"Justhear 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'tpullthe train," admitted Ted. "But we could sort of—now—dosomething, couldn't we, Uncle Toby?" he asked.
"I believe we could, and I think that iswhat 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," theconductor 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 childrenready 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 withthe 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 isSnuff!" 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 hadmuch 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.
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Asthe 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 theworld 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!" criedTrouble, 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 CrystalLake, 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 tocome 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 thetable," 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!"
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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."
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 gottenover 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 andhad 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 thatnight, 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 sawTrouble 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 flakeson 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 muchso 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 fellowwould 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.
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Thiswas 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 nowquite 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 thismorning, 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, ashe 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 UncleToby'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 hardwork 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 wasopened 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!"
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Uncle Tobybrought 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 newsabout 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 tokeep 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 Poconohad 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 beforedoing 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 theautomobile 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.
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