CHAPTER IVTHE GOAT WAGON
The Curlytopsstood and looked at their little brother. That was all they could do for a few seconds. It all seemed so very queer and funny. There sat Trouble right in the middle of the hen’s nest, and he had sat down so hard, or rather, the goat had pushed him down so quickly, that many of the eggs were broken.
“I’s a chickie—dat’s what I is,” said Trouble. “An’ I dot a bossy-cow. He’s all mine—I ketched him. He was jumpin’ over de grass like a grasshopper an’ I ketched him. I got him now!”
“Yes, he has got him,” remarked Ted. “It’s a fine goat, too. I wonder whose he is?”
“Dis a bossy-cow, an’ I ketched him,” said Trouble again. “I’s a hen, too, an’ I’s goin’ to have ’ittle chickies!”
“Chickens can’t come out of broken eggs—anyhow not till after the hen sits on ’em and the chickens break the shells themselves,” explained Jan. “I saw a chickie break out of the shell once. But, oh, Trouble! you are such a sight! What will mother say, I wonder?”
“She like de bossy-cow,” answered the little fellow.
“It isn’t a cow. That’s a goat,” said Ted. “And it’s a wonder he didn’t butt you and hurt you.”
“I guess he’s tame,” remarked Jan. “He looks like a nice goat.”
Ted went up to the animal Trouble was holding by the horns and patted it. The goat made a soft bleating sound, like a sheep, and seemed to like being rubbed.
“Heisa nice goat,” went on Ted. “I wish we could keep him.”
“He’s mine,” announced Trouble. “He’s a ’ittle bossy-cow, isn’t him?”
“Well, you can call him that,” laughed Jan. “Let go of him, Trouble, and let’s see if he’ll run away.”
Baby William let his chubby hands slip from the goat’s horns, and the animal backed away a few steps but did not leave the place.Instead he came close to Ted and rubbed his little black nose on the boy’s hand.
“He likes you,” said Jan. “Oh, wouldn’t it be great if we could keep him for our own, and hitch him to a pony cart, Ted?”
“A pony cart would be too big. It would have to be a goat cart.”
“I’s got a go-cart at home. We can put de ’ittle goat-bossy-cow in dat an’ div him a wide,” put in Trouble in his own peculiar language.
“Brother Ted means agoatcart—not a baby-carriagego-cart,” explained Jan. “Oh, Trouble, wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep the goat?”
“Yes. Him’s my goat,” said Trouble, but he was more interested just then in himself. He had pulled himself to his feet by taking hold of some of the branches of the bush over his head, and now he turned half around to look at the seat of his little bloomers.
“Oh, Trouble!” cried Ted, laughing, “you look just like a fried egg!”
“Or an omelet!” added Jan. “What shall we do with him?”
Ted did not know. Nearly always when his little brother fell in the mud, or got dirty from playing in the yard, his motheror Nora took charge of him. Neither of them was at hand how. What could be done?
“We could let him ride home on the goat,” said Ted, scratching his head as he had seen his father do when he was trying to think.
“Oh! are you going to take him home—to grandpa’s?” asked Jan.
“We’ve got to. Can’t leave him here. He’s got to be washed and dressed and——”
“I was talking about the goat,” laughed Jan.
“Oh! I meant Trouble. But we’ll take the goat home, too. He may belong to somebody else, but maybe we can keep him a little while and have some fun. Wonder what his name is?”
“Bossy,” said Trouble. “Him’s a bossy!”
“No; that’s a cow’s name, and this is a goat,” explained Jan. “We’ll have to think up a name for him. But, oh, Trouble! how are weevergoing to get you clean? Those eggs are so messy!”
“That’s what I meant by letting him ride the goat,” went on Ted. “Most of the whites and yallers would come off on the goat.”
“Then we’d have to wash it,” said Jan.
“That would be easy,” declared Ted. “All we’d have to do would be to let him swim in the brook.”
“Dere’s a brook over here,” said Trouble, waving his hand to show where he meant. “I frowed stones in it, an’ den I found de bossy-cow-goat. I wash myse’f in de brook.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Jan. “Maybe we can wash off some of the egg before mother sees him, Ted. She’ll blame us for not keeping watch of him.”
“He ran out of the barn before I saw him,” said Teddy. “Well, come on, let’s go to the water. Wait, though. I don’t want this goat to get away. I’ll tie a piece of string to his horns and lead him along with us.”
Ted found a piece of thin cord among the many things in his pockets, and fastened a bit to the horns of the goat. If the animal had not wanted to go along with the children the string would not have pulled him, for it could have easily been broken. However the goat seemed to have taken a liking to the Curlytops, and it followed Jan and Ted as they led their little brother toward the brook.
It was not far from where Trouble had sat down in the hen’s nest, and then, tying the goat to an old stump near by, Ted and Jan started to clean Baby William’s bloomers of the egg stains. They stood him on the edge of the brook, and by using bunches of grass for wash cloths they got off some of the sticky whites and yellows. Trouble was kept quiet while this was going on by being allowed to pet the goat which came and stood near him.
“Him’s a nice goat,” said Trouble, and Ted and Jan thought the same thing.
Jan was scrubbing rather hard with a bunch of grass at a very eggy-yellow spot on one leg of Trouble’s bloomers when, all of a sudden, the little fellow slid backwards, and before his brother or sister could catch him he sat down “splash!” in the shallow water of the brook.
“Oh, oh!” gasped Ted, almost slipping into the stream himself, he was so surprised.
“Oh, Trouble!” murmured Jan. “Oh, dear!”
“Dere! Now ’ook what you did!” said Trouble himself, never offering to get up. “You pushed me in! But I get nice an’ cleannow!” and he smiled joyously, for thewater was warm and Trouble always liked to have his bath, more than once jumping into the tub before all his clothes were off.
“Yes, I guess you will get nice and clean,” laughed Ted. “Don’t you care, Jan,” he said to his sister. “This is the best way to wash off those eggs. Come on, Trouble, get up, and we’ll squeeze as much water out of you as we can. Then we’ll take you home.”
“Will you wide me on de bossy-goat?”
“Yes, we’ll ride you on the goat if he’ll let you stay on his back.”
Jan and Ted wrung as much water as they could from Trouble’s bloomers. They were very wet, but falling into the brook had taken out most of the egg stains. Then the little chap was lifted to the back of the goat. The animal did not mind in the least.
“He’s been ridden like this before,” decided Ted. “And I guess he’s been hitched to a wagon, too.”
“Oh, if we only could do that!” sighed Jan. “It would be such fun!”
“Maybe we can,” her brother told her as he held Trouble on the goat’s back with one hand and guided the animal with another hand on one horn. Jan did the same on the other side.
THE LITTLE CHAP WAS LIFTED TO THE BACK OF THE GOATTHE LITTLE CHAP WAS LIFTED TO THE BACK OF THE GOAT.The Curlytops at Cherry FarmPage50
THE LITTLE CHAP WAS LIFTED TO THE BACK OF THE GOAT.The Curlytops at Cherry FarmPage50
THE LITTLE CHAP WAS LIFTED TO THE BACK OF THE GOAT.The Curlytops at Cherry FarmPage50
“Where can we get a wagon?” Janet asked.
“Make one,” said her brother. “There’s lots of old wood around grandpa’s barn. Wait till we get home.”
On the way, riding on the goat’s back, Trouble told how he had slipped out of the barn and how, after throwing stones in the brook, he had seen what he thought was a “’ittle bossy-cow.” He had taken the goat by the horns. This the animal, being very gentle, let him do without offering to butt him. Then Trouble led the goat along until, half by accident and half in playfulness, the goat had shoved Baby William backward into the nest of the hen that had stolen away from the chicken yard to lay her eggs under the bush.
“Oh, my dear children! what in the world have you been doing?” cried Mother Martin as she saw the little procession come down the path toward the house. “Where have you been?”
“Oh, Mother! Trouble found a goat, and we’re going to keep him!” cried Ted.
“’Ittle bossy-goat,” put in Trouble.
“And he sat down in a hen’s nest, but we washed him off!” added Jan.
“Who, the goat or Trouble?” asked Daddy Martin with a laugh.
“Trouble,” answered Ted. “He was all whites and yallers, but he’s pretty clean now, and please may we keep him?”
“Who, Trouble or the goat?” asked Grandpa Martin.
“Both,” laughed Jan.
“He’s an awful nice goat, and Trouble just loves him,” went on Teddy.
Then the older children told what had happened, and Trouble was carried away, kicking and crying, to have clean, dry clothes put on him. He wanted to stay and play with the goat, but Nora promised he should see his new pet in a little while.
“I think I know whose goat that is,” said Grandpa Martin, after looking at the animal. “They moved away and couldn’t take the goat with them. They left him with Farmer Emery, but I did hear that Emery didn’t want him, because Billy was always wandering off.
“I guess the goat must be lonesome for children, because the folks that owned him had half a dozen. They were always riding or driving him. Emery hasn’t any young folks on his farm, and the goat has run awayonce or twice. Emery doesn’t care much about him.”
“Then may we keep him?” begged Ted.
“Well, we’ll see,” half-promised grandpa. “If Emery doesn’t want him, and the family that used to own the goat doesn’t claim him, I guess we’ve got room for him here. He’s a good and gentle animal,” went on the old gentleman to Mrs. Martin, who seemed a bit worried. “Ted and Jan can manage him all right.”
“I wouldn’t want them to get hurt,” said Mother Martin.
“This goat wouldn’t hurt even Trouble,” declared Ted. “He’s awful nice. Aren’t you, Nicknack?” he asked, patting the new pet.
“Nicknack! Is that his name?” asked Daddy Martin.
“I named him that,” explained Ted. “He ate so many things when we were riding Trouble home on his back—grass, weeds, some paper from an old tin can. It was just like the nicknack crackers you buy in the store—all different kinds. So I called him Nicknack.”
“It’s a nice name,” said Janet. “We call our goat Nicknack.”
“Better wait until you’re sure he’s yours,” suggested her father.
“Oh, I guess they can keep him,” put in Grandpa Martin.
And he was right. Mr. Emery had no use for the goat. The family who had left him could not be found, having moved far away, and, as Grandpa Martin said, there was plenty of room at Cherry Farm for the goat.
“Well, our Curlytops have been here only one night,” said Mother Martin the next morning, “and they’ve found a goat. If they keep this up, by the time we leave Cherry Farm, we’ll have a regular circus.”
“Never mind, as long as they have a good time,” returned her husband, smiling.
The children, even Trouble, were out before breakfast to look at the goat that had been put in a colt’s box stall for the night. Nicknack was glad to see his little friends, and bleated softly as they opened the door of his new home. One of the farm hands had given him some hay and oats to eat.
“And now to build the goat wagon,” said Ted, after breakfast. “May we take some old boards and wheels if we can find them in the barn, Grandpa?”
“Yes, take anything you like.”
“I’s going to have a bossy-goat ride!” laughed Trouble, who, it seemed, did not get over the idea that the goat was part cow. I suppose it was because both animals have horns.
Feeling quite happy now that they were going to have a real goat for their very own, and feeling very glad at the chance of having some rides in a wagon that Nicknack would pull, Ted, Janet and Trouble started for the barn.
“Do you really think you can make a wagon?” asked Janet of her brother.
“Course I can,” he answered. “Didn’t I make a house, lots of times—a playhouse that we had fun in?”
“But a wagon is different,” said the little girl. “A playhouse stays in one place, but a wagon has to go around and around on its wheels.”
“I know,” said Ted, as if he had thought it all out long before, “a wagon has to have wheels on it, and I’m going to put wheels on this one. Then Nicknack can pull us all over the farm.”
“Will he pull me, too?” asked Trouble.
“Of course he will,” laughed Janet, givingher small brother a big hug. “You can have a nice ride.”
“On his back?” asked Trouble. “Like I see in pictures!”
“He means those cowboy pictures—like in the Wild West,” put in Ted.
“Oh, no, I don’t guess you could ridethatway, William,” went on Janet. “You might fall off. It’s lots nicer to ride in the wagon.”
“Couldn’t I ride on Nicknack’s back if you holded me on?” Trouble wanted to know.
“Well, maybe. We’ll see,” said Janet, who did not want to make any promises. Baby William was always sure to remember them no matter if everyone else forgot.
“I ’ikes a goat,” murmured the little fellow, as he walked along beside his brother and sister. “I ’ikes a goat—much!”
“Yes, Nicknack is a fine goat. I hope he’ll always live with us,” said Ted.
They were almost at the barn now, when, all at once, the children heard someone shouting.
“What’s that?” asked Janet.
“Maybe the barn’s on fire!” cried Ted, starting to run.
“Wait for me!” begged Janet.
“An’ me, too!” added William, for Ted had let go of his hand as he started off.
The shouting kept up, and the children could hear one of the men who worked on the farm calling:
“Look out! Look out! He’s loose! He’s running away!”
Ted stopped running and looked back at his sister and little brother.
“Oh, what is it?” asked Janet, her eyes big with wonder.
“I—I guess maybe the bull has got loose,” said Teddy. A few days before, a farmer who lived some miles away from the children’s grandfather had asked Mr. Martin if a bull, which the farmer had bought, could not be kept for a while in the barn on Cherry Farm. Mr. Martin had said it could be, and the animal, which was quite wild, had been shut up in a distant part of the stable, where he bellowed all day long.
“Oh, if it’s that bad bull,” said Janet, “we’d better go into the house and stay there.”
“Maybe it’s only one of the horses,” said Teddy, after thinking it over a bit, and listening to the calls of the man in the barnyard.“If it’s only a horse we don’t have to be scared.”
The truth was that Ted wanted to see what was going on, even if the bull had gotten loose, and he did not want to have to go back to the house with his sister and Trouble.
“Well, if it’s a horse I’m not afraid,” said Janet. “Let’s go on.”
“Could I have a ride on a horse?” asked Trouble.
“Oh, not now!” cried Janet. “He’s running away, maybe, and he might run away with you!”
Trouble shook his head. He would not like that. He took hold of his sister’s hand on one side, and Ted’s on the other, and together the three children started on toward the barn once more. They could still hear the cries:
“He’s loose! He’s loose! Look out!”
All at once Ted cried:
“Oh, it’s our goat Nicknack! He’s the one that’s loose! Look at him!”
And, as he pointed, Janet and Trouble saw the goat running about the barnyard with a farmhand chasing after him with a stick. Around and around ran the goat, andaround and around after him ran the man, calling:
“Whoa! Whoa there, nice goat! Don’t run away!”
But the goat was running away, and he didn’t “whoa” when the man told him to.
“You stay here,” directed Ted to his sister and little brother.
“What you going to do?” asked Janet.
“I’m going to help catch that goat,” answered Teddy.
“Oh, maybe he’ll butt you!” exclaimed Janet.
“No, he won’t do that,” went on Ted. “That goat knows me, and he don’t know that man. That’s why he’s scared, I guess.”
“Is the man scared?” asked Janet, as she saw him chasing around after the goat.
“No, but I guess Nicknack is,” answered Teddy. “I’ve got to help catch him so he won’t be scared. You stay here with Trouble,” and he led his sister and Baby William to a place near a corner of the barnyard fence where he thought nothing could hurt them.
“I wants to come wif you!” begged Trouble, as Teddy started off.
“No, you stay with sister and I’ll giveyou a nice ride in the goat wagon when brother makes it,” promised Janet.
“I wants a wide now,” said Trouble, as he watched the goat running, “I ’ikes to wide fast.”
“Not as fast as that, I guess,” replied Teddy, with a laugh, for Nicknack was fairly flying around the barnyard. “You’d fall off, Trouble, and bump your nose.”
Baby William didn’t want anything like that to happen, so he did not again ask to ride on the goat.
The farmhand kept on chasing Nicknack, calling him to stop, but the goat would not. Then, as Ted came near, and opened the gate of the yard around the barn, to go in, Nicknack saw what was going on.
Suddenly the goat made a dash for the open gate.
“Look out! He’s coming! He’ll try to get loose, and if he gets out maybe you’ll never catch him again!” cried the hired man.
Ted tried to close the gate, but he was not quick enough. Right past him ran the goat, knocking the little boy down, but not hurting him, I’m glad to say.
“Ugh!” grunted Ted as he struck theground. His breath seemed to be knocked out of him, as it once was when he was struck by a football.
“Oh, Ted! are you hurt?” cried Janet, who saw what had happened.
“No. I’m all right,” he answered.
The hired man, who ran out of the gate after the goat, stopped to pick up Teddy and brush some of the dirt off his clothes.
“I never did see such a goat!” cried the man. “Look at him go!”
The goat had run out of the barnyard now, jumped over a low fence and was running down the road.
“Come on!” cried Ted. “We’ve got to get him! What made him run out of the stall?”
“I did; but I didn’t mean to,” explained the man. “I was taking him some more water, for he seemed very thirsty, when I stumbled and dropped the pail. The water splashed all over him, and he got scared, I guess. He gave his head a yank, broke the strap and ran out.
“I ran after him, but I couldn’t catch him. Then you opened the gate, and there he goes!”
“But we’ve got to get him!” cried Ted,who was all right again after being knocked down by Nicknack. “We’ve got to get him. Come on!”
He and the hired man ran down the road after the goat. They were glad to see, a little distance down, that Nicknack had now stopped and was nibbling the grass.
“Now we can get him,” declared Ted.
“You’d better go up to him yourself,” said the hired man. “He might be mad at me, thinking I spilled that water on him purposely. You go up to him, and I’ll stay back.”
So Teddy, holding out his hand, walked toward Nicknack, calling gently:
“Come here, Nicknack! Come here, nice goat!”
The goat stopped nibbling the grass and looked up. He seemed to know Ted, and did not run any farther. The hired man hid behind a tree so the goat would not see him.
Slowly Ted walked toward his new pet. Still Nicknack did not run, and he let the small boy take hold of the broken strap by which Nicknack had been tied in the stall.
“Now he’s all right,” Teddy said as he led the goat along the road and back into the barnyard. Nicknack did not try to runany more. He really had been frightened when the water was spilled, and all he thought of was running away. But he seemed to know that Ted would be kind to him.
“Oh, I’m so glad you got him back,” said Janet as she walked to meet her brother.
“Where’s Trouble?” asked Ted, as he looked for Baby William.
“Oh, I forgot all about him!” exclaimed Janet. “There he goes!” and she pointed to him, walking toward a little brook that ran across one end of the barnyard.
“Catch him ’fore he wades in and gets his feet wet!” cried Ted, as he led Nicknack on.
Janet ran after her little brother, whom she had let stray away while she watched Ted go after the goat, and caught Baby William just in time. He was about to paddle in the water.
Then Nicknack was put back in the stable, and he seemed glad to be at rest once more.
“Now we can make our cart,” said Ted.
“I think you had better go and put on your play clothes before you start to make your cart,” said their mother, who had come out just at the end of the trouble with the runaway goat.
This the children did, but were quickly out at the barn again.
Wearing their old clothes, so that a little dirt would not hurt, and having promised not to let Trouble stray away this time, Jan and Ted started to build the goat wagon. In the barn were many odds and ends of boards that Ted felt sure would be just what he wanted. He knew how to hammer, nail and saw, for his father had given him a chest of tools one Christmas. Jan, too, could nail two boards together, even if some of the nails did go in crooked.
Ted found part of an old little express wagon that he had played with a year or two before while at Cherry Farm. Only two wheels were left, but one from a broken wheelbarrow made another for the goat cart, and for a fourth wheel he found an iron one that had been on a churn.
The wheels were of three different sizes, but Ted said he didn’t think that would matter any.
“It’ll be all the more fun,” declared Jan. “It’ll be such a funny, wiggily motion when we ride that it’ll be like sailing in a boat on dry land.”
“We’ll ride out first and see how fast thecherries are getting ripe,” proposed Ted, as he hammered away at the goat wagon.
“And when they get ripe and are ready to pick, we’ll help grandpa cart ’em in and sell ’em. Then maybe he’ll have lots of money and won’t have to lose the farm,” said Jan.
“Do you think he will lose it?” asked her brother anxiously.
“I don’t know. But I know there’s some kind of trouble, and grandpa and grandma are worried. I heard them talking with mother and daddy quite late last night. There’s some trouble about Cherry Farm.”
“Yes, here I is. I hasn’t runned away!” called Baby William.
“Oh, we were talking about another kind of trouble, notyou!” laughed Jan as she hugged and kissed him.
Then she helped Ted make the goat wagon, while Trouble looked on.