CHAPTER XIFUNNY FISH
Whenthe boar, with deep grunts, started toward Trouble, the little boy saw that he had made a mistake. It wasn’t a little “nellifunt” at all.
“’Cause he didn’t have any trunk—that’s how I knew he wasn’t a nellifunt,” Trouble explained to his mother afterward. “He had big teeth, like a little nellifunt, but he didn’t have any trunk.”
As soon as he had discovered it wasn’t a small elephant in the field, Trouble began to be afraid. He didn’t exactly know what sort of animal this might be. Dimly he remembered something about pigs on his grandfather’s farm. But those pigs were cute little pink ones in a pen with their big, fat mother pig. The mother pig lay on her side and grunted. The little pigs ran around squealing. None of them acted as did this savage boar.
For that reason Trouble didn’t know exactly what to make of this. He held out in his hand some of the peanuts he had taken from his pocket. In the distance Trouble could hear the shouts of Jan and Ted as they scrambled up the apple tree. But more clearly than anything Trouble heard the grunts of the boar as it came nearer and nearer.
“I—I don’t like you! Go on ’way!” called Trouble, after a second of watching this big, ugly animal. “Go ’way!”
But the boar still came forward. He was used to having his own way except when a man with a dog or a pitchfork came in the field. More than once this boar had chased boys and girls who, unthinkingly, had wandered to this part of Mr. Dawson’s farm. Mr. Dawson always warned people about going into the field where the boar was, but he had been so busy with the movie folk that he forgot about it this time.
Suddenly the boar gave such a loud grunt of rage, ending with such a squeal, that Trouble was badly frightened. The little fellow began to cry. He wished he hadn’t come into the field.
The cry of their little brother reached theears of Ted and Jan in the tree. They had just begun to pick some of the fruit, but when they heard Trouble they looked toward him. And what Ted saw made him drop an apple after he had taken one bite. He scrambled down out of the tree shouting:
“I’m coming, Trouble! I’m coming! I wont let the pig bite you!”
For Ted knew that boars are very savage when once roused.
“I’m coming, too!” cried Jan.
She tried to scramble down out of the tree, but slipped when on the lowest limb and fell to the ground. Luckily she fell in a place where the grass was long and thick, so she wasn’t hurt. She was merely jarred a bit, and after getting back her breath she ran toward the fence, through which Ted was crawling to reach Trouble.
By this time the boar was close to the little fellow. Long before this the savage pig would have rushed at the small boy, but, truth to tell, the way Trouble stood there, crying, puzzled the boar. And when animals are puzzled they don’t act as quickly as when they know just what is going on.
However, neither Ted nor Janet would have reached Trouble in time to save him.For as Ted got through the barbed wire fence, which alone prevented the boar from getting out of the pasture, there was a thud and rush of feet and a voice shouted:
“I’ll get him! Stand still, little boy!”
The rush of feet were the galloping hoofs of a horse. And the voice was that of Mr. Weldon, the movie actor. He rushed his steed toward the fence, called to his mount, and, in another moment, the horse sprang cleanly over the fence and rushed on toward the boar. But more particularly Mr. Weldon guided his steed toward Trouble.
As the little fellow turned to see whence came the pounding of hoofs and the cheery call of the man, the rider leaned from the saddle and in one hand picked up small William, swinging him up in front and to safety. All the while the horse was going at top speed.
In another moment Mr. Weldon had leaped his animal back over the fence, and the boar was left alone in the field, doubtless wondering, in his small brain, what had become of that boy he was going to gash with his tusks.
“There you are, little man!” said Mr. Weldon, as he brought his horse to a slowpace and set William on the ground near Ted, who had crawled back through the fence. “I wouldn’t go in that field again, if I were you.”
“I should say not!” cried Ted, who had been surprised with the quickness of it all. “What made you go in there, Trouble?”
“I—now—I thought he was a little nellifunt, an’ I was going to give him peanuts!” sobbed the little chap, for he wasn’t yet over his fright.
“Oh, elephant! He’s crazy about elephants!” explained Jan, who came up just then. “I guess he thought the big teeth on that pig were elephant’s teeth.”
“I suppose so,” said Mr. Weldon. “But keep watch of him, so he doesn’t go in there again.”
“Yes, we will,” promised Ted.
“And thank you for saving Trouble,” added Jan.
“Oh, yes, thank you!” murmured Ted, who had been so taken up with admiring Mr. Weldon’s horse and the manner in which the cowboy made his steed jump the fence that he had little room to think of his manners.
“That’s all right,” said the movie man,with a smile. “We have to do harder things than that when we’re on the ‘lot.’ Well, I’ll see you later,” and he rode back to join the others, for the camera men were getting ready to film certain scenes down near one of the barns.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin also thanked Mr. Weldon that night, after they had heard how he had gotten Trouble out of danger. The Curlytops and their friends were now well settled at the farm, where they would remain about a week.
“Though if Mr. Portnay sends back that box of albums any sooner, we might travel on,” said Mr. Martin.
“Oh, let’s stay here!” pleaded Jan. “It’s lovely here!”
“We can have lots of fun,” added Ted.
“Well, since we started this tour mainly to give you children a good vacation time, and since you like it here, we might as well stay for a while,” said their father.
“But you must take better care of Trouble,” their mother warned them. “I shan’t feel easy in my mind unless you promise to watch him all the while he is with you. With these movie folk here at the farmthere is so much going on that Trouble may easily get into danger.”
“We’ll take good care of him,” promised Jan.
“I’ll take him with me wherever I go,” said Ted.
“Well, then I’ll feel better about it,” said Mrs. Martin.
It was because of his promise that the next day, when Ted and Janet decided to go fishing, Ted called:
“Come on, Trouble! You may come with us!”
“Oh, I like fishin’!” declared the little boy. “I’m going to catch a big one.”
“I’ll leave him to sit on the bank near you,” whispered Ted to his sister, “and I’ll go off a little way by myself. I never can catch any big fish if I’m near him, for he’ll be pulling his hook in all the while to see if he has a bite.”
“I know he will,” said Janet. “I’ll take care of him while you fish.”
Not far from the farmhouse was a stream winding in and out among a grove of trees. In some places there were deep pools and eddies where, some of the farmhands said, large fish could be caught.
Ted picked out what he thought was a good spot and, posting Jan and Trouble a little way from it, cast in his hook.
He was sitting on a grassy bank near one of the deep pools spoken of by some of the farm hired men. Here the water had worn out a place in the shore, making what is called an eddy—a quiet, swirling bit of the stream where big fish love to swim.
Ted had not been fishing long when he felt that he had a bite.
“Oh, I’ve got a big one!” he called to Jan, who was busy keeping Trouble from falling into the stream. “I’ve got a whopper! Look, Jan!”
He pulled up. Something black went sailing through the air over his head. But no sooner had it landed than Ted found he had hooked an old rubber boot!
“Oh, jinks!” he cried in disgust. “Look at that!”
“That’s a funny fish!” laughed Jan.
“Well, I’ll get a real one this time!” declared her brother.
In he cast again. There came a gentle tug on his line.
“Now I’ve got a bite!” he shouted. Againhe pulled up. Something flopped on the grass behind him.
But it was only an old shoe!
“Say, what’s the matter here, anyhow?” demanded Ted.
“Ha! Ha!” laughed his sister. “What funny fish!”
“Look at Ted’s funny fish!” chuckled Trouble.