any more, Trouble. Here come Ted and Tom with the ladder. I'll soon +get you down!" + +As the boys were hastening up with the ladder toward the high part of +the toboggan slide, Mrs. Martin came running out of the back door of the +house. + +"What's the matter? What has happened?" she asked. + +"Nothing much, Mrs. Martin," answered the postman, with a laugh. +"Trouble is in trouble, and also in a packing box; that's all. I'll soon +have him out." + +"In a packing box?" William's mother repeated. + +"Yes, you can see him," and Mr. Brennan pointed to the head of William +thrust out from his "cage." + +"Oh, the little tyke!" cried Mrs. Martin. "After he awakened from his +nap and went out to play, I told him to keep away from the toboggan +slide." + +"Well, he went up on it when we weren't looking," explained Janet. + +"And he fell off, only he didn't fall far and he swung into the box," +added Ted. + +"What a narrow escape!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "You children will either +have to take that slide down or watch William more carefully," she +added, as the postman put the ladder in place and began to climb up +after Trouble. + +"Oh, we don't want to take the slide down!" cried Ted. "We haven't tried +it in the snow, yet. It'll be a lot more fun when it snows." + +"We won't let Trouble get up on it again," added Janet. + +By this time Mr. Brennan had climbed down with the little fellow in his +arms. William seemed to be over his fright, for he smiled and asked: + +"Can I have a wide?" + +"You'd better go in the house with mother," said Ted. "No rides for +you!" + +"Oh, give him one ride! He's so cute!" begged Lola. + +"We'll take care of him," went on Jan. + +"Are you all right, darling? Are you hurt?" asked Mrs. Martin, looking +William over carefully. "It's a mercy you didn't have some bones +broken." + +"I guess he would have had if he had fallen all the way," said Mr. +Brennan. "But his clothes caught on something and saved him. He just +swung into the open box like a piano being slung in a second story +window by the moving men. Well, as long as you're all right, Curlytops, +I'll be traveling on," he added, as he walked to where he had dropped +his bag of mail. + +"We're ever so much obliged to you," said Mrs. Martin. + +"Oh, yes! Thank you!" called Ted and Janet. They had almost forgotten +this in the excitement. + +"All right!" laughed the postman, waving his hand to them, as he went +out of the gate. + +"Now if I leave William with you, will you watch him carefully?" asked +Mrs. Martin, as she turned to go in the house. + +"Oh, yes, Mother!" promised Ted and Janet in the same breath. + +"We'll help!" offered Tom Taylor. + +"I'll let him ride down on my sled," said Lola. + +"I want to wide all alone!" declared Trouble. + +"No, you can't do that!" his mother said. + +The postman turned and came into the yard again. + +"I forgot to give you this letter," he said, with a laugh. "So much +excitement made me nearly forget the mail. There you are, Mrs. Martin," +and he handed her a letter. + +The children played on the wooden toboggan slide the remainder of the +morning, having much fun, and the laughter and shouting of Trouble was +as loud as that of the Curlytops and their playmates. Trouble was not +exactly a curlytop, for his hair was not like the locks of Ted and +Janet. + +"I hope it snows to-morrow," said Tom, as he and his sister went home to +dinner. + +"So do I," added Ted. "It looks like it," he added, with a glance up at +the gray clouds. + +"If we pack the slide with snow we'll coast lots better," declared Lola. + +Ted and Janet, with Trouble, went in the house, having planned to do +more "dry" coasting after their meal. + +Daddy Martin had come home to lunch from his store, and as the Curlytops +entered the dining room they saw their father and mother with serious +looks on their faces. Mr. Martin had just been reading a letter, the +same letter the postman had left after rescuing Trouble. + +"Well," Mr. Martin was saying, "I think we'll both have to take that +trip, Mother, and see about this. Yes, we'll both have to go." + +"Oh, are you going somewhere?" cried Ted. + +"Take us!" begged Janet. + +Mrs. Martin shook her head slowly. There was a worried look on her face. + +"This isn't to be a pleasure trip," she said. "You children couldn't +possibly go. It's about business. Just daddy and I will go, if we have +to. But I don't want to go away with winter coming on." + +"Why do you have to go?" Janet wanted to know. + +"Because, unless we do, daddy may lose a lot of money," said Mrs. Martin +gravely. "We wouldn't want that to happen. If we go away we shall have +to leave you children behind, and I don't like to do that, however--" + +Suddenly the bark of a dog sounded outside, and there came a ring at the +front door. + +"Somebody's coming!" cried Ted, making a dash for the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHAT SHALL WE DO? + + +"Here, Teddy! Wait a minute!" called Mr. Martin, but Ted did not wait. +He was already at the front door. Trouble had started after his brother, +but Janet remained with her mother. + +"I wonder who it can be, just at lunch time," said Mrs. Martin. She +glanced at the table to see if it were properly set, and began to think +rapidly whether there would be enough pie for dessert. + +"Will you and daddy really have to go away, Mother?" asked Janet, as the +murmur of voices came from the front hall, whither Mr. Martin and +Trouble had followed Ted. + +"I'm afraid so," was the answer. "Your father had a letter this morning +telling of some trouble about business, and unless he wishes to lose a +lot of money he and I will have to go and see about some property he +owns in a distant state." + +"But I don't see why we couldn't go!" said Janet. + +"Take you out of school, with the fall term just well started!" +exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "No, indeed! You must stay and study; that is, +all but William." + +"But we don't want to stay here if you and daddy go away!" cried Janet, +almost on the verge of tears. "It won't be any fun here alone!" + +"No, I suppose not," agreed Mrs. Martin. "And yet your father and I must +go. We can't afford to lose this money. I must make some plans. I hardly +know what to do. I wonder who came then?" + +More talk and laughter sounded in the hall. Teddy came tramping back +into the dining room, carrying with him a little jacket belonging to his +brother William. + +"Look, Mother!" cried Ted. "Skyrocket had dragged this over in Bob +Newton's yard. He was playing with Trouble's jacket--I mean our dog +was--and Bob saw him and took it away. Bob just brought it back. Look, +it's got a hole in it!" and Ted held up the little garment, torn by the +teeth of Skyrocket. + +"Oh, what a bad dog!" cried Mrs. Martin. + +"He didn't mean to!" said Ted quickly. "Bob said he was just shaking it +and playing with it." + +"I--I--guess he was makin' believe it was a cat," explained Bob, another +of the playmates of the Curlytops. "I saw him come runnin' into my yard, +shakin' somethin', and first I thought it was a cat. But when I saw what +it was--Trouble's coat--I took it away from Skyrocket, and brought it +over here." + +"We're much obliged to you, Bob," said Mrs. Martin. Mr. Martin, when he +found the visitor was not for him, began reading the troublesome letter +again. + +"Where's Skyrocket?" asked Janet, not seeing the dog with which she and +Ted had so much fun. + +"Oh, he ran off when I took the jacket away from him," answered Bob. + +"I wonder how he got Trouble's jacket," mused Jan. + +"I--I took it off when I climbed up on de boxes to slide," explained +William. + +"That's right!" exclaimed Ted. "I saw it on the ground after Mr. Brennan +lifted him down with the stepladder. You brought him out his sweater, +Mother." + +"Yes, so I did. I thought he had come out with nothing over his waist. +Well, I'll have to mend this jacket now. Trouble, why didn't you pick up +your jacket after you dropped it?" + +"Oh--jest--'cause!" murmured the little fellow, and they all laughed +except Mr. Martin. He seemed too worried over the letter even to smile. + +"Well, I must get back," said Bob, twisting his cap which he held in his +hands. "I--now--I've got to get back." + +"Have you had your dinner, Bob?" asked Mrs. Martin. + +"Part--part of it," Bob answered. "All but the fancy part." + +"Oh, you mean the dessert?" asked the mother of the Curlytops. + +"Yes'm, and there wasn't any to-day." + +"Suppose you stay and have dessert with us," suggested Mrs. Martin, well +knowing how children like to eat away from home. + +"Yes'm, I--I could do that," agreed Bob, his face brightening. + +"Couldn't he have all dinner with us, and not just dessert?" suggested +Ted. + +"Of course," his mother replied. + +"Maybe Bob has eaten all he can," suggested Mr. Martin, folding the +letter and putting it in his pocket. + +"Oh, no! I can eat a lot more!" quickly cried Bob. "You ought to see me +eat!" + +"Well, we'll give you a chance," said Mr. Martin, and they all sat down +to the table. + +The Curlytop children told Bob about the toboggan slide, which he had +not yet seen, as he lived several houses down the street and had had no +hand in building up the big pile of empty boxes. + +"An' you ought to see me in the box!" cried Trouble, when he had a +chance to speak. + +"Yes!" exclaimed Jan. "Oh, how he frightened us!" + +While the children were thus talking Mr. and Mrs. Martin were conversing +in low tones. And once Ted heard his mother ask: + +"What shall we do?" + +"Something will have to be done," her husband answered. "We must find +some one to look after the children while we are away, for we shall +certainly have to go. I can't let this slip away from me." + +"No, indeed!" agreed his wife, with a sigh. "And yet, with the +Christmas holidays coming on, it will be too bad to be away from the +children." + +"Perhaps we may get back by Christmas," remarked her husband. + +Ted did not listen to all this, but he heard words here and there, and +Christmas was one of them. + +"How long to Christmas?" he asked. + +"Quite a while," his mother replied. "It isn't Thanksgiving yet." + +"How long before it will snow?" Janet wanted to know. + +"That may happen any day now," replied her father, with a glance out of +the window. "It was getting colder as I came in. If you children go out +to play again you must wrap up warmly." + +"We will!" promised Ted. "We're going to play toboggan again," he added. +"You can stay and play with us, Bob," he said. + +"Thanks! That'll be fun. Oh, you have pie!" he added quickly, as he saw +Nora coming in with the dessert. "I like pie!" he frankly admitted. + +"So do I," said Ted. + +"An' I want two pieces!" declared Trouble. + +"Hush, dear," cautioned his mother, in a low voice. + +The meal over, the Curlytops prepared to go out in the yard again, to +have fun on their paraffine-greased sleds. Bob ran home after his, +promising to bring some candle ends, as those Mrs. Martin had found for +Ted had nearly all been used. + +Such fun as the Curlytops and their playmates had in the yard after +dinner! Tom and Lola came back, with some other boys and girls, and they +coasted down the toboggan slide one after the other. Trouble was put to +bed for his afternoon nap, and so neither Ted nor Jan had to watch him, +which gave them more time for fun. + +"Say, it's getting real cold!" exclaimed Bob, blowing on his red hands +after a coast down the wooden hill. "I guess maybe it will freeze +to-night." + +"Do you think it will, Tom?" asked Ted of his best chum. + +"Well, it's pretty cold," was the answer. "But I don't believe it will +freeze ice enough for skating." + +"If it only freezes a little ice that would be enough," Ted declared. + +"No, it wouldn't!" asserted Tom. "They won't let us skate on the pond +lessen the ice is real thick." + +"I wasn't thinking of the pond," said Ted. "I have an idea! Come on over +here, Tom, and we'll talk about it. I'm sorter--now--tired of coasting +on a wooden hill. I'd like some snow." + +"Maybe it'll snow and freeze, too," said Tom, as he and Ted walked off +by themselves to talk. + +That evening, after an afternoon of fun on the toboggan, the Curlytops +sat in the living room reading on one side of the table, while Mr. and +Mrs. Martin were talking in low voices on the other side. Trouble had +been put to bed. It was Friday night. There had been no school that day +on account of an educational meeting which all the teachers had to +attend, and there was no home work for Ted and Janet to worry about. So +they could sit up and read until bedtime. + +But, for some reason or other, Ted did not seem very intent on his book. +Every now and then he would look up from it and appear to be listening. + +"What's the matter?" Janet asked him after one of these periods of +listening. + +"Oh, nothing," her brother answered. + +Janet, too, was not as much interested in her story as she ordinarily +was. What her mother had said that afternoon, about having to go away +with daddy leaving the children at home, was worrying the little girl +more than she liked to admit. + +Mr. Martin was just saying something about getting ready to leave in +about a week, and Janet was going to ask who would come to keep house +and stay with them, when a shrill whistle sounded out in the street. + +"There's Tom!" cried Ted, dropping his book and fairly jumping from his +chair. + +"You aren't going out now!" said Mr. Martin. "It's after eight o'clock, +Ted." + +"I'm just going out in the back yard a minute," Ted answered. "I +promised Tom I'd meet him there." + +"All right, but don't go away," his mother said, and Ted promised. +Snatching his cap down off the nail, he hurried out, giving a shrill +whistle while still in the house in answer to another call from his +chum. + +"Quiet, Ted! You'll awaken William!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "And don't +slam the door!" + +But this warning came too late. The door was slammed, but Trouble seemed +to sleep on. He was tired from his day of play. Janet could hear Tom and +Ted talking on the side porch. + +"I guess maybe they're going to toboggan a little by moonlight," thought +the girl. Then her mind went back to the letter of that afternoon, and +she remembered what her father had said about having to go away or else +lose a lot of money. Janet did not understand much about business--very +little, in fact--but she knew what it meant to lose money. Once she had +dropped five cents down a hole, and she never got it back. She always +remembered this. + +"Who's going to stay with us, Mother?" Janet asked, after a pause. + +"Stay with you when, dear?" + +"When you and daddy go away." + +"Well, we haven't decided that," her father answered. "In fact, it's +that which bothers us. We don't know just what to do. If it wasn't that +winter is coming we might take you along. But, as it is, we can't." + +"We want somebody nice to stay with us," insisted Janet. + +"Yes, of course, dear," agreed her mother. "We'll have to write to some +of our relatives and see who can come. I don't know just who would be +the best, or who could spare the time. And while I know you two +Curlytops will be all right, I shall be worried over William." + +"Oh, I'll look after Trouble!" promised Jan. + +"Yes, I know you'll do your best, dear. And now--" + +But Mrs. Martin never finished that sentence. Suddenly, from the yard, +came loud shouts, a banging, rattling noise, and Ted's voice could be +heard yelling: + +"Look out! Look out!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +UNCLE TOBY AGAIN + + +Daddy and Mother Martin fairly jumped from their chairs and hastened to +the back door. Nora Jones, the jolly, good-natured cook, was before +them. She had just finished the kitchen work, and was on her way to her +room when she heard the shouts of Ted and Tom. + +"Oh, Mrs. Martin! Something must have happened!" cried Nora. + +"It sounds so," agreed Mrs. Martin. + +"Oh, I hope they're not hurt!" murmured Jan. + +Just then the shouts of the boys were mingled with laughter. + +"It doesn't sound very serious," said Mr. Martin. + +The back door was opened and the light from the kitchen shone on the +toboggan slide. The light also showed Tom and Ted in a mixed-up mass at +the bottom of the slide, each one holding a tin pail. + +[Illustration: "WE BOTH WENT DOWN THE SLIDE TOGETHER WITH THE PAILS." +Page 38] + +And as Mr. and Mrs. Martin and Janet and Nora hastened out they saw that +both boys were dripping wet, and as they untangled their legs from each +other and stood up, it could be seen that they were now shivering, for +the night was cold. + +"What in the world has happened?" asked Mother Martin. + +"And what in the world have you been doing?" asked Daddy Martin, rather +sternly. + +It was very plain to be seen that Ted and Tom had been doing something. + +"We--we--now--we were--" began Ted. + +"Don't stand here to tell us! Get in the house and into dry clothes!" +cried Ted's mother. "You'll catch your deaths of colds out here! Get in +the house now and explain later! Are either of you hurt?" she asked, for +she noticed that each boy was limping. + +"Not much," answered Tom, trying to smile. "We just tumbled down the +toboggan slide, that's all, and the water--" + +"Never mind now; tell us later," said Mr. Martin. + +And when Tom and Ted had taken off their wet clothes, Tom being given an +extra suit of Ted's, the two boys, sitting by the fire, told what had +happened. + +"We wanted some real ice on the toboggan slide," explained Ted. "Rubbing +candles on your sled runners is all right, but we wanted some real ice. +It didn't snow, so I said, 'let's pour water on our slide and let it +freeze to-night, 'cause it's cold.'" + +"And did you?" asked his father, trying not to smile. + +"Yes, Daddy, we did. But I guess it isn't frozen yet," answered Ted. "We +were spilling pails of water down on the slide. We stood on the top +platform where Trouble fell off of, and then, all of a sudden, I +slipped, and--" + +"Yes, and he grabbed hold of me, and then I slipped!" broke in Tom, with +a laugh. "And we both went down the slide together with the pails. It +was almost as slippery as if there was ice on it," he added. + +"Yes, it was slippery all right," chuckled Ted. "And if it freezes +to-night we'll have packs of fun to-morrow." + +The thought of the fun they might have seemed to make the boys forget +their present troubles. + +"Well, I'm glad it isn't any worse," said Mrs. Martin. "You boys should +be careful on that slide. Just think! You might have been hurt!" + +"Oh, you can't get hurt on that slide," declared Ted. "It's nice and +smooth. And, anyhow, I didn't mean to slip; I couldn't help it." He +laughed as he remembered it, and Jan laughed too. She wished she had +been there to see Tom and Ted toppling down the slide together with the +empty pails banging. It was this that had made the noise. + +"It was like Jack and Jill, falling down the hill," laughed Janet. + +"That's right," agreed Tom. "But I guess I'd better be going home," he +added. "Do you s'pose my things are dry yet?" he asked Mrs. Martin. + +"Oh, mercy, no!" exclaimed the mother of the Curlytops. "They won't be +dry until to-morrow. I'll have Nora hang them in the kitchen by the +range." + +"But I guess maybe--I'd like to, but--er--now--I don't guess my mother +would like me to stay here all night," said Tom hesitatingly. + +"You don't have to stay here all night," Mrs. Martin said. + +"Well, but if my things aren't dry--" + +"Oh, wear those of Ted's that you have on," laughed Mrs. Martin. "I +didn't know what you meant. That's all right--wear those things of +Ted's. He has plenty more. Yours will be dry in the morning." + +"And I hope there'll be ice on the toboggan slide in the morning!" +exclaimed Ted. "I wish you could stay all night, Tom. Couldn't he, +Mother?" he asked wistfully. "We'd be awful good and he could sleep with +me and we wouldn't pillow fight or anything. And Tom's better'n I am +about spilling things on the tablecloth at breakfast." + +"Oh, it wasn't that I was thinking of," said Mrs. Martin. "I was +thinking his mother and father would want him home. It's getting late." + +"But we don't have to get up early to-morrow. It's Saturday and there's +no school!" pleaded Ted, eagerly. + +"My mother wouldn't care if I didn't come home, as long as I was over +here," said Tom, trying not to appear too eager, for that would have +been almost like asking to remain. + +"Well, I suppose it would be best for you not to go out in the cold +again, after having been wet," said Mrs. Martin. "We could telephone to +your mother, Tom." + +"All right!" he cried joyfully. + +"Hurray!" shouted Ted. + +"Be careful! Don't awaken Trouble!" cautioned Mrs. Martin. + +Thereupon the boys quieted down, but they were still bubbling over with +mirth, talking about the fun they would have sleeping together and the +other fun they would have on the toboggan slide the next day. + +Mr. Martin telephoned to the Taylor home, explaining about the little +accident that had happened to Tom, and suggesting that, if it was all +right, he should remain with the Curlytops that night. Mr. Taylor said +it would be all right, and thanked Mr. Martin for his kindness. + +Janet remained up a little longer, listening to Tom and Ted telling over +again just how they had carried pails of water to the top of the wooden +slope, spilling down the sloping boards the liquid which swished its way +like rapids in a river. And then came the tumble and fall of the boys. + +"Boys, as long as you are going to have good times to-morrow I suggest +that you go to bed now," said Mrs. Martin, when it was past nine +o'clock. + +"I want to get a glass of water first," said Ted, going toward the +kitchen. + +"You can get a drink up in the bathroom," his mother told him. + +"I don't want this to drink," Ted explained. "I want to fill a glass +full of water and set it out on the steps." + +"What for?" Janet wanted to know. "No birds will come to drink at +night," she added, for she and her brother had made a bird-feeding +station in their yard, and also a little shallow basin where the +feathered songsters could bathe and drink. + +"This isn't for birds," Ted explained. "I just want to set a glass of +water outside and wait to see if it freezes. If it does, then we'll know +if there's going to be ice on our toboggan slide in the morning." + +"Nonsense!" laughed his mother. "I can't let you stay up until you find +out if a glass of water will freeze. It would take too long." + +"Not to see if just the top froze over," insisted Ted. "I don't mean +until the whole glass freezes solid. I know that would take a long +time." + +"No, no!" laughed his mother, giving him a friendly little push from the +room. "Go to bed! I think it will be cold enough to make at least a skim +of ice on your toboggan slide. But not much more. So don't be +disappointed if you have to use candles on your sled runners to-morrow." + +However, Ted, and Janet, and Tom went to bed filled with joyous hopes +for the next day. The boys were almost as good as they promised to be, +not having any pillow fight. But they did "cut up" a little, and had to +be told, more than once, to get quiet and go to sleep. And finally they +did. + +In spite of the fact that the morning brought Saturday, with no school, +when the children might have slept later had they wished, Tom and Ted +were up earlier than usual. Hardly stopping to dress properly, the two +boys ran out into the yard and to the toboggan slide. + +"Hurray!" cried Tom. "She froze!" + +"Oh, what a nifty lot of ice!" exclaimed Ted. + +And the sloping boards of the toboggan slide were covered with a film +that glistened and sparkled in the sun. The morning air was cold, too, +and the boys felt sure the ice that had formed from the water they +poured on would not soon melt. + +"Come on, Janet!" cried Tom, after breakfast. "Now you can have a real +toboggan ride!" + +"Me, too!" called Trouble, banging his oatmeal spoon on his plate. + +"After a while, dear. You aren't dressed yet," his mother told the +little fellow. + +Indeed the toboggan was a real hill of ice now, though the frozen +covering was thin. And the children had many fine coasts on it, for the +sleds went faster than when greased with candles. + +Lola Taylor came over, and so did other playmates of the Curlytops, and +you can be sure that after this the thin coating of ice on the boards +did not last long. It began to wear off and wear thin, first in one +place and then in another, the rising sun helping to melt it. And before +noon there was no ice left. + +However, the boys and girls had had lots of jolly good fun, and Trouble +also had his share. As the boards, once they were wet from the melting +ice, were too sticky for the candle-greased sleds to coast on, the fun +had to be given up just before noon. + +But after dinner Tom and Ted found something else that gave them an +adventure. A little brook ran through a meadow, not far from the home of +the Curlytops, and on a part of this that was in the shadow from a hill +there was some ice that was quite thick, and it remained unmelted, as +the sun did not shine on it. + +"Oh, look!" cried Ted, as the two chums, wandering through the meadow in +search of fun, saw the ice. "Look! We can have a slide!" + +"Will it hold?" asked Tom. + +"Sure! Look at Skyrocket!" answered Ted. + +The dog had walked out on the thin ice which held him up. But the boys +did not stop to think that Skyrocket was not as heavy as either of them. +Also Skyrocket was on four feet, and his weight was more scattered, +being distributed over a larger surface than theirs would be. But Tom +and Ted never thought of this. Ice that would hold Skyrocket would hold +them, they thought. + +In another instant they had walked out on it and were just going to run +and take a little slide when there was a cracking sound, and, before +they knew it, both lads had plunged into the brook at one of the deep +parts. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Tom and Ted together, for they were quite frightened. + +Skyrocket barked and capered about. He did not know whether this was a +game the boys were playing, or whether their cries meant danger. To tell +the truth there was not really much danger, as the brook was not up to +the knees of the boys at this point. + +They remained upright, floundering about and struggling in the cold +water amid chunks of thin ice. For the ice was really too thin to hold +them. + +"Oh, what are we going to do?" cried Tom. + +"I'm nearer shore than you are!" panted Ted. "Grab hold of my hand and +I'll help you out!" + +But as the boys were struggling together they heard a voice shouting at +them from the far side of the meadow. They looked and saw a man running +toward them. He reached them before they had gotten to the bank where +Skyrocket was wildly barking, and, reaching his hands out to them, the +man pulled Tom and Ted to safety. + +"What in the world are you lads up to?" the man asked. + +Something in the voice caused Ted to look up, and he cried. + +"Uncle Toby!" + +"Yes, Uncle Toby!" admitted the man, with a laugh. "It's a good thing I +happened to take the short cut across lots from the railroad. Now tell +me why you chaps went in swimming on a day like this?" and he looked +first at Ted and then at Tom. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +OFF TO THE COUNTRY + + +Skyrocket ran up to Uncle Toby, barking and sniffing around the legs of +the jolly man who had pulled the two boys from the ice-cold brook. + +"So you remember me, don't you?" chuckled Uncle Toby, as he watched the +wagging tail of the dog. + +"I do, too!" said Tom. "Have you got all your pets still?" + +"Most of 'em!" answered Uncle Toby. "But we mustn't stand here talking, +with you boys wet through. Come on to the house. Run! That's the best +way to keep from taking a cold! Run!" + +"We--we got--all wet--last night, too," Ted informed Uncle Toby, the +words being jerked out of him because of the jolting effect of the run. + +"Were you in swimming last night?" Uncle Toby wanted to know. + +"We were making a toboggan slide like those you told about seeing in +Canada," explained Ted. + +"And we weren't in swimming now. We were sliding and the ice broke," +explained Tom. + +"Well, never mind about that now," said Uncle Toby. "Come on--run!" And +he ran so fast, half holding up the boys who trotted along on either +side of him, with Skyrocket leaping along behind, that by the time the +house was reached Ted and Tom each felt quite warm in spite of their icy +bath. + +"Oh, my goodness! What'll your ma say?" cried Nora, as Uncle Toby rushed +the boys into the cozy kitchen. + +"Get upstairs and bring them down some dry clothes. Let them undress and +dress here by the fire. The water won't hurt the kitchen floor," said +Uncle Toby. + +In a little while Tom was again attired in his own suit, which was now +dry, and Ted had on an extra one of his own, while the wet garments were +taken down cellar to be hung near the furnace. + +"I guess you boys had better stay in the house the rest of the day," +said Mrs. Martin, when she had greeted Uncle Toby and had heard what +had happened. + +"I have to go home," said Tom. "Thank you for drying my clothes, and I'm +sorry I got Ted's wet," he added. + +"Well, be careful," cautioned Mrs. Martin, as Ted's playmate left, +promising to run all the way so he would not get a chill. But the day +was quite warm now, all the ice having been melted from the toboggan +slide, and even the water on it drying up. + +"Well, what kindly fortune brings you here, Uncle Toby?" asked Mrs. +Martin, as soon as she could sit down for a chat. + +"Oh, I came to ask a favor," went on the old gentleman, who had traveled +in many parts of the world and who had collected quite a few strange +pets, some of which he still kept at his home in Pocono. "But you look +worried, Ruth," he went on. "Has anything happened? Don't worry about +those boys. They won't take cold from a little dipping, even if the +weather is getting a bit frosty." + +"I wasn't worrying about them," said Mother Martin, with a smile. "But +we have had some other troubles. Dick has had word that he is likely to +lose a lot of money, and he and I will have to take a trip to see about +some property. We'll have to go right away, or within a day or so, and +what to do about the children I don't know. We can't very well take them +with us. I was just thinking we might get some of our relations to come +and stay here while we're gone. Then you drop in. Have you come to tell +me that you are coming to pay a visit? I'd leave my Curlytops and +William with you and know they were safe." + +"And I'd ask nothing better than to look after them," said Uncle Toby, +with a smile. "But I didn't come to tell you I was coming here. Instead +I came to invite you to my place in the country. I have a large cottage, +or camp, as you know, at Crystal Lake, just outside Pocono. I'm going to +have a sort of holiday party out there this winter, and I want you and +the Curlytops to come and spend some time with me. In fact I'll take +some of their playmates, if their folks will spare them. That's what I +came for--to invite you all out to my place to have jolly times through +the holidays." + +"Oh, how lovely!" cried Janet, who heard what was being said. + +"Could we have a toboggan slide there?" Ted wanted to know. + +"Me tum?" lisped Trouble. + +"Sure you'll come!" cried Uncle Toby, catching baby William up in his +arms and hugging and kissing him. "There wouldn't be any fun if we left +you behind. When can you get ready to come?" he asked Mrs. Martin. + +"Why," answered the mother of the Curlytops slowly, "I don't see that +Dick and I can come at all. We must take this business trip or daddy +will lose a lot of money," she explained to the children. "But your +coming at this time is most fortunate, Uncle Toby. As long as you are +going to have a party out at your country cabin on Crystal Lake, it will +be just the thing for the children. They can go and stay with you while +Dick and I are away." + +"Of course!" cried Uncle Toby. "Aunt Sallie--you remember her I guess?" +he went on--"she'll be there to cook for us and see that the children +don't get their feet wet." + +"Aunt Sallie," remarked Mrs. Martin. "I don't seem to remember--" + +"She's Mrs. Watson, the old lady who went away from my house the time I +started for South America, and left you my pets to look after," Uncle +Toby explained. "She's a distant relative of mine, and I call her Aunt +Sallie, though she isn't really my aunt. But she's come back to keep +house for me, and she'll go out to the camp with us. It will be just the +place for the older children, and they can go to school there. We've got +a good little country school not far from the lake. In fact they can +skate to school when the lake gets frozen over, and that will be soon if +this weather keeps up." + +"Oh, what fun!" cried Ted. + +"It will be just the thing for us," said Mrs. Martin. "It will take away +all our worries over what we were going to do about the children while +we were away." + +"And did you say we could have some playmates out there?" asked Janet. + +"Yes, bring along some boy or girl chum--one for each of you," replied +Uncle Toby. + +"I'd like to have Tom!" exclaimed Ted. + +"And I'll ask Lola," said Jan. + +"All right," agreed Mr. Bardeen. "And they may find some other playmates +when they get out there," he added in a low voice. + +"Do you mean new pets?" asked Ted, overhearing what Uncle Toby +remarked. + +"That's a secret," was the smiling answer, and he made a sign to Mrs. +Martin that he would explain to her later. As for Ted and Jan they were +so excited over the prospect of going to spend the holidays in the +country cabin of Uncle Toby that they danced up and down and around the +room, swinging Trouble with them. + +"I'm going over to tell Tom!" cried Ted. + +"And I'll tell Lola," added his sister. + +"Wait a while, Curlytops," advised Mrs. Martin. "Let's see what daddy +says." + +The children felt that they never could wait until their father came +home from the store that evening. But he did arrive at last. Ted and +Janet were sure he was late, but, as a matter of fact, he was a little +ahead of his usual time, Mother Martin having telephoned to him about +the visit of Uncle Toby. The latter had come along suddenly, not even +writing to say that he was on his way. + +"I just got the notion into my head that I wanted the Curlytops and some +of their playmates out at my place on a holiday visit," he explained, +"and so I packed up and come on. Didn't pack up much either," he said. +"Just a bag. And I left that at the station and took the short cut +across lots. Good thing I did," he concluded, winking at Teddy. + +"You must never again go sliding on the ice until you are sure it will +hold you," said Mr. Martin to his son. "Just because it held up +Skyrocket doesn't prove that it will hold you. If you don't promise to +be careful I can't let you go to Crystal Lake!" + +"Oh, we'll be careful!" promised Ted and Janet in one breath. + +"I guess this means that you've made up your mind to let them come with +me, is that so?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"I think it will be the best thing that could happen," answered Daddy +Martin. "Ruth and I must go to see about that property. It will take +both of us to clear matters up and save my money. I know the children +will be in good hands when they are with you and Aunt Sallie. So we'll +let them go." + +"And can we take Skyrocket?" begged Jan. + +"Oh, yes, I guess so," replied Uncle Toby. "My two dogs, Tip and Top, +have been sold. I haven't as many pets as I had, though Jack, the +monkey, Mr. Nip, the parrot, and Snuff, the cat, I have kept. I want +them for company." + +"Then if we take our dog it will be just about right," decided Ted. +"We'll leave Turnover, our cat, here with Nora." + +"Yes, she'll need company," said Mrs. Martin. "And do you really mean it +about taking some playmates for Ted and Janet, Uncle Toby?" + +"Of course I do! Let Tom and Lola come!" + +"I'll go tell them!" offered Ted. + +"I'll come, too," added Jan. + +Trouble wanted to follow, but as it was dark now, being after supper, +his mother decided the best place for him was in bed. And there he was +taken, after he had fallen asleep in Uncle Toby's arms. + +"But what is this about some other children that are going to be at your +cabin?" asked Mrs. Martin, while Ted and Janet were still over at the +Taylor home. + +"I'm going to take charge of two little Fresh Air children," explained +Uncle Toby. "You know I give money to some of the big societies in the +city, and these societies send out children to the country in the +summer. It isn't usual to send them out in the winter, but this is a +special case. + +"Their mother, whom I knew when she was a girl, has to go to the +hospital for an operation, and she has no one with whom she can leave +Harry and Mary. So I agreed to take charge of them this winter, as their +mother may have to stay in the hospital a long time to get well and +strong." + +"Where is their father--dead?" asked Mr. Martin. + +"I'm afraid he is," answered Uncle Toby. "And yet it isn't known for +sure." + +"What do you mean?" asked Mother Martin. + +"You see it's this way," Uncle Toby explained. "Their father, Frank +Benton, went to the big war. He was heard of for a time and then all +trace of him was lost. I suppose he was killed in some battle and never +found until after the fighting was over. Anyhow his two children, who +are about as old as Ted and Janet, were left with their mother. She took +care of them as well as she could until she became ill. + +"One of the Fresh Air Society ladies heard about their sad case and she +wrote to me. I said I'd keep the children all winter. And now when your +Curlytops come out with their friends Tom and Lola they'll find other +playmates, and I hope they'll all get along well together." + +"I think they will," said Mr. Martin. "It is very kind of you to do +this." + +"Oh, I like it!" declared Uncle Toby. "I like children and animals. The +more the merrier. And now let's plan how soon the children can come back +with me." + +Ted and Jan returned a little later with word that Tom and Lola could +make the trip, and the next few days were busily spent in getting ready. +Mr. and Mrs. Martin made arrangements to go on their trip, to try to +save the money that Daddy Martin was in danger of losing. + +Except for this there would have been no sadness when the time of +parting came. But the Curlytops could not help seeing that their father +and mother looked rather worried. + +"I hope Dad doesn't lose that money," said Ted. + +"So do I," echoed his sister, with a sigh. + +But they were not sad for long. The day came when the children were to +depart for their holiday stay at Uncle Toby's cabin on the shore of +Crystal Lake. + +"All aboard!" cried the jolly old gentleman, as the automobile drew up +in front of the house to take along the Curlytops, Trouble, Tom, Lola, +Uncle Toby himself, and Skyrocket. "All aboard!" + +"Good-bye! Good-bye!" cried the children, as they piled in. The dog +barked his farewells. + +"Have a good time!" said Mother Martin, and there was just a tear or two +in her eyes as she waved her hands. + +"We'll have you all back again after Christmas!" said Daddy Martin. + +"Oh, what fun we'll have at Christmas!" shouted Ted. + +"All aboard!" called Uncle Toby again, and they were off on the first +part of their trip to the country for the holidays. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FLURRY OF SNOW + + +Uncle Toby drove the Martin automobile through the streets of Cresco. +The car was a large, comfortable, roomy one, all inclosed, so that the +cold weather would make no difference. There was even a small heating +apparatus, a sort of radiator kept warm by the muffler under the car, so +that the children would be cozy and warm even in a snow storm. + +"There's Tommie Wilson!" called Ted, as he saw a boy walking along the +street. "He's got to go to school!" + +"Yes, and there's Bob Newton," added Tom. "I guess they wish they were +like us, and didn't have to go to school!" + +"Oh, you'll have to go to school as soon as we get out to Crystal Lake," +declared Uncle Toby. "Don't imagine, because you are going to have +holiday fun, that you won't have to go to school." + +"But it'll be more fun going to school out there than it will be here," +said Tom. + +"Sure it will!" agreed Ted. + +Lola and Jan leaned over toward the side window of the auto to wave to +Jennie Jackson, a girl they both knew, and Jennie waved back, wonder +showing on her face at the appearance of the Curlytops and their +playmates going off in an automobile. And when the other children of +Cresco learned what had happened to Ted, Jan, Tom, and Lola there were +some sighs of disappointment that such good luck had not happened to +every boy and girl. + +Skyrocket seemed to be enjoying himself very much. He was a well-behaved +dog and appeared to enjoy the ride in the automobile. He was perched on +the front seat, between Ted and Tom, who sat beside Uncle Toby. In the +back were the two girls and the baggage. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ted, when they had ridden on some little distance and +Uncle Toby had turned into the broad highway that led to Pocono, several +miles away. "Oh, I forgot all about it!" + +"Forgot about what?" asked Uncle Toby, as he stopped his big automobile +to let a little car shoot out of a side street. + +"I forgot to tell the fellows they could use our toboggan slide while +we're gone," explained Ted. + +"That's right!" agreed Tom. "Bob Newton and some of the other boys could +have fun on it after the snow comes. We ought to have told 'em!" + +"Shall we have one out at Crystal Lake, Uncle Toby?" asked Ted. + +"I reckon we can rig up one," was the answer. "There is a man out there +who has a real toboggan, too, one he brought from Canada." + +"Oh, that'll be great!" cried Tom. + +On went the big car with the Curlytops and their playmates, bearing them +to the happy country where they hoped to have much fun over the +Christmas holidays that would soon be at hand. The children looked out +of the windows of the car. They had made an early start, soon after +sunrise, but now the sun had gone under clouds. + +"Do you think it will snow?" Ted anxiously asked of Uncle Toby. + +"I shouldn't wonder but what it might," was the answer. "Do you want it +to?" + +"Sure we do!" cried all four children at once, and Trouble added: + +"I make a snow man, I will!" + +"Well, then I guess it will snow," chuckled Uncle Toby. "And I wouldn't +be a bit surprised if we should have a storm before we get to my place," +he added. + +"Do you mean before we get to Crystal Lake?" asked Janet. + +"No, for we aren't going there direct," said Uncle Toby. "We are first +going to my place in Pocono, where we'll stay a few days. I have to get +some things there, and also take aboard two more children." + +"Two more children?" cried Ted and Janet. Then Ted added: + +"Who are they?" + +"I hope they'll be playmates for you," answered Mr. Bardeen. "I'll tell +you about them later. Anyhow, first we'll go to Pocono, and later, in a +day or so, out to Crystal Lake. That will give you time to meet the pets +again." + +"Are you going to take them out to the Lake with you?" asked Tom, who +knew about the different animals Uncle Toby was so fond of. + +"Well, no, I hardly think so," was the answer. "It will be pretty cold +for my alligator, the monkey, and the parrot. Snuff, my cat, will be +better off if she stays at my house in Pocono. But you can take +Skyrocket out with you." + +"That'll be all right," decided Ted. "But it would be a lot of fun if we +could have all the pets out at the Lake." + +"I'm afraid you'll be so busy having good times out of doors, and going +to school, at least a little, that you wouldn't have much chance to play +with the pets," chuckled Uncle Toby. "And I wouldn't want any of them to +take cold. A dog is all right, romping out in the snow, but frost wasn't +meant for monkeys and parrots." + +"Where will you get these two new children that are going to be our +playmates?" asked Jan. + +"They are coming on a train. I expect they'll arrive at Pocono about a +week after we get there. I'll tell you about them later. They are poor +children, and they haven't had as many good times as you Curlytops have +had, so I hope you'll be kind to them." + +"Oh, we will!" chorused all four. + +"An' I tish 'em, dat's what I do!" declared Trouble. + +"Yes, and I'll 'tish' you!" laughed Lola, as she kissed the little chap. + +On and on rumbled the big auto, until it came to a small town, which, as +soon as they reached the center of it, Ted and Janet remembered. + +"We stopped here for dinner when we were going out to your place this +summer!" cried Janet to Uncle Toby. + +"Yes. And we're going to stop here for lunch again," said Uncle Toby. +"That is, if you are hungry," he added with a sly twinkle in his eyes. +"Of course if you'd rather not eat--" + +"Oh, I want to eat all right!" shouted Tom and Ted and Janet and Lola, +all at one time. + +"I wants pie!" burst out Trouble, and they all shouted with laughter. + +A little later the car drew up in front of a restaurant. + +"Why, it's the same one where we ate before!" exclaimed Jan, in +wonderment. + +"Yes, your father told me you stopped here," said Uncle Toby. + +As he was helping the children out of the car a ragged boy, with a +pinched and hungry face, stepped up, and, touching his cap, asked: + +"Like to have me watch your machine, sir? There's been a lot of autos +stolen around here lately. I'll watch it good for a quarter." + +"Will you?" asked Uncle Toby, with a kind smile. "And if a thief comes, +what would you do? You aren't very big?" + +"I'd holler for a cop--I mean a policeman," was the boy's quick answer. +"I know the policeman on this beat." + +"All right, I guess you can watch the machine," said Mr. Bardeen. +"Skyrocket will help you keep guard over it." + +"Who's Skyrocket?" + +"This dog," and Uncle Toby pointed. Skyrocket had been holding back, for +he did not like strangers, especially ragged ones, and this boy was +rather ragged. But when Uncle Toby made it plain that the boy was to be +regarded as a friend, the dog wagged his tail in welcome and curled up +on the front seat. + +"What are you going to do with the quarter I'm to give you for watching +the car?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"I'm going to get something to eat with part of it," was the answer. +"I'm hungry. The rest I'm going to turn in to my mother. She needs it." + +"Hum," said Uncle Toby, thoughtfully. "That's stretching a quarter +rather too much, I think. Now you sit out here in the car, and I'll have +the waiter bring you something to eat on a tray. Oh, don't worry!" Mr. +Bardeen hastened to say, with a smile. "It won't come out of your +quarter. I'll put it on my bill. And I'm going to have a bone sent out +for Skyrocket. He'll keep you company." + +"Yes, sir. I like dogs," said the boy, with a smile. "I'm much obliged +to you. I'll watch your car good." + +"Yes. I think you will. Well, children, run in and get started on your +lunch. I don't want to get to Pocono after dark, and it looks as if we +might get caught in a snow storm, but it may hold off." + +The Curlytops and their playmates were ushered to their seats by a +waiter who smiled at them. + +"Do you remember us?" asked Ted, while Uncle Toby was giving orders to +another waiter about sending something to eat out to the boy, and also a +bone for Skyrocket. + +"Of course I remember you," the waiter answered, as he pushed the chairs +under Janet and Lola. "And I haven't forgotten what that little chap +did," and he pointed to William, who was staring about the room as if +trying to remember where he had seen it before. + +"What did Trouble do?" asked Lola. + +"He turned the faucet of the water-cooler and let the ice water run all +over the floor," explained Janet with a laugh. "Mother's feet were in +the puddle of water before we knew what had happened." + +"Oh, Trouble!" chided Lola. "Did you do that?" + +"Well--well, I didn't do it on pur--now--on purspuss!" stammered +Trouble, as they all laughed. + +Uncle Toby came and sat down at the table with the children, and the +waiter who remembered the Curlytop party from their other visit was soon +busy serving them. A good meal on a tray was taken out to the boy in the +automobile and a juicy bone was sent to Skyrocket. + +"This is jolly good fun!" declared Tom, who had not traveled about as +much as had the Curlytops. + +"Wait until we get out to Crystal Lake!" exclaimed Ted. "Then we'll have +more fun. I hope school won't be very hard," he added in a whisper to +his playmate. + +"Oh, teachers aren't very strict around the holidays," answered Tom. + +The meal was almost over when Lola, glancing out of the window, uttered +an exclamation and cried: + +"It's snowing!" + +Surely enough, a flurry of the white crystals was falling. + +Uncle Toby looked a bit anxious. + +"I don't want to hurry you children," he said. "But as soon as you have +finished we'd better be on our way. We don't want to be stuck in the +snow." + +And as they went out to get in the automobile again the air was thick +with the white flakes. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE STORM + + +Seeing the Curlytops and their playmates coming from the restaurant with +Uncle Toby, the boy who had been watching the automobile got out, +followed by Skyrocket. + +"Well, I see you didn't let any one take the car," said Uncle Toby with +a smile, as he paid the boy, giving him more money than the lad had +asked for. + +"Oh, no! They couldn't take this car while I was in it," was the reply. +"Though I guess your dog would make a fuss, too, if anybody tried it. +Two or three men just sort of stepped up to look at the car, and +Firecracker growled." + +"Firecracker?" exclaimed Ted, with a laugh. + +"Yes. Isn't that the name you called your dog?" asked the boy. + +"No; it's Skyrocket," answered Jan. + +"Well, I knew it had something to do with fireworks," laughed the ragged +lad. + +"But this is too much money," he said to Uncle Toby. + +"That's all right, I guess you've earned it," was the reply. "Sitting in +a car doing nothing isn't much fun." + +The snow flakes kept on sifting down, swirling faster and faster as the +automobile started off, the children calling their good-byes to the boy +who had watched the car. They had left him much better off than when +they first met him, for he had had a good meal and earned some money. + +"Sit tight now, everybody!" ordered Uncle Toby, as they left the busier +part of the village where they had stopped for a meal, and drew near the +open country. "Sit tight, for I'm going to drive faster, and I don't +want you falling off the seats." + +"What you goin' to drive fast for?" Trouble wanted to know. "Is you +goin' to have a race, Uncle Toby?" + +"A sort of race, yes, Trouble," was the answer. "I'm going to race and +see if we can get home ahead of the big storm that I'm afraid is coming +down on us." + +"Do you think it will be a very big storm?" asked Ted, and he looked +with laughing eyes at Tom. + +"I shouldn't wonder," was the answer. "And, though we have a strong car +here, we don't want to get stuck in a snow drift and have to stay all +night." + +"I should think that would be lots of fun," said Tom. + +"What? With nothing to eat except a few chocolate cakes Jan and Lola +have in a bag?" exclaimed Uncle Toby. "That is if they have any of the +cakes left." + +"Oh, yes, we have them," Jan hastened to say, for she and her girl chum +had bought some just before reaching the restaurant, and had not eaten +them. + +"Well, that's all we'd have in the way of 'rations,' as the soldiers +call them, if we got stuck in the storm," declared Uncle Toby. + +"Then we don't want to get stuck," decided Ted, and Tom agreed with him. +The boys were fond of eating. Most boys are, I believe. + +What Uncle Toby said and feared about the storm seemed to be coming +true. Of course the automobile was very far from being caught in any +drift, for the snow had not yet begun to pile up very much. But the +flakes were coming down thicker and faster, and the wind was beginning +to blow. It did not blow inside the cozy car, which was warm and +comfortable, so that the boys and girls could unbutton their wraps. But +they could hear the wind swishing around outside, and they could see the +flakes of snow dashed against the glass windows. + +After riding about an hour, the party was out in a country district +where the houses were few and far apart. It was rather lonesome, for +they went many miles without meeting another automobile. The snow was +deeper here, and, more than once, the wheels of the Martin car ran +through little piles of white crystals. + +"They've had a storm here before this one that's blowing now," said +Uncle Toby, as he looked at what were really quite high drifts on some +parts of the road. "It may be worse farther on." + +"Shall we get stuck?" Ted wanted to know. + +"There's no telling," answered Uncle Toby. + +Ted and Tom did not want to say they were glad of it, but they were +real boys and they felt that they would not a bit mind being caught in a +big drift so they would have to dig their way out. They forgot, for the +time, about having nothing to eat. + +Passing through a small village, which was now thickly covered with snow +from the storm that was getting worse and worse all the while, Uncle +Toby drove the car once more out in the country. Suddenly he leaned +forward and shifted the gear lever. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ted. + +"I'm going into second speed," was the answer, and the boys knew what +this meant. "There's quite a hill ahead of us," Uncle Toby went on. +"Though I could take it on high if it wasn't for the snow, I can't do it +now. We'll try it on second, and if that won't bring us up we'll have to +go back into first speed." + +"Shall we get to your house to-night?" asked Jan. + +"Oh, yes," answered Uncle Toby. "Don't worry!" + +But Jan could not help feeling a bit anxious. She was more worried over +what might happen to Trouble than herself, her other brother or her +playmates, for they were all older. But Trouble was used to his mother +at night. + +How he would behave now, away from home for the first time, remained to +be seen. Jan wondered what her father and mother were doing now, and she +hoped Daddy Martin would not lose that money. She wondered if they would +be poor. That wouldn't be at all pleasant, she thought. + +However, her ideas and those of the others were suddenly switched into +new places, for the big car gave a lurch to one side and came to a stop +with a jolt, awakening Trouble. + +"What's matter?" he asked sleepily. + +"I am afraid we are stuck," said Uncle Toby. + +"There's a big drift right in front of us," announced Ted. + +"Yes," agreed Mr. Bardeen. "I thought I could go through it but it's +deeper than I had any idea of. No you don't!" he quickly cried as the +automobile seemed about to slip backward. He put on both brakes and +brought the car to a stop. + +"Oh, is anything going to happen?" asked Lola. + +"No! No!" laughed Uncle Toby. "Don't be afraid. I didn't change into +first speed quickly enough and stalled, or stopped my engine. I'll start +up again in a minute. But I guess I'd better put some stones under the +wheels, to block them so they won't slide downhill as I start up again +with the brakes off." + +"We'll get some stones!" cried Ted. "I know how to do that! I often do +it for dad on a hill. Come on, Tom!" + +The two boys scrambled from the car out into the storm. As the door was +opened in came a swirl of white flakes, and Trouble tried to catch them +by sticking out his red tongue. + +"I guess you'll have hard work to find any stones," said Uncle Toby, +looking at Tom and Ted floundering around in the snow. "But it won't be +safe to take the brakes off until we get something to block the wheels." + +The reason for that was this. The car was now held from sliding backward +downhill because Uncle Toby had put on the brakes. But to start up +again, even in first or lowest speed, he would have to take off the +brakes, and the car might begin to slide down before the engine could +begin pulling it up. With stones blocked behind the rear wheels, this +would not happen. + +"Oh, we'll find some stones!" cried Tom, kicking about in the snow, +moving his feet from side to side. Soon he felt something big and hard. +Reaching down with his hands, he began clearing away the snow and +discovered a stone. But it was frozen fast to the ground, and Tom could +not move it. + +"I'll help you!" offered Ted, running over to his chum. Ted had not yet +found any stone. + +As the boys kicked away at the stone, hoping to loosen it, Trouble +called out through the crack of the door: + +"Is you playin' feetball?" + +"It does look like it, doesn't it?" laughed Ted, and then, with a last +hard kick, he loosened the stone that Tom had found. + +"Good boys!" cried Uncle Toby. "Put it back of the wheels and look for +another." He had to stay in the car lest the brakes might slip and let +it back down the hill. + +Tom and Ted put this one stone behind the left wheel, and then began +kicking about in the snow to find another. This time Ted had the luck, +finding a larger stone than the one uncovered by his chum. + +With hard kicks the two small chaps worked away at the frozen stone. +More than once they missed their aim, and they kicked up clouds of snow, +making Lola and Janet laugh, Trouble joining in. But at last the second +stone was loosened and placed behind the other wheel. + +"Now I can take off the brakes and start up the hill," said Uncle Toby. +"Hop in, boys!" + +Standing on the running board Ted and Tom knocked the snow from their +shoes and took their places inside the warm car. They were breathing +hard from their labors, and their cheeks were red with the cold, while +their coats and caps were covered with snow-flakes. + +The engine had not stopped running, though it was out of gear. But now +Uncle Toby took off the brakes and began to go into first speed, and +slowly the car moved up the hill. The snow was very slippery and more +than once the hind wheels spun around uselessly. + +"I'll put chains on when we get to the top of the hill," said Uncle +Toby. "I ought to have done it before." + +Slowly the car went up through the storm, the children almost holding +their breaths, as if that would help. But finally the summit of the hill +was reached and the danger was over for the present. + +"Now we can speed up, after I put on the chains," said Uncle Toby, +bringing the car to a stop beneath some overhanging evergreen trees that +grew on one side of the road. "Ch'is'mus twees," Trouble called them. + +But as Mr. Bardeen was getting out Ted uttered a cry of alarm. + +"Where's Skyrocket?" he asked. + +Then, for the first time, every one noticed that the dog was not in the +car. + +Where was Skyrocket? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A STALLED TRAIN + + +For a few moments the children could scarcely believe that Skyrocket was +not in the automobile with them. Janet and Lola had been so busy +watching the boys kick loose the stones, and Ted and Tom had been so +occupied in this work, that none of them had paid much attention to the +dog. Uncle Toby had also watched the boys, and as for Trouble, catching +an occasional snow-flake on his tongue gave him so much to do that he +did not look after Skyrocket. + +"But where is our dog?" asked Ted, when it became certain that the pet +was not in the car. + +"Maybe he's under the seat asleep," suggested Lola. + +They looked, but Skyrocket was not there. + +"He must have jumped out when the door was open," said Tom. + +"I'll go back and look for him," offered Ted. He made a move to leave +the car, but Uncle Toby stopped him. + +"If any one goes back after that dog, I'm going!" said the old sailor, +for that is what Uncle Toby had once been. "The snow is too deep for +your legs," he added, looking at Ted's short ones. "And you two lads +have already done work enough in getting the stones to block the wheels. +You know how fond I am of pets, so I'll go back and get Skyrocket. I +suppose he's looking for us all this while." + +"You'll be sure to get him, won't you, Uncle Toby?" asked Jan. + +"Of course I will; unless he's gone full speed ahead back home, and I +don't believe he has. Now you children stay here in this car until I +come back. And don't go outside. It's snowing harder and it is getting +colder. So stay inside." + +The Curlytops and their playmates promised to do this, and then Uncle +Toby stepped out into the storm. He turned up his coat collar and +tramped off through the drifts, which were, each moment, getting deeper +and deeper. So fast was the snow coming down now that he could hardly +see the marks left by the wheels where he had driven up the hill. + +The children looked out through the back window in the automobile and +watched Uncle Toby. He was soon out of sight below the top of the hill, +and all that Ted and the others could see was the cloud of swirling +flakes of white. + +"I--I hope he finds Skyrocket," faltered Janet. + +"I hope so, too," added Ted. + +"He sure is a good dog!" declared Tom. + +Then all the Curlytops could do was to wait for Uncle Toby to come back. + +Meanwhile the old sailor was trudging back through the storm, going down +the hill up which he had lately driven the big car. + +"It's easy now," thought Uncle Toby to himself, "but it won't be so easy +going back. I'll have the wind in my face and I'll have to go uphill. +But never mind! We'll have jolly good times--the children and I--when we +get to my cabin out at the Lake." + +As he walked along through the storm Uncle Toby looked on each side of +the road for a sight of Skyrocket. But he did not see the dog. Nor was +there any answering bark in reply to the shrill whistles uttered by +Uncle Toby. + +"Here, Sky! Here, Skyrocket!" the old sailor would call every now and +then, but no dog appeared. + +"He must have jumped out away back where I stalled the car," thought +Uncle Toby. "Poor dog! He'll freeze if he has to stay out all night. And +I don't know what I'll do with those children if I don't find their pet +for them. Skyrocket, where are you?" + +On and on went Uncle Toby, through the whirling snow. He was almost back +to where the car had stopped when suddenly he heard a series of barks +off to one side of the road, in a clump of trees. + +"That sounds like him!" exclaimed the sailor. "Hello there, Skyrocket!" +he cried. + +The barking became louder. Uncle Toby floundered through the drifts, off +the road and over toward the clump of evergreen trees. As he neared them +a dog came dashing out, capering about in the fluffy drifts. + +"Hello, Skyrocket! I've found you all right!" said Uncle Toby. "But +what in the world are you doing back here? What made you jump out of the +car?" + +All the answer Skyrocket made was to bark. He leaped about Uncle Toby +and seemed very glad to see him. But when the man started back toward +the road, thinking the dog would follow, Skyrocket only barked more +loudly and raced back toward the clump of trees. + +"What's the matter? Is there some other dog back there you'd rather play +with than come to the Curlytops?" asked the old sailor. "What's the +idea?" + +Skyrocket acted in such a queer way that Uncle Toby turned back to see +what the matter was. And this was just what the wise dog seemed to want, +for he wagged his tail joyfully and raced back ahead of Uncle Toby. + +When the old sailor reached the clump of trees, under the heavy branches +of which the snow was not so thick, he heard a faint mewing sound. + +"Bless my heart! A kitten!" cried Uncle Toby. + +And a kitten it was! A dear, cute, little kitten, half way up one of +the trees, cuddled down in the thick, green branches. + +"Well, no wonder you didn't want to come back and leave this poor little +kitten here in the cold and storm," said kind Uncle Toby. "You're a good +dog, Skyrocket!" + +At this Skyrocket wagged his tail harder than ever, so it seemed a +wonder that it did not fly off, and his throat must have ached with all +the barking he did. + +The kitten mewed and stood up when it saw Uncle Toby. It did not appear +to be afraid of Skyrocket, who was capering around on the ground under +the tree. + +"I'll get you down and take you back with me," said the old sailor. +"Come on, pussy! I don't know where I am going to get any milk to give +you until we get to my place in Pocono. But I guess you'll stand it +until then. I wonder how you got out here in the woods all alone?" + +There was no way of finding this out, and there was no house near from +which the little kitten might have wandered. Uncle Toby had an idea it +might have been lost out of some car in which some children, like the +Curlytops, had been riding. Then the little animal wandered into the +clump of evergreens for shelter, and Skyrocket had trailed it there. The +dog had probably discovered the pussy as he was racing around after he +had slipped out of the car, unseen by the children or Uncle Toby. + +"But you'll be all right now," said the kind old sailor. "Come to me, +pussy!" + +The kitten arched its back, seeming glad of a chance to stretch after +being cramped on the limb. Reaching up, Uncle Toby lifted it down and +put it snugly in the pocket of his big overcoat. + +"Well, I wonder if you'll come back with me now?" asked Uncle Toby of +Skyrocket, when the kitten had been rescued. + +Skyrocket seemed very willing, for he no longer hung back, but followed +with joyful barks and waggings of his tail as Uncle Toby strode through +the storm with the kitten he had rescued. + +It was hard work tramping back up the hill through the storm and drifts +of snow with the wind blowing in his face, but the old sailor managed +it, and soon the Curlytops and their friends, who had been anxiously +watching through the back window, saw him looming into view. + +"Here comes Uncle Toby!" cried Jan, who was the first to spy him. + +"Has he got Skyrocket?" asked Ted. + +"Yes, I see him!" said Tom. "He's got your dog all right." + +A little later Uncle Toby was knocking the snow off his shoes on the +running board of the car, and soon he was safely inside with the dog. + +"Where was he?" Ted wanted to know. "What were you doing back there, +Skyrocket?" he asked his pet. + +"He was guarding this," said Uncle Toby, and out of his pocket came the +little kitten. + +"Oh! Oh!" murmured Lola. "Isn't it a darling!" + +"How cute! Oh, what a dear!" exclaimed Jan. + +"My kitten! Mine!" cried Trouble, always ready to claim any new pet he +saw. + +"Did you really find it?" asked Tom, as Jan took the kitten into her lap +while she and Lola rubbed it, Trouble getting an occasional finger or +two on the soft fur. + +"Skyrocket found it, and I got it down out of the tree," explained the +old sailor, with a laugh. "Now I guess we can move along again. I wish +we had some milk for you," he went on, looking at the little cat. "But +we'll be home before dark--if we have good luck," he added, as he +glanced out into the storm. + +Once again the automobile started, with a new passenger on board. +Skyrocket was used to cats, and after he had taken part in the rescue of +the kitten he paid no more attention to it but curled up and went to +sleep. As for the kitten, it did not seem to mind the dog in the least. + +"I guess it isn't very hungry, Uncle Toby," said Jan in a low voice, +after they had ridden several miles. "See, it's going to sleep." + +And the little kitten, with eyes closed, was curled contentedly in her +lap. + +Uncle Toby's main thought now was to drive as fast as he could with +safety, so he would get the children to his home in Pocono before the +storm grew any worse and before night came. + +Once in his house at Pocono they could remain until the weather cleared +before going out to the cabin at Crystal Lake to spend the holidays. + +They passed through a small town, and Jan suggested they might stop and +get some milk for the kitten, which had awakened, and was mewing a +little. + +"I think we'd better not stop now," said Mr. Bardeen. "It is better for +the pussy to be a little hungry for a time than for us to get stuck in +the snow with night coming on. We'd all be hungry then. We'll soon be +home." + +They came to a railroad track, almost hidden under the snow, and Uncle +Toby stopped the automobile, and, opening the door a little way, seemed +to be listening. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ted. + +"I wanted to hear if the train was coming," was the answer. "One is due +here about now, and I didn't want to cross the tracks if it was too +near. But I guess it's late on account of the storm. It will be safe to +cross." + +He drove over the tracks and was just speeding up again when they all +heard a distant whistle. + +"There's the train!" exclaimed Tom. + +Then came several more whistles, long toots and short toots in such a +queer combination that they all knew something must be the matter. + +"Maybe there's been an accident," said Ted. + +"Maybe," agreed Uncle Toby. "But I think that the train is stuck in a +deep cut not far from here. The cut may be filled with snow so the train +can't get through. It's probably stalled there." + +"Will anybody be hurt?" asked Janet. + +"No, only delayed for a while. Men will come with shovels to dig out the +train. We can soon see what has happened, for the auto road passes near +the railroad cut." + +A little later they saw that what Uncle Toby had guessed at had come to +pass. The children saw a passenger train with the front part of the +engine buried deep in a pile of snow that filled a cut between two rocky +hills on either side of the track. + +As the automobile came in sight of the train the engineer blew several +more shrill whistles, waking up Skyrocket, who began to bark loudly. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +NEW PLAYMATES + + +"Just hear him toot!" cried Jan, putting her hands over her ears, for +the automobile was now quite close to the train stuck in the big snow +drift. The drift was much deeper here than at any other point along the +railroad, because the narrow cut between the high rocks held the white +flakes tightly packed. + +"Sounds as if it was calling us," said Lola. + +"I believe it is!" exclaimed Ted, as the toots of the whistle kept up. +"Do you s'pose he could want us to help him, Uncle Toby?" + +"How could an auto pull a stalled train out of a snowdrift?" asked Tom. + +"Course we couldn't _pull_ the train," admitted Ted. "But we could sort +of--now--do _something_, couldn't we, Uncle Toby?" he asked. + +"I believe we could, and I think that is what the engineer is trying to +signal us for," was the answer. "I know this railroad cut. It is a bad +place in a storm. Often trains have been stuck here for days. The engine +would ram its pilot, or cowcatcher, into a drift, then snow would pile +up behind the last car and the train couldn't go ahead or back up." + +"Maybe that's happened now!" exclaimed Lola. + +"I shouldn't be a bit surprised," said Uncle Toby. + +"But what do the passengers do when the train is stuck, like this one is +now?" Tom wanted to know. + +"Oh, sometimes they get out and walk, as it isn't very far to the +station. Or if they have something to eat, and can keep warm in the +cars, they stay there until men come with shovels to dig out the train. +I guess that's what this engineer wants me for--to go on to the station +and have a gang of men sent to dig out his train. We'll soon find out," +Uncle Toby remarked. + +The automobile road ran close to the tracks and near the deep cut which +was filled with snow. The storm was getting worse, but on the level +there was not yet enough snow to have stopped a train. It was only in +the cut that the drift was deep enough for this. + +Uncle Toby stopped the automobile as near the stalled train as he could +go, and waited. Soon the engineer and a man with gold braid on his cap +came floundering through the deep snow at the side of the train until +they were within calling distance of Uncle Toby, who opened the car door +to listen. + +"Could you oblige us by going to the next station and having the +telegraph operator send word to headquarters that we're stalled?" asked +the man with the gold braid on his cap. He was the conductor of the +train. + +"Yes, I'll do that for you," said Uncle Toby. "I thought you were +whistling for help," he added to the engineer. + +"That's what I was," came the answer. "I saw you just in time. 'Tisn't +often that an auto has to come to the help of a steam engine, but it +happened this time," he added, with a smile. + +"Is there anything else I can do for you?" asked Uncle Toby, as he +prepared to start off again. The station was a little out of his way, +but he didn't mind that. + +"Well, I don't know," replied the conductor slowly. "We haven't many +passengers on board, and all except a little boy and girl who are on +their way to Pocono will be all right. The way it is now we'll hardly +get there to-night, or anyhow, not until late, and they are traveling +alone. They expect to be met at Pocono by--let me see--I have his name +here somewhere," and he began searching among the papers in his pocket. +"The children are in my charge," he went on. "Their mother had to go to +a hospital and--" + +"She did?" cried Uncle Toby so suddenly that the engineer and conductor +looked at him in surprise. "Is the name of the man who was to meet these +children Mr. Toby Bardeen?" went on the old sailor. + +"Why, yes, that's his name. I have it here on a piece of paper," said +the conductor. "But how did you--" + +"Are those children Harry and Mary Benton?" went on Uncle Toby. + +"Those are their names, certainly," the conductor admitted. "But how in +the world--" + +"I'm Mr. Toby Bardeen," interrupted the old sailor. "Uncle Toby is what +the Curlytops call me. I was expecting these children, but I had no idea +they'd arrive so soon. It's only by chance that I'm passing this way. I +didn't expect Mary and Harry for nearly a week." + +"Well, the society that gave them in my charge, to see that they got +safely to Pocono and to Mr. Bardeen, told me their mother had to go to +the hospital sooner than she expected," reported the conductor. "I was +going to telegraph you when I got to the next station to make sure you'd +be on hand. They said--that is, the lady of the Fresh Air Society said +she'd written you to expect the children earlier." + +"Well, I didn't get the letter, because I left home to go to visit the +Curlytops," said Uncle Toby. "However, it's all right now. I'll take the +children right into the auto with me and soon have them home. It's lucky +I met you." + +"Very lucky, indeed!" agreed the conductor. "I'll go back and get the +children ready for you. Poor little things, they're quite sad and +forlorn. Their father was killed in the war, I understand." + +"Yes," agreed Uncle Toby. "At least he's missing, and I guess he must be +killed or they'd have heard something from him by this time. However, +I'll take charge of the children. I used to know their mother many years +ago, but I haven't seen her for some time." + +"If you'll drive along the road, around the cut, to the rear of the +train, the snow won't be so deep for the children," said the engineer. +"I'll help you carry them out," he added to the conductor. + +The rocky cut, in which the train was stuck in the snow drift, was about +twice as long as the engine and cars, and in front of the cut, as well +as behind it, the snow was not very deep, though it was getting deeper +all the while as the white flakes came sifting down faster. + +Uncle Toby started the automobile again, going to the rear of the train, +as near to it as he could get. A little later the conductor and engineer +came tramping through the drifts, each man carrying a child, the +conductor with the girl and the engineer with the boy. The children +were so wrapped up in shawls that it could scarcely be told which was +the boy and which was the girl. + +"There you are, my dear!" said the conductor, as he set his passenger +down inside the automobile. + +"And one more!" added the kind-faced but grimy engineer, putting the +little boy in next to his sister. + +"Is this Pocono?" the boy asked freeing himself from the shawl that +wrapped him. "The lady said we weren't to get out except at Pocono." + +"And we want Uncle Toby," added the girl. + +"Bless your hearts, I'm Uncle Toby!" cried Mr. Bardeen. "This isn't +exactly Pocono, but you'd never get there to-night if you stayed on that +train. I'm going to take you off and drive you to my home in Pocono in +this auto. See, here are the Curlytops and some other playmates for +you," for now the two strangers could see the Curlytops and their +friends, Tom and Lola. + +"Curlytops!" exclaimed Harry Benton, wonderingly. + +"It's on account of our hair," explained Ted, taking off his cap. + +"Oh, I see!" laughed Mary. "It's lovely hair! I wish mine curled." + +"I'm glad mine doesn't," her brother exclaimed. "It's too hard to comb." + +"It is hard," admitted Jan, while Trouble stared open-mouthed at the new +playmates. + +"Is he a Curlytop, too?" asked Mary, looking at Baby William. + +"He belongs to the family, but his hair doesn't curl," said Uncle Toby, +with a laugh. "But now that I have you children safe in here I'd better +be going," he added. "I'll tell the telegraph operator to send you help +as soon as he can," he added to the engineer and the conductor, who +started back to the stalled train. + +"Please do," begged the conductor. "We'd like to get dug out of here +before night." + +"Isn't it lovely in here, Harry?" asked Mary Benton, looking around +inside the comfortable automobile. + +"I should say so!" he exclaimed. "I never was in a car like this +before." + +The two children were poor--one need but look at their clothes to see +this. But they were clean and neat. + +"And, oh, look! A dog!" cried Harry. + +"That's Skyrocket! He likes you," said Ted, for the dog, after sniffing +at the two new playmates, wagged his tail in friendly fashion. + +"I like him!" said Harry. + +"And, oh, look at the kitten!" cried Mary, reaching her hand down to pat +the little bunch of fur that was purring on the seat between Lola and +Jan. + +"Uncle Toby just found it in the woods," Jan explained. + +"What's its name?" asked Mary. + +"We haven't named it yet," Ted answered. "Skyrocket saw it up a tree and +barked." + +"I think Fluff would be a nice name for the pussy," said Mary. "He's +such a fluffy ball of fur." + +"Oh, that would be a lovely name!" cried Lola. "Why don't you call it +that?" + +"I guess we will. You may name the kitten Fluff, Mary, and it'll be part +your cat." + +"Oh, how nice!" murmured the poor little girl. "I never had even part of +a cat before." + +"Uncle Toby has a cat and his name is Snuff!" said Trouble. "An' he's +got a monkey and a parrot!" + +Mary and Harry looked as though they did not know whether or not to +believe this. Seeing the doubt on their faces Ted exclaimed: + +"That's right! Uncle Toby has a lot of pets out at his place, and we're +going to take them to Crystal Lake with us, aren't we, Uncle Toby?" + +"Oh, I guess if we take your dog that will be enough," chuckled the old +sailor. "The others will be better off in Pocono. But you'll have a +chance to see them," he added to the new children, noticing how +disappointed they looked. Then Harry and Mary smiled. + +"Well, I must be getting on if I'm going to send help to the people on +the stalled train," remarked Uncle Toby, as he turned the automobile +around. "And then we'll go on to Pocono. Aunt Sallie will be getting +anxious about us." + +"Is Aunt Sallie a monkey or a parrot?" Harry asked. + +"Neither one!" answered Uncle Toby, with a laugh, in which the Curlytops +joined. "She's my housekeeper; and she'll go with us to Crystal Lake +for the holidays." + +"What will you do with your pets?" asked Ted. + +"I'll get some one to look after them. I haven't as many as when you +Curlytops played circus with them. But there's enough. Too many, so Aunt +Sallie thinks." + +It was not a very long ride to the station from where word could be sent +that help was needed by the stalled train. The agent promised to +telegraph for snow shovelers at once. + +Uncle Toby was about to drive on again when Janet stopped him by saying: + +"Maybe the station agent could give us a little milk for the pussy." + +"Maybe he could," agreed the old sailor. "I'll ask him." + +As it happened, the agent kept a cat in the station on account of the +mice, and that day he had brought a little milk for his pet--more milk +than Choo-Choo, as he called his cat, wanted. + +"I'll give you some for your pussy," said the agent, after he had +telegraphed for the snow shovelers. + +I wish you could have seen Fluff lap up the milk, which was warmed for +him and put in a saucer on the floor of the automobile. He was +hungry--was the little stray kitten that had come down out of the +evergreen tree--and his little sides seemed to swell out like balloons +as he lapped up every drop of milk. + +"I hope your cat Choo-Choo won't get hungry," said Jan, as the last of +the milk disappeared. + +"I can get him some more," said the agent. "Anyhow, he isn't as hungry +as your pussy was." + +"Good-bye!" called Uncle Toby, as he started off once more. "I hope the +stalled passengers will soon be shoveled out." + +"I guess they will be," the agent said. + +It was almost dark when the big automobile reached the village of Pocono +where Uncle Toby lived. + +"Now we'll soon be snug and warm," he told the children. "I have more of +a load than when I started, but I'm glad I found you two," he said to +Mary and Harry. "You're going to have a good time with my Curlytops." + +Harry and Mary, who had never had much of a good time in all their +lives, were beginning to be happy. They had been very small when their +father went off to war--they hardly remembered him, in fact. Mr. Benton +need not have gone, had he wished to stay at home, for he could have +been excused, or have done some other war work than fighting. But he was +a brave man and wanted to do his best for his country. So he had gone to +France. After awhile he was missing, and though his wife was helped by +her friends and by the government, still she had hard work to get along +and there was not much money with which to give Mary and Harry good +times. But happier days were ahead of them. + +"There's Uncle Toby's house!" cried Ted, as the automobile turned into +the driveway. + +"Oh, but something has happened!" exclaimed Jan. "Look! There's a crowd +out in front!" + +And surely enough, a throng of people could be seen standing in the dusk +and storm in front of Uncle Toby's home. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AMONG THE PETS + + +As the automobile driven by Uncle Toby and containing the Curlytops and +their playmates came to a stop near the side entrance to Mr. Bardeen's +house, the door opened, letting out a stream of light on the white snow. + +"Is that the police?" asked a voice which Ted remembered as that of Mrs. +Watson, or "Aunt Sallie," as Uncle Toby called her. + +"No, this isn't the police," Uncle Toby answered, through the +half-opened door of the car that Ted had unlatched, ready to leap out. + +Aunt Sallie did not seem to know Uncle Toby's voice, for she asked +another question. + +"Is it the firemen then?" + +"Good gracious!" cried Uncle Toby, opening the automobile door wider, so +that a swirl of snow drifted in. "What in the world is the matter? Why +do you want the firemen and policemen, Aunt Sallie?" + +"Oh, thank goodness! It's you, is it, Uncle Toby?" + +"Yes! Yes!" was the quick answer. "You stay in the car a moment, +children," said Mr. Bardeen, as he got out on the side of the steering +wheel. "Something must have happened. I'll see what it is." + +Just then the crowd, which stood partly in the street and partly in the +yard of Uncle Toby's house, but up at the farther end, away from the +driveway, gave a shout. + +"There he goes!" cried several voices. + +"What can have happened?" exclaimed Janet, greatly excited. + +"It's a fire, I guess," said Ted. "Aunt Sallie was asking for the +firemen." + +"And she asked for the policemen, too," said Tom. "Maybe it's a burglar +up on the roof." + +"That's right!" chimed in Harry, the new boy. "And maybe he's trying to +go down the chimney." + +"Like Santa Claus," added his sister Mary, whom Jan and Lola had begun +to like very much. + +"I want to see Santa C'aus!" cried Trouble, and he made a wiggle to get +out of the open door by which Uncle Toby had left. + +"No! No!" cried Ted, catching hold of his little brother. + +"Something has happened, anyhow," decided Tom. "This crowd wouldn't be +here for nothing. But I don't believe it's a fire, for there isn't any +smoke. I guess the reason Aunt Sallie wanted the firemen was because +they have ladders to get somebody down off the roof." + +"Who could be up on the roof?" Jan wanted to know. + +No one answered, but as both front doors of the closed automobile were +now open the children could hear what Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie were +saying. + +"What in the world has happened?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"It's Jack, your monkey," was the answer. "He got loose a little while +ago and scrambled up on the roof. He's perched there now, near the +chimney. First I knew of it was when I saw a lot of boys in front of the +house, looking up. I thought the chimney was on fire." + +"Was that why you wanted the firemen?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"Partly," answered Aunt Sallie. "I telephoned for the fire department, +and when I heard your automobile in the side yard I thought it was the +firemen." + +"But why did you send for the firemen when you found out the chimney +wasn't burning?" Uncle Toby asked. + +"I thought they could get the monkey down with ladders," was the +housekeeper's reply. + +"Then why did you send for the police?" went on Uncle Toby. + +"To keep the crowd in order," sighed Aunt Sallie. "Oh, I've had such a +time! Some of the boys cut up so, and threw snowballs at Jack." + +"My goodness! That's so, it is snowing!" cried Uncle Toby, as if, for +the time, he had forgotten all about it. "Poor Jack will catch his death +of cold up there on the roof in the storm. How did he get out? Never +mind; don't tell me now! I must get him down before he gets pneumonia. +Monkeys are very likely to get that if they get a chill." + +"I don't believe he'll get cold," said Aunt Sallie. "He has a coat on." + +"A coat on? Whose coat?" + +"One of your old ones," answered Aunt Sallie. "He grabbed it up off the +rack as he scrambled out of the window and climbed the rain-water pipe +to the roof. If any one can get him down, you can, Uncle Toby." + +"Yes, I guess I can. Jack always minds me. But it's hard to see him in +the dark." + +"Oh, the electric light in front shines right on the roof," replied Aunt +Sallie. "And as the roof is white with snow, Jack shows quite plain. Do +get him down so the crowd will go away." + +"Are the rest of the pets all right?" asked Mr. Bardeen. + +"Yes," said Aunt Sallie, and the listening children were glad to hear +this. + +"Come on in, Curlytops!" called Uncle Toby from the side porch. "There +isn't anything serious the matter. Jack has just gotten up on the roof, +that's all. It isn't the first time, for he often does it in summer, but +I never knew him to go out in the cold before. I guess he wants to show +that he'd be all right for taking out to Crystal Lake, but I'm not +going to humor him. Come on in Curlytops and the rest of you children!" + +Out of the car scrambled the children, eager to see and hear all that +was going on. They had hardly more than reached the porch than out in +front of Uncle Toby's house sounded a rapidly clanging bell. + +"Oh, here comes firemans! Here comes firemans!" shouted Trouble, jumping +up and down in delight. + +And, surely enough, in the electrically lighted street could be seen the +glittering fire engine and the hook and ladder truck, with prancing +horses which seemed to delight being out in the storm. + +There was a roaring murmur from the crowd, and Uncle Toby looked at Aunt +Sallie and shook his head. + +"You surely have caused some excitement around here," he said, but he +could not help laughing. + +"I go see fire engines!" cried Trouble. "I go!" + +"You'll stay right here with me!" declared Jan, taking a firm hold of +her little brother's arm. + +"No! Don't want to!" shouted Trouble. "Wants go see fire engines! I +'ikes fire engines!" + +He squirmed and struggled so that it seemed as if he would break away +from Janet. Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie had gone around to the front of +the house to meet some of the firemen who were asking where the blaze +was as they did not see any smoke. + +"Be good, Trouble!" begged Lola, trying to help Janet manage the little +fellow, who was tired and cross from the long day's ride. + +"Want to see fire engines!" he insisted, for the engine and truck were +now out of view from the side porch, having drawn up farther along the +street. + +"Oh, maybe the police wagon will come and you can see it from here," +added Mary, trying to do her best to aid in soothing William. + +This seemed to quiet him at once. He was just a little afraid of a +policeman. + +And, surely enough, just then the police patrol wagon, with its clanging +bell, not quite as loud as the fire engine, though, came up and a number +of officers jumped out. There was another roar from the crowd as this +added excitement was provided. Never had there been such an evening in +Pocono, with the big storm getting worse all the while. + +But Uncle Toby took charge of matters. He explained to the police and +the firemen what had happened--that Aunt Sallie had become so excited +she had summoned more help than she had really needed. + +"But is there really a monkey up on the roof?" asked a policeman. + +"Yes, my monkey Jack is up there near the chimney," said Mr. Bardeen. +"You can see him. He's got on one of my coats." + +Without a doubt there was Jack, sitting on the ridge of the roof, one +hairy paw thrust through an arm of the coat, clinging to the bricks of +the chimney. + +"I'd like to get him down," said Uncle Toby, "for he is a valuable +animal, and he may take cold and get pneumonia even if he has on a +coat." + +"Well, we're the boys to get him down," laughed one of the firemen. "But +will he bite?" he asked anxiously. "I don't know much about monkeys, but +I guess they can bite." + +"Jack won't; that is, not after I speak to him," said Uncle Toby. "I'll +call him to come down, and you can go up on a ladder and get him if you +will." + +"Oh, we'll do it all right," said the fireman. He and the police +officers knew and liked Uncle Toby. + +Shortly afterward a ladder was raised to the roof, and a fireman went +up. He had to be careful on the sloping roof, on account of the slippery +snow that covered it. But another ladder, laid on the shingles, gave him +a firm footing. + +Nearer and nearer he crawled to the crouching monkey. The crowd, which +had been laughing and joking, kept quiet now so Uncle Toby could talk to +Jack. + +"Come on down, old fellow! Let the fireman bring you down. And don't +bite him!" called Uncle Toby to his pet. + +Jack seemed to understand. He chattered a little, and then, when the +fireman was near enough, the monkey put his arms around the man's neck +and clung tightly. + +"Now you're all right, old chap!" said the fireman, who was fond of +animals. "I've got you!" + +A little later man and monkey were safe on the ground, while the crowd +cheered. Uncle Toby took Jack from the fireman, and the monkey nestled +in his master's arms, seemingly very glad to be down off the roof and +out of the storm. + +"I must get him some hot milk to drink," said Uncle Toby, as the firemen +and police started back to their quarters. The crowd, seeing that there +was to be no more excitement, melted away out of the storm. + +"Come, Curlytops, get in the house! All of you get in the house out of +the storm!" cried Uncle Toby, for the children had gone around to the +front to watch the rescue of Jack. + +"Yes, yes! Come in!" cried Aunt Sallie. "You'll all get your deaths of +sneezes! Talk about hot milk for a monkey! I guess these children need +it more than Jack does!" + +"We'll all have some hot milk!" declared Uncle Toby. "Here, Aunt Sallie, +you look after the Curlytops and their friends while I put the car away, +and then I'll come back and we'll have a cozy supper," went on Mr. +Bardeen. "I'll put Jack by the fire to thaw him out." + +"I'm hungry!" announced Trouble. + +"Bless your heart! you shall have something to eat as soon as I can get +it on the table," said Aunt Sallie. "That bad old Jack made a lot of +work!" + +She shook a finger at the monkey, who whimpered a little. + +"Oh, don't scold him!" begged Lola. + +"Will he do tricks?" asked Tom. + +"He's done enough tricks for one night," replied Aunt Sallie, as she +bustled about to get supper, while Uncle Toby put the car out of the +storm. + +"Take off your hat, Mary," suggested Jan to the new girl, who stood +about a bit shyly. + +Before the little girl could do this her hat was suddenly snatched from +her head, and a harsh voice cried: + +"Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em all up!" + +"Oh! Oh!" screamed Mary. "What is it?" + +"Don't be afraid!" laughed Ted. "You're just among Uncle Toby's pets!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHERE DID TROUBLE GO? + + +Mary Benton, the little girl whose father had gone to the Big War and +had never been heard of since, was really frightened by the screeching +voice and by feeling her hat snatched off in that strange way. Even what +Ted said about being among Uncle Toby's pets did not seem to make her +feel any better. + +She turned quickly around, and saw her hat that had been snatched off in +the black beak of a big red and green bird which was perched on the back +of a chair. + +"Dat's Mr. Nip!" announced Trouble. He knew the parrot from the previous +summer. + +"Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em all up!" croaked Mr. Nip in his harsh +voice. + +"Well, please don't eat Mary's hat up!" laughed Jan. "She'll want it to +wear when we go to Crystal Lake." + +"Is that parrot going to the Lake with us?" asked Lola. + +"If he does I'll have to be careful of my hat," added Mary, who was +getting over her fright. "It's a new one," she went on, and the other +girls rightly guessed that, being very poor, Mary did not have many +hats. Then and there Lola and Jan made up their minds to be kind to +Mary, whose mother was in the hospital and whose father--well, no one +knew what had happened to him. + +"Here are some more pets!" cried jolly Uncle Toby, as he came in out of +the storm, having put the car in his barn. He was followed by Skyrocket, +who barked and leaped about, shaking snow-flakes all about. In his arms +Uncle Toby carried Fluff, the little kitten that had been rescued from a +"Ch'is'mus tree," as Trouble called the evergreen. + +"Oh, we forgot all about him!" exclaimed Jan, as she took the little +stranger from Uncle Toby. + +"It wouldn't be wonderful if you forgot even your names," laughed Uncle +Toby, "considering all the excitement that was going on when we got +here. But we're all right now, I guess." + +[Illustration: SHE TURNED AND SAW HER HAT IN THE BEAK OF A BIG RED AND +GREEN BIRD. Page 115] + +Skyrocket went over to sniff around Jack, the monkey, with which pet the +Curlytops' dog was well acquainted, so the two soon became friendly. + +"I guess he misses Tip and Top," observed Ted, speaking of the two +valuable trick poodles, which had been sold since the children found +them in the show, after they had been stolen. + +"Well, there are plenty of other animals," said Aunt Sallie, as she +finished setting the table and called to the children to take their +places. + +Such a jolly time as followed! The Curlytops and their playmates, the +new as well as the old ones, were all hungry from their ride through the +cold. Even Trouble forgot about being sleepy while he ate, and if Mary +and Harry remembered about their mother in the hospital that thought did +not chase away the smiles from their faces. + +At times, on the trip, Ted and Jan had given some thought to matters at +home, and had wondered if Daddy Martin would lose so much money as to +make the family poor. But now Ted and his sister were having a good time +with the others. + +Jack, the monkey, seemed to have gotten over the slight shivering +caused by foolishly going up on the roof in the storm, and he and +Skyrocket ate their meal behind the warm stove on one side, while Snuff, +Uncle Toby's big cat, and Fluff, the new kitten, lapped warm milk from +the same saucer on the other side of the stove. + +As for Mr. Nip, the parrot, he seemed satisfied after he had pulled off +Mary's hat, and he was now asleep with his head under his wing, perched +on his stand in one corner. + +"How did Jack get out, Aunt Sallie?" asked Uncle Toby, as knives and +forks began to slow up a little in the supper race, the children +becoming less hungry the more they ate. + +"I had left a window open, and he seemed to know it," was the answer. "I +never knew it to fail that if I left a window open so much as a crack +but what he'd find it. He's the smartest monkey I ever saw! But he's a +rascal just the same!" + +"Well, you'll have a little rest from all the pets, except maybe +Skyrocket," said Uncle Toby. "We'll take him with us out to Crystal +Lake, but the other pets we'll leave here." + +Uncle Toby's house was a large one and had plenty of beds in it for the +children. It was warm and cozy, and Aunt Sallie had seen to it that +everything should be comfortable for the Curlytops and their playmates. + +"I thought you two were coming by train," she said to Mary and Harry, +when supper was over and the plans for the night began to be talked +about. + +"They were on the train. But I took them off when it became stuck in the +snow," explained Uncle Toby. "I hope they have dug the engine out by +this time. If they haven't it may have to stay there a long time, for +this storm is getting worse." + +The children thought so too, as they listened to the wind howling around +the corners of the house and down the chimney, while the hard flakes of +snow beat against the windows. + +But they were snug and warm in Uncle Toby's house, and Jan and her +brother, with Lola and Tom, were so jolly, suggesting so many games to +play and talking about the good times to come at Crystal Lake, that +though Mary and Harry had begun to feel homesick this soon wore off, and +the strange playmates laughed with their new friends. + +Trouble was to sleep in a big bed with Jan in a room next to Aunt +Sallie. And in the same room with Jan and her little brother, Mary and +Lola would sleep, but in separate beds. + +The three older boys had a room to themselves, each with a single bed, +so they would not disturb one another. + +"And mind!" cried Uncle Toby, when the time came to "turn in," as a +soldier or a sailor might say. "Mind! No pillow fights!" + +"Oh, no!" cried Tom and Ted, winking at each other. + +And I think Uncle Toby must have known that they would have a little fun +in this way. For he did not come up to stop them when they began tossing +about at each other the soft, fluffy pillows. At this game there was a +jolly good time for half an hour. + +But even boys can get tired sometimes, and these boys had had a long +automobile ride that day. So they finally gave up tossing the pillows +about and settled down snugly in their beds. The girls and Trouble had +gone to sleep long before this. + +"Well, you certainly have quite a houseful, Uncle Toby," said Aunt +Sallie that night, when locking-up time came, "with seven children, to +say nothing of the animals." + +"Oh, I like 'em all!" exclaimed the old sailor, with a laugh. "And I +just had to take the Curlytops. There was no place for them to go when +their father and mother had to start off on that trip. As for Tom and +Lola, I wanted the Curlytops to have some playmates over the holidays. +And about Mary and Harry--well, I couldn't leave them in the big city +all alone, with their mother in the hospital." + +"No, I suppose not. Poor children! Poor Mother! I hope she gets better!" + +"I hope so, too," said Uncle Toby. "And I hope the Curlytops' father +doesn't lose his money." + +Janet was awakened early the next morning by feeling something cold on +her face. She was dreaming that Jack, the monkey, was still up on the +roof, but that he had a long tail which reached all the way to the +ground. And she dreamed that Jack was dipping his tail in ice water and +tickling her on the cheek. + +Something almost like this was happening as Janet opened her eyes, for +she saw Trouble bending over her with a lump of snow in his fist, +rubbing the cold stuff on her nose. + +"Oh, Trouble! Stop it!" cried Janet, rolling over in bed and giving her +brother a little push. He dropped some of the cold snow down her neck. +"Oh!" screamed Jan. "You're freezing me!" + +"You shouldn't have jiggled me!" complained Trouble, whose grasp on the +snowball had been loosened as his sister moved. "I wanted you open your +eyes," he added. + +"I guess you made her open them all right," laughed Lola from her bed, +next to Janet's. + +The talking aroused Mary, who sat up, rubbing her eyes. + +"Oh, where am I?" she exclaimed. "I--Oh, I remember!" she said. "I was +dreaming I was back home!" + +"And I was dreaming Jack was slapping me with his tail wet in ice +water," laughed Janet. "Then I wake up and find Trouble with a snowball. +Where did you get it?" she asked, tossing the half-melted lump into the +water basin near by. + +"It blowed in the window," Trouble explained, pointing to more of the +white flakes on the sill. They had drifted in around a crack. + +"You mustn't get out of bed and run around in your bare feet," said +Janet. "I wonder what sort of a day it is?" She slipped on her little +robe and slippers and went to the window, meanwhile covering Trouble +warmly in bed. "It's stopped snowing," she said, "and the sun is out. We +can make snowmen, big snowballs, and everything." + +"Oh, what fun it will be!" cried Lola. + +"Snow in the country is much nicer than in the city where I live," said +Mary. "It seems to stay clean longer out here." + +Meanwhile Ted, Tom, and Harry had also discovered that there was a +chance for plenty of fun out of doors. They were soon up and getting +dressed, and when Aunt Sallie had seen that Trouble was washed and +dressed all the children went down to breakfast. + +"Where are all the pets?" asked Mary, seeing only Mr. Nip perched on his +stand, cracking seeds in his strong beak. + +"They're having their breakfasts out in their room," said Aunt Sallie, +for a special room had been provided for the animals. + +A little later the Curlytops and their playmates were having fun in the +snow outside, Skyrocket romping around with them. There were sleds at +Uncle Toby's house, and not far from it a little hill, and on this the +children were soon coasting. + +"It's more fun than our toboggan," cried Ted. + +"Yes, it is. But the snow isn't going to last long," observed Tom. "It's +too warm." + +"It's melting now," added Harry. + +Indeed the warm sun would soon make short work of this first snow, which +had come much earlier than usual. The children made up their minds to +have as much fun as they could while it lasted. + +So they coasted, they made snowmen, rolled big snowballs and the boys +even started to build a snow fort, for the white flakes were wet enough +to pack well and stay in place once they were piled up. + +Trouble played with the others, sometimes getting in the way and +toppling down, to pick himself up again and fall down once more. + +"I havin' 'ots of fun!" he laughed. + +In fact all the children were--so much so that they hardly wanted to +come in to lunch. But playing out in the air made them hungry, and soon +they were eagerly eating. + +"How soon are we going to Crystal Lake?" asked Ted of Uncle Toby, as the +Curlytops and the others prepared to rush out in the snow once more. + +"Oh, we'll go in a few days," was the answer. "Might as well wait for +this snow to melt, as it's bound to if this weather keeps up. It will be +easier going for the auto then, as the roads to the Lake are rather +rough." + +"Well, we're having fun here," chuckled Ted, as he ran out to join his +playmates. + +"Let's make a big fort!" proposed Tom, for they had made a little one, +and trampled it down in having a "battle." + +"All right," agreed the other boys. + +"I he'p!" offered Trouble. + +"No you'll only be in the way," Ted replied. "You go over and help +sister make a snowman," he added, for this is what Jan and the other two +girls were trying to do. + +This was a bit selfish on Ted's part, for he must have known that +Trouble would annoy his sister as much as the little fellow would be in +the way of himself and his chums. But brothers are this way sometimes, I +suppose. + +Anyhow, Trouble toddled off to see if he could not play with Jan, Lola, +and Mary. He saw them shaping the snowman. + +"I he'p!" he offered, trying to put a little ball on the snowman's coat +to serve as a "button." + +"Oh, Trouble! Don't!" begged Jan. "Go over and play with the boys! +You'll spoil our snowman!" + +"Ted telled me come here!" announced William. + +Poor Trouble! No one seemed to want him! + +"Oh, let him stay," begged Mary, "I'll watch him." + +"All right," sighed Jan. She was trying to make the snowman's face, and +it was not easy work. + +Just how it happened no one seemed to know but the boys forgot all about +Trouble in the excitement of making their fort. And though Mary had +promised to keep watch over the little fellow she forgot when she went +to the shed to get two pieces of coal to make eyes for the snowman. + +It was not until after the snowman was finished and Ted had shouted what +fun it would be if they could put him in the fort that Trouble was +missed. + +"Where is he?" asked Janet, looking around the yard. + +"He was here a little while ago," said Lola. + +"I saw him too," added Tom. + +But now Trouble was not in sight. + +"Maybe he went into the house to get something to eat," suggested Mary. + +Jan ran to the door and asked Aunt Sallie. + +"Why, no," she answered. "Trouble didn't come in here!" + +"Oh, where can Trouble be?" half sobbed Janet. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +OFF TO CRYSTAL LAKE + + +This was not the first time Trouble Martin had been lost or missing. It +happened more or less often at home in Cresco, and once when the +Curlytops had come to Uncle Toby's. But he had never before been lost +after a big snow storm--that is, as far as Janet or Teddy could +remember. What Janet was afraid of was that her little brother might +wander off and fall into some drift. For the snow was deep in places not +very far from Uncle Toby's house. + +"Oh, we'll find him!" declared Ted. "He can't be far off. We didn't want +him playing around our fort for fear he'd spoil it." + +"And I sent him away from our snowman on the same account," sighed +Janet. "I wish I had kept him by me." + +Aunt Sallie came out of the house, her apron thrown over her head. + +"Did you find Trouble?" she asked. + +"No'm," chorused the children. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed the old lady. "You must call Uncle Toby and tell +him. He's out in the barn working over the auto, getting ready for the +trip to Crystal Lake. Go tell him Trouble is missing." + +Janet and the others thought this would be the best thing to do, and +Uncle Toby soon heard the latest happening regarding the Curlytops. + +"If Trouble isn't in the house nor around where you are playing, he must +have wandered off down the street," said Uncle Toby. "The walks have +been pretty well cleaned off by this time. The snowplow has been along." +For in Pocono the street cleaning department sent out a big snowplow, +drawn by horses, after every big storm, and thus the sidewalks were made +easy to walk on without waiting for each householder to clean his own +space. + +"But where would he go?" asked Janet, hardly able to keep back her +tears. + +"That's what we must find out," said Uncle Toby. "Don't worry. We'll +find him. I'll ask the police if they've seen him. A little chap like +Trouble would be sure to be noticed." + +"Unless maybe he fell in a snowdrift," suggested Janet. + +"If he fell in he'd shout and cry until some of us came to help him +out," said Uncle Toby. "Now we'll start a searching party. I'll go with +you girls up the street, and the three boys can go down the street. Ask +every one you meet if they have seen Trouble." + +"Only," suggested Jan, "we'd better give him his right name of William." + +"That's so!" laughed Uncle Toby. "If we go along asking every one we +meet if they have seen Trouble, they'll think we are trying to make fun +of them. Yes, we must ask for news of a little boy named William." + +So they started out, Ted, Tom and Harry going one way, and Uncle Toby +and the three girls the other way. Aunt Sallie remained behind in the +house, but she was very anxious, and she said she would call up police +headquarters, asking that each officer be told to be on the lookout. + +At first the question asked by the searchers had no effect. No one +seemed to have noticed Trouble toddling along the streets, which, as +Uncle Toby had said, were now quite free from snow, which was piled +high on either side. + +"Maybe he wandered off toward the woods," suggested Lola, for there was +a clump of trees, called "woods" not far from Uncle Toby's house. + +"I don't believe so," was Mr. Bardeen's answer. "I think he wouldn't go +there alone. But here comes Policeman McCarthy. I'll ask him." + +And, to the delight of the girls, Policeman McCarthy said he had seen a +little boy going along the street a few minutes before. + +"I don't know what his name was," the officer said. "But he was dressed +just as you say. He seemed to know where he was going, so I didn't stop +him, though he was pretty little to be out alone." + +"Where did he go?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"Right down that way," answered the policeman, pointing. "He was +standing in front of that barber shop the last I saw him." + +"Oh, now I know where he's gone!" suddenly cried Janet. + +"Where?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"In the barber shop," answered the little girl. "Trouble was in the +bathroom this morning, Uncle Toby, getting washed," Janet explained. +"He found some of your shaving soap, and he liked the smell of it. He +was rubbing it on his face when I stopped him. He asked me where you got +your soap and I told him in a barber shop, I thought. Then he wanted to +know what a barber shop was like, and I told him it was a place that had +a red, white, and blue pole in front of it. So that's where he's +gone--to the barber shop to get some of that nice smelling soap." + +"I shouldn't wonder," agreed Uncle Toby. "I hope the barber kept him +there, if he went in." + +They hurried to the shop in front of which was a gay red, white, and +blue pole, and there they found Trouble. But they found him more than +just inquiring for scented soap, for he was up in the chair, kept +specially for children. + +In front of Trouble, draped around his neck, was a white apron, and the +barber, with comb and scissors, was just about to cut the little +fellow's long hair. + +"Trouble! What are you doing?" cried Uncle Toby, his voice causing the +barber to turn around in surprise. + +"I goin' get hair cut!" announced the little fellow. + +"Oh, no! You mustn't!" exclaimed Jan. + +"I wants hair cut an' nice smelly stuff on my face," announced the +little fellow, holding tightly to the arms of the barber's chair, lest +he be made to come out. + +"No, no!" said Janet. "Not now, Trouble!" + +"Didn't some of you send him to have his hair trimmed?" asked the +barber, in some surprise. + +"No, indeed!" laughed Uncle Toby, who knew the barber quite well. "He +ran off by himself. I'm glad we reached here in time to stop you. He's a +little tyke; that's what he is!" + +"Well, he came in here as bold as you please," said Mr. Miller, the +barber. "He climbed up in the chair himself, and though he didn't tell +me so exactly, I thought he wanted a hair cut, as it's pretty long. He +did say he wanted some nice perfume on him, but all the children say +that when they come in here. And I've often had them as young as he is +come in here alone. But of course their fathers or mothers sent 'em. And +you didn't send this little chap?" he asked, as he helped Trouble down +out of the chair, much to William's disgust. + +"No, we didn't send him," chuckled Uncle Toby. "He just took the notion +himself. Tried some of my shaving soap this morning, so his sister says. +Well, I am glad he's found. We'd better take him back so the boys will +know we've come to the end of the search. You mustn't do anything like +this again, Trouble," said Uncle Toby, a bit sternly, shaking his finger +at William. + +"Nope!" he readily promised. "Maybe I have some nice smelly stuff take +home?" he added hopefully. + +"Here you are!" laughed the barber, and he gave Trouble a little cake of +scented soap. + +"You gave us a big scare," said Janet, when they were on their way back +to Uncle Toby's house. + +"You make big snowman?" asked Trouble, and that's about all he seemed to +care. Janet wanted to laugh, but she did not think it wise. + +They met the boys coming back, Ted and the other two being anxious, as +of course they had heard no word about the missing wanderer. But they +saw William in Uncle Toby's arms, and knew everything was now all +right. + +"I'll keep my eye on you after this," said Janet when the children were +once more playing in the snow around Uncle Toby's house. + +But it was one thing to say she would keep watch over a little chap like +Trouble, and another thing actually to do it. And William made more +trouble before the day was over. + +Evening came, when it was time to stop playing out of doors and come +into the house. And it was after supper when the children were sitting +in the living room, listening to Uncle Toby tell a story, that Aunt +Sallie came running in from the kitchen. + +"Oh, Uncle Toby!" she cried. "There's a leak in one of the pipes. +There's a big puddle of water in the middle of the kitchen floor. It was +dry when I went up to see if the beds were ready, and when I came down, +just now, I found a lot of water there." + +"A broken pipe? That's too bad!" exclaimed Uncle Toby. "I may be able to +fix it myself; but if I can't, we'll have hard work getting a plumber +this time of night. I can shut off the water in the cellar, though, I +suppose. However, I'll take a look." + +The children followed Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie out to the kitchen. +Surely enough there was a large puddle of water in the middle of the +oilcloth. Uncle Toby looked up and around, and said: + +"I can't see what pipe has burst. If it was one in the kitchen the water +would be spurting out now. It seems to come from under the sink." + +By this time Trouble was toddling across the room toward the sink, under +which was a sort of cupboard with two swinging doors. The little fellow +was trying to open one of these doors. + +"Here, Trouble! Let Uncle Toby look!" said Ted. + +"I wants get my snowball," announced William. + +"Your snowball!" cried Jan. + +"Yep! I put big snowball there when I comed in. Wants to get it now," +and William tugged at the sink door. + +"Ha! Maybe that's where the water came from!" cried Uncle Toby. + +And it was. As the sink cupboard was opened more water was seen, and in +the midst of the puddle there floated what was left of a large ball of +snow. Trouble had brought it in, put it under the sink when no one was +looking, and there the warmth of the kitchen stove had slowly melted it, +causing the water to run out under the doors. + +"What in the world made you put a snowball in there, Trouble?" asked +Ted, as Aunt Sallie mopped up the water. + +"Maybe I wants make snowman in night," was Trouble's answer. + +That may have been his reason--no one could tell. At any rate, no great +harm was done, as the snow water was clean and the oilcloth was soon +wiped dry. + +"I guess you'd better go to bed before you get into any more mischief," +said Janet. + +And soon the Curlytops and their playmates were all sound asleep. + +The next day it rained, and as the weather turned warm the snow was soon +nearly all melted or washed away. + +"So much the better for making the trip to Crystal Lake," said Uncle +Toby. "I don't care what it does after we get there, but I like good +going though the woods." + +"Oh, what fun we'll have at Crystal Lake!" cried the Curlytops and their +playmates. + +They started three days later, in the big automobile. Uncle Toby, Aunt +Sallie, the children, and Skyrocket. Uncle Toby hired a colored man and +his wife to come and live in his house and look after the pets, +including the new kitten, Fluff, while he was at camp for the holidays. + +"Hurray! Here we go!" cried Ted and the others, as Uncle Toby started +the automobile. + +As they were turning out of the drive a boy came riding up the street on +a bicycle, waving a yellow envelope in his hand. + +"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" he shouted. "Here's a telegram!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LONELY CABIN + + +Uncle Toby brought the automobile to a stop and looked at the boy. + +"A telegram?" repeated Uncle Toby. "For whom is it?" + +"You," answered the boy, and Ted and Jan wondered if it could be about +their father and mother. Suppose one of them were ill, or suppose Daddy +Martin had lost all his money, and Ted and Jan had to go back home? It +doesn't take much to worry children, just as it doesn't take much to +make them happy. + +Tom and Lola, too, knew that telegrams often bring bad news, and as +Uncle Toby was opening the yellow envelope which the boy handed him, +these two playmates of the Curlytops thought perhaps something had +happened at their home. + +And, in turn, Harry and Mary began to fear that the message might be bad +news about their mother in the hospital. A few tears began to form in +Mary's eyes, but they soon dried away when Uncle Toby, after reading the +message, gave a hearty laugh. + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" chuckled Uncle Toby. "This is funny! The idea of sending +me a message like this!" + +"What is it?" asked Ted, while the messenger boy waited to see if Uncle +Toby wanted to send an answer to the telegram. + +"Oh, it's from an old friend of mine, Hezekiah Armstrong. He says he has +a chance to buy an elephant cheap, and he telegraphs to ask me if I +don't want it." + +"Want an elephant!" repeated Jan. + +"Yes, for a pet, I suppose. It may be one of his jokes, or he may mean +it, but I certainly don't want an elephant, in winter time especially." + +"Would you want one in summer?" asked Tom, with a laugh. + +"Well, an elephant is easier to take care of in summer than in winter," +answered Mr. Bardeen. "In warm weather I could turn the elephant out in +the meadow and let him eat grass. But in winter I'd have to keep him in +a barn and let him eat hay, and they eat a big lot of hay--enough to +keep me poor, I guess. So I'll just telegraph back to Hezekiah that I +don't want an elephant. We couldn't take it to Crystal Lake, anyhow. +Here you are, son!" he called pleasantly to the boy. "You take back this +message for me." + +Uncle Toby wrote it on a blank of which the boy had a number in his +pocket. As Mr. Bardeen paid the lad and was about to start the +automobile again, the boy asked: + +"Where you going?" He was acquainted with Mr. Bardeen. + +"Out to Crystal Lake," answered Uncle Toby, and the children in the +automobile wondered if the messenger lad did not wish he were going. + +"Crystal Lake!" exclaimed the boy. "Are you going out there to catch the +burglar?" + +"Catch the burglar? What burglar?" asked Uncle Toby. "This is the first +I've heard a burglar was out there. What do you mean?" + +"It was in the paper this morning," the boy went on. "It said some of +the cabins and camps out at the Lake had been broken into and robbed. +They haven't any police out there, so it said the police from Pocono +had been asked to see if they could catch the burglar. I thought maybe +that's why you were going out." + +"Oh, no!" replied Uncle Toby. "I'm not a policeman. And though I +wouldn't want a burglar to get into my cabin, he wouldn't find very much +to take if he did get in. I guess, most likely, it's some tramp that has +broken into some of the cabins. We'll not worry about that, shall we, +Curlytops?" chuckled Uncle Toby. "If we find any burglars out there +we'll make Skyrocket bite 'em--sha'n't we, Trouble?" and he playfully +pinched William's cheek. + +"We make elephant run after 'em!" laughed Trouble. + +"That's right!" said Uncle Toby. + +Once more they started off in the big comfortable car that so well kept +out the cold. Most of the snow from the recent storm was gone, though +Uncle Toby said there would probably be some left in the woods around +Crystal Lake, where it did not melt as fast as in Pocono. + +"I'm glad that telegram wasn't bad news from home," said Ted. "It isn't +any good to get bad news just when you start to have fun." + +"That's right," agreed Tom. "My father wasn't feeling very well when we +started, and I thought maybe the message was to say he was worse." + +"Mary and I haven't any father to get messages from," said Harry, rather +sadly. "We hardly remember him, for we were little when he went away to +the war." + +"And he never came back?" asked Jan softly. + +"No, he never came back," repeated Mary, trying to keep the tears from +her eyes. + +Uncle Toby saw that the children might be made sad by this sort of talk, +so, as they were passing a meat market on the edge of town, he stopped +the car and began to get out. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Aunt Sallie. "I have everything we +need for getting supper out at the Lake, and we have our lunch with us." + +"It isn't for us," said Uncle Toby. "It's for Skyrocket. I want to get +him a nice bone to gnaw. It will keep him quiet on the ride," he +explained. "I'm going to get a fine, juicy bone for Skyrocket." + +This took the children's mind off what might have been a sad subject to +think about--the ill mother and missing father of Harry and Mary. And +when Uncle Toby made Skyrocket sit up in the automobile and "beg" for +the bone, the dog did it in such a funny way that the children all +laughed. + +"Now they'll be all right," said Uncle Toby to himself, as he again sent +the big car forward. + +Soon they were out in the country. The weather was pleasant after the +storm, though it was cold, and would soon be more frosty, for winter was +at hand, and the children had already begun to think of Christmas. + +As Aunt Sallie had said, there had been placed in the automobile a +number of boxes of lunch to be eaten on the way, as it would be night, +or very near it, before the cabin in the woods could be reached. Uncle +Toby had written to a lumberman to build a fire in it so the place would +be warm for the children. It was a large roomy cabin, with many comforts +and conveniences. Having the lunch in the automobile, the next thing to +think about was the time to eat it. + +Possibly the boys thought more about this than the girls; at any rate +that must have been the reason why Tom and Ted so often asked Uncle Toby +what time it was, for the clock on the instrument board of the +automobile was not going. + +"Well, it will soon be eating time, if that's what you want to know," +answered Uncle Toby, with a laugh, after this same question had been +asked many times. He seemed to be always laughing. + +"In fact we may as well get the lunch out now, I guess, Aunt Sallie," he +went on. "We had an early breakfast and--" + +He suddenly stopped talking, for there was a loud hissing sound from +beneath the automobile, as if a big snake had had its tail run over. + +"Puncture!" cried Tom and Ted, for they knew enough about cars to tell +this. + +"Well, I'm glad it isn't a blow-out!" Uncle Toby exclaimed. Had there +been a blow-out the noise would have been much louder, like the bang of +a gun. "As long as it's only a puncture we can easily mend it, and I'll +do that while the rest of you eat." + +"Oh, let me help!" begged Ted. "I often help daddy when he has tire +trouble." + +"I want to help, too," cried Tom. + +"So do I," added Harry. "We never had an auto," he went on, "so I don't +know anything about them. But I'll do what I can." + +"Well, you boys can hand me the tools," said Uncle Toby, "and I'll do +the hard work. This is a heavy car and I don't want you getting into any +danger around it. You can be getting out the lunch, Aunt Sallie. We'll +be ready to eat after we finish putting in a new rubber tube." + +"We'll help," offered Jan and the other two girls, while Trouble cried: + +"I want to see punchure! Want to see punchure!" + +"No, you stay in here," said his sister, for she knew he would only get +in the way if allowed to run about. "I'll let you open some of the +boxes." + +This satisfied Trouble, who was now content to stay in the big car. +Skyrocket, though, went out with the boys and nosed about in the woods +near which the stop had been made. + +It did not take Uncle Toby long to jack up the car, take off the tire, +put in a new tube, and be ready to start again. But before doing that +they halted a bit longer to eat lunch. Hot chocolate had been brought +along in thermos bottles, and Uncle Toby thought the chocolate would +spill on the children if they tried to drink it while the automobile was +moving. + +"There! I feel better!" exclaimed Ted, after the lunch. + +"So do I!" cried Tom and Harry. + +Once more they were on their way, journeying now along some country +road, and again through some lonely stretch of wood. They were almost at +Crystal Lake, and in another quarter of an hour would be at Uncle Toby's +cabin, when Mr. Bardeen began sniffing the air. + +"The engine's getting too hot," he said, and then, as he noticed some +steam coming out of the radiator cap he added: "Water's getting low. +I'll have to stop and get some." + +"Where can you get any water around here?" asked Ted. + +"I'll try at that cabin," answered Uncle Toby, pointing to a lonely one +a short distance ahead on the road. "I guess it will be safe to run the +car that much farther." + +"Who lives there?" asked Ted, as the automobile went along more slowly, +for Uncle Toby did not want to overheat it. + +"Nobody lives there now," was the reply. "It's deserted. But there's a +well near it, and it's such a deep one I don't believe it will be +frozen. I can get some water from the well." + +Uncle Toby stopped the car in front of the lonely cabin. He got out a +folding canvas pail from the tool-box, and was going toward the cabin +when Ted exclaimed: + +"I thought you said nobody lived here, Uncle Toby!" + +"So I did," was the answer. "No one has lived here for several years." + +"Well, look at him!" cried the boy, and he pointed to a man running away +over the field from the back door of the lonely cottage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AT CRYSTAL LAKE + + +Uncle Toby was much surprised at what Ted called to his attention. +Turning around, as he was going toward the well, Uncle Toby looked to +where the Curlytop boy pointed. He saw the form of a man vanishing from +sight over the top of a little hill just behind the lonely cabin. + +"Hello there!" cried Uncle Toby, in such loud tones that Skyrocket began +to bark fiercely. "Hello there! Who are you? What are you doing?" + +The man did not stop, turn around, nor answer. Instead he ran into a +little clump of trees and was soon lost to sight. With another loud bark +Skyrocket took after him. + +"Oh, don't let our dog go!" cried Jan. "Make him come back, Uncle Toby. +That man might hurt him." + +"Just what I think," said Uncle Toby. "Here, Sky!" he called, for +sometimes the Curlytops' dog was given that short name. "Here, Sky! Come +back. Come back!" + +Skyrocket didn't want to. He dearly loved a chase, and this man seemed +willing to run. That the man was out of sight made no difference to the +dog. Skyrocket loved a game of hide and go seek, and perhaps he thought +that was what the stranger was playing. + +"Come back here, Sky!" called Uncle Toby. + +"Here, Skyrocket! Here!" shouted Ted. + +Janet added her voice to that of her brother and Trouble chimed in. +Perhaps all these had an effect on the dog, or he might have thought +that Uncle Toby would punish him if he did not mind. At any rate, after +a few more barks and some growls, looking meanwhile toward the clump of +trees into which the man had disappeared, the dog came back, wagging his +tail and seeming a bit disappointed. + +"Who was that man, Uncle Toby?" asked Janet. + +"I don't know," was the answer. "No one has lived in that cabin for +years. I guess he is some tramp who didn't have any other place to +stay." + +"He didn't look like a tramp," observed Tom. + +"No, his clothes weren't ragged," added Ted. + +"That's so," agreed Uncle Toby. "From the little look I had of him he +wasn't very ragged. But then maybe he hasn't been a tramp very long, and +it takes quite a while to make one's clothes ragged." + +"It doesn't take Trouble long!" laughed Jan. "He can go out with a good +new suit on and come back in half an hour with it all full of cuts and +holes." + +"Oh, well, Trouble is different," said Uncle Toby, with a chuckle. + +Uncle Toby stood for a few moments looking toward the woods into which +the strange man had run, and then, going to the well, filled the pail +with water and put some in the radiator of the automobile. After that +Uncle Toby went around to the back of the old cabin. + +"Are you going to see if anybody else is there?" asked Jan, while Lola +and Mary waited with curiosity for an answer. + +"Let me come and help look!" cried Ted. + +"So will I!" added Tom. + +"If you fellows are going I might as well go, too," said Harry. + +"No, you children stay where you are," called Uncle Toby. "I'm just +going to take a look around, and then we'll go on to Crystal Lake. Stay +where you are!" + +Ted, Janet, and the others remained in the automobile, waiting for Uncle +Toby to come back. Aunt Sallie was almost ready to doze off in a little +sleep when Mr. Bardeen was seen coming around the corner of the cabin. +No one was with him, and there was no further sight of the man. + +"Was anybody else in there?" asked Ted. + +"No one," replied Uncle Toby. "The cabin was empty as far as I could +see. I guess the man just stopped in there for shelter, and when he saw +us he thought we owned the place and ran out." + +"Who does own it?" asked Tom. + +"It belongs to a lumberman named Newt Baker," answered Uncle Toby. "He +used to stay here in the summer, and sometimes part of the winter. But +he went away and since then no one has lived here--except that tramp," +he added with a laugh. "Poor man," he went on, "I hope he finds some +place to stay this winter. It looks as if it might be a hard one from +the early snow we had." + +Once more they started off; and a little later, nothing more having +happened, they arrived safely at Crystal Lake. + +"Oh, what a fine place!" cried Tom Taylor, as he saw the big body of +water, on the shore of which was perched Uncle Toby's cottage. The lake +was not frozen, except with a "skim" of ice here and there in little +coves. + +"It would be lovely in summer for picnics," said Lola. Neither she nor +her brother had been to Crystal Lake before, but the Curlytops had +visited it once or twice with Uncle Toby, though they had almost +forgotten. + +"Well, here we are, children!" called Uncle Toby, as he stopped the +automobile near his "shack" as he often called it. "Now if you'll see +that they get safely inside, Aunt Sallie, I'll soon be with you and +we'll look after supper and get the beds ready." + +"I not goin' to bed now!" cried Trouble. "I not goin' to bed now! I +goin' to stay up an' see--an' see--Santa C'aus!" he burst out, after a +moment of thought. + +"Oh, you little tyke!" laughed Lola, catching him up in her arms. "Santa +Claus won't be here for over a month." + +"And you don't have to go to bed right away," added Janet. + +Out of the auto piled the boys and girls, Skyrocket scrambling ahead of +them to smell around and find out what sort of place this was that he +had been brought to. + +As Aunt Sallie, the Curlytops and their playmates went toward the front +door of the cabin, the door was opened and a smiling man looked out. + +"Hello, folks!" he called. "I've got it good and warm for you, though it +isn't as cold as it was." He was the man Uncle Toby had engaged to start +the fires and to have everything in readiness for the coming of the +Curlytops. + +"Well, we're glad to get here, Jim Nelson," said Aunt Sallie, for she +knew the man. + +Uncle Toby put the car in the barn and came in with some of the boxes +and bundles that had been piled in the automobile--bundles of clothes +and things for the children. + +"Well, you got here all right, I see," remarked Jim Nelson. "Have any +trouble on the way?" + +"Not to amount to anything," answered Uncle Toby. "Funny thing, though, +down at Newt Baker's cabin. I stopped there to get some water from his +deep well. And as I got near the cabin a man ran out and down the hill." + +"A man!" exclaimed Mr. Nelson, while the children listened to the talk. +"I didn't know anybody was living there." + +"There isn't--that is, not living there regularly," said Uncle Toby. +"But a man ran out. I took him for a tramp at first, only he wasn't +ragged. But after he ran away I went and looked in." + +"What did you see?" asked Mr. Nelson, and this the Curlytops and others +wished to hear about. + +"Well, it looked as if he'd been living there and doing his cooking for +some time," went on Uncle Toby. "There were a lot of tin cans and odds +and ends of loaves of bread, cracker crumbs, and the like on the table +in the kitchen. Looked to me as if this man had been camping out in Newt +Baker's shack." + +"Very likely," said Mr. Nelson. "I don't like such characters hanging +around Crystal Lake. We'll have to keep watch for him. If there are +tramps around they may take things. As a matter of fact, food and little +comforts of small value have been taken from some of the cottages and +camps. Fred Tuller's son Tom wrote to the Pocono paper and made a whale +of a story out of it. But from what you say the matter may be of more +importance than we thought. At any rate, we'd better look into it." + +"We'll keep a lookout, then," said Uncle Toby. "And I'll take another +run down to the cabin some day, after I get the Curlytops settled here +having fun," and he laughed at the boys and girls so they would not be +afraid of the talk of tramps and men who might take things. + +Mr. Nelson left a little after this, promising to come over the next day +to see how they were. + +Then came busy times in Uncle Toby's cabin at Crystal Lake. Aunt Sallie +and the three girls got ready the supper, while the boys opened boxes +and bundles. Skyrocket ran about here and there, poking his nose into +everything, and Trouble was almost as bad, for he, too, wanted to see +everything that was going on. + +At last, however, things began to get "straightened out," as the +Curlytops' mother would have said, and they sat down to a fine supper. +Every one had a good appetite, even Skyrocket, who had gnawed clean the +bone Uncle Toby got him at the butcher shop. + +"Let's play hide and go seek before we go to bed," proposed Jan, as they +sat about the open fireplace in the big living room after supper. + +"Will it be all right?" asked Mary. + +"Will what be all right?" Jan wanted to know. + +"I mean won't your uncle be mad if we play in his house?" went on Mary. + +"Oh, dear no!" laughed Jan. "That's what he brought us up here for; +didn't you, Uncle Toby?" + +"Didn't I what, Jan?" he asked, for he had been talking to Aunt Sallie +about the beds. + +"Didn't you bring us up here so we could have a good time?" + +"Of course I did!" exclaimed Mr. Bardeen. "What do you want to do now?" + +"Play hide and go seek. May we?" + +"Yes, go ahead. Run about as much as you please, but don't get hurt. +There isn't any fancy furniture here to break." + +This was true, for everything in the cabin at Crystal Lake was heavy and +strongly made to stand rough handling. So the children could do no harm +racing about the cabin. + +Soon a merry game was in progress, even Trouble taking part, though he +could hardly be said to play it right. His idea was to hide and keep on +yelling for some one to come and find him, his voice easily telling +where he was. The only thing to be done in his case was to pretend not +to know where he was, even if one saw him. This always made Trouble +scream with delight, and he would say, over and over again: + +"You couldn't find me, could you?" + +And of course they always said they couldn't, though they could if they +had wished. + +So the game went on, Trouble taking his part in it. Finally came the +turn of Mary to "blind," and as she covered her face and began to count +slowly, the others tiptoed into the different rooms to hide. The cabin +was built on the bungalow style, with a number of rooms on the first +floor, and there were many fine hiding places. + +Janet went into a room at the far end of the cabin, a room that no one, +so far during the evening, had entered. It was where Uncle Toby was +going to sleep. + +"No one will find me here," thought Janet, as she crouched down behind a +chair near one of the windows. She looked through the glass, and dimly +saw the dark forest all around the cabin. "No one will think of coming +here," said Janet to herself. + +She cuddled herself into as small a nook as possible down behind the +chair, in a place where she could look out through the other rooms and +could see the lamplight and firelight in the big living apartment. + +It was in this living apartment that Mary was counting with her eyes +shut and soon she would call: "Ready or not I'm coming!" Then she would +walk around and try to find the hiding ones. + +"But she won't find me," thought Janet, "and I can get in home free." + +From the distance Janet heard Mary say she was coming, and then suddenly +the little girl was startled by a tapping on the window just back of +the chair behind which she was hiding. + +At first Janet thought it was the brushing of some tree branch against +the glass that had made the tapping sound. But when it came again, +several times, and very regular, the little girl knew some hand must be +doing it. + +"Maybe Tom or Ted has gone outside and is trying to scare me," thought +Janet. "I'll take a peep and see." + +Slowly she raised herself up from her crouching position behind the +chair. And then the tapping sound on the glass came again. Janet looked +out and gave a scream as, looking in through the window, she saw the +face of a man on which the moon faintly shone. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ON THE SLIPPERY HILL + + +Janet Martin had only a glimpse of the face of the man looking in +through the window at her after he had tapped on the glass. As soon as +he saw some one peering out at him, and as soon as he heard Janet +scream--as he must have heard--the man sprang away. + +He was soon lost to sight in the woods around the cabin. The moon shone +faintly--had it not been for this Jan would never have seen the man's +face--but it was not bright enough in the forest to see him after he +leaped away from the cabin. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" screamed Janet. Her voice rang out in the empty room and +was heard by Uncle Toby, Aunt Sallie and the children playing hide and +go seek. + +"What's the matter? What's the matter?" asked Uncle Toby, who was +putting wood in the fireplace. + +"Oh, it's a man! A man!" cried Janet, running out from Uncle Toby's +bedroom into the living apartment where they were now all gathered. "A +man looked in the window at me and he tapped on the glass!" + +"Who was he?" asked Uncle Toby, grasping a heavy stick of wood. Tom, Ted +and Harry at once began to think they had better take some sticks, too, +in case there might be a fight. "Was it Jim Nelson?" went on Uncle Toby. +"Sometimes he taps on my window when he comes around by the side path." + +"I--I couldn't see who it was--except that he was a man," stammered +Janet. "As soon as he saw me looking at him he ran away." + +"Jim Nelson wouldn't do that unless he was playing a trick," decided +Uncle Toby. "And Jim isn't that kind of a man. He wouldn't scare +children. I must see who this is!" + +"Maybe he's the tramp we saw over at the place where you got the pail of +water this afternoon," said Ted. + +"Maybe," agreed Uncle Toby. "Well, if he's a poor man and in trouble I'm +sorry for him. But he hasn't any right to come sneaking around my +cabin, tapping on the window. I'll see about this!" + +Uncle Toby went outside, and the boys followed. Trouble wanted to go +with Ted, but Janet held back her little brother. + +In the moonlight, which was brighter now, as the clouds had blown away, +Uncle Toby made a trip around the cabin, taking Skyrocket with him, +while the boys, each with a chunk of wood as a weapon, followed Mr. +Bardeen. + +Uncle Toby called loudly to know who was in the woods, and the dog +barked, but no man answered. + +"I can't find any one," Uncle Toby announced, coming back into the cabin +with the boys. "It's too dark to see if there are any strange footprints +in the snow, and I don't believe we could tell by them anyhow, as Jim +Nelson and some of his friends have been tramping around here the last +few days, bringing in wood and things. Are you sure you saw a man at the +window, Janet?" + +"Sure, Uncle Toby. And I heard him tapping on the glass, too." + +"Well, I don't believe he meant any harm. Maybe he was the tramp we saw +at the lonely cabin, or it may have been another. He may have wanted +shelter for the night, and something to eat. But when he heard you +scream it must have frightened him off, as he may have had an idea he'd +be scolded for frightening a little girl. Anyhow, no harm is done, and +there will be no danger. Go on with your game." + +However, the children were too excited over what had happened to do +this. Janet was trembling, and the others wanted her to tell over again +just what had happened. And as Janet told and retold it she became less +frightened, until finally she was laughing as though it had been a joke. + +"But if I'd 'a' got that man I'd 'a' hit him with a stick of wood!" +threatened Ted. + +"So would I!" declared Tom and Harry. + +"Perhaps it's just as well you didn't find him then," said Uncle Toby, +with a laugh. + +After the children had gone to bed--and Uncle Toby said the look of them +all tucked in made him think of a boarding school--he and Aunt Sallie +sat up a bit longer. + +"Do you really think Janet saw a man?" asked Aunt Sallie. "And if so, +who was he?" + +"That's more than I can tell," Uncle Toby answered. "Janet isn't the +kind of girl to imagine things. I believe it was a man. Probably the +same fellow we saw running away from the lonely cabin. To-morrow I'll +take Jim Nelson and some of the men and we'll have a look around. I +don't want rough and strange men roaming these woods when I have a lot +of children out here for the holidays." + +"I should say not!" exclaimed Aunt Sallie. "I wouldn't like it myself! +And maybe he's the man who's been taking things." + +"Maybe," agreed Uncle Toby. + +However, there were no more alarms nor any trouble that night, and after +a few minutes of lying awake Janet went to sleep as soundly as the other +children. They slept rather late the next morning, for they were tired +with the travel of the day before, and when Jan and Lola came down to +the kitchen they found Aunt Sallie getting breakfast. + +"Oh, we said we'd get up and help!" exclaimed Jan. For she had promised +her mother, on leaving home to visit Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie, that +she would help with the housework. + +"And I used to get breakfast all alone," said Mary. "That is after +mother was sick," and she could not keep back a few tears, though she +turned her head away so the other girls would not see them. + +"Never mind, my dear," said Aunt Sallie, with a laugh. "I didn't want +you to get up early. Uncle Toby told me to let you girls and the boys +sleep." + +"Oh, aren't the boys up yet?" asked Jan, with a laugh. + +"Don't tell me we've beaten!" added Lola, with a giggle. + +"They said they were going to get up and see the sun rise," remarked +Mary. + +"I guess they forgot it, or else they thought they could see the sun +some other morning," laughed Aunt Sallie. "For they aren't down yet, +though it's almost time to call them, for I'm going to start to bake the +pancakes soon." + +"Oh, are you going to have pancakes?" cried Jan. + +"Yes, and with maple syrup," Aunt Sallie answered. + +"Oh, I love them!" exclaimed Lola. "Don't you, Mary?" + +"I--I don't know," was the hesitating answer. "I--I guess I never had +any." + +"Oh my, just--" but Lola stopped. She was going to say "just fancy a +girl never having eaten pancakes with maple syrup!" But she thought it +would not be polite to say that, so she changed it to: + +"Just you wait until you try them! You'll love them!" + +"I know Ted does, so I'm going to call him!" exclaimed Janet. "He +wouldn't want to keep on sleeping and miss the cakes." + +"Tom wouldn't, either," declared Lola. + +So they called the boys, who soon rushed downstairs, as hungry as ever +any boys were. And the girls were quite as hungry. As for Trouble, he +always thought he was hungry whether he was or not. + +Uncle Toby came in, having been out to do the chores, he said. He had +also been over to Jim Nelson's cabin to talk about the man who had +tapped on the window, scaring Janet. But Uncle Toby said nothing about +this. Instead he said: + +"Getting colder, boys and girls. Hope you brought your skates." + +"Why," asked Ted, "is there skating?" + +"No; but there will be. Shouldn't wonder but what part of the lake would +freeze over by to-morrow. But don't any of you go on until I try the +ice to see if it's safe." + +"Guess there isn't any danger of me going on," remarked Harry Benton. + +"Why not?" asked Ted. "Don't you like to skate?" + +"Sure I do!" Harry answered. "But I haven't any skates." + +"I brought some extra pairs along," remarked Uncle Toby. "I think I have +some that will fit you and Mary." + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Mary, for she felt she could now have fun like the +other girls. + +"But it hasn't frozen yet, though it soon will be," said Uncle Toby. +"Well, I'm going to leave you youngsters to amuse yourselves for a +while, as I have some things to look after." + +Uncle Toby paused for a moment and then went on. + +"Now about school." + +"Yes," said Ted, in a low voice. "I s'pose we'll have to go," he added, +with a sigh. + +"No!" exclaimed Uncle Toby. "That's the queer part of it. You can't go. +I told your folks you could, but you can't." + +"Why not?" asked Jan, and neither she nor any of the others seemed +disappointed. + +"The teacher they had here was taken sick, I've just heard, and they +can't get another until after the holidays. So it doesn't look as though +you could go to school. I'm sorry--" + +"Oh, ho!" cried the Curlytops and their playmates. "No school! Hurray!" + +"Now we'll go out and have some fun!" shouted Ted, as Uncle Toby left +the cabin. + +"Me come!" cried Trouble. + +"Yes, we'll take you," answered Lola. + +"Take good care of Trouble!" called Aunt Sallie to the boys and girls as +they started from the cabin. They were warmly dressed, as it was getting +colder, just as Uncle Toby had declared. + +"We'll watch him!" called back Jan. + +Off through the trees, under which, here and there, were patches of +snow, wandered the Curlytops and their playmates. They laughed and +shouted, running here and there until they were nearly as warm as on a +summer's day. It was sheltered under the trees, but out in the open was +getting colder, and in places thin ice was forming on Crystal Lake. + +They walked along, sometimes all together and again with the boys +running ahead of the girls, until they came to a little hill, covered +with pine trees. The wind had swept the ground bare of snow here, or +else it had melted, and in places were patches of the long, smooth and +slippery pine needles. + +Tom, Ted, and Harry had run off to one side, for Skyrocket had scared up +a rabbit and the boys wanted to see the bunny, though they would not +have let the dog harm it. Trouble started to follow his brother and the +other two lads, but as he reached the top of the pine-needle-covered +hill Janet called him back. + +"Trouble, come here!" she exclaimed. + +"No!" he answered. "I go see bunny rabbit!" + +"No, you must stay with me," said Janet, starting after him. Trouble +gathered himself to spring away on a run, but suddenly there was a queer +screeching call in a tree over his head, and a moment later the little +fellow went sliding and slipping down the hill and out of sight. + +"Oh, dear!" cried Janet + +"Was it an eagle that screamed?" asked Lola, who did not know much about +birds. + +"Maybe the eagle carried him off," suggested Mary, who knew even less +about the creatures of the woods. + +"There aren't any eagles around here, I hope," said Janet. "But +something happened to Trouble! I hope he isn't hurt!" + +Again came that shrill, harsh call. It sounded like: + +"Hay! Hay! Hay!" + +"Somebody is laughing because Trouble fell downhill," said Lola. "I +wonder if it's that horrid old man?" + +A moment later there was a rustling in the bushes, and a large bird with +bright blue feathers marked with patches of white flew up into a tree +harshly crying: + +"Hay! Hay! Hay!" + +"Oh, it's a blue jay!" exclaimed Janet, as she ran to the top of the +hill to see what had happened to William. It was nothing serious. He had +merely slid down on the smooth brown pine needles which covered the +ground and made it almost as slippery as a coasting hill. Perhaps the +sudden cry of the blue jay had made Trouble give a nervous jump and this +had thrown him off his balance, causing him to fall. + +"Was that bird chase me?" he asked, as he heard the blue one cry and saw +it flitting about. + +"Oh, no," answered Lola. "You chased yourself, I guess. Are you hurt?" + +"I--I'm all--bumped," explained Trouble. + +And this, really, was all that had happened to him. The pine hill was so +smooth that no one could have been hurt on it. The girls found it so +slippery that they could hardly stand up on it while helping Trouble up. + +"Let's try--" began Mary. She was about to say "try a slide," when her +feet suddenly went from under her and she did as Trouble had done. She +burst out laughing, as did William and the other two girls, and the +woods echoed to the merry sound, bringing the boys over on the run. They +had not seen the rabbit after the first fleeting glimpse. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ted. + +"We've found a slippery place," answered his sister. + +"Come on, let's try it!" suggested Tom. + +They all did, making efforts to go down the slippery pine-needle hill +standing up. But every one toppled before reaching the bottom of the +hill. However, this was part of the fun, and Trouble enjoyed it with the +others. + +Now and then the blue jay would flit to and fro, alighting on the trees +or bushes, and shrilly cry: + +"Hay! Hay! Hay!" + +"Maybe he wants to play, too," suggested Mary, who liked to look at one +of our most brilliantly colored winter birds. + +"He's making enough fuss about it, anyhow," said Tom. + +The children had lots of fun in the woods that day and the next. No more +tappings on the window were heard, and the Curlytops and their playmates +forgot all about the little scare. The weather grew colder and colder. +One morning Uncle Toby came in from the barn. He rubbed his red hands +before the fire and said: + +"Lake's frozen over! Now you can go skating!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A REAL TOBOGGAN + + +"Let's have a race!" cried Ted, as soon as his skates were fastened on +his shoes, for as soon as breakfast was over the children had gone out +on the ice with their skates. + +"All right!" shouted Tom, who was quite ready for this sort of fun. "I +can beat you, Ted Martin!" + +"And I can beat you, Tom Taylor!" exclaimed Lola, his sister, who was a +very good skater. + +"Oh, wouldn't it be fun if we two could beat them?" suggested Jan to +Lola. + +"We'll try," was the answer. + +Meanwhile, though Mary and Harry had put on their skates, they took no +part in this talk and stood about on the ice as if they hardly knew what +to do. + +"Will you join in the race?" asked Lola of Mary. "We three girls against +the boys." + +"I don't believe I can skate well enough to race," Mary answered, and +her brother joined in with: + +"You see we never had much chance to skate, and about all we can do is +to move along in a straight line." He laughed good-naturedly over his +own lack of skill. + +"Oh, that's all right!" cried Ted, in jolly fashion. "We won't have any +race then--that is, until after you two get more used to your skates." + +"Oh, don't let us stop you from having fun!" exclaimed Mary. + +"We can have just as much fun not racing. I don't care much for it, +anyhow, do you, Jan?" said Lola. + +"No, indeed!" answered the Curlytop girl. Thus did they try to make Mary +and Harry feel happier, and they succeeded. + +"I tell you what we can do," suggested Tom Taylor. "Ted and I can show +you a few easy tricks on skates, Harry, and Jan and Lola can do the same +with Mary." + +"That will be fine!" exclaimed Harry. "Then, when we know more about it, +we can have a race." + +So it was decided, and then and there began lessons for the two poor +children whom Uncle Toby had brought to Crystal Lake so they might have +a good time over the holidays. Harry and Mary were quick to learn, and +though it would be some time before they could beat any of the other +four children in a race, they did very well for beginners. + +"See if you can do this!" cried Ted, after having shown Harry how to +"grind the bar" backward, a trick Harry soon learned. + +"Watch me!" cried Ted, as he began doing what he called a grapevine +twist. To do it he darted farther out from shore than any of them had +yet gone, and just as he was dong some fancy skating there was a loud +booming, cracking sound that sent a shiver all through the ice on which +the others were standing. + +"Oh, come! Come back!" cried Jan to her brother. "The ice is going to +break! We'll fall in!" + +"That's right!" yelled Tom. "Come on back, Ted!" + +Ted needed no urging, but skated as fast as he could toward shore, +whither the others were fleeing as fast as they could strike out on +their skates. They reached land safely, and, to their surprise, no big +cracks or holes appeared in the ice. It seemed as solid as ever. + +"I wonder what made that?" asked Janet, whose heart was beating fast. + +"The ice broke somewhere," declared Lola. + +"We'd better not go on it any more," said Mary. + +"Well go up and ask Uncle Toby about it," suggested Ted. "I don't want +to stop skating." + +As the children were about to take off their skates to go back to the +cabin, Aunt Sallie was seen coming down, dragging Trouble on a sled. +There were patches of snow here and there so it was not hard to pull the +sled along. And Trouble was not very heavy. + +"Oh, Aunt Sallie, you ought to hear the ice crack!" called the children +in a chorus. + +"Is it dangerous?" asked Mary. + +Uncle Toby came out of the bungalow and heard what was asked. + +"That rumbling, cracking sound isn't anything dangerous," he said. "The +ice often does that, and often big cracks come in it out in the middle +of the lake. But it is thick enough, and it won't break through with +you or I shouldn't have let you go skating. But, even with all I have +said, don't go too far out." + +The children felt safer, now that Uncle Toby had told them this, and Ted +again started to show Harry how to do a grapevine twist. Aunt Sallie +gave the sled and Trouble over in charge of the girls, and they skated +up and down pulling William to and fro, to his great delight. + +The boys, now that Harry felt more at home on his skates, began to try +to outdo each other in tricks, and when Harry said he would be the +judge, Tom and Ted had a race, Ted winning. + +Once Jan and Lola skated so fast, pretending they were a team of horses +pulling Trouble on his sled, that Jan stumbled and fell down, also +tripping Lola. The girls were not hurt, and they slid along over the ice +laughing. But the sled was upset, Trouble fell off, and though he was so +bundled up that he didn't get hurt, he began to cry. + +"I guess we'd better take him in," suggested Jan. "He may be cold. +Anyhow, I've had enough skating." + +"So have I," said Mary and Lola. + +They went up to the cabin, taking Trouble with them. But the boys +remained on the ice a while longer, and Harry was rapidly becoming a +good skater. + +The three lads did not take off their skates until it was time for +dinner, and after the meal they went back on the frozen lake again, +though the girls stayed in to play with their dolls. + +"Make the most of your skating," said Uncle Toby, as he watched the +three lads circling around on the ice. + +"Why?" asked Tom. + +"Because I think we are going to have another storm," was the answer. +"It is going to snow, and then all the ice will be covered. Of course +you can scrape clean a small place, but it will be hard work. So get all +the skating you can while it's good." + +This the boys did, that day and the next. But the following morning, +when they awakened and looked from the windows, they saw the ground +white with snow, and more flakes coming down. + +"Hurray!" cried Tom. "Now we can have fun coasting!" + +"And maybe we can make a toboggan slide!" added Ted. + +"I've seen them," remarked Harry, "but I was never on one." + +"We had a wooden one in our yard, but we had to put candle grease on our +sled runners first," Ted explained. "It would be great if we could make +a regular toboggan slide." + +"Let's ask Uncle Toby," suggested Janet. + +Uncle Toby laughed in jolly fashion as the Curlytops and their playmates +swarmed around him in the cozy cabin. + +"A toboggan slide, eh?" he cried. "Well, I don't see why you can't have +one, and you don't need to build it of wood, either, for there's a good +hill not far away. But how would you like to coast on a regular toboggan +instead of your sleds?" + +"Oh, could we?" shouted Ted. + +"I guess so," was the answer. "There's a French Canadian who lives not +far away, and he has a big toboggan. We'll go over in the auto and see +if he'll let us take it. I used to have one out here, but I find that +it's broken." + +"Oh, what fun we'll have!" sang Janet, and the others joined in the +chorus of joy. + +It kept on snowing, but they could journey out in the big, closed +automobile even with the storm all about, and this they soon did. + +"But if we get the toboggan how can we get it in here? There isn't much +room," remarked Ted, for the children and Uncle Toby almost filled the +big machine. + +"Oh, we'll tie it on behind and pull it over," said Uncle Toby. "A +toboggan can go faster than any auto." + +"I ride on it!" said Trouble, and the others laughed, for of course he +didn't know what he was talking about. + +The road to the cabin of the French Canadian lumberman who owned the big +toboggan ran past the lonely shack where Uncle Toby had once stopped for +water and from which the strange man had run away. As they neared this +cabin again Ted asked: + +"I wonder if that man is in there now?" + +"I don't know," said Uncle Toby. "But I think I'll take a look. Jim +Nelson and I meant to do it before this, but we haven't had a chance. We +don't want any tramps living in our woods." + +He stopped the machine near the cabin and got out. The boys wanted to +follow him, but he told them to remain with the girls. + +"I'm just going to look in the window," said Uncle Toby. + +He did this, first at the front windows, and evidently saw nothing, for +he soon went around to the rear. And suddenly the children in the +automobile heard shouting, and the shouts came from inside the cabin. + +"Somebody's there!" cried Ted, starting to get out. + +"You stay here!" cried Janet, catching her brother by the coat. "Uncle +Toby told you to stay here!" + +As Ted sank back in his seat they could all hear Uncle Toby saying: + +"Who are you? What are you doing in there?" + +The man in the lonely cabin answered, but what he said the Curlytops and +their playmates could not tell. There was more shouting to and fro +between Uncle Toby and the unknown man, and then Mr. Bardeen came around +to the front of the cabin. + +"Is he there? Who is he? What does he want?" The children quickly asked +these questions. + +"Oh, he's just a tramp I guess," answered Uncle Toby. "I couldn't make +much out of him. But I'll tell Jim Nelson and some of the lumbermen, and +we'll see what he's doing there. He can't do much harm, for there isn't +anything of value in the old shack. But it's just as well not to have a +tramp in there." + +Once again Uncle Toby started the machine, and soon they were at the +cabin of the French Canadian. + +"Could we borrow your toboggan, Jules?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"Oh, of a sure yes!" was the answer, Jules doing his best to speak what +to him was a new language. "I bring she out to you!" + +He ran around to the back of his shack, and soon came into view again +with a real toboggan, at the sight of which the children set up a joyous +shout. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE SNOW HOUSE + + +The Frenchman's toboggan was a large one. It would hold all of the +Curlytops and their playmates, with room to spare. I suppose most of you +have seen toboggans, or pictures of them, and know what they are. +Instead of being made like a sled, with steel runners, a toboggan is +like a thin, flat board, with the front end curled up like the old +fashioned Dutch skates. Only instead of being made of one flat piece of +wood, a large toboggan is made of several strips fastened together so it +will not so easily break. + +On the side of Jules's toboggan were hand rails, to which the riders +could hold. There was also a cushion on which to sit, and altogether it +was a very fine way of coasting downhill. + +"Oh, what fun we'll have on this!" cried Jan. + +"Will it go fast?" asked Lola. + +"It'll go like an express train!" cried Ted. + +"And we fellows will take turns sitting on the back and sticking our +feet out to steer," added Tom, for that is how a toboggan is guided, you +know. + +"If it's going as fast as an express train I don't believe I want to +ride," said Mary, who was rather more timid than the other children. + +"Don't let those boys scare you," advised Janet. "They're only talking +to hear themselves talk. Tom and Ted are always that way--aren't they, +Lola?" + +"Yes," answered Tom's sister, with a laugh. + +The boys were now clustered around the big toboggan, and Trouble had +taken his seat in the middle of the cushion. + +"You give me wide!" he demanded of his brother. + +"Not now--a little later," promised Ted. He wanted to listen to what the +Canadian was saying, telling Uncle Toby how the big toboggan was best +managed on a hill. + +"I'll go down with the children the first few times," said Uncle Toby, +"to make sure it's all right. Our hill isn't so very steep, and I don't +believe there's much danger." + +"On little hill not--no!" exclaimed Jules, with a smile that showed all +his white teeth. "But on big hill, steep so like roof of house, toboggan +her go like what you say--fifty-nine?" + +"I guess you mean like sixty," laughed Uncle Toby. + +"Mebby so. Her go very fast. I like for childrens to have good time, but +not too fast!" + +"I'll see that they are careful," promised Uncle Toby. + +After much teasing the three boys were allowed to sit on the toboggan +after it was tied to the rear of the automobile for the trip home. + +"I won't go very fast," said Uncle Toby. "But if I should have to stop +you boys will need to stick your feet down in the snow suddenly to put +on the brakes, you know, or you'll bump into my rear wheels." + +"We'll do that," promised Tom, Ted, and Harry. + +Trouble wanted to ride with the boys on the toboggan as it was drawn +along over the snow behind the auto, but he was not allowed to do this, +as it was thought his brother and the other two lads would be so full of +fun that they would forget to watch him, and he might fall off and be +left behind. + +The toboggan was made fast with a long rope, the boys took their places, +and with many thanks to Jules for his kindness, the trip home was begun. + +"Hurray!" cried Ted. "Here we go!" + +"Talk about fun!" shouted Tom. "We're having it all right!" + +"I never had such a good time in my life," said Harry, his eyes shining +with pleasure. He wished his mother might have shared in some of his and +his sister's enjoyment, and how he wished that he had a father, such as +the other boys had, only he himself knew. But he said nothing of this. + +"Hold on tightly now, boys!" called Uncle Toby. + +"We will!" they answered, and away they went. + +At first everything was all right. The road was slightly uphill and the +toboggan kept well back from the wheels of the automobile, so there was +no danger of bumping into them. But when the automobile started down +grade toward Uncle Toby's cabin, the wooden sled slid faster than the +automobile was pulling it. + +"Put on brakes! Put on brakes!" shouted Ted. + +"Stick your feet in the snow!" echoed Tom. + +The three boys thrust their feet out on either side of the toboggan, +digging their heels into the snow, and in this way they made themselves +slow up, so they did not hit the wheels. Even if they had done so no +harm would have resulted, because the wheels had large rubber tires on +them, and the front of the toboggan came up in a big curve. + +Soon they were going uphill again, and the boys did not have to "put on +brakes." But as Uncle Toby made the automobile go a bit faster, when +they were near his cabin, he and the girls suddenly heard laughing +shouts from the boys behind them. + +"Oh, something has happened!" exclaimed Jan, looking out of the rear +window of the closed car. + +"They've fallen off!" added Mary. "I hope they aren't hurt!" + +"Can't be much hurt, falling off in the snow," laughed Uncle Toby, as +he brought the car to a stop, got out, and went back, followed by the +girls. The toboggan had turned upside down, but was not damaged. The +boys, laughing so joyously that they could hardly walk, were coming +along, covered with snow. + +"What happened?" Uncle Toby wanted to know. + +"Oh, the toboggan struck a big lump of snow in the middle of the road +and turned right over. It spilled us off!" explained Ted. + +"But it was fun!" added Harry. And so it was. + +"Well, we're almost there. Better walk the rest of the way," advised +Uncle Toby. "Take the toboggan off and pull it." + +This was done, two of the boys taking turns pulling the third over the +short distance remaining. + +"And now for some real tobogganing!" cried Ted, as the cabin was +reached. + +Uncle Toby, however, would not let the children go down alone for the +first few times. He wanted to be sure the boys knew how to manage the +big sled, which, though large, was very light, as all toboggans are, +and thus are much safer than a sled with steel runners. + +There was a long, but not too steep, hill near the cabin, and the +Curlytops and their playmates were soon at the top of this, with Uncle +Toby and the toboggan. + +"All aboard!" called Mr. Bardeen, and they took their places on the +cushion, holding to the hand rails. Trouble was not allowed to go down +the first time, but Aunt Sallie had all she could do to keep him with +her as she stood at the top of the slope watching the coasting party. + +"You shall soon have a ride, Trouble," Aunt Sallie promised. "As soon as +the hill is made a little smooth." + +"All ready?" cried Uncle Toby. + +"Let's go!" cried Ted. + +Uncle Toby gave a push with his foot, which he had thrust out behind to +steer with, and down the snow-covered hill went the toboggan with its +happy load. They did not go very fast on this first trip, as the snow +needed to be packed down smooth and hard. But after the second or third +voyage the toboggan moved more swiftly. + +"Do you like it Mary?" asked Janet. + +"Oh, I just love it!" cried the other, with shining eyes. + +Uncle Toby, finding that everything was safe, allowed the boys, one +after another, to try steering the light, wooden sled. Finding that they +could manage all right, he let them have charge of the toboggan, and at +last Trouble was allowed to coast down, sitting between Lola and Janet. + +Of course Trouble wanted to take his turn at steering with the other +boys, but that was out of the question, even though he teased very much. +It would not have been safe, of course. + +And such fun as the Curlytops and their playmates had! The toboggan was +much better than a sled, and safer, even though it went faster. It was +almost like flying with the snowbirds, Lola said. + +Of course there were little accidents and upsets. Once, when Harry was +steering, the toboggan turned completely around when half way down the +hill and began sliding backward. And as the back end was blunt, having +no curve to slip easily over the snow, there was a turnover, and the +children were spilled all the way down the hill. + +But they never minded that, only rolling over and over to the bottom, or +nearly there, laughing and shouting meanwhile. It was fun for Skyrocket, +too, the dog leaping here and there, barking and chasing snowballs which +the girls threw for him to race after. + +Once they took Skyrocket down on the toboggan with them, or, rather, +they took him half way, for midway on the hill Skyrocket decided he +didn't like that way of traveling, and with a howl he leaped off. It was +too swift for him, I suppose. + +But the children had great delight in it, and would have kept on with +the toboggan fun all day if Uncle Toby had let them. He did not want +them to get too tired, however, nor did Aunt Sallie want Trouble to stay +out in the cold too long, though he was a sturdy little chap. + +After lunch, when Trouble was having his usual nap, Lola and Jan said +they would like to try steering the toboggan, and Uncle Toby said they +might. + +"Well, we fellows won't ride if you girls steer," declared Ted. "You'd +upset us first shot." + +"Pooh! You don't need to ride!" laughed Janet. "We can do better without +you." + +The girls learned to steer, after a lesson or two from Uncle Toby. Even +timid Mary managed to do quite well, though Janet and Lola, being more +used to outdoor life in the country, did better than Mary. The girls had +their little accidents, too, upsetting more than once, but they did not +mind this. + +For several days, while the snow lasted, the Curlytops and their friends +had fun in the snow. The weather was bright and sunny, and not too cold. +One day Janet, going out to the kitchen where Aunt Sallie was busy, +found the table covered with packages and bundles that Uncle Toby had +brought from the village store. + +"What's going on?" asked Janet. + +"Thanksgiving will soon be going on," answered Aunt Sallie. "I must get +my mincemeat made, and do a lot of planning for the big family I expect +to have at dinner." + +"Oh, I didn't know Thanksgiving was so near!" exclaimed Janet. At first +she was joyous, and then a little feeling of sadness came to her. This +would be the first Thanksgiving she remembered when daddy and mother +were not present. The other children, too, when they were told about +the coming feast at Uncle Toby's cabin, looked a little serious when +they realized that none of their grown-ups would be with them. Of course +Mary and Harry did not expect this, for they knew their mother could not +come from the hospital for a long time, and as for their father--they +had given him up as dead, long ago. + +"But maybe daddy and mother will be here for Christmas!" said Janet. + +"Maybe!" agreed Ted. + +"I'm going to write and ask our father and mother to come here for +Christmas. May I, Uncle Toby?" asked Lola, for in common with the +Curlytops she called Mr. Bardeen by this name. + +"Of course!" Uncle Toby answered. "The more the merrier! And if your +mother is able to come from the hospital, we'll have her here for +Christmas," and he nodded at Mary and Harry. This made that boy and girl +very happy, for it is often happiness just to think of something +pleasant that may happen. + +One morning, several days after the first of the toboggan riding, the +boys, who had gotten up ahead of the girls for once, began shouting +outside the cabin. + +"What's going on, I wonder?" asked Janet. + +"Oh, I guess they're just yelling for the fun of it," answered Lola. + +"They're saying something about a house," said Mary. + +Janet raised the window and listened. Just then Ted shouted: + +"Come on out, girls, and help us build a snow house. We're going to make +the biggest snow house you ever saw!" + +"And when it's finished you can have a tea party in it," added Tom. + +"Oh, what lovely fun that will be!" cried Mary. + +Soon the boys and girls, with Skyrocket frolicking around them, began +making the snow house. The sun had so warmed the snow that it packed +well. + +First a number of big snowballs were rolled and placed one after the +other in the form of a square on the ground. This was to be the +foundation of the house. + +Other snowballs were lifted on top of the first large ones, and snow +packed in the cracks until, when afternoon came, there were four walls +of snow, much higher than the heads of the children. + +"It looks more like a fort than a snow house," said Lola. + +"We've got to put the roof on," Tom answered. "How we going to do that, +Ted?" + +"I don't know," was the reply. "I never made such a big snow house. If +we make the roof only of snow it will fall in on us." + +"You'd better ask Uncle Toby," suggested Janet, and this they did. + +"I'll show you how to make a good roof," Uncle Toby told the children. +"Just get me a lot of poles from that pile over there. I used them to +raise beans this summer. Bring me a lot of those long poles." + +The children ran to carry them to him, wondering how Uncle Toby could +make a roof on a snow house out of poles. + +[Illustration: OTHER SNOWBALLS WERE LIFTED ON TOP OF THE FIRST LARGE +ONES. Page 195] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THANKSGIVING + + +Perhaps if the Curlytops and their playmates had thought about it a +little harder they might have guessed how Uncle Toby intended to make +the roof of their snow house with the bean poles. It was very simple. + +When the boys and girls had brought a number of the long, thin poles to +him, Uncle Toby took the poles, one at a time, and laid them carefully +across the tops of the white walls. Each end of the pole rested on the +wall, and when all were in place, laid close together, there was the +beginning of the roof. + +"But it's full of holes," objected Ted, as he went in through the +doorway that had been left, and, looking up, could see the sky in +between the spaces of the poles. + +"Yes, of course it's full of holes," laughed Uncle Toby. "All you have +to do is to plaster some snow in the cracks, and then cover the poles +with more snow and you'll have a roof to your house that won't fall in +on you." + +"Why, how easy!" cried Tom. "It's a wonder we didn't think of that +ourselves." + +"You'll know how next time," replied Uncle Toby. "Bring a few more +poles." + +This the children did, even Trouble dragging over some of the smallest +ones from the pile. Then the roof was ready for its coating of snow, and +the children began tossing it on with their hands and from shovels. + +At first the snow dropped through some of the larger cracks between the +poles, but these were soon filled, and then a solid mass of white was +spread over the roof of the snow house. + +"I'm going to see if I can't plaster some snow over the poles from +inside, so they won't show," decided Ted, when the outside top of the +roof was finished. "Then it will look like a solid snow roof." + +The other boys helped with this, but it was not as easy as they had +thought it would be. For often after they had stuck a handful of snow +on the ceiling inside, it would fall down, once or twice right in their +faces. + +But at last they had the inside poles pretty well plastered over with +snow, and the house was finished. There was a doorway, and two windows, +and over the door a blanket was hung. Uncle Toby put some sheets of ice +in the windows, and they looked just like glass. + +"Oh, this is the nicest snow house I ever saw!" cried Janet. + +"It's like a fairy one!" exclaimed Mary. "I never dreamed of one so nice +as this." + +"It's the best one we ever made," said Ted, and the other boys agreed +with him. + +But the fun was only beginning. The girls had been promised, if they +helped with the making of the snow house, that they could have a play +party in it for themselves and, if they chose, their dolls. + +"We'll ask Aunt Sallie for something to eat and have the play party +now," decided Janet, when some boxes had been put in the snow house to +serve as tables and chairs. + +"Will the dolls eat everything?" asked Tom, with a smile. + +"What do you mean--eat everything?" his sister wanted to know. + +"I mean will there be anything left for us?" and Tom winked at the other +boys. + +"Oh, I guess Aunt Sallie will give enough for everybody," said Janet, +and Aunt Sallie did. + +As she was getting ready for Thanksgiving, there was plenty to eat in +Uncle Toby's bungalow, and soon sandwiches and cake, and a tin pail full +of hot chocolate were carried out to the snow house. + +"It's a regular picnic in the snow!" cried Mary, in delight. "I never +knew anything as nice as this." + +The girls took their dolls out to the snow house, Mary having brought +hers from home with her, and though it was not as well dressed or as +costly as the dolls of Janet or Lola, still Mary loved her "child" just +as much. + +Janet wanted to make Trouble a rag doll to play with, but he insisted +that he was an "Indian," for that is what the other boys were pretending +to be. + +"An' Injuns don't have dolls!" declared Trouble, as he sat on a box in +the snow house and sipped his warm chocolate. + +For two or three days the children played in the snow house, the +weather being mild, so that it was quite comfortable in the white +"igloo," as Uncle Toby called it. The children wanted to know where that +name came from, and he told them it was what the Eskimos of the Polar +regions called their egg-shape huts of ice and snow. + +The pole roof was a great success, for it did not fall in on the heads +of the boys and girls. And there is nothing worse, when you are having +fun in a snow house, than to have the roof cave in on you. + +Of course there were little accidents, caused by the snow which the boys +had plastered to the inside of the poles. More than once little chunks +of snow fell, but they were so light they did no harm, even when they +hit Janet or Lola on the head. + +Once, however, just as Ted was lifting a cup of chocolate to his mouth, +a chunk of snow fell right into the cup, splashing the chocolate all +over the lad. Luckily it was not hot, though after the splashing was +over Ted looked as if he had colored himself to take part in a minstrel +show. + +The other children laughed, and so did Ted, after his first surprise. + +"To-morrow will be Thanksgiving!" exclaimed Lola one night, as they +hurried in from a long day of fun. + +"And you ought to see the big pile of good things there are to eat!" +exclaimed Tom. "Oh, boys!" + +"Aunt Sallie sure has cooked a lot!" cried Ted. + +"The most I ever saw," added Harry. "And such a turkey!" + +"And such cranberry sauce!" sighed his sister. + +"An' there's candy an' nuts an'--an' lots of things!" added Trouble. +"It's mos' like Ch'is'mus!" + +"Yes, it surely is," agreed Janet. "Only I hope by Christmas we'll have +daddy and mother here." A letter had come from Mr. and Mrs. Martin from +the distant city where they had gone to see about the money. In the +letter the parents of the Curlytops said they hoped to be with them at +Christmas. + +The father and mother of Tom and Lola had also written, wishing the +children the joys of a happy Thanksgiving, and saying they would come up +at Christmas with Mr. and Mrs. Martin. + +There was also a letter from Mrs. Benton, in which the poor woman said +that she had been operated on, and was much better, but added that she +would have to be under the doctor's care and in the hospital some time +yet. + +"Anyhow, it's something to be thankful for," said Mary. Her brother +agreed with her. And if in their hearts there was a little sadness +because they had no father to share the joys of the holidays with them, +they kept it to themselves. + +"We all have lots to be thankful for," said Aunt Sallie, when the feast +day came. "Yes, and you shall have something, too," she added to +Skyrocket, who was sniffing hungrily at the kitchen door. + +After breakfast Uncle Toby took them all to the village church in the +automobile, though of course Skyrocket was left at the cabin. He did not +like it very much, either, and howled dismally after the Curlytops. + +Home they drove, through the crisp air of the woods, to take part in the +bountiful feast that was ready all but the "finishing touches," as Aunt +Sallie called them. + +And such a feast as it was! Never was there such a browned turkey! Never +such jolly red mounds of cranberry sauce, almost like jelly! Never such +crisp celery! And the gravy that covered the heaping plates that the +children had passed to them! Surely never was such gravy made! + +"Oh, I don't believe I can ever eat another thing!" exclaimed Mary, when +Uncle Toby asked her to have another slice of turkey. + +"Hasn't you got any room left?" asked Trouble, patting his own little +stomach. "I got some room. I saved it for the _ice-cream_!" he added, +hoarsely whispering the last word. + +"Oh, is there ice-cream?" asked Janet. "I didn't know you'd made any, +Aunt Sallie." + +"It isn't exactly ice-cream," answered Uncle Toby's housekeeper. "It's a +sort of snow-cream I made, but maybe you children will like it." + +"Sure we will!" cried the boys. + +"Will you have it now, or the plum pudding?" Aunt Sallie wanted to know. + +"Oh, is there plum pudding, too?" Janet asked, in surprise. + +"Yes," nodded Aunt Sallie. "Nice, hot plum pudding!" + +"Let's have the pudding last," suggested Lola. "The snow-cream will make +us cold and the plum pudding will make us warm again." + +"A good idea," said Uncle Toby, with a laugh. "I hope none of the +children gets ill," he thought to himself. "Their folks will say I gave +them too much Thanksgiving. But they look all right now," he added, as +he scanned the happy faces. + +Aunt Sallie served the snow-cream. It was rather like a frozen pudding, +being made of clean snow beaten up with milk, eggs, sugar, and flavoring +extract. + +The children made away with this, and then Aunt Sallie went to the +kitchen to get the hot plum pudding. She was gone a few minutes when she +came hurrying back into the dining room, a strange look on her face. + +"It's gone!" she cried to Uncle Toby. + +"What?" he asked. + +"The plum pudding! Some one has taken it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SKYROCKET IS GONE + + +Uncle Toby first looked around the table at the double row of faces of +the children. All showed as much surprise as had Aunt Sallie when she +had come in with the news about the pudding being gone. At first Uncle +Toby had an idea that one of the boys had taken the dessert for a joke, +hiding it away in some nook. But one look at the faces of Tom, Ted, and +Harry showed Uncle Toby that this had not happened. + +"Where did you put the pudding, Aunt Sallie?" Uncle Toby wanted to know. + +"Right inside the kitchen pantry, on the back shelf near the window." + +"Was the window open, Aunt Sallie?" + +"Just a little crack, yes, Uncle Toby. I opened it when I set the +pudding near it so it would cool a little before the children ate it." + +"That accounts for it then!" exclaimed Mr. Bardeen. "Skyrocket reached +in through the open window and took the pudding!" + +There was a gasp of surprise from the children at this, and Ted +exclaimed: + +"Oh, it couldn't have been our dog, Uncle Toby! He's been right here in +the room all the while." + +"Yes, that's so," added Aunt Sallie. "And, anyhow, the window wasn't +open wide enough for Skyrocket to get his head in. He couldn't take the +pudding out in his paw as your monkey could do." + +"Maybe not," agreed Uncle Toby. "Anyhow, I'm glad to know it wasn't +Skyrocket, for I like that dog. But some one must have taken the +pudding, Aunt Sallie. Unless it slipped out of the window itself, and +went off on the toboggan!" + +The children laughed at this idea, but Aunt Sallie took it seriously, +for she said: + +"Oh, it couldn't do that, Uncle Toby. I mean it couldn't slip out of the +window," she added, as the Curlytops laughed again. "I had it covered +with a tin pan, and that's on the shelf, but the pudding is gone from +under it." + +"This is getting mysterious," said Uncle Toby. "We must take a look and +see about it." + +"I'm so sorry, for I wanted the children to have some of my plum +pudding," went on Aunt Sallie. + +"Oh, don't worry about it," said Lola. "We had plenty to eat." + +"Too much, I'm afraid," chuckled Uncle Toby. "Maybe it's just as well +the pudding is missing. The children will sleep better without it, Aunt +Sallie." + +"Oh, 'tisn't so much the _pudding_ that I am worried about," went on the +kindly housekeeper, in a whisper. "It is that some one may be sneaking +around here taking things." + +"Do you think that happened?" asked Uncle Toby. The children had run +into the kitchen to look at the window through which the pudding had so +mysteriously disappeared, and Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie could speak +freely. + +"Yes, Uncle Toby, I think that is what happened," said the old lady. +"Some tramp, or somebody, must have been sneaking around your cabin. +They looked in the window, saw my pudding, and took it while we were +all in the dining room. 'Tisn't so much that I mind the pudding; that +is, if it was taken by some one really hungry. For this is Thanksgiving, +and I wouldn't want any one to go hungry. But if they had knocked at the +door and asked for something to eat I'd have given it to them, and then +the pudding would be safe. What are we going to do?" + +"I don't know," answered Uncle Toby, as he and Aunt Sallie followed the +children. "We never had any tramps in these woods. Maybe it's that queer +man we saw over in Newt Baker's old shack. He may be a hungry tramp." + +"Well, something ought to be done about it," declared Aunt Sallie. "I +won't feel safe with such people roaming the woods." + +"Maybe when I look in the snow under the window I'll see the paw marks +of a bear," suggested Uncle Toby. + +"What would that mean?" asked Aunt Sallie, rather startled. + +"It would mean that a bear came up, put his paws in through the window, +knocked the pan cover off and took the pudding," was the answer. + +"Well, I'm not so much afraid of bears as I am of tramps," said Aunt +Sallie, with a smile. "I almost wish it was a bear!" + +But it was not. In the light covering of newly fallen snow under the +pantry window, through which the pudding had been taken, were the marks +of a man's feet. Big feet they were, with heavy shoes, for the prints of +the hob nails could be seen in the snow. + +Uncle Toby looked at the marks for several minutes. He and Aunt Sallie +and the children could see where the man, whoever he was, had come out +of the woods, walked up to the open window, and, after standing about +and tramping to and fro, had marched back to the woods again. + +"It looks as if he came here, looked in, saw the pudding, and started +away without taking it," said Uncle Toby, as he looked closely at the +big footprints in the snow. "Then he turned back, because he was so +hungry he just couldn't leave that pudding there in plain sight, I +suppose. He took it and went back to the woods with it to eat it." + +"Who was he?" asked Tom. + +"That I don't know," Uncle Toby replied. "He must be a stranger around +here, for anybody else would ask for something to eat if he were +hungry. And most of the folks around here are well enough off to get +their own Thanksgiving dinner. They don't have to take other folks' +pudding." + +"That's so," said Aunt Sallie. "I wish it hadn't happened, even though I +don't mind a poor hungry man having my nice pudding." + +"Is your dog a bloodhound?" asked Harry of Ted, as the boys remained +looking at the footprints in the snow, after the girls had gone back +into the house with Aunt Sallie. + +"Oh, no, Skyrocket isn't a bloodhound," answered Ted. "Why?" + +"Well, I thought maybe if he was he could smell at these marks in the +snow and then track the man to where he was and we could get back the +pudding," Harry went on. + +"Guess there wouldn't be much of the pudding left," said Tom, with a +laugh. + +"No," agreed Ted. "Anyhow, Skyrocket isn't a bloodhound, and I don't +believe he'd know how to track a man down." + +And evidently Skyrocket didn't take much interest in the strange +footprints in the snow, for, after sniffing them once or twice, he raced +away to chase a snowbird which flew down to get the crumbs Aunt Sallie +scattered from the dinner table. Of course Skyrocket couldn't catch or +harm the snowbird, and he knew it, but he loved to race about and bark. + +"No use trying to get him to follow a trail," said Tom. "He's too crazy! +A good dog, but too crazy!" + +"That's right!" assented Ted. + +Uncle Toby, having listened to the talk of the boys, went back into the +cabin, and soon came out with his heavy overcoat and cap on. + +"Where are you going?" asked Ted. + +"Oh, just down to the village. You boys stay here and look after things +until I get back," was the answer. + +The boys watched Uncle Toby strike into the path and then Tom exclaimed: + +"I know where he's going!" + +"Where?" asked Ted. + +"He's either going to trail that man by his footprints--the man who took +the pudding," declared Tom, "or else he's going to get a constable, or +somebody like a policeman." + +"Maybe he's gone to get a bloodhound if your dog isn't any good for +smelling out people," suggested Harry. All the boys were gleefully +excited over what might happen. + +"I wish he'd let us go with him," sighed Ted. But he did not think it +wise to ask, and Uncle Toby went off by himself. + +The remainder of Thanksgiving was passed by the Curlytops and their +playmates having holiday fun. They played out in the snow, spent some +time in the snow house, and coasted on the toboggan. + +Uncle Toby came back before dusk, but where he had been and what he had +done or found out, he did not disclose to Aunt Sallie or the children. + +"Will you lock up well to-night, Uncle Toby?" asked Aunt Sallie, when +the bedtime hour approached. She asked this out of the hearing of the +children. + +"Of course I'll lock up well. I do every night," Uncle Toby replied, +with a laugh. "Are you afraid that bear who took the pudding will try to +get in?" + +"Maybe," answered Aunt Sallie. "Anyhow, please lock all the doors and +windows." + +"I will," said Uncle Toby. "But I guess Skyrocket will be a good +watchdog during the night. We don't need to worry." + +The children did not worry, at all events. They did not seem to miss the +plum pudding, and after a light supper, on account of the heavy dinner +they had eaten, and having played some games in the cabin, they went to +sleep. + +Uncle Toby locked up well, and left Skyrocket in the kitchen for the +night. + +"If any bears come in or any tramps try to take any more of Aunt +Sallie's good things, you grab 'em and hold 'em, Sky!" commanded Uncle +Toby. + +The dog barked once, as if to say he would. + +The night appeared to pass quietly, though once Uncle Toby thought he +heard Skyrocket barking in the kitchen. Getting out of his bed, Uncle +Toby called: + +"Who's in the kitchen? Is everything all right?" + +There was no answer, not even a bark from the dog, and Uncle Toby +thought he had been mistaken about hearing a noise. + +"And I guess Skyrocket is asleep," he added. + +In the morning Tom and Ted came down earlier than any of the others, for +they had an idea that they could build a little house of pieces of +carpet on the toboggan and coast while inside it. They wanted to try +out this idea before Uncle Toby should say it was too risky. + +"Here, Sky! Sky!" called Ted, as he walked toward the kitchen. + +There was no joyous, answering bark, and when the door was pushed open +no dog ran to greet his young master. + +Skyrocket was gone! + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TROUBLE IS MISSING + + +Harry came into the kitchen to join his chums, and when he heard that +Skyrocket was gone he and the other two boys made such a noise calling +and whistling for the missing dog that Uncle Toby asked: + +"What's the matter out there?" + +"Skyrocket's gone!" explained Ted. + +"Well, that's all right," said Uncle Toby. "I suppose he went out early +to get up an appetite for breakfast." + +"But how could he get out, Uncle Toby?" asked Ted, as Mr. Bardeen came +into the kitchen where the dog had been put for the night. "How could he +get out? There isn't a door or window open, and he hasn't jumped through +any of the window glass, as he did once to get to me when he was shut up +by mistake." + +"Hum!" murmured Uncle Toby, thoughtfully. "Are you sure he's gone, Ted?" + +"Well, he isn't around and he doesn't come when I call him," the boy +answered. "He must be gone." + +Jan and the other girls now came into the kitchen, and soon Aunt Sallie +had Trouble dressed, so the whole family was up. That is all but +Skyrocket, and he surely was one of the family. + +"What's the matter?" asked Jan, for she knew that there was something +wrong. And when Ted told her about Skyrocket being gone, tears came into +Jan's eyes. Seeing this, Uncle Toby knew what he had to do to keep the +children contented and happy while on their holiday stay with him at +Crystal Lake. + +"Look here, boys and girls," he said, "Skyrocket isn't lost. He has just +run out somewhere. He'll be back soon. Don't feel too bad about him. It +isn't the first time he has run away, is it, Ted?" + +"No, Uncle Toby. But how did he get out to run away? That's what I want +to know. There isn't a door or window open. The cabin was shut tight +last night after Skyrocket was in." + +"That's what we think," said Uncle Toby. "But some door or window may +have been left open by mistake, and Skyrocket may have got out that way +and be roaming in the woods, having a good time. Don't you often find, +Aunt Sallie," asked Uncle Toby, "that you forget to shut a door or +window, and later in the night get up to close it?" + +As Mr. Bardeen asked this question of his housekeeper he winked one eye +at her--an eye the children could not see. Uncle Toby wanted Aunt Sallie +to say "yes" to his question, and she, knowing the little trick he was +trying to play, did as he wanted her to. + +"There, you are!" exclaimed Uncle Toby to the children. "Aunt Sallie or +I may have left a door or window open, after you young folks went to +bed, and Sky may have gotten out that way. Then we might have closed it, +locking him out." + +"Oh, do you think it could have happened that way?" asked Ted. + +"Of course it could!" replied Uncle Toby, but he did not really say that +it had happened like that. In fact Uncle Toby knew it had not happened +this way. He felt pretty sure that some one had come in the night and +stolen Skyrocket away, but he did not want to tell the Curlytops this +for fear of making them afraid. + +"Well, if Skyrocket has just run away he'll run back again," said Ted. + +"Yes, he will, for he's done it before," added Janet. + +Then the children felt better, and sat down to breakfast. But when Uncle +Toby had a chance to speak quietly to Aunt Sallie he said: + +"Don't say anything to the children, but I think some tramp--maybe the +same one who took your plum pudding--came in the night and stole +Skyrocket." + +"But why would a tramp want Skyrocket?" asked Aunt Sallie. + +"Perhaps he thought we would pay money to get the dog back--as I will do +if he doesn't come back himself," said Uncle Toby. "You can't tell what +a tramp would do. Anyhow, I know we didn't leave any doors or windows +open. I just said that to quiet the children. I feel sure Skyrocket has +been stolen by a tramp." + +"What are you going to do about it, Uncle Toby?" + +"I'm going to get Jim Nelson and some of the lumbermen around here and +have a look around. For one place, we'll go to that old cabin of Newt +Baker's, which we saw the man running away from that day. Maybe he's +the tramp who took Skyrocket and also your plum pudding." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Aunt Sallie, with a frightened look over her +shoulder. + +"Don't be afraid!" laughed Uncle Toby. "Nothing will happen. But I don't +want the children's fun spoiled. So let them think Skyrocket just +wandered away and will come back again." + +But Skyrocket did not come back that day nor the next nor the next. Back +home in Cresco he had often stayed away a week at a time, Jan said, so +after she and her brother had gotten used to the idea that the dog was +off on one of his wandering trips, they no longer worried. + +Uncle Toby got some of the lumbermen and went to the cabin, but though +they found the footprints of men and dogs in the snow, no one was now in +the old shack, and there was no way of telling whether the dog's +footprints were those of Skyrocket. + +"Well, I guess that tramp cleared out," said Uncle Toby to Aunt Sallie. +"And he may have taken Skyrocket with him. But don't say anything to the +Curlytops. Christmas is coming, and we want them to have a good time. +And Skyrocket may come back." + +But the dog did not. Two weeks went by and he had not returned. By this +time Ted and Janet had rather gotten accustomed to missing him, and +though they felt very sorry, they were having so much fun that they +thought of little else. For surely there were good times at Uncle +Toby's! + +The plan of the boys to put up a little carpet house on the big toboggan +coaster did not work. They tried it, without telling Uncle Toby anything +about it, and this is what happened. + +First Tom, Ted, and Harry fastened some beanpoles upright on the +toboggan. They tied them tightly with cords so they were fairly solid. +In the barn they found some pieces of carpet and a few old feed bags, +left from the time that Uncle Toby kept a horse out at Crystal Lake, and +by tying these bags together, after ripping them open, they made a large +piece of cloth, big enough for a tent. This they fastened on the +beanpoles that were tied to the toboggan, also using some carpet strips. + +"Now we've got a regular little house on it, and we can sit inside and +coast downhill and be nice and warm!" exclaimed Ted. + +That was his idea and that of the other boys. Three of them could get +inside the toboggan-tent at a time, and the rear lad could stick his +foot out through a hole in the bag covering a steer. + +Without telling Uncle Toby anything about it, and saying nothing to the +girls, the boys drew this new invention of theirs out on the coasting +hill one morning. Tom and Harry took their places toward the front of +the toboggan, inside the tent. There was a hole in the bagging so they +could look out. Ted sat behind to steer. + +"All ready?" he asked his chums. + +"Let her go!" cried Tom. + +Ted pushed off, and for a little way the toboggan went down the hill all +right. The boys were laughing and shouting, for it was fun to coast +inside a tent that kept off the cold wind. + +"It's like riding in a closed auto!" yelled Tom. + +But just then something happened. The toboggan struck a lump of ice on +the hill, slued around, though Ted did his best to steer it, and began +going sideways. + +Just then the three girls, with Trouble, came out to see what the boys +were doing, and seeing the strange tent-covered toboggan going downhill +sideways Janet, Lola, and Mary, all three, screamed, while Trouble +yelled in delight, as he always did at anything new or strange. + +Ted declared afterward that the girls' screams made him steer crooked, +but in the girls' opinion the toboggan would have upset anyhow. And +that's what it did. + +Over it turned, when half way down the hill. The bean poles snapped and +broke, and a moment later the boys were tangled up in the pieces of +carpet and bagging, rolling off the toboggan which coasted the rest of +the way downhill by itself, and probably it was very glad to be rid of +the tent-house. + +"Oh, are you hurt?" cried Jan, as she saw the tangled mass of boys. + +"I'll call Uncle Toby!" exclaimed Lola. + +"Oh, what a dreadful accident!" wailed Mary. + +But an instant later the boys jumped up, laughing, not in the least +hurt, though they were disappointed because their invention did not +work. + +"Don't try any more tricks like that," said Uncle Toby, when he heard +what had happened. "The next time some of you may be hurt." + +The boys promised to obey, and they didn't do any thing just like that +again, but they did other things almost as risky. However, no one was +hurt, and they certainly had lots of fun at Uncle Toby's. + +There was so much to do that they almost forgot about the lost +Skyrocket, though every now and then Ted and his chums would go off in +the woods, whistling and calling. But the dog did not come back. + +As the snow did not melt away, Uncle Toby, with the help of some of his +men friends at the camp, cleared a place on the frozen lake where the +children could skate. And with this fun, with coasting, making snowmen, +another snow house, having snowball battles, the children passed many +days most happily. + +Christmas was coming. The Curlytops and their playmates now began +counting the days until this grand holiday should arrive. Trouble, with +the help of Janet, had written his letter to Santa Claus, and the other +children had told each other (so Aunt Sallie and Uncle Toby could hear) +the things they wished St. Nicholas to bring them. + +One morning Uncle Toby brought the big automobile around to the door of +the cabin. It was two days before Christmas, and everything had been +prepared for a jolly good time at the cabin. A big green tree had been +cut in the woods, and set up in one of the rooms. There it was to be +trimmed and made ready for the presents to be put under it. + +"Come, children, we're going to the village to get the mail and some +other things," called Uncle Toby to the Curlytops and their friends. +"Pile in, and we'll all go to the village. I wouldn't be surprised but +what there would be some letters for all of you," he said, with a +twinkle in his eyes, as if he knew what was going to happen. + +"Oh, maybe daddy and mother will be here for Christmas!" cried Ted and +Janet. + +"And maybe my father and mother will come," added Lola, though she did +not have much hope of this. + +"If I could get a letter that my mother was all well again, that would +be the best Christmas present I could have," sighed Mary. + +"Maybe you will get such a letter," said Uncle Toby. + +Perhaps he knew what was going to happen. + +Aunt Sallie said she would not make the trip to the village in the +automobile, as she had work to do at the bungalow. So Uncle Toby, +the Curlytops and their playmates--alas, not with Skyrocket this +time--started off. The snow seemed to be coming down thicker and +faster, but this only made the children more joyful, for they loved +snow at Christmas, as what youngster does not? + +The post-office was reached, and Uncle Toby went in for the mail. He +came out with both hands full. There was a letter for Mary and Harry, +one for Ted and Janet and one for Tom and Lola, and then there were +separate letters for each boy and girl from some of the friends they +had left behind. There was even a postal for Trouble. + +"Oh, such good news!" cried Ted, when he and Janet had read their +letter. "Daddy and Mother are coming here to spend Christmas with us!" + +"Did your father say anything about the money he was afraid of losing?" +asked Uncle Toby. + +"No," answered Ted. "But I hope he doesn't lose it." + +"We have good news, like yours!" Lola said to Janet. "Our daddy and +mother are coming here also for Christmas. You invited them, didn't you, +Uncle Toby?" she asked. + +"Why, yes, I believe I did," chuckled the jolly old gentleman. "But have +you good news, too?" he asked Harry and Mary. + +"Yes," they answered with happy tears in their eyes. "Our mother is well +again, and she is coming up here for Christmas. Oh, how happy we are!" + +"Everybody's happy!" sang Trouble. "Everybody's happy, an' Santa C'aus +is comin'!" + +"That's right!" laughed Janet, hugging him. + +They little knew how close unhappiness was following happiness. + +After the letters had been read again Uncle Toby drove the automobile +down the village street to the store to get some things Aunt Sallie +wanted for the Christmas dinner. As the children each had some spending +money they were allowed to get out and wander through a general store +next to the grocery. There was a "five and ten cent" department in the +variety "Emporium" as it was called, and the children had fun there, +picking out inexpensive presents as surprises one for the other. + +It was not until, bubbling over with joy and happiness, they had again +gotten back in the automobile that Trouble was missed. + +"Oh, where is your little brother?" exclaimed Lola. + +"Why, I thought you had him!" said Janet. + +"And I thought you did. We must have left him back in the store. Let's +look!" + +But Trouble was not there! He was missing! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TROUBLE AND SKYROCKET + + +You can imagine there was much excitement and some very frightened +feelings in the hearts of all the children when the clerks in the store +where the five and ten cent Christmas presents had been bought said +Trouble was not there. + +"But where can he be?" asked Janet, hardly able to keep back the tears. + +"Perhaps he went out and walked back to the store where Uncle Toby is +buying his things," suggested Lola. "Let's look there." + +"I guess that's where he is all right," said Teddy. + +But Trouble was not in the grocery store, and Uncle Toby, who had +finished his shopping, was as much surprised and alarmed as were the +children when told what had happened. + +"I guess the little tyke may have walked out by himself and gotten into +the auto," said Uncle Toby. + +But Trouble was not in the big closed automobile. And then a frantic +search began. People in the stores where Uncle Toby and the children had +been lent their aid, and when after fifteen minutes it was sure that the +little boy was not in the neighborhood, the constable was called on and +the search made up and down the street. + +"Well, we'll find him, of course," said Uncle Toby, speaking more +hopefully than he really felt. "What happened, I suppose, is that he +wandered out of the store, to find me, maybe, and he got in the wrong +place. We'll look in every building along Main Street." + +This was done, and the houses on side streets were visited, too, but +without effect. Trouble seemed to have vanished completely and +mysteriously. + +By this time Janet was crying, as were the other girls, and the boys +tried not to let the tears in their eyes be seen. + +"Where can he be?" asked the Curlytops over and over again, when each +store had been searched twice. + +"I'll tell you what I think happened," said Uncle Toby. "Trouble +wandered away from you, while you were buying your Christmas presents. +He wandered out into the street and got confused. Maybe he started +crying in the street, and some farmer and his wife, in their sled, may +have taken him in to comfort him." + +"But what would they do with him?" asked Ted. + +"Some farmer and his wife picked Trouble up off the street and took him +home with them," repeated Mr. Bardeen, as if he knew this was so. And he +really believed it. + +"Why would they do that?" asked Jan, with trembling lips. + +"They may have thought Trouble was the child of some neighbor whom they +knew, and they planned to take him home. Depend on it--that's what +happened!" + +"But how will we get Trouble back?" asked Ted. + +"Why, the farmer, whoever he is, will find out his mistake, and he'll +bring the little fellow back to town again," was the answer. "That's +what will happen. But I'll get as many men as I can, and with the +constable we'll inquire of all the farmers around here. In that way +we'll get Trouble back quicker." + +There were willing searchers, and soon the country around Crystal Lake +was being searched by men and women in automobiles and sleds who +inquired at each farmhouse for a little boy taken away by mistake. + +But as night came and no Trouble had been found, the Curlytops and their +playmates began to feel very sad indeed. + +Uncle Toby decided to take the children home and leave them with Aunt +Sallie in the cabin, while he kept on with the search. + +"Trouble missing and Skyrocket gone!" thought Uncle Toby to himself, as +he drove back in the automobile. "This will be a sad Christmas, when I +meant it to be such a happy one." + +But it would not be Christmas for two days, and much might happen in +that time. + +It was nearly dusk when the big automobile drew near the old deserted +cabin of Newt Baker, from which the strange man had once been seen +running away. Looking from the window on his side, Ted peered at the old +shack, and as he did so he uttered a cry of surprise and wonder. + +"What is it?" asked Uncle Toby, quickly bringing the machine to a stop, +for he thought some one had opened a door and fallen out. + +"It's Trouble! I saw him at the window just now! In there!" and Ted +pointed to the old cabin. + +"Trouble in there? It can't be!" said Uncle Toby. + +But just then Janet set up a cry. + +"Yes, he is, Uncle Toby! I saw him!" + +Mr. Bardeen lost little time in jumping from the automobile. Followed by +the children, he ran to the door of the cabin, and as he opened it he +heard the barking of a dog mingled with the crying voice of Trouble. An +instant later Skyrocket rushed out to greet his friends, and then +Trouble came from an inner room, toddling into the arms of Janet. + +"Oh, William! how did you ever get here?" cried Lola. + +"And Skyrocket, too! Look! Here's our dog!" shouted Ted. + +With the high voices of the children, the barking of Skyrocket, and the +crying of Trouble, there was so much noise that no one heard footsteps +coming from the room out of which the missing boy had rushed until +suddenly a strange man stood on the threshold. + +"Look!" cried Tom, glancing up at this man. "There's the tramp!" + +And they all saw the same stranger who had rushed away from the cottage +the time Uncle Toby went to the well to get water for the automobile +radiator. + +"What are you doing here?" asked Uncle Toby in a stern voice. "And did +you try to kidnap him?" Mr. Bardeen pointed to little William, who was +sobbing in Janet's arms. And as he saw this and thought what a lot of +trouble seemed to have been caused by this man, Uncle Toby started +toward him as if in anger. + +"Don't hit me!" pleaded the man. "I'm in trouble! I've had a lot of +trouble. I was in the war--and--but that was long ago--and--" + +His voice was very faint, and as Uncle Toby walked toward him the man +tried to run back into the room. But his foot slipped and he fell, +striking his head heavily on the floor. Then he rolled over and lay very +quiet. + +"He's fainted, I guess," said Tom. + +"Looks so," agreed Uncle Toby. "Well, we've found Trouble, anyhow. +That's the big thing. I don't know how this man got him or what he +intended to do with him. But I'm going to tell the police. I guess he'd +better have a doctor, too," he added. "He's cut his head in his fall. +Ted, you and Tom go to the next house," he went on. "There's a telephone +there. Tell Mr. Hick to call up the police, let them know we have found +the missing boy and have them send out a doctor. It's a long walk to Mr. +Hick's place, but I guess you won't be afraid. Then come back here. I +don't want to leave this man alone, as I'd have to do if we all went +away in the auto." + +"We'll go to the telephone," said Tom and Ted, and Harry went with them. + +As soon as the boys started tramping through the gathering dusk to Mr. +Hick's house, Janet quieted Trouble and got Skyrocket to stop barking. +This last was hard because the dog was so overjoyed at being with his +friends again. There was a broken rope around his neck, showing that he +had been kept tied up since he had been taken away. But he seemed to +have been well treated and fed. + +"Can Trouble tell us what happened and how this man got him?" asked +Uncle Toby of Janet, who was holding her little brother. The "tramp," as +he was called, still lay where he had fallen in a faint. + +Janet understood Trouble's baby talk better than any one else, and she +soon had his story out of him. He had wandered out of the store, it +seemed, and on the sidewalk in front had been spoken to by the man who +had brought him to the lonely cabin. The tramp and Trouble rode out to +the cabin in a farmer's sled, so the little boy said. + +"I can understand how that might happen," said Uncle Toby. "Some farmer +would be glad to give the man and Trouble a ride out into the country. +And it might have been some farmer from a distance, who didn't know that +no one lived here. Such a farmer wouldn't be surprised at Trouble and +the man getting out here at the lonely cabin. Well, things are coming +out all right, and maybe this tramp didn't intend to do anything mean. +We'll have to wait until he gets better so he can tell us what +happened." + +The stranger was still lying very quiet on the floor of the lonely +cabin. It was a long time before the three boys came back, but soon +after them the constable and the doctor arrived. The doctor said the man +was not badly hurt, but should have good care. And as it was thought he +might have tried to kidnap Trouble he was put under arrest. + +Of course the man himself did not know this, for he was still in a +faint. The doctor said the blow on his head caused this. But he was +taken away by the constable and the doctor to the doctor's own home, +where he could be well cared for until he was well enough to be put in +jail, for he was under arrest for having carried off Trouble. + +Then the Curlytops and their playmates went on to Uncle Toby's cabin, a +happy jolly crowd, now that all worry was removed. They had William with +them, and also Skyrocket. + +"But I wonder how that tramp got my dog?" mused Ted. + +"He might have found him wandering in the woods," said Uncle Toby. But +he did not really believe this. There was something queer about that +tramp. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A HAPPY REUNION + + +Such joyous times as there were next day! It was the day before +Christmas, and, as every one knows, it is the jolliest time in the year, +with one exception. That exception is Christmas itself. + +"When are we going to the station to meet the folks?" asked the +Curlytops and their playmates, over and over again. For Mr. and Mrs. +Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, and the mother of Harry and Mary, now out +of the hospital, were to come on the same train, to spend the Christmas +holidays at Uncle Toby's. + +"Oh, we'll go soon now," said Mr. Bardeen, and the children could hardly +wait. Uncle Toby had arranged for an extra automobile to bring the grown +folks from the station to his cabin, as the Bardeen car would be well +filled. + +After what seemed many hours, though it was really not more than a wait +of thirty minutes at the station, the toot of a whistle was heard around +a curve in the track. + +"Here comes the train!" cried Ted. + +"Oh, what a lovely Christmas this is going to be!" sighed Janet. + +Out of the car came the mother and father of the Curlytops, then the +mother and father of Tom and Lola, and then, more slowly, Mrs. Benton. + +"Oh, we're so glad to see you!" cried the Curlytops and their playmates, +each to the proper parents. There was hugging and kissing, and in +excited tones the story of the missing boy and dog was quickly told. + +"It is very good of you, Mr. Bardeen, to ask me out here," said Mrs. +Benton. "I feel sure I shall grow well and strong now, and I can look +after my two children." + +"That's all right, Susan!" was the hearty answer. "I'm glad to have you +and the children. We're going to have a jolly Christmas." + +And indeed it seemed so, for Mr. and Mrs. Martin found a chance to tell +Ted and Janet that it was all right about the money--that Mr. Martin was +not going to lose it after all. His trip had saved it for him. + +As the automobiles were about to start off, the constable came up to +Uncle Toby and said: + +"That strange man--the one who fell and hurt himself at the cabin when +you found the kidnapped boy--wants to see you, Mr. Bardeen." + +"Wants to see me?" asked Uncle Toby, in surprise. + +"Yes. It seems he is much better now, and is in his right mind." + +"Was he out of his mind before?" asked Uncle Toby, while the others +listened eagerly. + +"Yes, he was most of the time, though not always. He's a soldier, it +seems, or was. He fought in the big war and was hurt or gassed, or +something, and lost his mind. He really doesn't know what happened to +him, except that he ran away from different hospitals, got to this +country somehow, and has been wandering around ever since, living as +best he could. But he's all right now. The doctor said that fall he had +did something to his head and gave him back his right senses, so he's +all right now, and he's asking for you." + +"What's his name, and why does he want to see me?" asked Uncle Toby. + +"He says he wants to explain that he didn't try to kidnap the little +boy," the constable went on. "And he didn't steal the dog, either. The +dog came to the cabin, made friends with him, and the man kept him. +Though maybe the dog would have gone to you if he hadn't been tied up. +But the man's very anxious to see you and explain all this. I said I'd +go get you. I went out to your cabin, and a lady there said you'd come +here to the station, so I hurried back, and here I am. Could you come +and see that man for a few minutes?" + +"Why, I suppose I could, yes," answered Uncle Toby. "But who is he, +anyhow? You say he was a soldier in the big war?" + +"Yes. And he says his name is Frank Benton. He--" + +But there was an excited cry from the mother of Mary and Harry. + +"Frank Benton!" she exclaimed. "Why, that was my husband's name! My +husband fought in the war! We thought he was killed, but we never could +be sure of it, as no record was found. Oh, if this should be your +missing father, children!" and with tears in her eyes she looked at her +boy and girl. + +"We'll soon find out!" cried Uncle Toby. + +"To the doctor's! First house around that corner," directed the +constable. + +Trembling with eagerness and hope, Mrs. Benton, with Harry and Mary, +went into the room where the injured man lay in a white bed. He was much +better now, and the constable did not go along, since he was not to be +arrested, as what he had done had been when he was out of his head +through a war injury. + +"Frank!" cried Mrs. Benton, as soon as she caught sight of the man. + +"Susan!" he murmured, holding out his arms. And then such a happy +reunion as there was. "My, how big the children have become!" exclaimed +Mr. Benton, through his glad tears. "To think I saw them in the room +with the Curlytops and didn't know them." + +"And they didn't know you," said his wife. "But now we have each other! +Oh, how happy I am. This will be the best Christmas in all the world!" + +And it was--for every one at Uncle Toby's cabin. + +There is not much more to tell. The mystery was all cleared up. Mr. +Benton had been wounded in the war, an injury to his brain making him +out of his head, though not dangerously so. He wandered away, escaping +from one hospital after another under the mistaken notion that the +doctors and nurses were trying to harm him. + +In his wanderings he finally reached the neighborhood of Crystal Lake. +He found the old deserted cabin and made his home there, living on what +he could pick up or take from the farmhouses. Thus the rumor of tramps +and burglars was talked of at the lake. Poor Mr. Benton was so timid +that he ran away when Uncle Toby came to draw water. + +It was Mr. Benton who took Aunt Sallie's plum pudding from the pantry, +though he did not know he was stealing. And it was he who looked in the +window, thus frightening Janet. And, as he said, he had found Skyrocket +wandering in the woods. There was a loose board on one side of the +cabin, a board Uncle Toby had forgotten about, and Skyrocket got out +through that hole the night he disappeared. After getting him to the +lonely cabin Mr. Benton became so fond of the dog that he tied him up. +Though Skyrocket might have remained of his own accord, for he had made +friends with the wounded soldier. + +It was while strolling about the streets of the village that the father +of Mary and Harry saw Trouble wandering out of the five and ten cent +store. Always fond of children, Mr. Benton made friends with William, +and Trouble took a liking to the strange man. + +Then, somehow or other, the idea of taking Trouble to the lonely cabin +came into the head of the man, and he got a ride out in the sled of a +strange farmer. But once in the deserted shack Trouble became frightened +and began to cry. Mr. Benton did not know what to do, his head was +troubling him, and he realized dimly that he might get into difficulties +with the police. He left Trouble in a room, trying to think what was +best to do to get the little boy back to his friends, and then Uncle +Toby came along. + +After that things happened quickly. Mr. Benton slipped and fell, and +the blow on his head did what the doctors and nurses could not seem +to do for him. It brought him back to his right mind. + +"And we'll soon have you out at my cabin, spending Christmas with the +Curlytops!" said Uncle Toby, when everything had been explained. + +"Oh, what a happy time it will be!" said Mr. Benton. + +That night he was taken out to the cabin, and there was reunited with +his little family. And such a gladsome, happy, and thankful Christmas +eve was never known before! + +It seemed that the children never would go to bed, but at last they +quieted down and then--well, what always happens on Christmas eve took +place after that. + +The Christmas tree was wondrously trimmed, empty stockings began to +swell out and there was even one for Skyrocket which was laden to +overflowing with dog biscuit. + +The sun shone bright on the snow around Crystal Lake. + +"Merry Christmas!" cried the Curlytops, as they rushed to see what Santa +Claus had left for them. + +"Merry Christmas!" echoed their playmates. + +"The happiest Christmas in all the world!" said Harry and Mary. For they +had found their father, long lost to them. + +"I 'ikes Ch'is'mus," murmured Trouble, his mouth full of candy. "I 'ikes +Ch'is'mus an' Unk Toby an' everybody! I 'ike 'oo!" he said to Mr. +Benton. + +"And I like you," said the father of Mary and Harry. "Only for you and +Uncle Toby I might not be here, happy with my family. Merry Christmas to +everybody!" + +And so, with the gladsome echoes of "Merry Christmas" filling the air, +we will say good-bye to the Curlytops. + + +THE END + + + + + THE CURLYTOPS SERIES + + By HOWARD R. GARIS + + Author of the famous "Bedtime Animal Stories" + + _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_ + + ~Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid~ + + [Illustration] + + _Stories for children by the best author of books for little people._ + + + 1. THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM + _or Vacation Days in the Country_ + + A tale of happy vacation days on a farm. + + + 2. THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND + _or Camping out with Grandpa_ + + The Curlytops were delighted when grandpa took them to + camp on Star Island. + + + 3. THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN + _or Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds_ + + Winter was a jolly time for the Curlytops, with their skates + and sleds, on the lakes and hills. + + + 4. THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK'S RANCH + _or Little Folks on Pony Back_ + + Out West on their uncle's ranch they have a wonderful time among + the cowboys and on pony back. + + + 5. THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE + _or On the Water with Uncle Ben_ + + The Curlytops camp out on the shores of a beautiful lake. + + + 6. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS + _or Uncle Toby's Strange Collection_ + + When an old uncle leaves them to care for his collection of pets, + they get up a circus for charity. + + + 7. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES + _or Jolly Times Through the Holidays_ + + The children have great times with their uncle's collection + of animals. + + + 8. THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS + _or Fun at the Lumber Camp_ + + Exciting times in the forest for Curlytops. + + + + + THE RUBY AND RUTHY SERIES + + By MINNIE E. PAULL + + _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid._ + + [Illustration] + + _Four bright and entertaining stories told in Mrs. Paull's happiest + manner are among the best stories ever written for young girls, and + cannot fail to interest any between the ages of eight and fifteen + years._ + + + RUBY AND RUTHY + + Ruby and Ruthy were not old enough to go to school, but they + certainly were lively enough to have many exciting adventures, + that taught many useful lessons needed to be learned by little + girls. + + + RUBY'S UPS AND DOWNS + + There were troubles enough for a dozen grown-ups, but Ruby got + ahead of them all, and, in spite of them, became a favorite in + the lively times at school. + + + RUBY AT SCHOOL + + Ruby had many surprises when she went to the impossible place + she heard called a boarding school, but every experience helped + to make her a stronger-minded girl. + + + RUBY'S VACATION + + This volume shows how a little girl improves by having varieties + of experience both happy and unhappy, provided she thinks, and is + able to use her good sense. Ruby lives and learns. + + + + + THE LINGER-NOT SERIES + + By AGNES MILLER + + _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_ + + _Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_ + + [Illustration] + + _This new series of girls' books is in a new style of story + writing. The interest is in knowing the girls and seeing them + solve the problems that develop their character. Incidentally, a + great deal of historical information is imparted, and a fine + atmosphere of responsibility is made pleasing and useful to the + reader._ + + + 1. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE MYSTERY HOUSE + _or The Story of Nine Adventurous Girls_ + + How the Linger-Not girls met and formed their club seems + commonplace, but this writer makes it fascinating, and how they + made their club serve a great purpose continues the interest to + the end, and introduces a new type of girlhood. + + + 2. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE VALLEY FEUD + _or The Great West Point Chain_ + + The Linger-Not girls had no thought of becoming mixed up with + feuds or mysteries, but their habit of being useful soon + entangled them in some surprising adventures that turned out + happily for all, and made the valley better because of their + visit. + + + 3. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THEIR GOLDEN QUEST + _or The Log of the Ocean Monarch_ + + For a club of girls to become involved in a mystery leading back + into the times of the California gold-rush, seems unnatural + until the reader sees how it happened, and how the girls helped + one of their friends to come into her rightful name and + inheritance, forms a fine story. + + + + + THE RADIO GIRLS SERIES + + By MARGARET PENROSE + + _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_ + + _Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_ + + [Illustration] + + _A new and up-to-date series, taking in the activities of + several bright girls who become interested in radio. The stories + tell of thrilling exploits, outdoor life and the great part the + Radio plays in the adventures of the girls and in solving their + mysteries. Fascinating books that girls of all ages will want to + read._ + + + 1. THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN + _or A Strange Message from the Air_ + + Showing how Jessie Norwood and her chums became interested in + radiophoning, how they gave a concert for a worthy local + charity, and how they received a sudden and unexpected call for + help out of the air. A girl who was wanted as a witness in a + celebrated law case had disappeared, and how the radio girls + went to the rescue is told in an absorbing manner. + + + 2. THE RADIO GIRLS ON THE PROGRAM + _or Singing and Reciting at the Sending Station_ + + When listening in on a thrilling recitation or a superb concert + number who of us has not longed to "look behind the scenes" to + see how it was done? The girls had made the acquaintance of a + sending station manager and in this volume are permitted to get + on the program, much to their delight. A tale full of action and + not a little fun. + + + 3. THE RADIO GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND + _or The Wireless from the Steam Yacht_ + + In this volume the girls travel to the seashore and put in a + vacation on an island where is located a big radio sending + station. The big brother of one of the girls owns a steam yacht + and while out with a pleasure party those on the island receive + word by radio that the yacht is on fire. A tale thrilling to the + last page. + + + + + THE BETTY GORDON SERIES + + By ALICE B. EMERSON + + _Author of the Famous "Ruth Fielding" Series_ + + _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_ + + _Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_ + + [Illustration] + + _A series of stories by Alice B. Emerson which are bound to make + this writer more popular than ever with her host of girl + readers._ + + + 1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM + _or The Mystery of a Nobody_ + + At the age of twelve Betty is left an orphan. Her uncle sends + her to live on a farm. + + + 2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON + _or Strange Adventures in a Great City_ + + In this volume Betty goes to the National Capitol to find her + uncle and has several unusual adventures. + + + 3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL + _or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune_ + + From Washington the scene is shifted to the great oil fields of + our country. A splendid picture of the oil field operations of + to-day. + + + 4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL + _or The Treasure of Indian Chasm_ + + Seeking the treasure of Indian Chasm makes an exceedingly + interesting incident. + + + 5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP + _or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne_ + + At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery + involving a girl whom she had previously met in Washington. + + + 6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK + _or Gay Days on the Boardwalk_ + + Adventure in high society let loose on the seashore. + + + + + THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES + + By ALICE B. EMERSON + + _12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_ + + _Ruth Fielding will live in juvenile Fiction._ + + [Illustration] + + RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL + _or Jasper Parloe's Secret_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL + _or Solving the Campus Mystery_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP + _or Lost in the Backwoods_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE + _POINT or Nita, the Girl Castaway_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH + _or Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys_ + + RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND + _or The Old Hunter's Treasure Box_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM + _or What Became of the Raby Orphans_ + + RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES + _or The Missing Pearl Necklace_ + + RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES + _or Helping the Dormitory Fund_ + + RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE + _or Great Days in the Land of Cotton_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE + _or The Missing Examination Papers_ + + RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE + _or College Girls in the Land of Gold_ + + RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS + _or Doing Her Bit for Uncle Sam_ + + RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT + _or The Hunt for a Lost Soldier_ + + RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND + _or A Red Cross Worker's Ocean Perils_ + + RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST + _or The Hermit of Beach Plum Point_ + + RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST + _or The Indian Girl Star of the Movies_ + + RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE + _or The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands_ + + RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING + _or A Moving Picture that Became Real_ + + + ~Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue~ + CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curlytops and Their Playmates, by +Howard R. Garis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES *** + +***** This file should be named 25143.txt or 25143.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/1/4/25143/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |