CHAPTER XVGRANDPA IS WORRIED
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” cried Janet, and she was so surprised that she almost fell off the fence. “Oh, The-o-dore Martin, what are you doing?”
Janet did not really mean to ask that question, for she could see plainly what her brother was doing. He was riding a very much frightened calf around the pasture, though Ted, himself, did not want to do that at all. And though the calf had not been very much frightened when Ted lassoed it by tossing the rope around its neck, the animal was frightened now. Never before, in all its short life, had anyone ridden on its back.
“Jan! Jan!” cried Ted. “Go and get grandpa and——”
That was all Ted’s sister heard, for, just then, the calf turned and ran the other wayand the wind carried Ted’s voice away from Jan.
“I wonder what he wants grandpa to do?” thought Janet. “I guess Ted wants him to stop the calf from running away. For itisrunning away!”
The calf certainly was! Of course it was not running out of the field, for the pasture was a large one with a fence all around it, and the calf could not climb over the fence nor break it down. But it was running here and there—all about—and poor Ted was on its back, clinging with both arms around the calf’s neck so he would not fall off.
Excited as she was, Jan managed to hold on to the fence, and look across Cherry Farm to where she had last seen her grandfather coming toward the pasture. But he had turned aside and was now going toward the cherry grove. He did not appear to have seen Jan and Ted, nor anything of what had happened.
“Oh, Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa!” called Janet, as loudly as she could. “Teddy’s running away with the calf—I mean the calf is running away with Teddy! Oh, do something! What shall I do? Oh, dear!”
But Grandpa Martin did not hear the littleCurlytop girl. He was too far away. Teddy, too, was shouting, but his sister could not hear what he said, as he was too far off. And, as he was farther away from his grandfather than was Jan, of course the farmer could not hear the little boy either.
“Oh, what shall I do?” Janet asked again, and she was almost ready to cry for fear her brother would be hurt. Though he was older than was she, still she felt she must look after him almost as much as she took care of Trouble—when Trouble let her.
“What’s the matter?” asked a voice behind Janet, and, turning, she saw Hal Chester, who had come up so quietly she had not heard him.
“Oh, Hal!” cried Janet, “Ted’s on the calf’s back and he can’t get off, and I don’t know how to stop him and I can’t make grandpa hear and—and—— Oh, dear!”
“My! that’s a lot of trouble!” said Hal. “I’ll see if I can help. Where’s the calf and where’s your grandfather?”
“There’s the calf,” and Janet pointed to where it was racing around, its tail held high in the air. “And grandpa is going to the cherry grove, I guess.”
“Well, I think maybe I can stop the calfwithout going after him, especially as it’s so far, and my foot doesn’t feel very well to-day,” said the lame boy. “Here he comes now,” he went on, as he saw the calf with Ted on its back swing around a corner of the pasture and head toward Janet where she still stood on the fence.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“When he comes near enough I’ll stand in front of him, jump up and down and swing my hat. I saw a man do that once to stop a runaway horse and it worked fine. I guess it’ll be the same with a runaway calf.”
“Did the horse have anybody on its back?” Janet demanded.
“I don’t believe so. But that doesn’t make any difference. Here he comes now. I’ll see what I can do.”
Hal climbed over the fence, and stood ready to do as he had said he would. The calf, with Ted still clinging to its neck, came nearer and nearer.
“Oh, Hal! Jan! Stop him! Stop him!” cried the small Curlytop boy. “Get grandpa or somebody and stop him. I’m all—all—shaken up—to—to jel-ly!” and the words seemed jarred out of poor Ted as you shake corn out of a popper.
“Hal’s going to stop him! Hal will stop him!” shouted Jan.
The racing calf was now quite close to the lame boy, who did not seem to be at all afraid. He took off his cap and began waving it around—up and down—every way. At the same time he hopped up and down, flapping his arms and shouting as loudly as he could.
“Whoa there! Stop! Whoa!” yelled Hal.
The calf still came on, but not quite so fast. Of course it might have turned to either side and gone past Hal, but maybe the little animal did not think of this. It slowed up, and did not seem to know what to do.
“Jan, you jump down and hold out your arms, too,” called Hal, and Jan did so. She waved her hands and her sunbonnet, but she forgot to jump up and down.
But this did not seem to be needed, for now the calf, seeing the fence on one side of him, and a very much excited boy and girl directly in its path, came to a sudden stop. It was going to turn and run back the other way—any way at all to get rid of that strange two-legged creature on its back.But the sudden stop did just what Jan and Hal and what Ted himself and the calf wanted—it took the Curlytop boy off the little animal’s back.
Ted slid off and fell to the ground. But as the grass was soft and long he was not a bit hurt, seeming to bounce up as though he had ridden on a load of hay or had fallen in the feather bed which Trouble had cut with the scissors.
“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Jan, as she ran to her brother. “Are you hurt?”
“I—I guess not. Nope!” he answered, as he felt of his arms and legs. “I’m much obliged to you for stopping him, Hal.”
“Oh, well, it was easy. How’d you come to get on his back?”
“I was playing cowboy.”
“Cowboys don’t ride calves,” declared Hal.
“Well, then I was a calf-boy, I guess,” and Ted laughed.
He was telling Hal how he had lassoed the calf, which, by this time, had managed to get the rope off its neck, when a voice called to the children:
“What have you been doing?”
“Oh!” they exclaimed, like the chorus ofa song; and, looking up, they saw Grandpa Martin smiling at them from the other side of the fence.
“Did anything happen?” asked the farmer.
“I—I rode one of your calves,” answered Ted. “But I—I didn’t mean to.”
“Hum!” said grandpa, and there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Calves aren’t made to ride. You might get hurt. Don’t do it again.”
Of course Ted promised that he would not and then, having picked up the piece of clothesline, which he had used as a lasso, the Curlytop boy, with his sister and the lame boy, started back for the Cherry Farm house with grandpa.
“I came over to ask Mrs. Martin to bake a cake for the fair we’re going to have,” said Hal to Ted’s grandfather. “Jan said she’s made ’em before for the Home.”
“Yes, and I guess she’ll make one this time,” said Grandpa Martin slowly. “I’d like to help some myself—giving money—but this year I’m too poor, I’m sorry to say.”
“Oh, well, I guess somebody else will give money,” said Hal cheerfully. “The chocolate cake will be great.”
“Will you get any of it to eat?” asked Jan.
“Well, no, not exactly. You see folks bake pies, cookies, cakes and so on, and they’re sold to the visitors who come to the fair.
“The last fair they had the folks most generally took the cakes they bought home with ’em, so we didn’t get any. But maybe it’s better so,” he added, though he could not help sighing a little. “We’re not supposed to have much cake. The doctors and nurses say it isn’t good for us.”
“I should think you could have a little!” exclaimed Jan. “I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to ask my mother to bake a chocolate cake special for you, Hal Chester.”
“That’ll be fine!” laughed the lame boy. “What I can’t eat I’ll give to some of the other boys and girls.”
They walked on to the farmhouse, and the Curlytops noticed that their grandfather looked worried. They could tell this, as Jan said afterward, because his face was just like her father’s the time his store burned down.
“I guess he’s worried ’cause he’s poor,” whispered Ted.
“Or maybe the cherries aren’t getting ripefast enough,” said Janet. So she asked: “Grandpa, will the cherries soon be ready to pick?”
“Oh, yes—yes—there’ll be plenty of cherries.”
“Then can’t you sell them for a bushel of money?”
“Well, my dear, I’m afraid I have too many cherries. I never saw the trees so full of them. I never had such a crop! The only trouble will be to sell them before they all spoil. I’m afraid I have too many—the price will be very low. I won’t get much for them. But don’t you little Curlytops bother about me. I guess I’ll be all right, even if I can’t give money to the Home as I’ve done before. Don’t worry about me.”
But Ted and Jan did worry, even when Grandma Martin not only promised to make a big chocolate cake for the Home but also one for Hal. Still the Curlytops did not see what they could do to help.
“But when cherry-picking time comes we can help cart ’em from the grove in the goat wagon,” said Ted.
“Yes,” agreed his sister. “Let’s go for a ride over there now, and see how long it will be before they’re ripe.”
This was a day or so after Ted had ridden the calf.
“Me come!” cried Trouble, as he saw his brother and sister getting Nicknack ready for their drive.
“Oh, yes, I s’pose you’ll have to come, Trouble!” replied Jan. “Come along!”
They rode down the shady highway in the goat wagon, listening to the birds, watching the bees and butterflies flutter from flower to flower, and thinking how lovely it was to spend a vacation at Cherry Farm. The Curlytops had forgotten, for the time, about the troubles and worries of Grandpa Martin.
All at once, as they drove the goat wagon around a turn in the road, the children saw, just in front of them, a funny wagon, painted red, and drawn by a white horse. On the back step of the wagon, which looked a little like those driven by gypsies, stood a very fat man. He was so fat that it is a wonder the wagon did not tip up, horse and all, from his weight on the back step. But perhaps it had extra heavy front wheels to hold that end down to the ground.
“Oh, ho! Oh, ho!” cried the fat man in a jolly voice. “Oh, ho! What have we here?Gay travelers like myself! Oh, lollypops and ice-cream sandwiches! That’s the rig for me! I love a goat! I must have a goat! I will buy yours. I’ll give you a thousand gumdrops for him. Oh, ho! Sell me your goat!”
And while the surprised Curlytop children, with Jan holding Trouble in her lap, stopped their goat, and looked at the funny fat man in his funny red wagon, he looked at them and laughed until his face was as wrinkled as a toy circus balloon when the wind hisses out of it. And then the fat man cried again:
“Oh, ho! I love a goat! I will give you my white horse and red wagon for your goat and a million gumdrops besides. Come, let us trade. Are you simple Simons with a penny, or, indeed, have you any? Oh, ho! I will sing!”
And then he began to sing:
“Tum tum tum, oh, Tiddle I oh!I am quite happy in the snow.Or if it rains I do not care,For I’ve a rubber hat to wear.And if you’ll give to me your goat,I’ll give to you my nice white coat!”
“Tum tum tum, oh, Tiddle I oh!I am quite happy in the snow.Or if it rains I do not care,For I’ve a rubber hat to wear.And if you’ll give to me your goat,I’ll give to you my nice white coat!”
“Tum tum tum, oh, Tiddle I oh!
I am quite happy in the snow.
Or if it rains I do not care,
For I’ve a rubber hat to wear.
And if you’ll give to me your goat,
I’ll give to you my nice white coat!”