CHAPTER IITHE QUEER MAN
“Mother, he’s gone!” cried Ted, as, followed by his sister Janet, he hurried into the house.
“Who is gone?” asked Mrs. Martin, who had begun to put away her sewing, for she had done enough that evening.
“Skyrocket is gone!” added Jan. “He isn’t in the woodshed, and the window is open.”
“Maybe he jumped out,” said Ted. “He could climb up on the woodpile and jump out the window. Do you think he’ll come back, Mother?”
Mrs. Martin looked at her two Curlytops.
“Are you sure your dog Skyrocket isn’t in the shed?” she asked.
“No, he isn’t there,” answered Ted.
“We looked all over, and I felt in his bed,” added Janet. “The soft carpet Ted put in for Skyrocket is there, but our dog is gone. Oh dear!” and she was almost crying.
“I’d better take a look to make sure,” said Mrs. Martin. “We’ll bring a lamp with us. He may be hiding in some dark corner,” she added as she lighted a lamp.
“And, if he isn’t there, can we go out and look for him?” asked Ted.
“We’ll see,” answered his mother. “Maybe he’ll come back himself, if he really is gone.”
“Oh, he’s gone,” declared Ted, sadly enough.
Out to the woodshed the two Curlytops followed their mother, who carried the lamp. And while they are looking for the lost Skyrocket it will be a good chance for me to let my new readers know something of the Martin children, as told in the previous books of this series.
As I have told you, Theodore and Janet were called the “Curlytops” as often as anything else, and the reason for this was because they had such curly hair. Ted’s whole name was Theodore Baradale Martin, and Jan’s was Janet, while “Trouble’s” right name was William Anthony Martin.
Mr. Martin kept a store in Cresco, a town not a great way from New York, and he also owned property in other places. Cresco was a pretty village, and Ted and Jan thought it one of the nicest places in the world. Other nice places were Grandpa Martin’s farm at Elmburg near Clover Lake, Aunt Jo’s summer cottage at Mt. Hope on Ruby Lake and Uncle Frank’s ranch at Rockville, in the state of Montana.
The first book that tells about Janet, Ted, and their friends, is named “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” and in that I told you what fun they had at Grandpa Martin’s home, and how they helped sell cherries to the Lollypop Man.
In the next book, “The Curlytops on Star Island,” you may read of the fun the children had when they went camping.
In the third book there is a story of “The Curlytops Snowed In.” Many things happened to Jan, Ted and Trouble when the big snow storm came, and they thought they never had had so much fun in all their lives.
But that was before they went out West, and in the fourth book you have the story of “The Curlytops at Uncle Frank’s Ranch.” There the little folks rode ponyback and had a grand time.
They came back to Cresco after many adventures, and now it was summer again, and there was no school, for it was the long vacation. Ted and Janet wondered where they would spend it, for nearly always they went with their father and mother to some lake, or else up in the mountains, or perhaps to the seashore during the hot weather of July and August.
I have told you, in this book, how the Curlytops were playing the button game, and how, just before they went to bed, they went out to the woodshed to see if their dog Skyrocket was all right. Besides the dog, they had a cat named “Turnover,” who used to roll over in a sideways somersault when told to. The Curlytops had once had a goat named Nicknack, but the goat had been sold a few weeks before, so that now they had only the cat and the dog.
“But we haven’t got any dog if we can’t find Skyrocket,” said Ted, as he and Janet went out with their mother to the shed.
“Oh, we’ll find him all right,” said Mrs. Martin. “Perhaps he heard Turnover crying, and he jumped out of the window to see what the matter was with her. Skyrocket takes good care of Turnover, you know.”
“But Turnover is asleep in the sitting room,” said Ted. “She didn’t cry, so Skyrocket didn’t jump out to help her. And he never jumped out the window before.”
“No, that’s so,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “But we’ll find him, I think, though it is strange he isn’t in the shed where he always sleeps at night. But wait until I look.”
She held the light high and low, all around the shed, but there was no sign of the pet dog. She called, and so did Ted and Janet, but Skyrocket did not answer with a whine, a bark or by a thump of his tail.
“Was this window closed when you put Skyrocket in here after supper?” asked Mrs. Martin of Teddy.
“Yes, I closed it,” answered the curly-headed boy. “I always shut it ’ceptin’ on hot nights, and it wasn’t so very hot to-night.”
“Well, if the window was closed, Skyrocket didn’t open it, that’s sure,” said Mrs. Martin. “He’s a smart dog, and he can do many tricks, but he can’t open the shed window.”
“Do you think he got out that way, Mother?” asked Jan.
“It looks so,” was the answer.
“Did somebody open the window and take Skyrocket out?” Ted wanted to know.
“They might have taken him out, or whistled for him to jump out to them,” said Mrs. Martin. “I’m sure I don’t see how else it could have happened. Skyrocket could jump up on the pile of wood, and from there jump out of the window, as long as it was open. Are you sure it was closed, Teddy boy?”
“Sure,” was the answer. “I ’member thinking was it hot enough to leave it open, and then I said it wasn’t. And I made the new piece of carpet all smooth, and Skyrocket curled up on it, and I told him goodnight. And then, when Janet and I came out to look and see if he was all right—why—he wasn’t here!” and Teddy, seven-year-old boy though he was, acted as if he might be going to cry.
“Well, perhaps he just jumped out of the window to have a little fun after dark, though he never did it before,” said Mrs. Martin. “We’ll take a look around the house and call him.”
As they came out of the shed they heard a voice calling them. The voice said:
“Hello! Where’s everybody?”
“It’s daddy!” exclaimed Ted.
“Oh, Skyrocket is lost!” added Jan, as she ran to meet her father, who stood in the back kitchen door.
“Skyrocket lost? No!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, in surprise. “Did he run away?”
“It looks so,” said Mrs. Martin. “Come out here and we’ll tell you all about it.”
This Janet and Teddy did, taking turns, with Mrs. Martin putting in a word now and then.
“You say you shut Skyrocket up in the shed, and left the window closed?” said Mr. Martin, to Ted.
“Yes, Daddy. And when Jan and I came out he was gone.”
“And he isn’t here now,” added Mrs. Martin. “We were just going to look around outside, and whistle and call, when we heard your voice. You’re late, Daddy Martin!”
“Yes, I stayed to write some letters at the store,” answered the merchant. “I have been arranging about the place where we shall go to spend the summer vacation. I think it’s going to be at——”
“Hark!” suddenly exclaimed Mrs. Martin, raising her hand to stop her husband from speaking.
“What is it?” asked Ted, while Janet looked eagerly at her father. She wanted to hear him say where it was they were going that summer.
“I thought I heard a noise back by the little barn where we used to keep Nicknack, the goat,” said Mrs. Martin. “Perhaps it was Skyrocket!”
“Oh! Oh!” exclaimed Teddy and Jan, and, without waiting another moment, they hurried out, running down the path toward the little goat stable.
It was quite dark outside by this time, and Ted and Janet, hurrying from the woodshed where Mrs. Martin had a light, could not see very well. You know how it is when you go into a dark moving picture place from the bright outdoors—you can’t see very well, at first.
Well, this happened to Ted and Jan, and the first Mr. and Mrs. Martin heard, after the Curlytops ran out, was a cry from one of them.
“Did you find Skyrocket?” asked Mr. Martin, hurrying out of the shed.
“No, but Teddy fell down,” said Jan.
“Did you hurt yourself, Teddy boy?” asked his father.
“N—no—I—I guess not,” answered Teddy slowly. “I stumbled over that pile of grass Patrick cut to-day. I fell on that—it was nice and soft.”
“Well, it’s a good thing to pick out something soft to fall on when you stumble,” said Mr. Martin. “Now be careful, both of you. Better wait for us. Mother, come and bring the lamp. Maybe Skyrocket is shut up in the goat stable and can’t get out.”
But the little stable, empty since Nicknack had been sold, held no little dog, either. Skyrocket was not there. And now they began a search all around the house, whistling and calling for the pet of the Curlytops.
But Skyrocket did not answer; he did not whine, he did not bark, and there was no joyful thump of his tail.
“Where can he be?” asked Teddy.
“Where can he be?” echoed Janet.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin looked at each other in the light of the lamp. Then Mr. Martin spoke.
“I think Skyrocket will be back by morning,” he said. “Sometimes dogs run away, just for the fun of it, but they usually come back.”
“Skyrocket never ran away very far before,” said Teddy. “And he always came back when I whistled.”
“Perhaps he has gone so far he can’t hear you this time,” said his mother. “Come, we’ll go into the house. It’s getting late, and you children must go to bed.”
“But we want Skyrocket!” cried Janet.
“I know, my dear. But we can’t find him, and there is no use hunting in the dark. We’ll leave the shed door open, and if he comes back, as I’m sure he will, he can go in to his new carpet bed. In the morning when you wake up, he’ll be ready to play with you.”
There was nothing else to do, and so Teddy and Janet went into the house, after one last, lingering look at the shed where Skyrocket slept at night.
“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet. “Nothing will ever be any fun if Skyrocket is gone!”
“Oh, but he isn’t gone, I’m sure!” said Mr. Martin, in as jolly a voice as he could speak. “I think he’ll be here in the morning, though it certainly is queer about the window being open. But now trot off to bed, Curlytops! It’s long past your time!”
“Don’t feel so bad,” said Mrs. Martin. “I don’t believe Skyrocket is lost. Haven’t you something pleasant to tell them, Daddy? What was that you started to say about our summer vacation?”
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Mr. Martin. “I have picked out a place for us to go. It’s a new place. I have bought some property there, and I expect to spend part of the summer there looking after it.”
“Oh, where is it?” asked Ted, and already he and Janet were feeling not quite so sad over the lost dog—they had something new to wonder over.
“The place where we shall spend the summer vacation is at Silver Lake,” said Mr. Martin. “It isn’t very far from here. We can go by train or in an auto.”
“And live in a tent?” asked Ted.
“No, I think we’ll have a bungalow,” answered his father. “But there! I’m not going to tell you any more about it until morning. Off to bed with you, and dream about Silver Lake!”
He kissed the Curlytops goodnight, as did Mrs. Martin, and then Jan and Ted went upstairs. They were smiling now, and, for the time, had forgotten about Skyrocket, though, of course, they wanted him to come back.
“Do you think their dog is really gone?” asked Mrs. Martin of her husband, as they sat down to talk about spending the summer at Silver Lake.
“I’m afraid so,” answered Mr. Martin. “He never ran away before, and the window being open makes it look as though some one had taken him. Skyrocket is a valuable dog, and could be taught to do tricks for a show or circus.”
“Dear me!” said Mrs. Martin. “Ted and Janet will feel very bad at losing him.”
Early the next morning the Curlytops ran down to the woodshed. They peered in through the door, which was still open, and looked in the box where Ted had so carefully put the new piece of soft carpet to make a bed.
“He—he isn’t there,” whispered the boy softly.
“Skyrocket didn’t come back!” said Janet, and there were tears in her eyes.
Slowly and sadly the Curlytops walked out of the shed, and just as they turned to go into the house they saw Mrs. Ransom hurrying toward them. Mrs. Ransom was a woman who kept a small store not far from the Martin house, where she sold drygoods, toys and candies.
“Oh, Ted! Jan!” exclaimed Mrs. Ransom, when she saw the two children, “where’s your father?”
“He’s in the house eating breakfast,” answered Jan, for she and Ted had seen him at the table when they hurried downstairs to look to see if Skyrocket had come back.
“Well, tell him to come out here, please,” said Mrs. Ransom.
“Did you find Skyrocket?” asked Ted eagerly.
“Skyrocket? No. I hadn’t heard that he was lost,” answered Mrs. Ransom. “But there’s a man acting very oddly in your front yard, and I thought your father ought to know about it. I saw the queer man from my store window, and I hurried over to tell you about him. Go in and have your father come out. He ought to do something about the funny man!”