CHAPTER XVIIALONG THE RIVER
Fora moment or two the Curlytop lad was so surprised, as well as a little frightened, that he lay quietly, not moving nor saying a word. Then he knew he must do something about it. Never would it do to let some strange man, as Ted supposed this to be, come into the tent and take Mr. Martin’s money, or perhaps the box of valuable photograph albums.
“Maybe it’s kidnapers after William!” was one of the wild thoughts that flashed into the mind of the lad. He was glad then that William was sleeping in the auto with Janet.
But in a moment or two Ted recovered the breath that had been knocked out of him by the blow that had sent him back on his cot, and he raised himself again. He could see more plainly now, for the side of the tent near his cot had become unfastened.
Whatever or whoever it was that had thrust Teddy back had loosened some of the tent fastenings, and through this opening the little boy could see the stars more plainly now.
Teddy could also see something else. This was a large object, with a mouth, a big nose, and great eyes, and, what was worse than this, Teddy caught sight of two spreading horns.
Then it was that the Curlytop lad let out a yell that awakened every one in the temporary camp—awakened even Trouble and Janet who were sleeping very soundly.
“Oh, Daddy! Mother!” yelled Teddy. “There’s a big animal with horns coming into the tent. Look!”
The head of the beast was now well within the tent, and it leaned right over Ted’s cot. But you can be sure the little lad was not there. No, indeed! He had rolled off on the other side, falling to the grassy ground.
But his frightened shout had awakened his father and mother, and the first thing Mr. Martin did was to thrust his hand beneath his pillow and get his flashlight. This little electric torch Mr. Martin always keptnear him at night, and it was useful in more ways than one.
Snapping on the switch now, he threw a small but brilliant beam of light over toward Ted’s cot. At first he could not see the boy, and wondering what the noise was all about Mr. Martin asked:
“Where are you, Ted?”
“Here I am,” came the answer, and Janet’s brother arose from the ground where he had thrown himself.
“What in the world are you doing there?” asked his mother, who was sitting up on her cot. “Did you have nightmare? Were you walking in your sleep?”
“No, I wasn’t walking in my sleep,” replied Teddy. “But I gave a jump and I fell out of bed.”
“What for?” asked his father, for he saw nothing to be alarmed about. And the reason was that the horned head had withdrawn itself out of the hole through which it had been thrust.
“What for? That’s what for! Look!” cried Teddy, and he pointed just as the big head was thrust in again—the head with the large mouth and the big eyes, to say nothing of the horns.
Mrs. Martin stared as if she could hardly believe what she saw. She gave a gasp of surprise. Teddy, too, gasped, but no longer in fright. For now he saw what it was that had thrust its head into the tent.
Mr. Martin laughed, and well he might. For in the gleam of the electric flashlight they were looking at the calm features of a big cow that, with her head thrust into the tent, was quietly chewing her cud, leaning over the cot from which Ted had leaped in such a hurry.
“Oh, my!” cried Janet, who looked over the side of the auto into the tent to which it was attached. Then Trouble looked and he cried:
“Oh, a cow! A cow! Is it morning an’ did the cow come to bring us milk?”
“Well, not exactly; though it looks that way,” said Mr. Martin, with another laugh. “Was it this cow that frightened you, Teddy?”
“Yes, sir, I—I guess so,” replied the lad. “I felt something poke me in the ribs, and I woke up, and then the tent side sort of flew open and this big head came poking in and I didn’t know what it was, so I rolled off my cot on the other side.”
“Which was a wise thing to do, seeing that you couldn’t very well tell in the dark what was after you,” said his mother.
“It might have been a bear,” said Janet. “I’m glad it wasn’t.”
“So am I,” added Mrs. Martin.
“Would a bear eat peanuts like a nellifunt?” Trouble wanted to know.
“I guess a bear will eat almost anything,” said Mr. Martin, as he slipped on his shoes. “I think I’d better go out and tie this wandering cow to a tree,” he said. “Or else she’ll be back just as soon as we get to sleep, bothering us again. For that’s what she is—a wandering cow. She was probably tethered out for the night and broke loose. She must have come to pay us a visit.”
“Well, some fresh milk for the morning coffee would be very welcome,” remarked Mrs. Martin. “But I’m not going to milk a cow in the middle of the night. Fasten her well, Dick, so she won’t get loose again.”
“I will,” answered Mr. Martin.
The cow was very gentle and tame. She probably did not intend to frighten Teddy by thrusting her horns against the tent, pokinghim in the ribs and afterward thrusting her head inside. It was all an accident.
Mr. Martin found a rope that was fastened around the animal’s neck, and soon led her well away from the camp, tying her to a tree. Then he came back to the little tent and soon the place was quiet again, and all the Martins slept soundly until morning.
Getting breakfast was lots of fun, and they had fresh milk, after all. For while Mrs. Martin was making coffee a farm boy came strolling along, looking for the lost cow. When he heard what had happened and saw the creature tied to a tree, he milked her, Mrs. Martin giving him a pail for this purpose.
“It’s only fair to give you some milk after the fright the cow gave you,” said the farm lad, with a grin. “Where you folks going?” he asked, as he looked with eager eyes at the auto and the tent fastened to it.
“Oh, we’re just touring around,” Teddy answered. “I guess we’ll go up the river to-day.”
He had heard his father say they might do that, for they were near a large stream alongside of which wound a good road leadinginto a pleasant country with great stretches of woodland.
After breakfast, at which Trouble drank with glee some milk from the “night cow,” as he called her, preparations were made for a trip up the river.
The tent was taken down and folded into a small space, as were the folding cots. Then, once more, the Curlytops were on their way. They soon reached the river road, and Mr. Martin was glad to find it in good condition.
“This will take us many miles on our way,” he said.
All that morning they traveled, stopping at noon in a little glade of trees to cook and eat lunch. They were ready to go on again when Mr. Martin discovered that one of the tires was flat.
“There’s a leak in that inner tube,” he told his wife. “I might as well stop and mend it now and save our spare tire and tube. We might need to make a change in more of a hurry. I have plenty of time now, so I’ll stop and mend that leaky inner tube.”
This suited Ted, Janet and Trouble, who were having fun in the woods and along the bank of the river which ran near by. Mr.Martin jacked up the car, took off the rim and tire, and, taking the thin, rubber inner tube from the shoe, proceeded to fasten on a patch.
He finished this work, and then, to make sure the leak was mended, he took the foot pump and filled the red, inner tube with air as it lay on the ground.
The tube was well pumped up and Mr. Martin was waiting to see if any of the air leaked out when a cry from the children on the bank of the river attracted the attention of father and mother. They looked up and saw Trouble and the Curlytops standing there and pointing to a small raft of logs that was slowly floating down the stream.
At one end of the raft was a little cabin, made of slabs of wood with the bark side out, and from this cabin, or shanty, was coming a curl of smoke, showing that this was where the lumbermen slept and cooked.
There was a dog on the raft, and when he saw the children he barked joyfully and wagged his tail. Then, unexpectedly, as the rear of the raft swung in close to shore, the dog leaped off and a moment later was frolicking with the Curlytops.
The “lumber dog,” as Trouble calledhim, seemed to be wild with joy at being once again on land and near children. He ran up and down, barking in delight and wagging his tail until it seemed it would come off.
Then, all of a sudden, the dog ran toward the blown-up inner tube which lay on the ground while Mr. Martin waited to see if it leaked any more.
The dog gave one look at what, to him, must have been a strange object, and then he growled and barked at it.
“Look out! Don’t touch that!” cried Mr. Martin, with a laugh.
He was too late, however, for the dog sprang forward and caught the tire tube in his mouth. He gripped it savagely, as a dog will do with something he fears, and a moment later there came a loud noise, as if a gun had been fired.
Heels over head that dog went toppling back, howling in dismay.