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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8ed31a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68825 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68825) diff --git a/old/68825-0.txt b/old/68825-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 562ca83..0000000 --- a/old/68825-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6326 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Curlytops touring around, by -Howard R. Garis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Curlytops touring around - The missing photograph albums - -Author: Howard R. Garis - -Illustrator: Julia Greene - -Release Date: August 23, 2022 [eBook #68825] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS TOURING -AROUND *** - - -[Illustration: TED MARTIN HIT THE GROUND WITH A HARD THUMP. - - “Curlytops Touring Around” Page 137] - - - - - THE CURLYTOPS - TOURING AROUND - - OR - - _The Missing Photograph Albums_ - - BY - HOWARD R. GARIS - - AUTHOR OF “THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM,” - “THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS,” “THE CURLYTOPS - AT SUNSET BEACH,” ETC. - - _Illustrations by - JULIA GREENE_ - - NEW YORK - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - - - - -THE CURLYTOPS SERIES - -By HOWARD R. GARIS - -12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. - - _THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM Or, Vacation Days in the Country_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND Or, Camping Out With Grandpa_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN Or, Grand Fun With Sleds and Skates_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK’S RANCH Or, Little Folks on Ponyback_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE Or, On the Water With Uncle Ben_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS Or, Uncle Toby’s Strange Collection_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES Or, Jolly Times Through the - Holidays_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS Or, Fun in the Lumber Camp_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS AT SUNSET BEACH Or, What Was Found in the Sand_ - - _THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND Or, The Missing Photograph Albums_ - -CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York - - - COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY - CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY - - THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND - - Printed in U. S. A. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I DOWN THE WELL 1 - - II GOOD NEWS 14 - - III THE CARDWELL ALBUMS 24 - - IV A BIG CROWD 35 - - V MOVING PICTURES 45 - - VI THE ALBUMS ARE GONE 53 - - VII ON THE TRAIL 65 - - VIII OFF AGAIN 75 - - IX AT THE FARM 84 - - X TROUBLE’S DANGER 96 - - XI FUNNY FISH 108 - - XII FLIP-FLOPS 117 - - XIII TED FALLS OFF 127 - - XIV JAN IN A TRAP 137 - - XV THE BOX COMES BACK 146 - - XVI ON AGAIN 158 - - XVII ALONG THE RIVER 166 - - XVIII TWO BEARS 175 - - XIX THE LUMBER CAMP 183 - - XX A SMASH 193 - - XXI ABOARD THE MOTOR BOAT 204 - - XXII ON THE LAKE 214 - - XXIII THE WRONG BOX 221 - - XXIV TROUBLE’S PUSSY 229 - - XXV THE RIGHT BOX 236 - - - - - -THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND - - - - -CHAPTER I - -DOWN THE WELL - - -“Come on, Jan! Now will be a good time to try it!” - -“All right, Ted. But are you sure it will be safe?” - -“Course I am! Why, it’s a big rope and I’m not very heavy, Jan.” - -“I know that. But s’posing I shouldn’t be able to pull you up again?” - -“Well, I could get up by a ladder, I guess. Come on now before Trouble -comes out to bother us. He’s in the house with mother and we have a -good chance now.” - -Two children, a boy and a girl, each with clustering curls on their -heads, darted down a path, around the house, and ran toward the apple -orchard at the rear. - -Ted Martin’s hair was darker than that of his sister Janet, but the -locks of each were so clustered on their heads that the children were -more often called “Curlytops,” than their right name. - -Now the curly tops of the brother and sister were bobbing about as they -ran along, intent on having what they called “fun,” though, as you will -soon see, it developed into mischief. But that, as Ted said afterward, -wasn’t their fault. - -“I’m glad Trouble is in the house,” remarked Jan, as she hastened along -beside her brother. - -“So’m I,” answered Ted. “William is a good little boy, but when you -want to do something he always wants to do something else.” - -“Always,” agreed Janet, with a wise shake of her head. - -From this you may know that “Trouble” was only the jolly nickname of -the small brother of Ted and Janet. Mother Martin used to call him -“Dear Trouble” when he upset a glass of milk on the table or shoved his -plate to the floor. Daddy Martin used to speak of William as a “Bunch -of Trouble” when he had to drop his paper and rush out, perhaps to -pull the little fellow’s head loose from between the fence pickets, -where, possibly, he had thrust it. - -Ted and Janet called their little brother simply “Trouble” and let it -go at that. - -The two older children had been playing in the front yard of their home -when Ted had suddenly thought of a trick he had been wanting to try for -a long while. He had a strange idea in his head, and he needed the help -of Janet to carry it out. Now seemed a good time. - -It was the beginning of the long vacation from school, and though the -Martin family expected to go away for the summer, plans had not yet -been made. - -So Jan and Ted were amusing themselves as best they could until, tiring -of “playing store,” into Ted’s head had popped his big idea. - -“Wait a minute now, Jan!” cautioned Ted, as they neared the back of the -house and could look over toward the apple orchard. It wasn’t a very -large orchard, but there were enough trees to call it by that name. -Though, as yet, the season being early, only green apples were on the -branches. - -“What’s the matter--aren’t you going to do it?” Jan wanted to know, as -her brother put out a hand and detained her behind a screening bush. - -“Course I’m going to do it!” he declared. “But I want to look and see -if Patrick isn’t there. Patrick maybe wouldn’t let me do it.” - -“That’s so,” agreed Janet. “And if Nora saw us, she maybe wouldn’t let -us, either.” - -“No,” said Ted, in a low voice. He looked carefully out from the fringe -of the bush, but saw neither Patrick, who did odd jobs about the Martin -place, nor Nora, the cook; so the coast was clear. - -“Come on, Jan!” Ted whispered. - -“Oh, I--I’m almost getting scairt!” whispered the little girl, as she -and her brother neared the scene of their latest trick. - -“Pooh! Silly! What’s to be scared of?” asked Ted. “Come on!” - -Thus teased, Janet took her brother’s hand for a quick dash across the -open space to the shelter of the orchard. Suddenly, when the children -were halfway over the little space, they heard their names called: - -“Ted! Jan! Where are you? Come here! Mother says you have to ’muse me! -Come on!” - -“It’s Trouble!” gasped Janet. - -“And we’ve got to amuse him!” sighed Ted. “Oh, jinkity jinks!” - -He kicked the sand at his feet peevishly. - -“Come on! Let’s make believe we didn’t hear him. He hasn’t seen us and -we can hide from him.” - -Janet was about to agree to this, but Trouble was smarter than either -of the older ones gave him credit for. He had run on after his first -call, and now he stood where he could look full at Ted and Jan. - -“I see you!” he laughed. “You playin’ hide-an’-find? Anyhow, mother -says you have to ’muse me! Go on! ’Muse me!” - -Mrs. Martin often, when she was tired of looking after William or when -she had to do something else, would call to the other children: - -“Come and amuse Trouble!” - -Nearly always Jan or Ted would be glad to do this. But now they had -something else they wanted to do. - -“Too late!” sighed Ted. “We can’t skip away from him now.” - -“No, if we did he’d tell mother,” agreed Janet. “Oh, I know what -we can let him do! He can do it all alone, too, so we can go to the -diamond mine!” she added. - -“What?” asked Ted, to whom the reference to a “diamond mine,” did not -seem strange. That was part of the game they were going to play. - -“I’ll get the sifter we were using when we played store, and I’ll let -Trouble sift a lot of sand and tell him to pick out all the stones,” -suggested the little girl. “That will keep him amused a long while.” - -“Yes, I guess it will,” stated Ted. - -“You playin’ hide-an’-find?” asked Trouble again. This was his name for -the game of hide-and-seek. - -“No, we aren’t playing that, Trouble dear,” said Jan, with more -sweetness than usual in her voice. She wanted to be nice to her little -brother so he would be satisfied to play by himself. - -“You goin’ to ’muse me?” demanded the little fellow. - -“Sure we are!” exclaimed Ted. “I’ll get the sifter,” he told Janet. -“You keep him here a minute.” - -“Come here and I’ll tell you a little story,” offered Janet. - -“I’m comin’,” Trouble announced, as he toddled to his sister. She kept -him amused until Ted came running back with the sieve which, a little -while before, he and Janet had borrowed from Nora in the kitchen so -they could use it in sifting sand, which they pretended was sugar in -their play store. - -Near the spot where Trouble had so unexpectedly found his brother and -sister was some clean sand, and it was this that Janet had thought -William could be induced to play with, while she and her brother went -on with their own plans. - -And, for once at least, Trouble did just what was wanted of him. - -“See the nice sand, Trouble,” murmured Janet. “Look, you put it in this -sifter and you jiggle it and all the nice little sand falls through. -The big stones and little stones stay inside. Then you pick out all the -stones and put them in a pile and you sift more sand. See!” - -“Yep, I see,” murmured Trouble. “Let me shift sand.” - -Janet gave him the sieve and filled it for him. He moved it to and fro -and a little pile of fine sand grew in the shape of a pyramid. Trouble -looked at the stones left in the sieve. - -“What I do wif these?” he asked. - -“Put ’em in a pile and then we’ll make believe they’re raisins and -we’ll stick ’em in mud pies,” said Ted. - -“Oh, I like to make mud pies!” cried Trouble, with shining eyes. - -“Yes, but not now! Not now! After a while!” cried Janet quickly, for -the little fellow seemed ready to drop the sieve. “What did you want to -say that for?” she asked Ted, in a whisper. “You’ll spoil everything! -Leave it to me!” - -“Oh, all right,” mumbled Ted. “Go ahead! As soon as you can leave him -alone come on over to the old well.” - -“All right,” answered Janet. “Now, Trouble,” she went on, as she filled -the sifter again, “shake this out and pick out all the stones. Put -the big ones in a pile by themselves and the little ones in a pile by -themselves.” - -“Den we make mud pies,” laughed Trouble. - -“I guess so--yes--maybe,” murmured Janet, who did not want to be too -sure on this point. “Now you play here, Trouble, and don’t go away, -will you?” she asked, as she prepared to follow Ted. - -“Trouble stay here and shift sand,” gravely promised the little fellow. -“But where you goin’, Jan?” he asked suspiciously. - -“Oh, just over here a little way,” she answered. “I’ll soon be back. -Now sift a lot of sand, Trouble, and pick out all the stones.” - -“Aw right--I shift sand.” - -He was having fun now, being “’mused” as his mother had told him he -would be, and he did not much care what Ted or Janet did--at least for -a while. - -“Is he all right?” asked Ted, as his sister joined him under an apple -tree where an old well had been dug. - -“Yes, I guess he’ll stay there until we play diamond mine a while,” -said Janet. “But are you sure it will be all right, Ted?” - -“Sure I am. I’ll just step on the bucket and hold to the rope, and -all you’ll have to do is to keep hold of the handle and let it unwind -slowly. Then I’ll go down in the well and we’ll play it’s a diamond -mine.” - -“But how you going to get up again, Ted?” his sister asked. - -“Why, you can wind up the handle just as you unwound it, can’t you? -It’ll be like pulling up a bucket of water when there used to be water -in the well. That’s how I’ll get up.” - -“Oh, I see! All right.” - -The Curlytops ran over toward the old well, which had not been used -for a number of years, the water having seeped out of it, so that -the well was dry. But the curbing, the windlass, the bucket, and the -rope were still in place, and they had given Ted the idea for playing -diamond mine. He had seen some pictures of miners going down a hole in -the ground by means of a bucket and rope, and had got the idea that -diamonds were thus secured. - -The reason Ted and Janet had not, before this, played at the old well, -was because they did not know it existed. It was on some land next to -their house which Mr. Martin had recently bought. And, learning there -was an old well on it, the children’s father had decided to do away -with it, for it might be dangerous, even if there was no water in it, -for it was about thirty feet deep. - -The first step in doing away with the old well had been to have Patrick -clear away the weeds around it. Then the curbing was to have been -taken away and the well filled up. But when Patrick had cut down the -weeds he was called to other tasks, and so the old well stood plainly -revealed. - -Ted and Janet had discovered it, and then into Ted’s mind had come the -idea of going down into the dry well. He had tested the rope, with its -bucket and windlass, and found that it worked. - -“Now, Jan,” said her brother, when they were at the well, with no one -near to stop their mischievous play, “I’ll climb up and stand on the -bucket. You keep hold of the handle and let it unwind slowly. I don’t -want to go down too fast, you know.” - -“No, I guess you don’t,” agreed Jan. - -“After I get down to the bottom I’ll make believe dig diamonds,” went -on Ted. “Then you can twist the handle the other way and pull me up. -After that I’ll let you go down.” - -“I don’t want to go down!” said Jan quickly, after one look into the -black depths of the well. “You can go. I don’t want to.” - -“All right,” agreed Ted cheerfully. “I’ll go down twice. Now get -ready.” - -He climbed the well curbing and put one foot on the edge of the bucket, -which was a little way below the top of the curbing, or elevated wooden -rim about the well. The rope was wound around a wooden roller, or -windlass, to the end of which a crank was made fast. And there was a -ratchet catch to prevent the rope from unwinding and letting the bucket -down into the well until such time as the person drawing was ready. -This catch now prevented Ted from dropping down into the well. - -The curly-haired little boy steadied himself on the edge of the bucket -by holding to the rope above his head. He looked down into the well. -It was deep and black, but there was no water in it, so Ted did not -hesitate. - -“All right, Jan! Let me down!” he called to his sister. - -Already he was a little way down the shaft of the well, for the rope -was partly unwound and the bucket perhaps two feet below the top of the -curbing when Ted took his place. - -Janet loosened the catch of the windlass and then, holding to the -handle with all her strength, let it slowly revolve. It would have -gotten out of control, and would have whirled around very fast, for -Ted was much heavier than a bucket of water, only the affair was old, -rusted and stiff. So, after all, Ted was quite safely lowered. - -Down and down he went into the black depths of the old, dry well. - -“It’s lots of fun, Jan!” he called up. “You’d better come down next -time!” - -“I don’t want to. You can,” answered his sister. - -“Now I’m all the way down. I’m standing on the bottom!” called up Ted. -“I’m going to dig for diamonds!” - -Jan could see that there was no longer a strain on the rope. The handle -turned freely. Suddenly it gave a little quiver, Jan saw the rope slip -loose from around the windlass and then, as the end of it fell down the -well, the little girl screamed: - -“Oh, Ted! Ted! Oh, something dreadful happened!” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -GOOD NEWS - - -Down in the dark depths of the old well, Ted Martin heard what his -sister called in such frightened tones. - -“What’s the matter?” he asked. - -A moment later he learned on his own account. For the bucket rope -having slipped off the windlass, from which it had rotted away, tumbled -down the well. It caught for a moment on a projecting stone, and then -went down into the depths. It fell partly on top of Ted’s head as he -stepped off the edge of the bucket on to the pile of dried sticks and -leaves which had blown and tumbled into the well during the years it -had not been in use. - -“Oh, Teddy!” cried Janet. “The rope came loose and it fell down!” - -“I know it did,” Ted answered. For the rope was coiled about him. - -“Then how are you going to get up?” Janet wanted to know. “How are you -going to get up out of the well when I can’t wind up the rope?” - -To this Ted made answer: - -“I don’t know, Jan. I guess I’m in a sort of pickle. But wait a minute. -Don’t run away and leave me!” - -Janet had no such idea. She wouldn’t desert Ted in trouble. - -While the little fellow is down in the old, dry well, trying to think -of a way to get out, and while Janet is also puzzling her head over -the same matter, I will take just a moment to let my new readers know -something about the Curlytops. - -I have told you the reason for their nickname. They had been christened -in this order: Theodore Baradale Martin, who was called Ted or Teddy, -except when he had done something wrong, and then he heard his full -name spoken. Next came Janet Louise Martin, which was shortened into -Janet or Jan. She was just a year younger than Ted. Last of all was -William Anthony Martin. He was “Trouble,” you know. - -Mr. Richard Martin, the father of Trouble and the Curlytops, was the -owner of a large, general store in Cresco, in one of our eastern -states. In the first book of this series, called “The Curlytops at -Cherry Farm,” I related how the children went to visit Grandpa Martin -on his wonderful farm, and I told you what happened after they reached -there. During other vacation seasons the children traveled to Star -Island, they were snowed in, visited Uncle Frank’s ranch, and camped on -Silver Lake with Uncle Ben. The children had some queer pets, as you -may learn by reading another book, and they had many playmates with -whom they had jolly times. After a trip to the woods, the children -found something in the sand, as told in the book just before this, -called “The Curlytops at Sunset Beach.” - -After the summer at the shore the Martin family returned to Cresco. -Through the long winter Janet and Ted played in the snow. Then came -spring. Now it was summer again and the long vacation had arrived. - -“And it means a lot of work, too,” sighed Mrs. Martin, on the last day -of school. “I’m sure I don’t know what the children will do with so -much time on their hands!” - -But this did not worry Ted, Janet or Trouble. They knew they could -have fun, and one of the ways hit on by Ted and his sister was to play -“diamond mine,” as we find them doing at the old well when this story -opens. - -“Do you think you can get out, Ted?” his sister called anxiously down -into the depths of the dark well. - -“I don’t know,” was Ted’s answer. “But don’t go away. I’m going to try -to climb up, Jan.” - -“How you going to climb up?” the little girl wanted to know. - -“Well, there’s a lot of stones sticking out on the sides. They’re like -steps, and maybe I can get up on them.” - -Ted tried; but though a man or an older boy might have managed to hoist -himself out of the well in this way, it was beyond the strength of the -Curlytop lad. He got up a little way but slipped back to the soft bed -of dried leaves at the bottom of the well. - -“Did you hurt yourself?” asked Jan anxiously, as she heard her brother -grunt as he slipped back. - -“No, I didn’t hurt myself,” he answered. “But I jiggled myself a -little.” - -Ted’s use of the word “jiggled” reminded Jan that she had left Trouble -“jiggling” the sieve at the pile of sand. She wondered if her little -brother was all right, but she did not want to leave Ted in order to -make sure. - -However, she did not need to do this for just as Ted called up to her -that he was going to try to toss up the rope, so she could fasten it to -the windlass, Janet saw her little brother coming along a path that she -and Ted had trampled through the weeds. - -“Oh, now I is found you!” remarked Trouble, with a smile on his cute, -dirty little face. “I is found you! Here is Jan, Mother!” he called -more loudly. “I is found her!” - -“Is mother looking for us?” asked Janet. - -“Yes, Jan,” answered the voice of Mrs. Martin herself. “I told you and -Teddy to amuse William, and I find him all alone sifting sand. Not -but what he was having fun, but I thought you would stay with him. I -asked him where you went and he pointed off this way. Why, what are you -doing at the old well?” went on the mother who, having followed Trouble -along the weed-grown path, now saw Janet standing near the curbing and -windlass. “What are you doing there?” she repeated. - -“Teddy--now--Teddy--he’s down there!” gasped Jan, pointing. - -“Teddy in the well!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “Is he----” - -“There isn’t any water in it,” Janet hastened to add, and then Mrs. -Martin herself remembered that her husband had told her that same fact. -So she asked more calmly: - -“How did Teddy get down in the well?” She hurried forward, keeping a -tight hold of Trouble’s hand, so he wouldn’t slip into the black depths. - -“We were playing diamond mine,” Janet began to explain, when Ted, at -the bottom of the well, heard his mother’s voice and cried: - -“I’m all right! I can get up if you can fasten the rope to the -windlass, or lower a ladder to me!” - -“Oh, Teddy! Why did you ever go down there?” cried Mrs. Martin, as she -leaned over the curbing and looked down. “You shouldn’t have done such -a thing!” - -“I didn’t mean to get stuck down here, Mother!” the boy answered. He -could look up and see his mother quite plainly, for she was in the -sunlight. But she could hardly see him at the bottom of the well. - -“The rope slipped off,” explained Janet. - -“If we had a cowboy here he could lasso Teddy up,” said Trouble, with a -laugh. - -“Yes, but we haven’t any cowboy,” said Mrs. Martin. “Jan, you run and -tell Patrick to come here. Tell him to bring a ladder. I hope we have -one long enough. Hurry, Jan!” - -Now that her mother was on the scene, Janet felt sure that Teddy would -soon be out of the well. As she hastened back toward the house, she saw -Patrick working in the garden. - -“Please take a long ladder to the old well so Teddy can get out, -Patrick,” she begged. “Hurry!” - -“What’s that, Jan?” asked the man of all work. - -When the little girl had explained, Patrick ran off toward the barn, -chuckling to himself and saying: - -“They call the little one ‘Trouble,’ but I’m not sure but what it would -be a good name for the other two. Sure, they’re into twice as much -mischief as William! It’s a good thing the well is dry!” - -Patrick was on his way to the well, carrying a long ladder, which, he -told Janet, would surely reach the bottom, and the little girl was -following him when she saw her father coming around the house by a side -path. - -It was not usual for Mr. Martin to come home from his store in the -middle of the afternoon. When he did, something extraordinary nearly -always happened, and this time Janet thought he had heard about Teddy. -So she said: - -“He’s all right now, Daddy! We’ll soon have him out!” - -“Who’s all right? Who’s going to be out soon?” asked Mr. Martin, much -puzzled. “And what are you going to do with that ladder, Patrick?” - -“Sure an’ I’m going to get Teddy out of the old well.” - -“Out of the old well?” cried Mr. Martin. “Do you mean to tell me Ted -has fallen down there?” - -“He didn’t perzackly _fall_ in,” said Janet. “I let him down by the -rope, but the rope slipped off and he’s down there. He couldn’t climb -out, so mother told Patrick to bring the ladder.” - -“Oh, well, if your mother’s there I guess matters will soon be all -right,” said Mr. Martin, breathing more easily. “Why did you children -go to that well? We must fill it up at once, Patrick.” - -“Yes, sir. I was going to do it this afternoon. But they got ahead of -me, the Curlytops did.” - -Mr. Martin hurried on with Patrick, helping him carry the ladder, while -Janet followed. Mrs. Martin and Trouble were still standing at the well -curbing, and when Mrs. Martin saw her husband she, too, thought he had -come home because of what had happened to Ted. - -Then, as she knew he could not have heard of it at the store, she said -to Mr. Martin: - -“Is anything wrong? Why did you come home at this time of day?” - -“Everything is all right,” replied Mr. Martin, with a smile. “I came -home to tell you some good news. But first we must get Teddy out of the -well.” - -Mr. Martin leaned over and looked down into the depths. Ted saw his -father and called to him: - -“I’m all right!” - -“I’m glad of it,” was the answer. “We’re going to lower the ladder down -to you so you can climb up. Stand to one side so it won’t hit you.” - -And as her father and Patrick lowered the ladder into the well, Janet -wondered what good news it was that had brought Mr. Martin home in the -middle of the afternoon. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE CARDWELL ALBUMS - - -Ted Martin was in no danger in the dry well. His father and mother knew -this as soon as they had looked down at him. There was not a drop of -water in the well, and the sides were well walled up so they wouldn’t -cave in. - -“Don’t ever do anything like this again, Theodore!” his father said -quite sternly to the little chap, as the ladder was being put into -place. - -“No, sir,” answered Teddy. - -“We didn’t mean to do it,” said Janet. - -“I know you didn’t,” her mother admitted. “But just think what would -have happened if there had been water in the well?” - -“I wouldn’t have gone down if there had been water in,” Teddy called -up, for he could hear what was being said. - -“Well, I’m glad you have that much sense,” his father told him. “Now, -Patrick, you hold the upper end of the ladder steady and I’ll put this -end down in.” - -Slowly the ladder was lowered into the well, Teddy crowding back -against the stones as he stood on the leafy bottom, so as to be out of -the way. At last the ladder was in place. - -“Now can you climb up, Ted?” called his father. - -“Sure I can climb up,” was the answer, and a little later the head of -the Curlytop lad appeared above the curbing. There were leaves and dirt -and cobwebs in Teddy’s hair, but he didn’t mind that. “I brought the -end of the rope up with me,” he said, showing it to his father. “You -can fasten it to the windlass if you want to.” - -“I don’t want to,” declared Mr. Martin. “And, just so you and Janet -won’t be tempted to play diamond mine again, we’ll drop this old rope -back to the bottom of the well. And you must start at once, Patrick, to -fill it up.” - -“Yes, sir, I will,” was the answer. - -Mr. Martin took the end of the rope from Ted and let it drop back into -the black depths where it fell on the bucket, already on the bottom. - -Then the ladder was pulled up, and as Mr. Martin walked back toward the -house with his wife and children Patrick got a shovel and began tossing -dirt and rocks into the well, to fill it up level. - -“There’ll be no more Curlytops down in you!” said the man, as he -labored away. The wooden curbing was torn loose and the windlass -broken. It was the end of the old well. - -“But, anyhow, I got down it all right,” declared Ted, as he looked back -and saw Patrick filling up the hole. - -“Yes, but you might not have gotten out so easily if we hadn’t come to -help you,” suggested Mrs. Martin. - -“I guess that’s right,” agreed Ted. “I tried to climb out, but it was -hard work.” - -“He was like ‘ding-dong bell, pussy in the well,’ wasn’t he, Mother?” -laughed Trouble, as he stumbled along beside his father. - -“Yes, and daddy was Big Johnnie Stout who got Teddy out!” added Janet. -“But what’s the good news?” she asked. “You said you had good news, -Daddy.” - -“It’s about our summer vacation,” replied Mr. Martin. “You know, my -dear,” he went on, turning to his wife, “we haven’t been able to make -any plans for the vacation, because I didn’t know how matters were -going at the store. Well, I have just found out that I can get away -next week, and be gone for a month, so I hurried home to let you know. -We shall have a fine vacation this season!” - -“Where are we going?” asked Ted, brushing some of the well dirt from -his clothes. - -“To the seashore?” asked Janet. - -“No, we aren’t going any special place,” her father replied. - -“Oh, I thought you said we were going to have a fine vacation!” -objected Ted. - -“So I did, and so we are. But we aren’t going to any special place. -What do you say to touring around--going from place to place in our -auto, and perhaps taking a trip in a motor boat? How would my Curlytops -like that?” and Mr. Martin ruffled first the hair of Janet and then -that of Teddy. - -“I think that will be lots of fun!” cried Janet. - -“Do you mean touring around in our car and sleeping in it and camping -out and all that?” asked Ted. - -“Well, something like that,” agreed Mr. Martin. “Of course we can’t -exactly sleep in our auto, as it isn’t a Gypsy wagon. But we can take -along a tent that can be fastened to the auto, and we can sleep in that -if we wish. Or we can put up at hotels along the way. It will be partly -a camping trip.” - -“Oh, that’ll be dandy fun!” cried Ted. “When can we start?” - -“Next week. But in the meanwhile don’t go climbing into any more -wells,” urged his father. - -“No, sir, I won’t!” the Curlytop boy promised. “Oh, hurray for touring -around! Hurray for touring around!” he cried, turning a somersault on -the grass. - -“’Ray! ’Ray!” echoed Trouble, trying to do as he saw his brother do. -But Trouble toppled over to one side, laughing as he fell. - -“We’ll have lovely fun!” confided Janet to her mother. “I think daddy -is just wonderful, don’t you, Mother?” - -“He is, indeed, quite wonderful,” agreed Mrs. Martin, with a smile. - -From then on, as you can imagine, there were busy times in the home -of the Curlytops. Once it was decided that they would spend part of -the summer vacation touring around, going to no particular place, but -stopping wherever they felt like it, many preparations had to be made. - -Mr. Martin owned a big touring car, and he bought a camping outfit and -tent to go with it. The tent could be fastened to one side of the car, -and cots put beneath the canvas covering. - -“The children can sleep in the car, when it rains too hard,” decided -Mrs. Martin. - -“And can we cook, and eat and everything like that out of doors?” Janet -wanted to know. - -“Of course we have to cook!” declared Ted. “I’m going to make the -campfires,” he declared. - -“We’ll see about that,” Mr. Martin said. “Very likely we’ll take along -an alcohol stove. That’s more certain for cooking than wet wood. But we -can have a campfire once in a while.” - -Ted and Janet told their many boy and girl chums about the coming -touring trip, and all the lads and lassies wished they were as lucky as -were the Curlytops. - -It was one evening, about four days after Ted had gone down into the -well which was now filled up, that, as the Curlytops and the others of -the family were talking about the coming trip, a ring sounded at the -front door. - -“I wonder who that can be?” said Mrs. Martin. - -“Well, it’s pretty hard to guess,” her husband answered, with a laugh. -“But we’ll soon see, for Nora is opening the door.” - -In came Mr. James Cardwell, an elderly neighbor who lived two or three -houses down the street. Under his arm Mr. Cardwell carried two large -books, which, a second look told Janet and Ted, were old-fashioned -photograph albums. - -“Good evening, Mr. Cardwell,” said Mr. Martin. “Have a chair.” - -“Thanks, but I didn’t come to stay long,” said Mr. Cardwell, as he put -his albums down on the table. “I came to ask you to do me a favor.” - -“Did you want our pictures to put in your album, Mr. Cardwell?” asked -Ted, for he and Janet had had their photographs taken the week before. - -“Thank you, little man, but these albums are filled,” was the answer. -“I’d like to get your pictures, though, for another album I have at -home. What I came over for,” he went on, “is to see if you would take -these albums to my brother Reuben in Bentville, Mr. Martin. I hear -you are going on a long auto tour, and that you will pass through -Bentville. Is that right?” - -“Yes, we planned to make Bentville one of our stops,” said Mr. Martin, -naming a town about three hundred miles away. - -“That’s my old home,” said Mr. Cardwell. “There is going to be a -reunion of the Cardwell families there in the fall. We have it every -year. All the Cardwells for miles around come to this reunion. - -“Now in this album are a lot of pictures of Cardwells that are dead and -gone--dead and gone,” and the old man’s voice trembled. “Some of their -relatives would like to look at these pictures. I thought it would be a -good plan to have them at the reunion.” - -“Very nice, I should say,” remarked Mrs. Martin. - -“That’s what I thought. Well, I want to send my albums on ahead, before -I start, which won’t be until fall. I want to send them to my brother, -Reuben Cardwell of Bentville. The albums have been in the family many -years. I’d hate to see them lost, or have anything happen to them. -I’m afraid to send them by mail or express. But I thought, as long -as you’re going to tour out that way, you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Martin, -leaving these albums with my brother.” - -“I shall be glad to do that,” replied the Curlytops’ father. “If you -think you can trust me with them,” he added. - -“Of course I’ll trust you,” said Mr. Cardwell. “Though we think so much -of these albums in our family that I wouldn’t trust every one. I don’t -know what would happen if they got lost or were destroyed. See, here -are pictures of my dear little twin girls, who died when they were ten -years old. They’re the only pictures we have of them--Mary and Alice.” - -He turned the heavy pages and showed pictures of two pretty girls, with -long, curling hair. The pictures were of a bygone time, old-fashioned -and rather strange to the Curlytops. But they could see that Mr. -Cardwell thought a great deal of them and of the albums. - -“And here is another picture we prize highly,” said the elderly -neighbor. “It’s a picture of my brother’s boy Tom. He was only -eighteen,” and he turned to the photograph of a fine-looking lad. - -“Did he die, too?” asked Mrs. Martin softly. - -“Yes--at least, we suppose so,” said Mr. Cardwell gently. “He went away -to be a sailor. His ship was sunk and we never heard anything more from -him. I suppose the poor young fellow died at sea. This is the only -picture of him, and I know how badly my brother would feel if it were -lost. So will you take charge of these old family albums, Mr. Martin, -and deliver them in Bentville?” - -“Yes, I’ll be very careful of them,” promised Mr. Martin. “I know what -it means to lose such things.” - -“Didn’t they ever find the boy who was lost at sea?” asked Ted, to whom -this little story appealed greatly. - -“No, Ted, we never heard a word from him,” sighed Mr. Cardwell. “I -suppose the sea has him. He is as much lost as my dear little twin -girls are,” and he turned back to the pictures of the children. - -“I have a small chest, or box, down at the store, Mr. Cardwell,” said -Mr. Martin, as the caller was about to leave. “I’ll put your albums in -that chest so they will be safe.” - -“Thank you. Tell my brother, when you see him, why I sent them to him -this way--I didn’t like to trust the mails or the express, and I won’t -be out to Bentville myself until fall.” - -“I’ll tell him,” was the promise. - -Ted and Janet were looking at the queer, heavy covers of the old books -and wondering what games the pictured children used to play when they -were on earth, when suddenly from outside came a number of sounds. - -There was the sound of the clanging of bells, the blowing of whistles -and the shouting of men and boys. - -“It’s a fire! A fire down the street!” cried Ted, as he raced to the -door. “Oh, Mr. Cardwell, I guess your house is on fire!” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A BIG CROWD - - -Nothing causes quite so much excitement as does a fire. And when the -fire is on your own street, and near your house, and perhaps in the -home of some one you know--why, then there is excitement enough to -cause even the grown-ups to move about quickly. - -And this is just what happened when Ted Martin called out: - -“I guess your house is on fire, Mr. Cardwell!” - -Mr. and Mrs. Martin, as well as their visitor who had brought the two -old photograph albums with him, ran to the door. And you may be sure -that Janet was there ahead of them, for she had heard what her brother -shouted. William, also, was right there, making his way in and out -among chairs until he finally pushed through between Ted’s legs as that -lad stood on the porch. - -“I’m goin’ to fire!” cried the little fellow. - -“No, Trouble! You stay here!” commanded Ted, catching hold of him just -in time. - -“It is a fire, surely enough,” declared Mrs. Martin, when she had -looked down the street. - -“And it’s near my house, if it isn’t in it!” exclaimed Mr. Cardwell. -“Excuse me!” he said hastily, as he pushed his way between Ted and -Janet on the steps. “But I’d better get down there!” - -“I’ll come and help,” offered Mr. Martin. - -“May I come?” asked Ted. - -“No, Son, you stay with your mother,” directed his father. - -As the two men hurried out of the front gate, joining the throng that -was running toward the scene of the fire, Mrs. Martin took Trouble by -one hand and Janet by the other and said: - -“We’ll just walk down a little way to see what’s going on. Come along, -Ted.” - -Much pleased that he did not have to stay away altogether from the -fire, the Curlytop lad followed his mother and the others. The engines -were already on hand, and it was their puffing and tooting of whistles -that had made some of the noise. - -“It isn’t Mr. Cardwell’s house, though,” said Mrs. Martin, when she and -the Curlytops, with Trouble, had gone far enough down the street to see -just where the fire was. “It’s next door to him.” - -“I wouldn’t want a fire next door to me,” sighed Janet. - -“I would!” cried Ted. “You could see it fine!” - -“A fire is a terrible thing,” said Mrs. Martin. “We shouldn’t want one -anywhere near us.” - -“Oh, no, of course not! I don’t exactly _want_ one,” admitted Ted. “But -if one has _got_ to come I wish it would be near our house, but not in -it, so I could see it good.” - -“This isn’t a very big fire,” observed Janet, when they had watched for -a few minutes. “I guess it’s out now.” - -“I hope so,” said her mother. - -And such proved to be the case, for in a little while the firemen who -had rushed into the home of Mr. Blakeson, next door to the residence of -Mr. Cardwell, came out with a long, thin hose. It was the hose from the -chemical engine, and not the big water hose. - -“It was only a fire in the chimney,” said Mr. Martin, as he came -walking back with Mr. Cardwell. “No damage done, but the folks were -pretty well frightened. They put it out with chemicals.” - -“How could a chimney be on fire?” Jan wanted to know. “A chimney is -brick, and bricks can’t burn.” - -“It isn’t the bricks that burn,” her father explained. “But when a -chimney has been used a number of years it gets coated, or lined on -the bricks inside, with soot. Soot contains oils and other things that -burn. Finally, some day, a hot fire sets the soot inside the chimney on -fire, and it burns fiercely. And if it burned long enough it would make -the bricks so hot that they would set fire to the roof or the wooden -parts of the house near them. That’s why a chimney fire is dangerous, -even though the bricks themselves can’t burn.” - -“Did they put salt on the fire?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“Ho! Ho!” laughed Ted. “I’ve heard of putting salt on the tail of a -wild bird to tame it, but I didn’t know you put salt on a fire.” - -“Yes, you do, sometimes,” stated Mr. Martin. “Salt is said to put out -chimney fires. Some sort of chemical is released when salt is heated, -and this smothers the fire in the chimney. But the firemen put this -fire out, and without any damage being done.” - -“I’m glad of that,” said Mrs. Martin, as they went back to the house. - -“And I’m glad the fire wasn’t in my house,” remarked Mr. Cardwell. “If -it had been, and if those albums had burned, with those pictures of my -children and my brother’s boy--pictures we never could get again--my -wife and I would have felt very sad. My wife thinks a great deal of -those albums. I’ve been planning for a long time to send them out to my -brother, but we never dared trust them to any one before. I hope you -will take good care of them, Mr. Martin.” - -“Oh, I surely will, Mr. Cardwell,” replied the father of the Curlytops. - -That night, when the children were in bed and Mr. and Mrs. Martin -were quietly talking over their plans for the coming tour around the -country, Mrs. Martin said: - -“I almost wish you didn’t have to bother with those two big albums of -pictures, Dick!” - -“Why?” asked her husband. - -“Oh, just suppose something happens to them?” - -“Nothing will happen to them. I’ll pack them in that small chest I have -down at the store, and we’ll put it in the back of the auto. When we -reach Bentville I’ll give the albums to Mr. Cardwell’s brother. That -will end the matter.” - -“I shall be glad when it is ended,” said Mrs. Martin, as she carefully -carried the precious old books of pictures upstairs with her. - -“What are you going to do with them, my dear?” asked her husband, as he -noticed what she was doing. - -“I thought I’d have them handy so I could pick them up and run out with -them in case our house caught fire during the night.” - -“Oh, nonsense!” laughed Mr. Martin. “Nothing is going to happen!” - -But it did. Not that night, nor the next night, but before very long, -as you shall read. - -Ted and Janet, with Trouble also, were very busy the next day, going -over their toys and playthings to pick out the things they wanted -to take on the tour with them. Jan had a number of dolls, a ball, -some books, a few things she thought her dolls might need and even a -carriage. Ted had picked out some books, his top, a pair of roller -skates and a bow and arrows. - -“Why, children, you can’t take all those things!” laughed their mother. -“There wouldn’t be room in the auto, for one thing, and, besides, you -will have no time to play with your toys. We shall be traveling most -of the day, and at night you’ll want to sleep. Don’t take any of those -things.” - -After some talk Ted and Janet agreed to limit the toys they would take -with them. Janet picked out the doll she liked best and one book, and -Ted took a ball and a book. As for Trouble---- - -Well, by the time Mrs. Martin had settled on what the two older -children could take, she had forgotten about Trouble. Then, all of a -sudden, she remembered him. - -“Where is William?” she asked. - -Ted and Janet looked at each other. They, too, had forgotten their -small brother. But a moment later a cry was heard: - -“Come and get me out! Come and get me out!” - -“There’s Trouble now!” exclaimed Janet. - -“Oh, what has happened to William now?” sighed Mrs. Martin. - -By this time Janet had run into the front yard, and from there she -shouted: - -“Here’s Trouble! He’s all right! But he’s got his head stuck in the -fence and he can’t get loose!” - -Mrs. Martin and Ted rushed out to find that the little boy had stuck -his head in between two pickets of the fence, at a place where one -picket was loose. His head had gone in easily enough, but when he tried -to draw back his ears stuck out so he couldn’t. - -“Oh, my poor little William!” said his mother. - -“I’ll get him loose!” exclaimed Ted, which he did, by pulling off the -loose picket so there was room enough for his little brother to draw -back his head. - -Trouble was frightened, and the skin, back of his ears, was scratched a -little, but otherwise he was not hurt. - -“What made you stick your head through the fence like that, William?” -his mother asked him. - -“I--now--I was pickin’ a flower to take in the auto with us,” Trouble -explained. “I reached through the fence to get the posie.” - -“Oh, the little darling!” murmured Jan, kissing him. “I’ll pick flowers -for you,” she offered. “Don’t stick your head through the fence again.” - -She went out and found where her little brother had reached out to -gather some flowers that grew just beyond the fence. He could have -gone out of the gate to get them, but, instead, he reached through the -pickets. Jan picked some blossoms and took them to Trouble. - -Such happenings as this did not worry Mrs. Martin much, for so many of -them took place each day that she was getting used to them. Trouble -soon stopped his crying and went out to play with Ted and Janet, while -their mother went on with the preparations for the auto tour. - -Mr. Martin, that day, brought home the small, stout box to hold the -Cardwell albums, and they were put in and locked up, ready to be taken -to Mr. Reuben Cardwell of Bentville. - -In a few days all was in readiness for the start. Mr. Martin left his -store in charge of his head clerk, the house was closed up, the auto -had been piled with valises, and the tent, for sleeping at night, had -been strapped on the running-board. In piled the Curlytops and Trouble -and Mr. Martin blew the horn. - -“Good-by! Good-by!” called friends, neighbors and the playmates of the -children. - -“Good-by! Good-by!” echoed the Curlytops. - -Just then along came running Jack Turton, a funny little fat chap. He -was all out of breath. - -“What’s the matter, Jack? Is there a fire?” asked Mr. Martin, as he was -about to start the auto. - -“No, sir. But there’s a terrible big crowd down in the meadow near the -white bridge!” gasped Jack. “Oh, it’s a terrible big crowd, and I’m -going down to see. Maybe there’s somebody drowned!” - -Away he rushed, as fast as his fat legs would take him. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MOVING PICTURES - - -Well did the Curlytops know the place spoken of in such a hurry by fat -Jack Turton. Ted and Janet had often gathered flowers in the meadow, -and Ted had, more than once, caught fish under that same white bridge -spoken of by the fat lad. - -“The water is deep down by the white bridge,” said Ted, as he watched -Jack hurrying down the street. Other children, gathered to say good-by -to the Curlytops, had heard what Jack said about a big crowd in the -meadow, and they were following him down to the place. - -“I hope no one is drowned,” murmured Mrs. Martin, looking at her three -children in the auto and feeling thankful that they were safe with her. - -“Oh, Daddy!” exclaimed Janet, “couldn’t we drive down past the meadow -on our way and see what the crowd is there for?” - -“Maybe it’s a circus!” exclaimed Trouble, who had caught some of the -talk, but didn’t know exactly what it was all about. - -“No, it can’t be a circus,” declared Ted. “There haven’t been any -circus posters around town. I’d have seen ’em if there was.” - -“It isn’t a circus,” decided Mr. Martin. “I think, as long as we have -time, that I’ll drive around that way. We can take the road over the -white bridge as well as any other.” - -In fact, the Curlytops were going to tour around the country, not going -to any certain place at any certain time, so they could do as they -pleased, which is half the fun of touring. - -“Dick,” said Mrs. Martin, touching her husband gently on the arm as he -was about to start the car down the street after Jack and the other -children, “perhaps we had better not go down there.” - -“Why not?” he asked. - -“If it’s a drowning it would be a sad sight, and----” - -Mr. Martin appeared undecided as his wife brought this thought to his -mind, and it might have been that he would have taken some other -route, except that he saw Doctor Whitney driving along in his small -car. The physician was coming from the direction of the white bridge. - -“Dr. Whitney will know if an accident has happened,” said Mr. Martin. -“If there’s been a drowning he wouldn’t be coming away from it. He -would stay there and try to save the drowned person.” - -“Please ask him,” suggested Mrs. Martin. - -Accordingly her husband called: - -“Anything the matter down at the white bridge, Doctor?” - -The doctor brought his car to a halt near that of the Curlytops, and -waved his hand to the children after he had raised his hat to Mrs. -Martin. - -“Drowning at the white bridge?” he asked. “No, nothing like that. -Though there may be if they keep on. There’s a big crowd there and some -of the youngsters may fall in.” - -“What’s going on?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“Is it a circus?” Trouble asked. “I’d like to see a nellifunt!” - -“Yes, you saw one once!” laughed his mother. - -“No, it isn’t a circus, though the kids are having almost as much fun -as if there was one,” chuckled the doctor. “And the men are having as -much trouble trying to keep the boys and girls back as though there -were two circuses.” - -“Sounds rather interesting!” laughed Mr. Martin. “But I’m glad no one -is drowned--that’s what fat little Jack suggested.” - -“What in the world is it?” asked Mrs. Martin, and Ted and Janet -listened eagerly to the answer of the physician, for they could not -imagine what was happening at the white bridge. - -“It’s moving pictures,” the doctor replied. - -“Moving pictures!” cried the Curlytops together, just as twins might -have done. But Ted and Janet were not twins, though they were born on -the same day of the year. Ted was exactly a year ahead of his sister. - -“I didn’t know they were showing movies in the meadow,” said Mr. Martin. - -“They aren’t _showing_ moving pictures,” replied Doctor Whitney. -“They’re _taking_ them.” - -“Taking movies!” gasped Ted. “Oh, I want to see that!” - -“Real moving pictures?” Janet wanted to know. - -“I guess they’re real enough,” answered the doctor. “I don’t know much -about such things, but there is a company of men and women down in the -meadow, posing around on the bridge and on boats in the river. They’re -all painted up--I mean their faces--and they are wearing fancy clothes. -A lot of men with megaphones are shouting directions, and other men are -grinding away at the cranks of moving picture machines. So I guess it’s -real enough.” - -“Oh, Daddy, please take us there!” begged the Curlytops. - -“Shall we go, Mother?” asked Mr. Martin of his wife. - -“Yes, I would like to see it,” she answered. “And I’m sure the children -would be amused.” - -“Oh, say, I guess we would!” murmured Janet. - -“Come on, Dad! Step on it!” cried Ted, meaning for his father to press -on the gasoline accelerator of the car and move the machine faster. - -“Ted and Janet, they didn’t ’muse me,” remarked Trouble. “An’ Ted, he -fell down in the well--he did!” - -He remembered this event quite clearly. - -“Well, we hope no one falls into the river,” laughed Mrs. Martin, as -they said good-day to Doctor Whitney and moved along. A large creek, or -a small river, whichever way you looked at it, flowed under the white -bridge on the outskirts of Cresco. - -“Let’s go! Let’s go!” chanted Ted. - -“I’d love to watch them take movies,” remarked Janet. “I’ve never seen -them do it.” - -“I did once, at a baseball game,” stated Ted. “But it didn’t amount to -much. This’ll be a lot better.” - -As the Curlytops approached the white bridge and the meadow through -which flowed the river, they saw others also hurrying to the scene. For -Cresco was a small city, or a large town, you might say, and anything -like excitement--such as taking moving pictures near it--was sure to -draw a throng. - -As Mr. Martin drove his car over the bridge and down a lane into the -meadow, where many other cars were parked, there was no doubt about -what was going on. Moving pictures were certainly being taken there, or -“filmed,” to use the right word. - -“Oh, look at the cowboys!” cried Ted, for some of the actors were -attired in western suits--big hats, “chaps,” or leather breeches, -and spurs on their shoes, while some of them carried coils of ropes. -“They’re lassoes,” explained Ted. - -“Pooh, I knew that!” scoffed Jan. - -“Why, there’s quite a company of them!” remarked Mrs. Martin, as she -noticed the number of men and women who, it was plain to be seen, were -not residents of Cresco. They belonged to the company. “Why do you -suppose they came here to take pictures?” she asked her husband. - -“It’s hard to say,” he answered. “Probably the play they are taking -needed just such a scene in it as this bridge, river and meadow -provide. The company is out on ‘location,’ as it is called. That is, -they have come out from their studio, or the ‘lot,’ as they call it, -and they have found just the right location for making certain scenes.” - -“Oh, look, that lady is going to jump from the boat!” cried Janet, -pointing to a small skiff on the river, which held one young lady and -several men. - -The actress was, indeed, standing up in the bow of the boat and, as Jan -had said, seemed about to jump into the river. One man was rowing the -boat, and the other, in the stern, was moving forward as if to stop the -young lady from leaping overboard. - -“This is great!” cried Ted, with shining eyes. - -“Awfully exciting,” admitted Janet. - -“It’s like a circus,” said Trouble. “But I don’t see any nellifunts! -Where are the nellifunts?” - -Several persons standing near Mr. Martin’s car laughed at this. But -they quickly looked away from the Curlytops and toward the boat on the -river as the young lady in it gave a scream and leaped into the water, -making a great splash. - -“Oh, my goodness!” cried Mrs. Martin. “There’ll be a drowning after -all!” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ALBUMS ARE GONE - - -More than one, at least in the crowd that had gathered to watch the -movie folk, was almost as much excited as was Mrs. Martin, when they -saw the actress jump out of the boat into the river. But Mr. Martin -quickly understood that it was all part of the work of making moving -pictures, and said: - -“It’s all right, Mother! Don’t worry!” - -“They’ll get her out!” added Ted. “Look, there goes a man in after her -now!” - -As he spoke the man in the stern of the boat threw off his coat and -leaped with a great splash into the water after the young lady. - -“And they’re taking pictures of it all the while!” called out Jan. “Oh, -I wish I could see them on the screen!” - -What Janet said was true--from the time the boat started up the stream -near the white bridge until the moment when the young lady leaped -out and the actor leaped after her, men on the bank, and also men in -another boat, were quickly turning the handles of their moving picture -cameras, filming every action of the actors and actresses. - -“Why do they have three cameras, Daddy?” asked Janet, for she noticed -at least this number of men, with their caps on backward, grinding away. - -“There are two reasons for that,” answered Mr. Martin. “One reason is -that one film might be spoiled, and if it was the only one taken all -the work would have to be done over again. Another reason is that the -pictures give different views of the same scene, and it can not be -told, until after the films are developed and printed, which is the -best. So they take two or three, the same as a photographer takes more -than one picture of you when you go to his studio.” - -“Did they take more than one picture of the little twin girls that -died?” Janet asked, pointing to where, in a box in the rear of the -auto, the two Cardwell albums had been placed. “And did they take two -pictures of the boy who was lost at sea?” - -“I don’t know about that,” her father answered. “I suppose they did, -though the pictures were taken a number of years ago when it wasn’t as -easy to make photographs as it is now. When those twin girls and the -Cardwell boy sat for their portraits, moving pictures weren’t thought -of--at least, not as we see them now.” - -“There--they’ve got her!” cried Ted, as he saw the man from the boat -reach the girl who had leaped overboard. “She’s saved!” - -“Well, I’m glad of that,” remarked Mrs. Martin, with a sigh of relief. - -“But she wasn’t going to drown, anyhow!” went on the Curlytop lad. “She -knew, all the while, that she’d be saved, didn’t she, Daddy?” - -“I guess she did,” Mr. Martin admitted, with a smile. “These movie -people don’t take many chances. Of course, some of them who do ‘stunts’ -run into danger, but, in the main, they are pretty careful. I guess -this young lady was a good swimmer.” - -“They’re taking more pictures of her,” cried Jan. “Look! She’s on the -bank over there and they’re taking a lot more pictures of her.” - -“So they are,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “The poor thing--they won’t even -give her a chance to get into dry clothes.” - -“Probably the story of this movie doesn’t call for that,” suggested Mr. -Martin. “The young lady may have to be shown coming up from the water -dripping wet.” - -That seemed so, for as soon as the man who had jumped from the boat -into the water after the actress began to carry her in his arms up -the bank of the creek, some of the camera men ran around with their -machines and again began grinding very fast at the handles. - -“Oh, it must be wonderful to be a movie actress!” sighed Jan. - -“I’d like to be one of the cowboy actors!” exclaimed Ted, looking at -the men in western costume, who, just then, did not seem to have much -to do. They were standing idly about near their horses. - -“Well, if being a movie actress means jumping into a river with all -your clothes on, I beg to be excused,” laughed Mrs. Martin. - -“I’m glad we came here,” said Ted. “Aren’t you, Jan?” - -“I just guess I am!” she murmured. “Oh, look! Now she’s running away -from the man who saved her!” - -Indeed, this very scene was then taking place, and it caused some more -excitement. - -For the young lady, dripping wet as she had been taken from the water, -had rested on the bank only a moment, while some pictures of her and -her rescuer were taken, and then, with a scream, she broke away from -the man and rushed off across the meadow. - -But it was all part of the play that was being taken, for the Curlytops -noticed that the young lady was running straight toward a camera that -had been set up near a clump of willow trees. And as she approached the -machine the man behind it kept it focused, or “aimed,” as Ted said, -straight at the actress, picturing her every movement. - -“I wish they’d take a picture of a nellifunt!” sighed Trouble, and -again his queer remark caused a laugh. - -“I guess they haven’t any elephants in this outfit,” remarked a man -standing near the Martin auto. - -“What do you suppose it’s all about?” asked Mrs. Martin of her -husband, as they got out of the car and walked toward a group of the -picture people. “I mean what is the story they are filming?” - -“I don’t know, and I doubt very much if even those taking part in it -know what it’s all about,” said Mr. Martin. “You see,” he explained, -“in taking moving pictures they make views of all the scenes that take -place in a certain spot all at once. That’s so they won’t have to come -back to it again. Now they may take views of the cowboys here at the -bridge and also pictures of the girl in the boat. But the cowboy scenes -may be shown at the beginning of the finished film, and the scene we -have just witnessed may be at the very end. That’s how movie work is -done.” - -“Look, they’re going to take cowboy pictures now!” cried Ted, as he saw -some camera men approaching a group of the horsemen. And the cowboys, -who had been idly talking, now leaped to their saddles as if to be in -readiness for something. - -“Yes,” remarked Mr. Martin, as he glanced across the meadow, nodding to -several Cresco men whom he knew, “I think they have finished filming -the drowning lady for the present. She may put on dry clothes and -take part in some other part of the play. Now we’ll watch the cowboys. -They’ll make it lively, I think.” - -“Have we time to stay here and watch this?” asked Mrs. Martin, as she -followed her husband and the children from the auto out over the green -meadow. - -“Oh, yes,” he answered. “We are off on a pleasure tour, you know, and -this is giving the children as much pleasure as anything we could let -them see. It is educational, too, and this seems like a company of nice -people.” - -“Will it be safe to leave the car?” went on his wife. - -“Oh, surely!” laughed Mr. Martin. “No one will run away with it. There -are police here,” and he pointed to some of the Cresco force that -had gathered to keep order while moving pictures were being taken. -“Besides, I’ll lock it; then it will be safe.” - -This he did, and then he took the Curlytops, his wife, and Trouble over -where they would have a good view of what the cowboys were about to -enact. - -“What company is this?” asked Mr. Martin of Mr. Taylor, the feed -merchant. - -“Oh, it’s one that makes funny films,” was the answer. “Comedies, you -know. They have a studio in Mansfield, but they’re out here just for -the day. Quite a sight, isn’t it?” - -“Yes, it’s interesting,” admitted Mr. Martin. - -“Your children are taking it all in,” added Mr. Taylor, laughing. - -“They don’t miss much,” admitted Mr. Martin. - -By this time, with the Curlytops and Trouble in a place where they -would have a good view, that part of the play in which the cowboys had -a part began to be filmed. - -One actor waved his hat and flapped it against the sides of his pony, -starting it off at a fast gallop down the meadow. As he rode along the -children could see cameras grinding away, taking pictures of this fast -ride. Then, after the first man, rode a number of others. Now began a -scene of great excitement, for the cowboys chasing after the one who -had first ridden away began firing their big revolvers and shouting at -the tops of their voices. - -“My goodness!” cried Mrs. Martin, holding her hands over her ears at -the sounds of shooting. “I hope they aren’t firing real bullets!” - -“They’re only blank cartridges,” declared Teddy. “Aren’t they, Daddy!” - -“Yes,” was the answer. - -“Oh, look!” suddenly cried Jan. “One man fell off his horse!” - -That actually happened to one of the riders chasing after the lone -cowboy. Off his horse he rolled, tumbling over and over. The pony -got up after the fall and walked about, beginning to eat grass as if -nothing had happened. The cowboy, also, picked himself up and walked -with a limp over to get back on his steed. - -“I’m glad he wasn’t hurt,” said Mrs. Martin. - -“Oh, he did that on purpose!” said Ted. - -“I guess he did,” Mr. Martin agreed. “They want to make the picture -look as natural as possible, so often the riders fall off on purpose.” - -“I should think they’d be hurt,” observed the mother of the Curlytops. - -“Cowboys know how to fall,” said Ted. “Maybe I’m going to be a cowboy -when I grow up, and ride a bucking bronco.” - -“An’ maybe I’ll ride a nellifunt!” declared Trouble. - -After an exciting chase, which was all taken in by the cameras, the -cowboys quieted down. This seemed to be the end of making pictures -for that time and in that place. The actors and actresses hurried to -waiting automobiles, and the camera men began taking the long-legged -tripods from their machines. - -“You picked a good spot to leave your car, Mr. Martin,” said Mr. -Taylor, as the family was walking back to resume their tour. - -“What do you mean?” - -“Your machine is right next to that of Harry Portnay, the actor. That’s -his car there,” and Mr. Taylor pointed. “He’s getting into it now. His -car is the same make as yours and the same kind.” - -“Oh, is that Mr. Portnay?” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “I’ve often seen him -in the films. How interesting! He was one of the cowboys, wasn’t he?” - -“Yes,” agreed Mr. Taylor. “And he’s very funny. He’s the one who fell -off his horse.” - -“No wonder he knew how to fall!” laughed Ted. “I like him!” - -Indeed, Mr. Portnay was well known in the films, and quite a favorite -with boys and girls. Ted and Janet had often seen the Portnay pictures -in the Cresco theater. - -With wondering eyes at being this near to a real movie actor, the -Curlytops watched Mr. Portnay get into his car and drive away with -others of his company who had come to Cresco on location. - -“Well, I guess the excitement is all over,” remarked Mr. Martin, as the -crowd began leaving the field when the actors and camera men had moved -away. - -“But we saw a lot, didn’t we, Jan?” asked Ted. - -“It was wonderful!” she returned. “I’d like to see it all over again!” - -“But we must start on our tour, if we’re going,” said Mrs. Martin, as -she lifted Trouble into the car. “Come along, Curlytops.” - -Mr. Martin looked over his machine, to make sure everything was all -right. He counted the bags, valises, and other things they had brought -with him, and noted that the tent to be used for camping was on the -running-board. - -Suddenly he gave a start of surprise and asked his wife: - -“Did you move that box of albums?” - -“You mean the Cardwell albums?” - -“Yes. It was in the back of the car. Did you move it?” - -“No, I didn’t touch it. I saw it there when we got out, though.” - -“Well, it isn’t there now!” exclaimed her husband. “The Cardwell albums -with the old pictures in them are gone! I wonder who could have taken -them!” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ON THE TRAIL - - -The Curlytops, and Trouble also, were so much taken up with watching -the moving picture people leave the meadow that for a time they did not -listen to what their father and mother were talking about. But at last -Jan heard something said about the Cardwell albums and asked: - -“Did we lose them out of our car?” - -“No; we had them when we parked here,” answered her father. “I remember -putting the box under a robe, so it wouldn’t be in plain sight. It -could be mistaken for a fancy box of lunch, I thought, and some hungry -boys, thinking it contained sandwiches, might be tempted to take it.” - -“Did they?” asked Ted. - -“Some one has taken the box with the albums in it,” answered Mr. -Martin. “It’s gone!” - -“Let’s look again, to make certain,” suggested his wife. “We don’t want -to make a fuss and then find the box, after all.” - -“I don’t believe we’ll find it,” replied Mr. Martin, and there was a -worried look on his face. “It isn’t in the car--it’s been taken out. -And what to say to Mr. Cardwell I don’t know! He will be very sorry to -learn that the albums are gone, for he never again can get pictures of -his twin girls who are dead. And that sailor boy’s picture, too! That’s -gone.” - -“Oh, perhaps we’ll find the box and the albums,” said Mrs. Martin more -cheerfully. “No one would really steal them--they would be of no value -to any one.” - -“No; and that’s what I can’t understand!” complained the father of the -Curlytops. “But the albums are gone, sure enough!” - -It really seemed so, for when the children--even Trouble helping--had -looked through the car, the box was not to be found. - -“Well, I don’t know what to do,” said Mr. Martin, walking up and down -with a worried air, beside his auto. “I don’t want to go back and tell -Mr. Cardwell we have lost his valuable relics. And yet it isn’t fair -to him not to let him know.” - -“Maybe he came here himself and got them,” suggested Ted. - -“What do you mean, Son?” asked his father. - -“I mean that maybe after he gave them to you he found out he was going -to Bentville himself, and he came here to tell you. He didn’t see us, -because we were looking at the cowboys, and he just took the box out of -our car.” - -“He wouldn’t do that without telling me,” said Mr. Martin. “No, -something else happened. I wish I knew what. I’d like to get those -albums back.” - -While Mr. Martin was still nervously pacing up and down beside his auto -and Mrs. Martin was making another search among the robes and valises -for the box, one of the cowboys who had taken part in the moving -picture rode past. Ted and Janet looked at him with eager eyes, for he -was a hero to them. - -Seeing the children, the actor smiled, and then, noticing that -something was wrong, he stopped his horse, removed his big, -broad-brimmed hat in a bow to Mrs. Martin and asked: - -“Is anything wrong? Can I help you? Did some of our people bump into -your car? I know that sometimes happens when a crowd gathers as we are -taking films.” - -“No, nothing like that happened,” answered Mr. Martin. “But I left a -box with some valuable books in it here in my car, and now the box is -gone. I suppose some one in the crowd thought it contained food and -made off with it. I wish they’d bring it back, for the books are of no -value except as keepsakes to a family in Bentville where we are going.” - -“What sort of box was it?” asked the cowboy, one of the last of the -moving picture actors to leave the green meadow near the white bridge. - -“It was a dark red wooden box, with inlaid pieces of light wood,” Mr. -Martin explained. “It had a brass handle to carry it by. It was a box I -used to keep my papers in at my store. But I had put these books in it -for safety. I might better have left them out.” - -“Was it a box about so long?” asked the cowboy, holding his hands out -about two feet apart. - -“Yes,” answered Mr. Martin. - -“Then I know where it is!” exclaimed the cowboy. - -“You do?” cried Mr. and Mrs. Martin together, while the Curlytops gazed -at the rider with eager eyes. As for Trouble, he was gazing at the -horse and murmuring: - -“You aren’t as big as a nellifunt! I fed a nellifunt peanuts once, I -did!” - -“Yes, I know where your box is; or at least, I know who took it,” went -on the actor. “It was all due to a mistake.” - -“Who has it?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“I think you will find it in the car of Mr. Harry Portnay, our head -actor, or leading man, as we call it,” replied the cowboy, with a smile. - -“What would he be doing with old photograph albums?” asked Mr. Martin. -“For those are the books in the box--just old photograph albums, though -they contain pictures highly valued by those who own them.” - -“Mr. Portnay didn’t want the albums,” said the actor, who gave his -name as Ned Weldon. “But his helper, Jim Lewis, took them to him by -mistake. Lewis thought your box was Mr. Portnay’s make-up box.” - -“Make-up box? Do you mean the box with false mustaches and grease paint -and things like that in it?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“Yes,” answered the cowboy. Later Mrs. Martin explained to the -Curlytops that actors when they “dress up” as different characters must -also change their faces as well as their clothes. They must sometimes -put on powder and paint, as well as false hair and beards. And each -actor has what is called a “make-up box,” consisting of many things -which enable him to make himself up to look like some one else. - -“This is how it happened,” went on Mr. Weldon. “Your car was parked -next to that of Mr. Portnay. I remember seeing that as I rode about -taking part in the picture. He has the same make and model car that you -have. - -“During the cowboy race Mr. Portnay happened to want something from his -make-up box. I heard him tell Lewis to go and get it. I was sitting -on my horse near Mr. Portnay when Lewis came back with a box such as -you describe. At first it looked a good bit like Mr. Portnay’s make-up -chest, but our leading man knew right away that it wasn’t. - -“Lewis, by mistake, had gone to your car and taken your box of albums -in place of Portnay’s make-up box. Portnay laughed at the mistake, and -sent Lewis back to get the right box. - -“Now, in all probability, what happened was this. Instead of putting -the box of albums back in your car, Lewis put it in Mr. Portnay’s car -and also took from that car the make-up box. He left your box in Mr. -Portnay’s car and now our leading man has gone away with it. That’s -what happened to your albums, I feel sure. No one took them purposely.” - -“Yes, it must have happened as you say,” agreed Mr. Martin. “I’m glad -to learn the books weren’t stolen.” - -“But how can we get them back?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“The albums aren’t ours--we are carrying them for a neighbor, Mr. James -Cardwell,” explained Janet primly. - -“Yes, that’s it,” said the little Curlytop girl’s father. - -The cowboy actor looked at his watch and seemed to be trying to -calculate something in his mind. - -“We’re to take more scenes on location, as we call it, to-morrow,” he -said. - -“Do you mean here?” asked Mr. Martin. “We planned to go on, but if it -means getting back the albums we can stay.” - -“No, not here,” answered Mr. Weldon. “Our next scenes will be taken at -Cub Mountain, about fifty miles from here.” - -“I know where Cub Mountain is,” said Mr. Martin. “I’ve been there, -but I didn’t intend visiting it on this tour. You see, we are touring -around for our summer vacation,” he added. - -“I see,” remarked Ned Weldon. “Well, Mr. Portnay and the rest of the -company, or at least most of us, will be at Cub Mountain this time -to-morrow, or a little earlier. We are taking scenes about a log cabin -on the mountain. If you are there you can very likely see Mr. Portnay -and get back from him your box which his man took in mistake for the -make-up chest.” - -“Couldn’t we catch Mr. Portnay before then?” asked Mr. Martin. “I mean, -couldn’t we trail after him now and come up with him somewhere before -he reaches Cub Mountain?” - -“You might try,” said the man who played the part of a cowboy. “He is -going through Midvale, which is about halfway there. Probably he’ll -stop in Midvale all night. He’ll be very sorry this has happened, and -he’ll be glad to give you back your box.” - -“Thank you,” replied Mr. Martin. “Then I think the best thing for us -to do is to take the trail after this Mr. Portnay. I can get back -the albums without having to worry Mr. Cardwell about them. Come on, -children!” - -“Yes, I’s comin’,” murmured Trouble. - -Into the auto scrambled the Curlytops and Trouble. Mrs. Martin took her -place beside her husband, and, waving a farewell to the cowboy actor, -they started on the trail of Mr. Portnay. - -The green meadow by the white bridge was now almost deserted. The -curious ones from the city of Cresco had left, and so had the moving -picture people, with the exception of the actor who had solved the -mystery of the disappearance of the albums. - -“Well, we are having rather an exciting start of our tour,” laughed -Mrs. Martin, as the auto rolled along the smooth road. “First we meet -these interesting moving picture people, and then we have to chase -after them. It’s very exciting.” - -“It’s lots of fun!” laughed Janet. - -“I hope we see some more cowboy races,” remarked Ted. - -They rode on for several miles, and as they went slowly around a bend -in the road, Trouble called out: - -“Look! Look! Look at the monkey!” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -OFF AGAIN - - -Trouble Martin was not given to calling out alarms like this; so, at -first thought, his mother imagined he was playing some sort of joke. - -“William, you mustn’t say such things!” she exclaimed, with a little -laugh, giving him a playful shake. “There aren’t any monkeys in these -woods.” Just then they were slowly passing along a road over which the -branches of big trees arched. - -“You didn’t see any monkey!” cried Ted. “If you saw anything it was one -of your ‘nellifunts,’ Trouble.” - -“I did see a monkey!” insisted the little fellow. “There he is now. -He’s swinging in a tree!” and he pointed ahead. - -Mr. Martin was now running the auto very slowly, for there was a bad -place in the road where it had been dug up. So there was plenty of -time for them all to look where Trouble pointed with his chubby finger. -Jan, the first to see something, cried: - -“It is a monkey! Oh, look! He’s hanging by his tail from a tree!” - -Then they all saw it, and as Mr. Martin stopped the machine just -beneath the swaying monkey, Mrs. Martin exclaimed: - -“What in the world does it mean? Trouble, I beg your pardon! You were -right, after all! I thought you were fooling.” - -“He’s my monkey!” declared the little fellow. “I saw him first! He’s -mine!” - -“If you can get him!” chuckled Ted. “But I guess he’s going to stay up -there out of reach.” - -“How do you suppose a monkey comes to be in these woods?” asked Mrs. -Martin of her husband. “Could it have escaped from a circus?” - -“There’s nellifunts in a circus,” announced Trouble, getting back to -his favorite subject. - -“Yes, this little chap might have come from a circus,” said Mr. Martin, -with a smile, as he looked up at the monkey, now swinging above his -head. “Or from some house. Some people have monkeys for pets.” - -“Maybe it belongs to the moving pictures!” exclaimed Ted. “They have a -lot of animals in the pictures.” - -“I don’t believe it was with Mr. Portnay’s company,” Mrs. Martin -remarked. “We didn’t see any such animals there. But what are we going -to do about this one?” - -“Guess we’ll have to leave him where he is--up in the tree,” answered -her husband. “He can’t do much harm, and since it is summer, he won’t -suffer from the cold. If winter was coming on he’d be a pretty sick -monkey--out in the open like this.” - -“I wish I could have this monkey!” pleaded Trouble. “I like a monkey -better’n I do a nellifunt, I guess!” - -“Well, that’s quite a thing for you to say!” laughed the little -fellow’s father. “But I’m afraid we can’t get you this for a playmate. -Hold fast, children, I’m going to start.” - -As he was about to let in the clutch and send the car ahead, there -appeared, running around the bend in the road, an excited Italian organ -grinder with his music box. He was running fast, and when he caught -sight of the auto he cried: - -“You seena da monk? You seena da monk?” - -At this moment the monkey in the tree, still swinging by his tail, -began to chatter shrilly. Doubtless he had caught sight of his master -and the organ to which tunes the monkey danced. And as the monkey -chattered the Italian looked up, catching sight of his pet. - -“Ah, da monk! My leetle monk!” he exclaimed, and then he talked in his -own language. After which he again spoke English, saying: “Come down, -Mickey! Come down to papa!” - -The children laughed at this, and the Italian joined them in the mirth. - -“He gooda da monk, but he run away,” explained the man. “Da string, she -break, Mickey go ’way. Come down! Come down!” he begged, holding out -his cap. “Come to papa!” - -But the monkey did not appear to want to come down. It turned right -side up, no longer swinging by its tail, but sitting on a branch. - -“If you had some peanuts he’d come down for those,” suggested Ted, -searching through his pockets, hoping to find a stray “goober.” - -“Mickey lika da peanut, but Mickey lika da banan mooch better,” said -the Italian. “If I hada da banan, down queek he come.” - -“I have a banana,” said Mrs. Martin. “I bought some after we left the -moving picture place, and the children didn’t eat all of them. Here’s a -banana for Mickey,” she added, handing to the Italian organ grinder one -of the yellow fruits. - -“T’ank you,” murmured the man. Then, peeling the banana, he bit off a -little end of it and held the remainder out so the monkey could see it. -“I no fool you,” the man murmured to his pet. “Dese banana, he good! -See, I eat some of heem!” - -Again he took a nibble as if to prove to the watching monkey that the -fruit was real and good. And, seeing this, the monkey gave another -chatter and then began to climb down the tree. Once he had made up his -mind to descend, he lost little time, and he was soon perched on the -organ eating the banana while his master fastened to the collar the -little animal wore, the end of the string from which Mickey had broken -loose. - -“Now you be da good monk and come weeth papa!” said the organ grinder, -at which the Curlytops laughed again, the Italian joining in. - -“Mother, isn’t it funny for him to call himself the monkey’s papa?” -whispered Jan. - -“Rather funny, yes,” admitted her mother. “But the Italians are like -that.” - -“I t’ank you for catcha da monk,” said the Italian, taking off his hat -and bowing to Mrs. Martin, as Mickey finished the banana. “Mebby I -never no get heem if so dat he not smell da banana.” - -“I’m glad I had one to tempt him down with,” replied the mother of the -Curlytops, with a smile. - -“Does your monkey act in moving pictures?” asked Ted, as the traveler -got ready to move along. - -“Da movie pitcher--no--no!” cried the Italian. “Mickey he only -hand-organ monk--no movie da pitcher monk! Goo’-by! T’ank you!” - -“Good-by!” echoed the Curlytops and the others. - -Then Mr. Martin started his car along the road while the Italian, glad -that he had recovered his pet which had run away from him, went in the -other direction. - -“Well, another adventure on our tour,” laughed Mrs. Martin. “I couldn’t -imagine what Trouble meant when he called out about a monkey in the -tree.” - -“Neither could I,” said the little fellow’s father. “I thought he was -fooling.” - -“We’ll have to pay more attention to Trouble after this,” said Ted. - -“Next time he may see a bear!” laughed Jan. - -“Don’t like bears!” murmured the little fellow, who was getting sleepy. -“Like nellifunts an’ monkeys, but not bears.” - -“Well, I don’t believe we are likely to meet any bears,” said Mr. -Martin. “What I would like to meet, though, is that moving picture -actor with the Cardwell albums.” - -“We’ll find him at the hotel in Midvale and get the albums back,” said -his wife. - -“I hope so,” her husband answered. - -They were now on their way again. Since Mr. Martin had made no special -plans for their touring vacation, he and his wife decided that it would -be as well to stop in Midvale for the night, and go on in the morning, -as it would be to try to reach some more distant place. - -“Will we sleep in the tent at Midvale?” asked Ted, when signs along the -road showed the Curlytops that they were entering that small city. - -“No, I think we’ll go to the hotel,” replied Mr. Martin. “We have to -stop at the hotel, anyhow, to catch this movie actor, so we may as well -stay all night.” - -“It would be more fun in the tent,” urged Ted. - -“Heaps more fun,” agreed his sister. - -“Oh, we’ll have enough of tent life before we finish this tour, -children,” laughed Mrs. Martin. - -They reached the Midvale hotel about five o’clock that afternoon. Mr. -Martin told his family to remain in the car until he went in to make -sure they could get rooms. He came out a little later and there was a -look of disappointment on his face. - -“Can’t they take us in for the night?” asked his wife. - -“Yes, we can stay here. But Mr. Portnay isn’t here. I can’t get the -albums from him.” - -“Not here? Then, where is he?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“He stopped here, but has gone on,” her husband answered. “He has gone -on to Cub Mountain, and, I suppose, has the box of albums in his car -with him. Perhaps he doesn’t know about them, and they may get lost. I -wish he had stayed here until I came!” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -AT THE FARM - - -While the young Curlytops did not think much about the missing albums, -they could see that their father was worried because he had not got -them back from Mr. Portnay. And anything that worried their father and -mother also worried Ted and Janet. - -For they could see that Mr. Martin was bothered by the failure to meet -the moving picture actor and get back from him the box his man had -taken by mistake, thinking it contained false hair, false beards and -make-up paint. - -“What are you going to do?” Mrs. Martin asked her husband. - -“I hardly know,” was his answer. - -“Can’t you telephone or telegraph on ahead to Cub Mountain and ask him -to wait for us, or to leave the box of albums where we can get it when -we arrive there to-morrow?” Mrs. Martin asked. - -“I might do that if I knew where to send a telegram or where to -telephone to Mr. Portnay,” answered her husband. “That’s what I should -have done here--sent a telegram to that actor at this hotel. He would -have received it and have left the box here for me. But I didn’t think -of that; so he has gone on, taking my box with him. Very likely, he -doesn’t even know he has it; he is so busy making this picture.” - -“You say you can’t reach him at Cub Mountain?” Mrs. Martin inquired. - -“No, the people at this hotel say Cub Mountain is only a small -settlement, and that there isn’t even a hotel there. If the moving -picture company doesn’t set up a camp, Mr. Portnay will probably -stop with some friends or in a private boarding house. There may be -telephones in some houses or cabins at Cub Mountain, but there is no -telegraph station there. The only thing to do will be to go on there.” - -“Now?” asked Ted, who was getting hungry and who looked at the Midvale -hotel with longing eyes. - -“Oh, no, we won’t go on now,” replied his father. “We’ll stay here for -the night and travel on to Cub Mountain in the morning. The roads -aren’t any too good. I want to travel them by daylight. Well, you may -as well get out and come in,” he told his wife and children. - -While Mrs. Martin was signing her name to the hotel register, she -listened to her husband talking to the clerk about the moving picture -actor. - -“Yes, he was here,” the clerk said; “he and a number of his company. -But the crowd stayed only to eat and then went on. I heard one of them -say they had a lot of scenes to take at Cub Mountain, and they wanted -to start the work early in the morning.” - -“Did you see Mr. Portnay have a reddish brown box, about so large?” -inquired Mr. Martin, showing the size of the little chest containing -the albums. - -“No, he didn’t bring in any baggage,” was the answer. - -“Then it’s probably still in his car,” said the Curlytops’ father. “I -hope I can get it back to-morrow.” - -They went up to their rooms, Ted and his father having one, with two -beds in it, while Mrs. Martin took Janet and Trouble in with her. - -“Better get ready to eat, children,” suggested their father, as he -noticed Ted and Janet looking from the windows out across the country, -for Midvale was on the side of a hill from which a good view could be -had. - -Mrs. Martin washed Trouble, and put clean clothes on him from the -supply carried in the valises, and thus he was first ready to go down -to the dining room. When neither his father nor his mother noticed him -he wandered out into the hall. - -Mr. and Mrs. Martin were ready to go down, and so were Ted and Janet, -when Trouble’s mother looked around for him. - -“Where’s William?” she asked. - -“I saw him go out into the hall,” answered Ted. “I’ll get him.” - -As he opened the door to go into the hall, the others following, they -heard the tinkle of broken glass, and then, directly afterward, a bell -began to ring. - -Instantly, throughout the hotel, which was not a very large one, there -was a great commotion. The elevator shot up to the floor where the -Martin family stood and the colored boy in the cage cried: - -“Come on! Git in! Ah’ll take yo’ all down ’fore de place burns!” - -“Before the place burns? What do you mean?” asked Mr. Martin. “The -hotel isn’t burning!” - -“Yes, ’tis!” cried the colored elevator lad, his eyes big with fright. -“Doan yo’ all hear de ’larm!” - -“I do hear a bell ringing!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. - -There was more commotion in the hotel, and several guests began running -from their rooms, carrying bags and clothing. It began to look as if -there was a fire, but there was no appearance of flames, nor could Mrs. -Martin smell smoke. - -Then Ted exclaimed: - -“It was Trouble! He sent in a false alarm! Trouble pulled the fire -alarm! Look!” - -He pointed to the little fellow who was climbing down from a chair in -the hall. The chair was some distance down the corridor, and near a -small red box fast to the wall. - -In a moment Mr. Martin understood. He had seen these fire signal -stations in various places about the hotel. In front of a small iron -box was a sheet of glass, and hanging down from the box by a chain was -a little iron hammer. Directions on the box said to break the glass -with the hammer and pull down the hook inside, which could only be -reached when the glass was smashed. - -“Trouble smashed the glass and pulled the hook!” cried Ted. - -“I heard some glass break,” added Janet. - -Mr. Martin ran down the hall to the small boy, who stood near the -chair. On the carpet were pieces of shattered glass. - -“Trouble, did you do this?” cried his father. - -“I--now--I jist hit the glass a little wif de hammer and it did break,” -confessed William. “Den I pulled on de button hook!” - -“Well, you did more than that!” exclaimed his father, with a grim -laugh. “You sent in the alarm when you pulled the hook. There’s no -danger, my friends!” he called to the guests who were crowding out into -the corridor. “There’s no fire. It was a false alarm! I shall have to -punish my little boy for breaking the glass and sending in a false -alarm.” - -“Oh, don’t punish him!” murmured a lady, who in running from her room -had caught up a canary bird in a cage and a pair of old slippers. She -hardly knew what she was doing in the excitement. - -“No, he didn’t mean to do it,” said a man. Trouble, by this time, knew -he had done something dreadful, and was crying behind his mother’s -skirts. - -Luckily, the alarm Trouble caused to be sent in was only a private one, -just in the hotel itself. It did not bring the Midvale fire department -out, for word went to the clerk downstairs that there was no danger and -he did not call out the engines or hook and ladder apparatus. - -So, after all, little harm was done, except to cause some excitement -and fright among the hotel guests. But this soon passed, and when the -Martins went to the dining room a little later, every one looked at -Trouble as a guest of some importance. - -“But don’t ever do it again!” his mother warned him. - -“No’m, I won’t,” he promised. - -The broken glass was swept up by one of the chambermaids, and a new -sheet put in front of the hook in the fire alarm box. - -That evening after dinner Mr. Martin took his family to the moving -picture theater near the hotel. You can imagine how surprised they -were when one of the pictures proved to have been made by Mr. Portnay’s -company, and he himself took a large part in it. - -There, on the screen, the children saw the very man they had watched -act in the green meadow that morning. Ned Weldon, the cowboy actor with -whom the children had talked, was in it, too. Of course these were not -the scenes they had watched being filmed, for that picture was far from -being finished. But it was very exciting to see the people they had so -recently watched. - -“I wish Portnay were here in person instead of only in the movies,” -remarked Mr. Martin, as they left the theater. “I’d ask him for those -rare albums. But I suppose we shall have to wait until we meet him at -Cub Mountain.” - -The next morning, after a quiet night, the Curlytops resumed their -tour, and made a safe trip to Cub Mountain, on which was a small -country settlement. The scenery was just wild enough to be the right -background for moving pictures. - -“Where are you going to inquire about Mr. Portnay?” asked Mrs. Martin, -as her husband stopped his car on what appeared to be the only, as -well as the main, street of the village. - -“Right here in the post-office,” he answered, for it was in front of -the post-office that they had stopped. “They’ll know here about the -moving picture people, I guess.” - -But again Mr. Martin was doomed to disappointment. For when he inquired -of the postmaster that official said: - -“Yes, there was a company of movie people here. But that was early this -morning--about three hours ago, I reckon.” - -“Have they left?” asked Mr. Martin, wishing he had made an earlier -start. - -“Yes, they went on to the Dawson Farm. They’re going to film some -scenes there, so I heard ’em say.” - -“Where is the Dawson Farm?” asked Mr. Martin. - -“About ten miles from here. Keep straight on and you can’t miss it. -It’s a big place--old-fashioned white farmhouse, red barns, and all -that. Just the thing for movies, I reckon.” - -“Thank you, I’ll go there,” said Mr. Martin, and when he rejoined his -family he said to his wife: - -“This Portnay actor keeps me on the jump. I wish he’d stay in one -place long enough for me to get back those albums.” - -“You’ll very likely catch him at the farm,” said Mrs. Martin. “But -perhaps it would be as well to telephone from here and say you are -coming.” - -“Yes, I’ll do that,” the Curlytops’ father said. - -He went back into the post-office, where he had noticed a telephone on -the wall. But when he asked if he could use it to send a message to the -Dawson Farm the postmaster smiled and said: - -“Well, you’re welcome to use it as far as I’m concerned, but you can’t -get Dawson’s Farm on that machine.” - -“Haven’t they a telephone?” Mr. Martin wanted to know. - -“Oh, yes, they have a ’phone. But this one here is out of order and it -won’t work. I’ve sent for a feller to fix it, but he hasn’t come.” - -“Is there another telephone here?” asked Mr. Martin. - -“No, this is the only one, and this is out of order. I’m sorry!” - -“I’m sorry, too,” Mr. Martin answered. “I’d like to get a message -through to Dawson’s Farm, so Mr. Portnay won’t again leave and take my -box with him.” - -However, there was nothing to do but to hurry on to the farm as fast as -they could go. The postmaster explained that the place was a real farm, -not one for moving picture purposes, though scenes were frequently -filmed there, as many farm animals were ready to be photographed as a -background for the actors and actresses. - -“It’s just like a game, isn’t it, Daddy?” said Teddy. - -“Like hide-and-seek,” added Janet, giggling. - -“Maybe,” agreed Mr. Martin. “But I don’t like playing the game very -much.” - -Down off Cub Mountain drove Mr. Martin with his auto load of family, -and after rather a bumpy trip over rough roads he turned onto a firm, -smooth highway and soon they read a sign which said it was but one mile -to Dawson’s Farm. - -“There it is!” cried Ted, a few minutes later, as they made a turn in -the road. Before them lay the big farm and buildings spoken of by the -Cub Mountain postmaster. And, as the Martins drew nearer, Janet cried: - -“I see the movie people! There they are!” - -She pointed to a number of persons, some on horses and others on foot, -who were, undoubtedly, some of the same ones they had watched in the -green meadow. - -“Now I’ll get those albums back,” said Mr. Martin. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TROUBLE’S DANGER - - -“This is a dandy place!” exclaimed Ted, as his father guided the -auto into a lane that led from the main road up to the group of farm -buildings. - -“Indeed it is,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “I should like to spend part of our -vacation here, if they would let us.” - -“Look at the cows! Look at the cows!” cried Trouble, pointing to a herd -of fine animals in a distant pasture. - -“And what a lot of horses, too,” added Janet. - -Mr. Martin, however, was most interested in the company of moving -picture players clustered around one of the buildings. He was looking -for a sight of Harry Portnay who, by mistake, had taken the box of the -Cardwell albums. - -As the auto came to a slow stop not far from the group of movie folk -who were being filmed in some scene, a man on a horse rode up to the -car. - -“How do you do, Mr. Martin!” he said. - -“Oh, it’s Mr. Weldon!” exclaimed the father of the Curlytops, as he -recognized the movie cowboy actor who had first given the information -about Mr. Portnay’s man taking the album box by mistake. - -“Yes, I’m here again,” was the answer. “I just got my costume on. -They’re going to shoot me and some of the other boys pretty soon.” - -“Shoot you!” cried Ted, in surprise. - -“Oh, I forgot--you youngsters don’t know all the movie terms,” laughed -Mr. Weldon. “I mean they’re going to aim the moving picture cameras at -us and ‘shoot’ us that way--not with guns!” - -“Oh!” murmured Ted, laughing with the actor. “Well, I’m glad they -aren’t going to shoot you with guns.” - -“They shoot nellifunts with guns!” broke in Trouble. “But if I had a -nellifunt I wouldn’t let ’em shoot him. And we saw a monkey, we did!” - -“My, that’s a fine thing to see!” chuckled Mr. Weldon. “But I suppose -you saw Mr. Portnay and got back your box of valuable hot cross buns, -didn’t you?” - -“It wasn’t hot cross buns!” laughed Janet, for this actor had a jolly -way about him. “It was _albums_--albums for pictures, you know.” - -“Ah, yes, so it was! Albums!” said Mr. Weldon, with a smile. “I was -just joking, you know. But I suppose you got them back?” he said to Mr. -Martin. - -“No, I didn’t,” was the answer. “That’s why I came on here after them. -I missed Mr. Portnay in Midvale.” - -“That’s too bad,” returned the actor. “You’re out of luck again.” - -“What do you mean?” inquired Mrs. Martin. - -“Why, I mean Mr. Portnay isn’t here.” - -“Not here!” echoed Jan’s father. “Why, I thought this was his moving -picture company and that he’d surely be here. The postmaster at Cub -Mountain told me he had come on here.” - -“Some of us did after the scenes there were taken,” explained the actor -cowboy. “But Mr. Portnay didn’t. He isn’t in these pictures that are -going to be taken at the farm. Or, at least, he doesn’t come in until -later. So, while this is his company, or the company of which he is the -star, he isn’t needed just now; so he went back to New York. He left -just a little while ago to take the train.” - -“Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “It seems we are never going to catch -up with that man.” - -“It is rather unfortunate,” said her husband. “But perhaps he left my -box here,” he went on to Mr. Weldon. “He wouldn’t take that back to New -York with him.” - -“No, he wouldn’t if he knew what it was,” admitted the movie actor. -“But he leaves all such matters to his helper, Jim Lewis. And Jim -probably packed your box with the other baggage belonging to Mr. -Portnay and shipped it to New York.” - -“Is there any one here I could ask if the box has been left?” inquired -Mr. Martin. - -“Oh, yes; our director, Tony Birch. He’d know if any one would,” said -Mr. Weldon. “There he is over by the chicken houses. They’re going to -take a picture of Miss Marcell feeding the hens, I believe.” - -“Is Miss Marcell the young lady who jumped into the river?” asked Mrs. -Martin. - -“Yes, the same one. She’s our leading lady as Mr. Portnay is our -leading man.” - -“You stay here with the children, my dear,” said Mr. Martin to his -wife, “and I’ll go and ask Mr. Birch if he knows anything of my box of -albums that Mr. Portnay took. I’ll be right back.” - -The Curlytops watched their father cross a field and approach a group -of movie folk who were being filmed in some scene that had to do with -the fowls, of which there were a large number on the Dawson Farm. From -where they sat in the auto the Curlytops and their mother could see and -hear something of what went on. Trouble had gotten down out of the car -and was playing with a little puppy at one side, so he was accounted -for for the time being. - -As Mr. Martin approached the scene at the chicken houses he could see -Miss Marcell tossing grain to the hens and roosters. In front of her, -and to one side of a movie camera, was a man with a megaphone in his -hands. Through this he called directions to the actress as the man at -the camera ground the crank. - -“Not so fast! Not so fast!” cried Tony Birch, for it was the director -who was managing matters. “Don’t throw the chickens corn so fast, Miss -Marcell! You’ll make them have indigestion. Do it slowly, as if you -were a girl on a farm.” - -“All right,” was the smiling answer, and she began to scatter fewer -grains. - -“Oh, you’ll have to give them more than that or they’ll think you’re -stingy!” exclaimed the director. “There--that’s better. Shoot!” he -called to the camera man, and the latter, who had ceased grinding out -the film while the actress was being corrected, began again. - -When the scene was over Mr. Martin asked the director: - -“Did Mr. Portnay leave behind him a red box belonging to me? He took it -by mistake yesterday when you were at Cresco.” - -The director thought for a moment and answered: - -“No, I am sorry to say he didn’t. Mr. Portnay had to leave in a hurry -to get back to New York to arrange some matters, and I suppose he -didn’t think of your box.” - -“It may be that he doesn’t even know he has it,” explained Mr. Martin. -“His man Jim Lewis took it by mistake for a make-up box.” - -“Oh, I see. Um--yes. Well, I tell you the best thing to do. Mr. Portnay -will join us here in about a week. He’ll be in New York during that -time. I can give you his address and you can write or telegraph and ask -him to be sure and bring your box back with you.” - -“Thank you. But won’t he return for a week?” asked Mr. Martin. - -“No. We have a number of scenes to film here at the farm, and we are -going to stay for a week. They are scenes in which Mr. Portnay has no -part, so he isn’t needed here. But when he comes back he can bring your -box.” - -“I suppose that is the best I can do,” said Mr. Martin, a bit -disappointed. “But I am touring around with my family. I didn’t count -on staying here a week.” - -“It’s a good place to stay,” urged Mr. Birch, with a smile. “We movie -people have engaged board here, and there is room for more. Why don’t -you stay with your family? You’ll see some interesting sights. We’re -going to film a big part of the picture here. And Dawson’s Farm is a -good place for a vacation.” - -“So my wife said,” remarked Mr. Martin. “Well, I’ll talk to her about -it. The only way to get back those albums seems to be to get in touch -with Mr. Portnay personally, and I can best do that by staying here. -The children ought to like it,” he murmured, as he looked over the big, -pleasant farm. - -“Why, certainly! By all means, stay!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin, when told -of the situation. “We don’t have to travel on until we get ready.” - -“No,” agreed her husband. “And I certainly must get those albums back -or there will be trouble in the Cardwell family. Well, I guess the best -thing to do is to stay.” - -“Oh, goodie!” cried Janet, when she heard this. - -“Hurray!” shouted Ted. - -“Will they be any nellifunts?” asked Trouble. - -“No. But there are lots of other animals,” his mother said. “But will -they keep us here?” she asked her husband. “It’s a delightful place, -but with all these movie folk here, will there be room for us?” - -“Mr. Birch said so. But we can soon make sure of it,” said the father -of the Curlytops. - -Mr. Dawson, who owned and ran the big farm, was a jolly kind of man. -He was proud of his place, and one reason he consented to let the -movie people take scenes of it was so that other persons, all over the -country, would see what a fine farm his was. - -“They’re going to show a picture of me, too,” said Mr. Dawson to Mr. -Martin. “And the name ‘Dawson’s Farm’ is to go in some of the titles. -We farmers ought to make the world proud of us, and by showing movies -of a big farm like this city folks will think more of the man who tills -the soil.” - -“I agree with you,” said Mr. Martin. “But what about keeping us here?” - -“Plenty of room! Plenty!” laughed Mr. Dawson heartily. “And you say you -have two children?” - -“Three,” answered their father. - -“Three! So much the better! I love children! Bring ’em in! My wife will -want to see them! She loves children, too!” - -So it was settled that the Martin family was to remain at Dawson’s -Farm until Mr. Portnay came from New York, or else shipped back the -box of albums. Mr. Dawson kept quite an establishment, having a number -of hired men and servants, and he took the Curlytops and their family -right into his own house. The movie people “camped” out by themselves -in a separate building. They would do their own cooking and look after -themselves. But the Martins would eat with the Dawson family. - -“Oh, what a lot of fun we can have here!” cried Jan, after she and her -brothers had put on “old clothes” and were romping about. Mr. Martin -had gone to write a letter to Mr. Portnay which that actor would -receive in New York. Mrs. Martin was talking to Mrs. Dawson, who was a -kind, motherly soul with no children of her own. - -“I know just how you feel, losing that album with those little girls’ -pictures in it,” she said. “It’s worse than if it was your own, -belonging to some one else that way.” - -“Yes, that’s what Mr. Martin thinks,” said his wife. “Well, we hope -we’ll get it back.” - -“I hope so, too. Now I want the children to have a good time. Let them -do just as they please.” - -“Well, I can’t quite do that,” replied Mrs. Martin, with a smile. -“Though they’ll pretty nearly do that, anyhow,” she added. - -If she could have seen Janet and Ted then she would have had reason to -add to this, for the Curlytops were climbing an apple tree, where Ted -had seen some fruit that looked nearly ripe. - -“I’ll climb up and shake some down to you, Jan,” he had said. - -“You needn’t, thank you,” laughed Janet. “I can climb a tree as well as -you can!” - -“You can not!” declared her brother. - -“I can so! I’ll show you!” - -Toward the tree ran the Curlytops, and while they were climbing it -Trouble was doing something else. He had wandered off by himself, -though Mrs. Martin had told Jan and Ted to look after him. Going down -a path that led away from the orchard, he came to a field in which was -pastured an old boar, a savage pig with long, curving tusks--teeth that -stuck out like the tusks of an elephant. - -The sight of these tusks, small as they were, made Trouble think the -boar might be a small animal of the kind he was so interested in. - -“Oh, it’s a little nellifunt! It’s a little nellifunt!” cried Trouble. -“I’m going in an’ give him a peanut!” for he had asked his mother to -buy him some nuts just before reaching Dawson’s Farm and he had a few -of the goobers left. “I give you peanut, little nellifunt!” cried -Trouble, as he crawled in between two strands of the prickly wire -fence. His waist caught and was torn a little, but he didn’t mind that. - -The boar gave a grunt as he saw Trouble enter the field. The boar -wasn’t used to this. He didn’t very often have company, especially -small boys. And the boar was savage--he didn’t like company of any -kind! The only things he was afraid of were dogs and a man with a sharp -pitchfork or a big stick. - -So, as soon as Trouble crawled through the fence, the savage boar, with -loud grunts, made a rush for the little fellow. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -FUNNY FISH - - -When the 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 the ears 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 slow pace 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 farm there 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. Again he 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. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -FLIP-FLOPS - - -Pulling up a rubber boot in place of a fish wasn’t strange for the -first time, since Ted had before this done much the same thing when out -for a day’s sport. But when, the second time, he hooked an old shoe, it -was too much! - -If he had been fishing with some of the Cresco lads he would have -suspected a trick, for often one of them would slip away, reach for a -chum’s hook in a spot where he couldn’t be observed, and fasten on the -hook some queer object, putting it softly back into the water again and -waiting for the fun that was sure to follow. - -But Ted knew none of his chums were with him now, and Janet, though she -sometimes played tricks, was too far away, looking after Trouble, to -have put the boot and shoe on his hook. - -“Of course I might have picked them up off the bottom, but I don’t -believe it,” thought the Curlytop lad. “I’m going to watch.” - -“I got a better fish than yours!” boasted Trouble, holding up a small -“sunny,” which had rashly nibbled at his hook. - -“So you did,” admitted Ted. “But I’ll get a big fish soon.” - -“That was _big_ enough!” laughed Janet, pointing to the rubber boot, -from a hole in the toe of which water was running. - -“But it isn’t real,” said Ted ruefully. “Just you wait!” - -When Janet went back to the comfortable place she had picked out for -herself and William, Ted again took his position on the jutting-out -bank near the deep eddy. Once again he threw in his line, letting out -plenty of it. But this time, instead of gazing off at the distant -hills, Ted kept watch of his tackle. Presently he saw it begin to move -in toward the shore at a place where tall grass and rushes made a -secret hiding place. - -“That’s funny,” said Ted to himself. “If a fish was on my hook a fish -would move out toward the middle of the brook--not toward the bank.” -For this is true of fishes. Once hooked, they try to get into deep -water, hoping to get the sharp point out of their mouth. - -But Ted’s line was being slowly pulled in toward the grass-screened -bank, and it wasn’t at all as if a fish was hooked. - -“It might be a mud turtle,” thought the lad. “A turtle would go slow -like that--but not a fish. I’ll wait and see what happens.” - -His line was pulled in a little farther toward the bank. There was a -movement in the tall grass and the lad felt a tug on his pole as if a -fish were nibbling. It was just like the other two “bites” he had. - -“Now to see what it is!” thought Ted. - -But instead of calling to his sister to look what a big “fish” he had, -the lad kept quiet and began to haul in. - -Something heavy was on his hook, that was certain. But when he hauled -it up out of the water all that met his eyes was--an old rusty tin can! - -Janet looked up in time to see it sailing through the air and she -cried, as well as she could for her giggles: - -“Oh, Teddy! what’s the matter with you? More funny fish!” - -“It’s a trick--that’s what it is!” declared the Curlytop lad. “A -trick. Somebody down there in the grass is putting boots and shoes and -tin cans on my hook!” - -Dropping his pole, Ted made a dash for the clump of tall grass and -rushes where he had seen the cautious movements. Before he reached -the place there was a commotion there, and out and up leaped a queer -little man--a man who shouted and laughed and at once began turning -somersaults on the open place a little way back from the edge of the -stream. - -Backward and forward the queer little man turned somersaults. Then he -sprang up in the air, landed on his hands, and bounced back to his -feet. With a whoop he turned a “cartwheel,” and then rolled over and -over in the grass. - -“Oh, look! He’s doing flip-flops! He’s doing flip-flops!” cried Trouble -who, with Jan, had risen from his fishing place to look at the funny -man. “He’s doing flip-flops like the nellifunt man in the circus!” - -Indeed, this odd character seemed to have come from a circus, except -that he did not have on a gayly colored suit with shining spangles. - -As Ted watched the thought came into the lad’s mind that this strange -man was the one who had fastened the boot, the shoe and the tin can on -the fish hook. - -“Whoop-la! That’s the way to do it!” cried the man in a jolly voice, as -he walked around on his hands. He then very suddenly straightened up. -“How’s fishing?” he asked, as he walked toward Ted. - -“Why, it isn’t so very good--not with you around.” When Ted said this, -which might not be considered very polite, a smile came to his face. -One could not help smiling when one looked at the jolly countenance of -the “flip-flop man” as Trouble called him. - -“Oh, ho! So I spoiled your fishing, did I?” asked the acrobat. - -“Somebody did,” declared Ted. “That’s all I caught.” He pointed to the -rubber boot, the shoe, and the rusty tin can on the grass. - -“Oh, dear! That’s too bad! Too bad!” sighed the funny man. “And there’s -good fish in here, too. I know it, for I’ve pulled them out. Suppose -you try again.” - -“I will if you’ll stay up here and not go down there to put things on -my hook,” agreed Ted, pointing to the clump of tall grass near the -water’s edge, whence the man had come. - -“Oh, ho! So you suspect me, do you?” asked the tumbler. - -“Yes, I do!” laughed Ted. “Didn’t you do it?” - -“I’m like George Washington. I must tell the truth,” said the man. “I -did it. I hope I didn’t bother you. It isn’t too late to catch some -real fish. Come on--throw in again. I’ll sit here on the bank and keep -as quiet as a little mouse. Did you ever see a little mouse?” he asked -Trouble, winking first one eye and then the other at the small boy. - -“I--now--I saw a nellifunt,” was Trouble’s answer. - -“Hum! Then you must belong in the circus where I came from,” laughed -the man. - -“Oh, are you from the circus?” asked Jan eagerly. - -“I used to act in one--doing flip-flops and other clown work,” answered -the man. “Now I’ve joined the movies. I’m Jimmie Tizzy!” - -“Oh, are you Jimmie Tizzy?” cried Ted, for well he knew that name, -having laughed more than once at the funny antics of this clown of the -movies. - -“That’s who I am,” the man replied, with a laugh. - -“You don’t look like him,” ventured Jan doubtfully. - -“That’s because I haven’t my make-up on, nor dressed as you generally -see me,” said Mr. Tizzy. “But if you stay around here long enough -you’ll see me as I really am. I’m going to have a part with Mr. Portnay -next week.” - -“Oh, are you stopping here at the farm, and are you with Mr. Portnay’s -movie company?” cried Ted. - -“That’s right!” - -“We haven’t seen you before, and we’re staying at the farm, too,” said -Jan. - -“There are so many of us, it’s no wonder you missed me,” said Mr. -Tizzy. “I really haven’t done any acting for the camera since we came -here. My part doesn’t get filmed until next week. But I wanted to keep -in practice, so I came out here to do a few flip-flops. Then I saw you -fishing and I thought it would be fun to play a little joke on you. -I hid in the deep grass, pulled your hook in with a long stick and -fastened the boot on first. Then I put on the shoe and lastly the tin -can. Did you mind it?” - -“Oh, no,” admitted Ted, with a laugh. “At first it puzzled me. But it’s -all right. I hope I can catch some real fish now.” - -“I think you can,” said Mr. Tizzy. “I won’t play any more jokes.” - -Ted baited his hook anew and prepared to cast in again, while the funny -acrobat sat down on the bank near the Curlytop lad to watch him. - -“Come on, Trouble,” said Jan, in a low voice. “We’ll let Ted catch a -big fish for us.” - -But Trouble didn’t want to go. He dragged and held back. - -“Wait! Wait!” he begged. “I want to ast him suffin!” - -“What is it, little man?” inquired Mr. Tizzy, with a smile. “Do you -want me to stand on my head again? I’d better not until your brother -catches a fish. But what else do you want to ask me?” - -“Can you do flip-flops on a nellifunt’s back?” inquired Trouble. - -“Yes, I’ve done that,” admitted Mr. Tizzy. “If you’ll bring your -elephant here I’ll flip-flop on his back.” - -“I hasn’t got a nellifunt,” admitted the little lad. “But maybe I could -find one in the woods. Once I gave a nellifunt peanuts.” - -“And he’s never forgotten it!” laughed Jan. “But come on,” she urged -her small brother. “Ted wants to fish. Maybe Mr. Tizzy will do some -other tricks for you,” she added. - -“I surely will,” promised the acrobat. “I must keep myself in practice -ready for the work next week. Now go ahead and fish, Ted.” - -When it grew quiet, the lad eagerly waited for a nibble, and he was -soon rewarded by pulling up a good-sized fish. - -“It’s a real one this time!” Ted shouted, as the beauty flopped on the -grass. - -“I must watch him,” said Mr. Tizzy. “I may get some ideas from the way -he leaps about.” - -From then on Ted had good luck and caught five fish before it was -time to go home. Trouble, also, caught a fair-sized perch, which much -delighted him. - -“Now for a few more flips and I’ll walk back with you,” said Mr. Tizzy. -“I’m glad to know we’re stopping at the same place. I heard some talk -last night about children being at the farm, but I thought they meant -movie children.” - -“Well, we’re sort of on the move,” explained Ted. “We’re touring around -for our vacation. But Mr. Portnay took two old photograph albums by -mistake, and we’re waiting for him to send them back.” - -“Go on--do a flip-flop!” urged Trouble eagerly. “I like ’em!” - -“All right. Here goes, little man!” cried Mr. Tizzy. - -He began turning somersaults again, leaping back and forth, doing -handsprings and cartwheels on a smooth place in the grass. - -“Now watch this!” he cried, and he bent himself in the shape of a hoop -by grasping his ankles with his hands. Around and around he rolled, the -children laughing in glee until, all at once, Mr. Tizzy disappeared. - -Out of sight he vanished, as though the earth had opened and swallowed -him! - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -TED FALLS OFF - - -For a while the Curlytop children and Trouble thought this sudden -vanishing of Mr. Tizzy was one of his tricks--he was so full and -bubbling over with them. Ted said afterward he thought the movie man -had doubled himself up into as small a ball as possible and was hiding -behind a clump of grass. - -But when nearly a minute passed and Mr. Tizzy did not come back, the -children began to get worried. A trick and a joke might be all right, -but this was a little too much! - -“Maybe he hurt himself,” suggested Jan. - -This very thought was in Ted’s mind, but his sister spoke of it first. - -“Let’s look and see where he is,” went on Jan. - -“He went down in a hole!” declared Trouble. - -Certainly it looked so, and when Ted walked forward, toward the place -where he had last seen the acrobat and when Janet and Trouble followed, -the Curlytop lad found that what his little brother said was true. - -There was a hole in the ground, a rather deep and steep hole with grass -growing close to the edge of it. And down in this hole lay the acrobat -in a huddled heap. - -So still and quiet he was, all doubled up, that Janet felt frightened. -She was going to ask Ted if he thought the jolly man might be dead. But -Ted suddenly exclaimed: - -“I guess he’s fainted. I’ll get some water and pour it on him.” - -Ted had once seen his aunt faint, and his mother had dashed water on -her face. - -Back to the stream ran the boy, and in the can he had fished out he -brought back some water. When some of this had been spilled on the -face of the man lying in the hole, he opened his eyes and asked rather -faintly: - -“What happened?” - -“You flip-flopped into a hole,” answered Ted. “Can you get out or shall -I run back to the farm for help?” - -“Oh, I guess I’m all right now,” was the answer. “I remember now. I -was cartwheeling around and, all of a sudden, I saw this hole in front -of me. Before I could stop myself I rolled into it. I hit my head on a -stone, and that’s all I remember. But I’m all right now, though I guess -I was unconscious for a minute or two.” - -“We didn’t know what had happened to you,” remarked Janet. - -“Well, it isn’t anything to worry about,” said the man, as he untangled -himself, for his legs and arms were rather mixed up. “I’ll be all right -in another minute.” - -He scrambled out of the hole, gave himself a shake to make sure no -bones were broken, and then went down to the edge of the little river, -where he bathed his head, especially the place that had hit a stone, -and drank some water. - -“Now I feel better,” he announced. “But I guess I won’t do any more -flip-flops right away.” - -“What do you think made that hole?” asked Ted, as they stood around -the edge, looking down in it, after Mr. Tizzy said he thought they had -better start back to the farm. - -“Some boys may have dug it for a cave to play in, or some one may have -dug a big stone out of there,” said the acrobat. “But if they took a -stone out, where it is I can’t see,” and he looked around in vain for a -sight of the bowlder. “More likely it was boys at play,” he said. “But -it was dug some time ago, for the grass has grown all around the edge -and the dirt they took out has disappeared.” - -Glad that nothing more serious had happened, the Curlytops started back -toward the group of farm buildings. Ted carried the fish he had caught, -and Trouble insisted on bringing home his small sunny and the perch, -neither of which were of much account for the kitchen. - -“Oh, what a fine fisherman you are, William!” his mother exclaimed, -when she saw what he held up for her to admire. “Why, you’ll soon be -able to catch enough for a whole meal.” - -“I caught a fish before Ted did,” announced the little lad. “He got a -rubber boot!” - -Mr. and Mrs. Martin laughed at the story of the funny trick played on -Ted by the flip-flop man, and a little later that day they met the -actor and talked to him, liking him very much. - -While Mr. Martin was waiting for an answer to the letter he had sent to -New York, asking Mr. Portnay to return the photograph albums taken by -mistake, there was nothing to do save to amuse himself as well as he -could at the farm and make the best of matters. - -The moving picture actor might ship the box of albums back by express, -or he might bring them himself, so Mr. Weldon said. - -“Harry Portnay is a queer chap,” said the cowboy actor who had leaped -his horse over the fence to save Trouble from the ugly boar. “He -never does what you think he will. It would be just like him to send -a special messenger back with those books, or he may even forget all -about them and leave them in his New York office.” - -“But I have written him a letter about them!” exclaimed Mr. Martin. - -“Yes, I know. But he gets a lot of letters every day--all movie stars -do--and he may not pay much attention to yours.” - -“I must get those albums back if I have to go to New York for them -myself,” declared the father of the Curlytops. - -“Oh, I’d like to go to New York!” cried Ted. - -“So would I!” added his sister. - -“We have made other plans,” their mother answered, with a smile. “We -are going to tour around and make a stop in Bentville--as soon as we -get the albums.” - -Meanwhile, the only thing to do was to wait, and it was a pleasant -waiting, at least for the children. They liked it at the Dawson Farm, -for there was much to see and do, especially with the moving picture -people there. Every day some scenes were taken--nothing very elaborate -or big, because of the absence of the star, but enough to keep the -camera men and the actors and actresses busy. - -To their delight, the day after the queer fishing trip the children -saw Mr. Tizzy do some of his funny tricks in front of the camera. The -acrobat said he was all right again after his tumble into the hole, and -he certainly was lively enough, leaping here and there. - -One afternoon Mr. Birch, the director, walked over to the Martin -family, who were all sitting under a shade tree. The director seemed to -have something on his mind. - -“Did your children ever act in the movies?” he asked Mr. Martin. - -“I don’t believe they ever did,” was the answer. - -“Oh, yes, Daddy, I did, once!” cried Ted. - -“You did! Where?” asked his mother, for she did not remember any such -happening. - -“Why, they took pictures of a baseball game in Cresco once,” went on -the Curlytop lad. “I was there in the grandstand. They took pictures of -the people in the stand and they took mine. I saw myself in the movies -afterward.” - -“Oh, yes, I do remember that,” said Mrs. Martin. “But that wasn’t -really acting.” - -“Well, I can give them a chance now, if you’ll let them take it,” said -the director. “One of our writers has made a change in this story we -are filming, and we need three child characters in it for a short -scene. If you’ll let your Curlytops and their little brother take part, -it will be a big favor to us.” - -“I don’t see any objection,” replied Mr. Martin, as his wife looked at -him. “What do you want them to do?” - -“I want them to ride on the back of a pony,” explained the movie -director. “Mr. Dawson has a very safe pony, and I’d like to have the -children shown crossing a meadow where the pony is pastured. They have -been after berries, we’ll say. On the way back they want some fun, so -they ride on the pony’s back--all three of them. We’ll take pictures of -them doing that.” - -“Three of them on one pony? Maybe the pony wouldn’t like it,” said Mr. -Martin, with a laugh. - -“Oh, the pony won’t mind,” the director assured him. - -So it was arranged, and the next morning the three children went to the -pasture, followed by some of the movie people and two camera men. Mr. -Dawson had given permission to use the pony. - -“Now don’t think of anything except having fun,” the director advised -them. “Ted, you help your sister and your brother on the pony’s back, -and then scramble up yourself. Janet, you guide the pony as I call to -you through my megaphone. But, above all, don’t look directly into the -camera. We want this to seem natural.” - -“You can’t keep Trouble from looking at the camera,” laughed Ted. “He’s -doing it now. I guess he thinks music will come out.” - -“Well, it doesn’t matter so much about him,” replied the director. “But -you two older ones keep your eyes away from the camera. Look anywhere -but there.” - -There was a rehearsal first and finally the director said the children -did very well. - -“All right now, we’ll try it in earnest,” he said. “Come on--camera!” - -Ted led his brother and sister through the pasture toward the pony, -which was a tame one and fond of children. The Curlytops had made -friends with him the first day they arrived. - -“All right now,” called the director through his megaphone, while the -cameras clicked away. “Put your sister up on the pony’s back, Ted.” - -This was done, and then the delighted and shouting Trouble was helped -up by Ted to a seat behind Janet. - -“Now you get on, and try to make the pony run!” the director suggested. - -Ted managed to scramble up on the back of the little horse, and he did -it very well. But the pony this time seemed to dislike so many on his -back. Instead of running as he was wanted to, the pony kicked up his -heels, and the next thing Ted knew he was falling off. - -“Oh, you’re spoiling the picture! You have spoiled it!” cried Janet, -as she glanced back, a funny look on her face, and saw her brother -slipping off. - -But the cameras clicked away. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -JAN IN A TRAP - - -Ted Martin hit the ground with a hard thump. He grunted, for the breath -was knocked out of him. But he wasn’t hurt. He knew that as soon as any -one. At school Ted played football sometimes, and more than once he had -had a harder fall than this. - -“Whoa! Whoa!” cried Janet to the pony. She pulled on the reins and the -little animal came to a stop. - -“What’s matter?” Trouble wanted to know. “Why don’t horse go on?” - -“Because Ted’s fallen off,” explained his sister. - -By this time the Curlytop lad had leaped up and was running to get on -the pony. What bothered him more than anything else was the fact that -the camera men, laughing among themselves, were still grinding away at -the cranks of their machines, taking moving pictures. - -“Wait! Wait!” cried Ted. “Don’t take me now! Wait until I get on the -pony!” - -“That’s all right, Ted!” laughed Mr. Birch. “This is funnier and better -than I thought it would be. Can you fall off again?” he asked, as the -camera men stopped grinding, for Ted was now beside the pony which had -come to a halt, with Janet and Trouble still on its back. “Can you fall -off again, Ted?” - -“Can I fall off again?” cried the boy, in surprise. “Do you mean you -want me to fall off on purpose?” - -“That’s just what I want,” replied Mr. Birch. “The cameras happened -to snap you when you fell the first time. It made a good scene, and -I’m going to change the story about to fit it in. But if you can do -the same thing again, maybe in a little different way, it will be very -funny. Want to try?” - -“Sure I do!” declared Ted. “I’ll be just like one of the funny men in -the pictures, won’t I?” - -“Shouldn’t wonder,” agreed Mr. Birch, with a laugh. “Now get ready,” -he went on. “Janet, you guide the pony along and Ted will run up and -try to get on. When he does you make the pony go a little faster as if -you were trying to get away. Then Ted will slip to the ground as he did -before. You aren’t afraid, are you, little man?” he asked Trouble. - -“No, I not ’fraid,” was the answer. “I like horsies an’ I like -nellifunts. Once I roded on a nellifunt, I did.” - -“Good! Then a pony oughtn’t to frighten you,” chuckled Mr. Birch. “Get -ready now!” - -Again the pony ambled forward, with Janet and Trouble on its back, and -Ted ran forward to get on. Janet did just as the director told her to, -and her brother slipped off in a funny fashion. - -“That’s fine!” cried Mr. Birch, with a laugh. “You children will be -in the movies some day. It’s a good thing you fell off, Ted, even if -it was accidental at first, for it gave me an idea. That’s the way it -often happens in this sort of work--accidents, many times, make the -best scenes.” - -“I thought sure he’d spoiled the picture when he slipped off,” -confessed Janet, when the cameras had stopped grinding. - -“I did, too,” admitted Ted. “I’d like to see how I looked when I fell.” - -“We’ll let you do that some day,” promised the director. And I might -say that, later in the season when they were back home, the Curlytops -saw this picture, in which they had had a part in making, shown in the -Cresco Theater. Ted beheld himself running after the pony and slipping -from its back in a queer way that made him laugh. All who saw it also -laughed, including Ted’s friends and playmates. As for Trouble, when he -saw himself and Janet on the pony, the little fellow let out a scream -of delight. - -So, all in all, though at first it seemed as though their efforts were -going to fail, the initial appearance of the Curlytops in the movies -was quite a success. - -Mr. and Mrs. Martin liked it very much at Dawson’s Farm, and only for -the fact that he had planned to make a tour induced the father of the -Curlytops to carry out the idea. - -“It would be nice to stay here all summer,” he said to his wife. - -“Yes,” she agreed. “But I would like a little change, and so would the -children. I want to get near a lake or a large river for a week or two.” - -“Yes, I’d like that myself,” said Mr. Martin. “And if I can manage it -we may take a motor boat trip. We’ll stay here until Mr. Portnay sends -back that box of albums, and then we’ll travel on.” - -“You ought to hear from him in a day or so,” said Mrs. Martin. - -“I expect to,” replied her husband. - -Meanwhile, the Curlytops and Trouble were having a great deal of fun -on the farm. They were allowed to gather eggs and do some of the small -chores about the place, such as feeding the chickens and taking salt to -some sheep in a distant pasture. - -Every day some moving pictures were taken, and when this happened not -too far away the children were allowed to watch. Some of the scenes -were filmed several miles distant from the farm, in rocky glens or -in bits of woodland which were needed for the background. On such -occasions the actors and actresses were piled into automobiles, or -those who had horses rode them, and the whole company, cameras and all, -would go to the spot picked out by Mr. Birch. - -Once he filmed a fishing scene, and when Mr. Tizzy happened to mention -the trick he had played on Ted, the director had a great idea. - -“We’ll do that for the movies!” he cried. “It will be great. Will you -children go through with it for us?” - -“I guess so,” said Ted, “if my father thinks it’s all right.” - -Mr. Martin gave his consent, and so, for the second time, the Curlytops -faced the camera. Or, rather, they didn’t exactly face it, for if you -will notice in moving pictures, the players hardly ever gaze directly -at you, which means that they don’t peer straight at the lens of the -camera. - -But Ted threw in his baited hook and waited for a bite, while the -flip-flop man, hidden in the grass around the bend in the bank, -fastened on a rubber boot. Another camera took close-up views of this -scene, while the first camera was picturing Ted’s surprise when he -pulled up the rubber boot full of water which spurted from the hole in -the toe. - -The rest of the funny scene, with the shoe and the tin can, was also -taken, and Trouble was even filmed catching a real fish, much to his -delight. Then Mr. Tizzy did flip-flops while the children were shown -laughing at him after they had discovered the trick. But the funny man -did not again fall down the hole, as that was considered too dangerous. - -The next day Mr. Martin received a letter from the movie actor in New -York, saying how sorry Mr. Portnay was to learn that his helper had, by -mistake, picked up the box of albums. - -“I am having your box shipped back to you by express,” wrote the -leading man. “I hope you will receive it safely. I may see you before -the summer is over, as my company is going to travel in the same -direction you are taking on your tour.” - -“Oh, I hope we do see him again!” exclaimed Janet, when the letter was -talked about one afternoon. “I like him.” - -“So do I,” declared Ted. “I wish I could ride a horse as he does, or -like Mr. Weldon.” - -“Well, I shall be glad to get back Mr. Cardwell’s albums,” said Mr. -Martin. “As soon as that box comes we’ll travel on again and bid -good-by to the movie folk, at least for a while.” - -It was some time later, that same afternoon, that Janet wandered off -by herself to a little wood lot about a mile from the farmhouse. She -wanted to pick some wild flowers, and Ted, whom she asked to come with -her, said he didn’t want to. - -But Janet did not mind going alone, for she had often been in these -same woods before. She had been taking care of Trouble nearly all of -that day, and Trouble certainly lived up to his name--he was full of -mischief. Jan was glad to get away from him for a time, dearly as she -loved him. - -So she wandered about, picking flowers that grew in the woods and -enjoying the beautiful scenes all about her. She neared a little -gully, down the sides of which grew some blossoms she had not before -noticed--beautiful red flowers. - -“Oh, I’m going to get some of them!” she murmured. - -Down the pine-needle-covered sides of the gully she scrambled, toward a -big clump of ferns, near which grew the red flowers she so much admired. - -The sides of the gully were steeper than Janet realized, and she was -going faster than she thought--so fast, in fact, that when she reached -the clump of ferns she couldn’t stop. Right through them she had to -run, and, before she knew it, she saw that just behind them, hidden in -a growth of tangled bushes, was what seemed to be a large box. - -It was a box one end of which was open. Before Janet had time to wonder -what such a big box was doing out there in the woods, and before she -could stop herself, she had run right into it, through the opening. - -“I wonder what this is?” thought the little girl. “It has such a funny -smell--like wild animals in the circus!” - -There was a clicking sound and the big box, which Janet was now inside -of, began to tremble. Then came a jar and a thud, and it suddenly grew -dark. - -“Oh!” gasped Janet. - -She whirled about, but too late! - -Behind her, the opening was closed. The sliding end of the box -trap--for such it was--had dropped into place, falling shut, and making -poor Janet a prisoner. - -“Oh, I’m in a trap!” she cried. “In a wild animal trap! How am I ever -going to get out?” - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE BOX COMES BACK - - -Janet Martin was frightened--very much so, though not so much but what -she kept her wits about her and looked around the strange prison in -which she found herself. - -At first, when the sliding door in the end of the box trap had fallen, -closing the only way out, it had been very dark. But in a few moments -Jan was able to look about her, and she noticed that near the top of -the box there were openings which let in light and air. The openings -were merely holes, not large enough for a cat or dog to get through, to -say nothing of a girl like Janet. - -The box was about six feet wide, almost as long, and quite as high, so -there was plenty of room for Janet to stand up in it and walk about. - -“It would make a nice play-house,” she thought to herself. - -But she did not feel at all like playing now. All she wanted to do was -to get out of this box trap prison. So well had it been concealed in -the bushes back of the clump of ferns that Jan had not noticed it at -all until she had entered. - -“I guess a wild animal would do the same thing,” thought Janet. “He’d -run right in here and be caught. I must have jiggled something that -made the door slide down. And I guess there’s been a wild animal in -here not long ago. It smells so.” - -On the floor of the trap were dried leaves and grass; and the whole -place smelled like the inside of the animal tent at a circus, a queer, -wild smell which most of you know, I am sure. - -“But if there was a wild animal in here, how did he get out?” thought -the little girl, who, now that her eyes were accustomed to the -semi-darkness, could see about her quite plainly. “If he got out, maybe -I can.” - -She pushed against the sides of the box as hard as she could and she -pounded with her little fists, but the box seemed very solid. Then she -tried to raise the sliding door that had dropped shut behind her as -soon as she entered the trap. But though this door rattled and moved a -little in the grooves in which it slid up and down, Jan could not raise -it. It seemed to be fastened in place. - -“Maybe the wild animal that was caught here didn’t get out,” thought -the little Curlytop girl. “Maybe Mr. Dawson had to come and let it out; -or maybe some of the movie people. I guess that was it--they caught a -moving picture animal in this trap, and now they’ve caught me and I -can’t get out!” - -Janet cried a little as she thought of this. It would soon be dark, she -feared, and she did not want to stay in the trap all night. - -“I know what I’ll do,” thought Janet, as she dried her tears, for she -knew crying did no good. “I’ll yell as loud as I can. I’ll call and -shout and somebody will hear me and come and let me out. Maybe Ted will -come, or that funny flip-flop man.” - -Having thus made up her mind, Janet began to shout and call. Her voice -sounded strange and hollow in the box trap. She wondered how far it -would carry. She hoped they might hear her down at the farmhouse, but -she hardly thought this possible. - -Then a new terror came to poor Janet. She began to think of the wild -animal that had been in the trap. - -“Maybe it was a bear,” she whispered to herself. “And maybe he might -hear me yelling and come to see me. I wouldn’t like that. But, anyhow, -he couldn’t get in, since I can’t get out.” - -For the first time Janet was glad the trap was firmly closed. True, she -couldn’t get out, but then, no wild animal could get in. - -After Janet had called as loudly as she could for some time and no one -had answered, she began to feel tired. So she sat down in a corner of -the box trap, on the soft dried grass and leaves. - -“Oh, dear! I wish some one would come and get me out!” she sighed. - -It was about this time that Mrs. Martin began to inquire for Janet. The -little girl had told her mother about going to the “wood lot,” as Mr. -Dawson called it, to pick flowers. - -“But it’s time she was back,” Mrs. Martin said to her husband. “It will -soon be evening.” - -“I’ll go after her!” offered Ted, who had just come back from a distant -pasture, having been there with one of the hired men to salt the -sheep. Every so often lumps of coarse, rock salt were put in boxes in -the fields where the sheep roamed. Sheep, and most other animals, like -a bit of salt now and then. It keeps them healthy. - -“All right, Teddy,” said his mother. “I wish you would go after Janet. -She’s probably all right, but she has forgotten it is getting late. -Very likely she has found more flowers than she expected and she wants -to get a big bouquet.” - -“I come, too!” offered Trouble, as he saw his brother starting away. - -“No, you stay here,” objected Mrs. Martin, with a laugh. “We don’t want -you getting lost.” - -“I’ll soon be back,” Ted called to William. - -The Curlytop lad well knew the path to the wood lot, for he and his -sister had trod it many times since coming to Dawson’s Farm. And now -running and now walking fast, Ted was soon on the edge of the clump of -trees. He looked about, but did not see any signs of his sister. - -“Maybe she started back another way,” he told himself. - -But he decided to give a good look around in the woods, and when he had -done so and had not yet caught a glimpse of Janet picking flowers, Ted -began to feel worried. - -“Guess I’ll give a yell and see if she answers,” he said to himself. So -he called: “Janet! Janet! Oh, Jan! where are you?” - -Ted paused for a reply, but none came. - -Then he called again, and listened. About him he heard only the rustle -of the wind in the trees, the whisperings of the bushes, the tinkle of -a distant waterfall and the songs of birds. - -“I wonder where she is?” thought the boy. - -Taking a long breath, he gave the loudest shout of which he was -capable. It made him red in the face. Then he listened. - -At last he heard an answer. - -“Ted! Oh, Ted! Come and get me out! I’m in a trap!” - -It was Janet’s voice, beyond a doubt, but such a strange voice--and -faint and far away. Ted remembered once when his sister had been shut -in the preserve closet down the cellar at home in Cresco. Her voice -then had sounded just as it did now. - -“But there isn’t any cellar here,” thought Ted. Once more he called: -“Where are you? I can’t see you!” - -“I’m shut up in a box trap!” answered Janet. “It’s by a big clump of -ferns down in a little hollow.” - -Ted at that moment was standing on the edge of the gully into which -Janet had run to get the red flowers. And, looking down, Ted saw where -the ferns had been broken and bent to one side as his sister pushed -through them. He also saw the top of the box hidden among the bushes. - -“All right! I’m coming, Jan!” cried Ted, as he scrambled down the steep -sides. - -Janet had been roused from a half slumber by the call of her brother’s -voice and had answered him. Thus he had found her. - -But when he stood in front of the box trap, Ted was a bit puzzled as to -how Janet had gotten in and how he was going to get her out. - -“How does this thing work?” he called to his sister, through the wooden -sides. “How’d you get in?” - -“I ran in when the door was open. I ran in before I knew what it was,” -answered Janet. “Then the door dropped shut. I guess I must have -jiggled something.” - -“I guess you did,” answered Ted. “Now I wonder if I can get this door -open! I’ve got to pry it up with a long stick if I can find one.” - -Luckily, the Curlytop lad discovered just what was needed--a long tree -branch, sharp on one end, like a wedge. This wedge he put under the -edge of the sliding door and pried it up. As the door raised a little, -Ted, holding it in that position with one hand on the long stick, while -Janet helped from the inside, thrust a stone beneath the door. There -was a crack wide enough for Janet to thrust out her hand. - -“But I can’t crawl out through that crack,” she said. - -“I know it,” answered her brother. “I’ll lift it up higher.” - -This he did, a foot or so at a time, putting more stones and finally -upright sticks beneath the wooden slide, until it was raised high -enough for Janet to crawl out. - -“Oh, I’m so glad you came!” she cried to her brother. - -“So’m I,” he said. “But what made you go in there?” - -“I didn’t know it was a trap,” explained the little girl. “I saw some -red flowers and I ran to pick them and before I knew it I was in the -box, and I must have jiggled something for the door fell shut behind -me and I couldn’t get out.” - -“I guess it’s a wild animal trap, all right,” Ted remarked. “It smells -so,” and he sniffed the air. - -“Do you think they catch bears here?” asked Janet. - -“Maybe,” assented Ted. - -“Then let’s run home,” suggested his sister, for it was now getting -dusk in the woods, though it was lighter out in the open. - -Ted took out the sticks and stones from beneath the door, letting it -drop into place again. - -“So nobody else will be caught,” he explained. - -Then he and his sister hurried back to the farmhouse. - -“Say, now, that’s too bad!” exclaimed Mr. Birch, the movie director, -when he heard what had happened. “We did have some wild animals in that -box, but they were foxes, not bears. And we didn’t trap the foxes--we -just held them in that box so we could let them run out when we wanted -to take moving pictures of them. - -“We hid the box in the bushes so it wouldn’t show in the picture, and -the door was pulled up by a long rope. After we filmed the foxes some -of the men must have left the door open, taking off the ropes. So it -was turned into a regular trap, though we didn’t intend it as such. - -“The door thus left propped up, when Janet went in she must have -‘jiggled’ it, as she says, so it dropped into place. I’m mighty sorry -about it, little girl!” - -“Oh, I don’t mind, as long as I got out before dark,” laughed Jan. “But -I was scared for a little while.” - -“I’ll see that it doesn’t happen again,” declared the director. “We -have no further use for the box, since we have made the fox films, so -I’ll have it taken away.” - -A few days later most of the pictures intended to be filmed at Dawson’s -Farm had been taken, and the company prepared to move on to the next -location. Already some of the cowboys and other men and women connected -with the company had left. - -One last scene taken was where Mr. Tizzy, the funny flip-flop man, -pretended to be a cowboy, riding a horse to lasso a pig. It was a -lively affair. The animal used was not the savage boar that had nearly -hurt Trouble, but a more gentle pig. - -The Curlytops and their father and mother, as well as the Dawson -household, laughed until the tears ran out of their eyes at the funny -antics of Mr. Tizzy and the no less funny actions of the pig. - -At last the flip-flop man lassoed the squealing pig, which, however, -dragged the man off his horse and pulled him around the lot. And of -all this the clicking cameras took many pictures which, later, made -thousands of persons laugh. - -It was this same afternoon that an express package came for Mr. Martin. -It was a wooden box well wrapped in paper. - -“What is it, Daddy? Oh, what is it?” cried Janet, dancing up and down -in excitement. - -“Oh, let him look first, Jan,” admonished Teddy. - -“Ah, the album box has come back!” said the father of the Curlytops. -“Now I won’t have to tell Mr. Cardwell it is missing. We can take it on -the tour with us.” - -He tore open one end of the paper wrapping, disclosing the red, shining -wooden box. - -“No need to take off all the paper,” he said. “It is well packed -and I’ll leave it so and put it in the car. We’ll travel on again -to-morrow, Curlytops!” - -Ted and Janet were glad of this, though they liked it at the farm. But -children are always glad of a change, I suppose. - -So Mr. Martin put the wrapped box in his car. If he had only taken off -all the paper and had looked more closely inside, there would have been -a different ending to this story. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -ON AGAIN - - -When Mrs. Martin called Janet the next morning, to tell the Curlytop -girl to get up, dress and have breakfast, ready to start touring again, -Janet, with her eyes still closed, began to call: - -“Let me out! Let me out! Oh, don’t let the bears come in!” - -This awakened Trouble, and he wanted to know what the matter was. - -“I guess Janet thinks she is back in the box trap again,” said Mrs. -Martin, with a smile. “Wake up, my dear! Wake up,” she went on, giving -her daughter a gentle shake. “You’re all right, Janet.” - -“Oh! Oh!” gasped the little girl, as she opened her eyes. She was -plainly surprised to find herself safe in bed in the room with her -mother and Trouble. “I--I thought I was in the box trap and a bear was -trying to come in with me,” she said. - -“I thought that was it,” replied her mother. “It was quite an adventure -for you, but don’t think any more about it.” - -And Janet tried not to. - -“I’m sorry to see you folks go,” Mr. Dawson said to Mr. Martin, when -the Curlytop family was at breakfast. “The old farm will be a lonesome -place with you and the movie people leaving. The last of them will go -to-day, too.” - -“We have enjoyed it here,” said Mrs. Martin. - -“We’ll come back again,” promised Trouble, as he finished the last of -his boiled egg and drank the glass of milk. “I like it here a lot.” - -“I’m glad you do, my dear,” said motherly Mrs. Dawson. - -The big touring car was brought around to the side porch, and into it -the Martin family baggage was piled. Mr. Martin made sure that the box -Mr. Portnay had sent from New York was in a safe place. - -“I hope nothing more happens to that box before I deliver it to Mr. -Cardwell in Bentville,” said Ted’s father, with a sigh of relief as he -put the small chest under some robes. “If I had known all the anxiety -it was going to give us, I’d never have promised to deliver it for my -neighbor,” he told Mr. Dawson. - -“Well, when you have a lot of worry it’s best to get it over with,” -said the farmer. “Be sure and stop off to see us when you come this way -again.” - -“We will,” promised Mrs. Martin. - -Then the Curlytops were off again on their summer touring trip. More -adventures lay ahead of them. - -“Where are we going now, Daddy?” asked Janet, as they rode along a -pleasant country highway. - -“The next big place at which we expect to stop is called Evenham,” was -the answer. “But we won’t be there before to-morrow or next day.” - -“Where do you expect to stop to-night?” asked Mrs. Martin. - -“What would you say to camping out?” her husband wanted to know. - -“In the tent?” cried Ted. - -“Oh, what fun!” echoed Jan. - -“I goin’ to make a campfire!” declared Trouble. - -“We’ll see about that,” his father answered. “Yes, if your mother -thinks well of it, we can stop in some good place, rig the tent up to -the side of the car, and stay there all night,” Mr. Martin went on to -Ted and Janet. “It’s going to be a warm, pleasant night.” - -“And can we cook a meal?” Ted wanted to know. “It isn’t like camping -out if you don’t cook your own meal.” - -“Yes, we can do that, too,” said Mrs. Martin, who liked camp life and -roughing it almost as much as did the Curlytops. - -So it was decided, and in the next town they stopped to purchase some -bacon, coffee and other things they could cook over their alcohol -stoves. They carried two small stoves. - -About noon the auto was rolling along a quiet country road, and, -finding a lane which did not seem to be much traveled, Mr. Martin -turned off on that to be out of the way of traffic while lunch was -being got ready. - -Then such a good time as the Curlytops had, and Trouble also! - -For they prepared a meal out in the open, and the table that was set -was the running-board of the car, papers being spread on it for a cloth. - -“Oh, I just love it here! Don’t you, Ted?” murmured Janet, her mouth -half filled with part of a peanut butter sandwich. - -“It’s dandy!” Ted exclaimed, as he reached for another slice of bacon, -for Mrs. Martin had fried some in a little pan over the stove which -burned solid chunks of alcohol. And such a wonderful odor as that bacon -gave off in the woods! It was worth going miles just to get a whiff of -it. - -After the meal Mr. and Mrs. Martin strolled about in the woods while -the children played near by. The radiator of the car was filled with -fresh water from a clear, bubbling spring, and then the touring party -started on again. - -“We must be looking for a good place to make our night camp,” Mrs. -Martin said, later in the afternoon. “We don’t have to go on to any -certain place, so if we find a good spot we might as well stop there -and begin to put up the tent. We want to get everything in readiness -before dark.” - -“That’s right,” agreed her husband. “So keep your eyes open, children.” - -Ted and Janet did, with the result that they pointed out several more -or less good spots for a night camp. There were objections to most of -these, however. But at last Mrs. Martin spied what seemed to all of -them to be a delightful place. It was in a meadow, on the edge of a -clump of woods, and there was a spring of water near by. It is always -wise to camp near water. - -“This seems all right,” agreed Mr. Martin, as he drove the auto into -the glade. “And there aren’t any neighbors.” - -He spoke truly, for there was not a house in sight. It was a beautiful -spot, very quiet and restful. - -“Not even a cow,” said Janet. - -Ted helped his father get the portable tent out and attach it to the -sides of the car while Mrs. Martin prepared the evening meal. There -were folding cots which, when spread out, made comfortable little beds. - -It was arranged that Trouble and Janet would sleep on the seats of -the auto, with the side curtains put up so they would be snug and -comfortable. And on cots, under the extended tent, Ted, his mother and -his father would pass the night. - -Supper was eaten with keen appetites, and then the Martin family sat -about in the beautiful evening glow, singing songs and telling stories. -They saw no signs of life, no near-by farmers happened along, and not -so much as one car passed up or down the road. - -The frogs in a distant pond began to croak as night fell, and pretty -soon Mrs. Martin noticed that Trouble’s eyes were closing. - -“Bedtime!” she announced, and though Ted and Janet declared they -weren’t a bit sleepy, their parents said they had better “turn in.” - -“We’ll get an early start in the morning,” said Mr. Martin. - -Trouble was asleep almost as soon as he had been tucked in on the -comfortable auto seat, and Janet was not far behind him in journeying -to slumberland. - -But to Ted, out in the tent with his father and his mother, sleep did -not come so quickly. The little boy pretended he was a cowboy, sleeping -out on the plains, with a big herd of cattle near by. - -Perhaps his lively thoughts kept Ted awake. At any rate, something did; -but at last he, too, closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep. - -Just how long it was afterward he did not know. But he was suddenly -awakened by feeling something touch him on the side. It was as though -some one had “punched him in the ribs,” Ted said afterward. - -The little fellow opened his eyes and murmured: - -“Is it morning, Mother?” - -He imagined it was his mother rousing him by shaking him, as she -sometimes did. - -His mother did not answer. Then Teddy saw that the tent was dark. The -sun was not streaming in. But through a crack the lad caught sight of a -distant star. He knew it was still night. - -But something had awakened him by touching him on the side. He raised -himself on his elbow and listened. He could tell, by the deep, regular -breathing of his father and mother that they were sleeping soundly on -their cots. - -Then from the outside of the tent something reached in and gave Teddy -such a blow that he was knocked back on his cot. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -ALONG THE RIVER - - -For a 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 -kept near 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, poking him -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 leading into 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 called him, 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. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -TWO BEARS - - -Several of the lumbermen in charge of the raft of logs came rushing out -of the slab cabin at the sound of the shot--or what they thought was a -shot from a gun. - -One of the men, seeing the dog, rushed to the edge of the raft and -cried: - -“Who shot Spot?” - -“Nobody shot him!” laughed the steersman, who was chuckling so with -mirth that he let go of the long sweep that was used to guide the raft. -“Leastways, if he’s shot he shot himself! Ho! Ho!” - -“Shot himself! What do you mean?” asked one of the lumbermen. - -The Curlytops, also, did not understand what had happened. But Mr. -Martin, looking at the inner tube of his tire which was now quite flat, -knew what had taken place. - -“Yep, Spot shot himself!” laughed the steersman. “He bit into that -blown-up auto tire on the shore and made a hole in it. He punctured -it, and the air popped out like a gun, right in his face. I guess Spot -thought he was shot, anyhow.” - -“It did sound like a gun,” remarked one of the men. “Hi, Spot!” he -called. - -With a bark, the dog, his tail between his legs in fright, raced along -the shore and gave a leap which carried him across the water between -the raft and the bank and landed him on the logs. Then he ran inside -the cabin and hid himself. - -The steersman guided the log raft against the bank, thus bringing it to -a stop, and he jumped ashore. - -“I’m right sorry, sir, that our dog punctured your tire,” he said. - -“Oh, that’s all right,” replied Mr. Martin, with a smile. “It’s easily -mended again. We aren’t fussy about dogs--we have one at home.” - -“That’s good,” murmured the lumberman. “Some folks don’t like dogs, but -they’re a heap of company, I say. I reckon Spot must have thought your -auto tire was a big, red bologna sausage, all ready for him to eat, -and he wanted to take a bite out of it.” - -“He might have thought that,” said Mr. Martin. “His sharp teeth didn’t -take long to put a hole in the tube. And it certainly shot off like a -gun.” - -“He doesn’t know much about auto tires--this dog of ours,” said the -steersman. “I reckon he never saw a red blowed-up tire on the ground -before.” - -“And he’ll never want to see another, I reckon!” added a big lumberman -in high boots. “He sure was a scared dog.” - -“Won’t he come out again and play with us?” Trouble wanted to know. - -“Maybe I can coax him out,” said one of the men. - -After some urging, Spot was induced to leave the cabin, where he had -been cowering under a bunk. He whined and seemed still afraid, but -when the Curlytops had coaxed him ashore and romped about with him, he -regained his spirits and began to bark and leap about. - -“Don’t put that tube on the ground again after you get it mended,” -said Mrs. Martin to her husband, with a laugh, as she saw him at work, -cementing another patch on the place where Spot’s sharp teeth had gone -through the rubber. - -“No, indeed!” he agreed. - -And when the tube had been mended again Mr. Martin hung it over the -rear of the car to dry. It held the air when he tested it, and, -slipping it inside the shoe, he pumped it up fully and soon had the rim -and tire back on the car. - -By this time the raft had been worked out from shore and was ready to -go on again. - -“Here, Spot!” called the steersman. - -The dog seemed to want to remain on shore and have fun with the -Curlytops, but he knew his master’s voice and, with a little whine and -bark of farewell, he jumped on the moving raft and went on down the -river. - -“Good-by!” called Trouble, waving his hand to the dog. And Spot waved -his tail in answer. - -“Where did the raft come from?” asked Ted, for he had seen his father -talking to the men while waiting for the second tire patch to dry. - -“The trees were cut in the woods, quite a distance up the river,” -explained Mr. Martin. “They were floated down from the lumber camp, a -few miles up.” - -“Could we go to the lumber camp?” asked Ted. “I’d like to see it.” - -“I’d like to see it, too,” added Janet. “We had fun in a lumber camp -once.” - -“There isn’t much going on in a lumber camp in the summer time,” -explained their father. “Winter is the busy season there, for the logs -are cut and hauled through the woods to the edge of the water that is -to float them to the mill.” - -“How can the water float them to the mill in winter when the rivers and -lakes are frozen?” asked Ted. - -“That’s just it--they don’t float the logs down in the winter,” his -father explained. “They pile them up near the river and wait for -spring to come when the snow and ice melts and makes the water very -high--higher than at any other time of the year. It is on this high -water that the logs are floated down. - -“However, there is some little work being done in this lumber camp now, -the men said. They are cleaning up the logs left over from the spring -freshet run, and this raft was one of that sort. I suppose we might -stop off at this lumber camp, if your mother thinks it would be all -right,” said Mr. Martin, looking at his wife. - -“Do whatever you like,” she said, with a smile. “We are touring around -to give the Curlytops a good time, and we might as well stop at the -lumber camp as anywhere else.” - -So it was decided, and after making sure nothing had been left behind, -the auto party went on again. - -Mr. Martin expected to reach the lumber camp that evening, and he knew -he would be welcome there with his family, to spend the night, for the -men on the raft had told him so. They could sleep in one of the log -cabins, the steersman said, since only a few of the wood-choppers were -in the camp now. - -But the river road, which had been very good at first, soon became so -rough that the auto had to be driven slowly, and not as good time could -be made. Also the distance was farther than Mr. Martin thought, or at -least farther than the men on the raft had told him. - -When the evening shadows began to fall they were still traveling along, -with no signs of the lumber camp in sight. - -“I guess we shall have to camp out again to-night alongside the road,” -remarked Mr. Martin, as he scanned the highway ahead of him and saw no -sign of a house. - -“That’ll be fun!” declared Ted. - -“Maybe a horse will visit you to-night instead of a cow,” his sister -said. - -“I don’t want either one,” declared the lad. - -Mr. Martin drove the auto on for another mile or two and then, coming -to a place he thought would make a good camp--an open space near a -spring--he stopped and the work of making camp for the night was begun. - -The tent was stretched out from the side of the auto and the folding -cots put beneath the shelter. As before, Janet and Trouble would sleep -in the auto itself. - -Mrs. Martin got the supper over the alcohol stoves, which, though -small, gave good heat. Ted and Janet gathered wood, for their father -had said they might make a campfire and sit about it before going to -bed. - -When the meal was finished Ted was allowed to light the fire. The -children sat about it on smooth stumps, pretending they were early -settlers living in the wilderness. - -“It’s just like the Pilgrims,” said Janet, who was fond of history. -“Only there aren’t any wild Indians or wild animals to come after us,” -she added. - -“Yes, that’s the only difference,” agreed Ted. - -“They is some wild animals,” said Trouble, who was sitting near his -mother. He suddenly arose and looked off toward the forest. “They is -some wild animals here.” - -“Oh, no, there aren’t, Trouble!” declared Ted. - -“Yes, they is!” insisted his little brother. “They is two bears! I see -them! Here they come!” - -He pointed across the open glade, and the Curlytops, looking, saw, to -their great astonishment, two bears shuffling their way toward them! - -“Oh! Oh!” screamed Janet. “Oh, look at the bears!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE LUMBER CAMP - - -Mr. Martin, who had been busy making sure that everything about the -camp was snug and secure for the night, did not at first glimpse the -bears. But he heard what Janet exclaimed and called to her: - -“I wouldn’t pretend so hard if I were you, Jan, especially about bears -at night. You might scare Trouble.” - -“But, Daddy!” cried Janet, as she ran toward him, “there _are_ bears! -_Real_ ones! And Trouble saw them first.” - -“Nonsense!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, emerging from behind the auto, where -he was making sure the tent flaps were fast. - -“Yes, here are two bears, Dick!” said his wife. “And they’re coming -right for us! We’d certainly better do something!” - -“I’ll do something!” cried Ted, picking up a blazing brand. “I’ll scare -’em with this!” - -“No! No! You mustn’t!” objected his mother. - -“Bears are afraid of fire!” stated Ted. - -“These don’t seem to be,” observed Janet. “They’re coming right for us!” - -She had turned, on her way to join her father, and she saw the shaggy -creatures still shuffling along. By this time Mr. Martin had reached -the open place and he had a sight of the bears. - -“Bless my stars!” cried the father of the Curlytops. “Who would have -thought to find bears here? But they must be tame bears!” - -“I certainly hope so!” exclaimed his wife. - -“They must be!” said her husband again. “Wild bears would run at the -sight of us--not come nearer. Some lumberman must have caught these two -when they were small, and he’s tamed them. They aren’t much more yet -than two-year-old cubs. I believe they’re coming to see if they can -find something to eat.” - -“Oh, if they’re tame bears maybe they’ll do tricks!” cried Ted. - -“Maybe they’ll eat peanuts like nellifunts!” added Trouble. - -“Well, you aren’t going to feed these bears peanuts!” decided his -mother, catching the little fellow up in her arms and stepping back -toward the auto with him. - -“Oh, look! They’re eating!” suddenly cried Ted, pointing. - -Surely enough, the two bears that had been shuffling along in the -peculiar way bears have, had now come to a stop some little distance -away from the campfire and began sniffing along the ground. - -Suddenly one of them seemed to find some dainty, for he picked it up. -And an instant later the other, with a sort of squealing growl, tried -to knock whatever it was from the mouth of the first bear. - -“They’re quarreling, just like two boys! Oh, they must be tame bears!” -decided Mrs. Martin, for the shaggy chaps seemed to have no interest -except in each other or in what they could find on the ground. - -“What is it, Daddy, they’re fighting about?” asked Janet, for now the -two bears were wrestling, standing up on their hind legs, and each -trying to throw the other. Whatever the first bear had found had been -knocked from him by the second bear and had fallen to the ground. Now -they were struggling to see which should have it. - -“It’s my snandwich that I dropped,” explained Trouble. “I was over by -there and I dropped a snandwich (he always called them that) and the -bears are eating my snandwich.” - -“I guess that’s right!” agreed Mr. Martin. - -As the two bears wrestled, more in fun than in anger it seemed, the one -who had knocked the sandwich from the one that first found it, dealt -his companion such a blow as to send him staggering off against a tree. -Then the second bear pounced on Trouble’s lost sandwich and soon ate it. - -The first bear seemed to take it all good-naturedly and went sniffing -for more tidbits that might have been tossed away or dropped by the -campers. - -“Oh, aren’t they cute!” exclaimed Jan, for by this time it was evident -that the bears would do no harm. They came to eat--not to run the -Curlytops off. - -“I’d like to know whose they are,” said Teddy. - -“And I hope they don’t stay here all night,” added Mrs. Martin. “I -don’t want to go to sleep, knowing a bear--no matter how friendly he -is--may poke his head in on me at any moment.” - -“I’ll see if I can drive them away,” offered Mr. Martin. - -“No, don’t do that!” begged his wife, clutching him by the arm. “They -might turn on you and scratch you.” - -“I don’t believe they will,” said her husband. “As you say, we don’t -want to go to sleep with bears roaming around loose, even if they are -tame bears.” - -“Maybe they’ll go away themselves if we give them enough to eat,” -suggested Janet. - -“Huh, that’s just the way to make ’em stay around here!” declared Ted. -“They’ll stay as long as you feed ’em--like a stray dog.” - -It was evident that something must be done, for the two bears, having -picked up all the scraps they could find outside the camp, were now -approaching closer. They stood up and sniffed hungrily, moving their -snouts about in a peculiar way. Nor did they appear to be afraid of the -fire, on which Ted piled more wood. - -“I wish their keeper would come and take them away,” said Mrs. Martin. - -Then, as if in answer to her wish, a man came running out of the -forest--a lumberman, he seemed, with big boots on--and in his hands he -carried chains that rattled and clanked. At the sound of the rattling -chains the bears turned, like boys caught in a jam closet, and, -dropping to all fours, would have run into the woods, except that the -man shouted: - -“No, you don’t, Jim! Come back here, Jack, you little rascal! Come -here, I say!” - -The bears paused, and then, as the man ran toward them and again -shouted, they turned about and walked slowly back to him. In an instant -he had snapped one end of the chains he carried into collars they wore -about their necks. - -“Hope my pets didn’t scare you folks,” said the man, as he playfully -pulled the little short ears of his shaggy charges. “Jim and Jack are -as gentle as lambs, but you’ve got to know how to treat ’em. Hope they -didn’t frighten you.” - -“They didn’t--exactly,” said Mr. Martin. “We were a bit surprised, at -first, but the bears seemed to be content to pick up scraps about the -place.” - -“That’s what they love--picking up scraps of food,” said the lumberman. - -“Are they your pets?” asked Janet. - -“Yes, little girl. I’ve had ’em ever since they were little bits of -cubs. Some one shot the old bear and I found these two, like puppies, -whimpering on their dead mother. I brought them to my camp, raised them -on a bottle until they were old enough to eat, and I’ve kept ’em ever -since. This evening they got away, as they often do, and wandered off, -so I had to take after ’em.” - -“Are you camping around here?” asked Mr. Martin. - -“Yes, in a way,” was the answer. “I’m not camping for fun, as you folks -are. It’s business with me. I’m manager of a lumber camp over in the -woods.” - -“Oh, yours is the camp we have been looking for!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. - -“You’ve been looking for me?” echoed the man, who gave his name as Pat -Teeter. - -“We met some lumbermen on a raft going down the river,” explained Mr. -Martin, telling about the dog who bit the auto tire. “They said you -might let us inspect your camp.” - -“Sure, I will. We’ll be glad to have you visit us!” declared Mr. -Teeter. “There aren’t many men in camp now, and they’ll be glad of -company. We’re over in the woods about three miles from here.” - -“I’m afraid that’s rather too far to go to-night,” objected Mrs. -Martin. “And we have things all ready here.” - -“Then come over the first thing in the morning,” urged Mr. Teeter. -“I’ll go back now, with my runaway bears. We’ll expect you in the -morning.” - -“Will your bears do tricks?” asked Ted, as the shaggy creatures on the -ends of the chains prepared to follow their keeper. - -“Oh, yes. I’ll show you to-morrow,” was the answer. “Come over to -breakfast, if you like.” - -“Thank you, but I think it will be best to come over directly after -breakfast,” answered Mrs. Martin. - -Mr. Teeter disappeared in the woods with his two tame bears, and the -Curlytops were quite delighted, talking of the fun they would have in -the lumber camp the next day. - -“I only hope those bears don’t get loose again in the night and poke -their noses in our tent as Ted’s cow did,” said Mrs. Martin, as they -made ready for bed. - -“I don’t believe they will,” said her husband. “Mr. Teeter will be -sure to chain them up well.” - -“If a bear comes I would like to ride on his back!” stated Trouble. -“Once I did ride on a nellifunt’s back. But I would like a bear ride, -too.” - -“Well, maybe you’ll get it!” laughed Janet, as she cuddled him in her -arms. - -In spite of what her husband had said about the bears being well -secured, Mrs. Martin, several times in the night, awakened, thinking -she heard the shaggy cubs shuffling along through the forest. - -But nothing like this occurred, and morning came without anything -having happened in the night. Breakfast was served and eaten, the -things straightened up and put back in place, and off to the lumber -camp started the Curlytops. - -“There it is!” cried Ted, a little later, as they drove along the river -road. He pointed to a cluster of log cabins in the woods, cabins set -down in the midst of a clearing. - -“Yes, I guess this is the lumber camp all right,” assented his father. - -“I see the two bears!” added Janet, pointing to the cubs, chained at -the rear of one of the log cabins. - -“Well, this will give us a new set of adventures--stopping in a lumber -camp,” said Mr. Martin, as he guided the car over the not very smooth -road that led up to the cluster of cabins. - -At that moment, from down the road in the other direction, came some -strange yells, shouts and cries: - -“Yip! Yip! Yippie!” was yelled, and then followed more strange noises. - -“What do you imagine that can be?” asked Mrs. Martin, wonderingly, -of her husband, while several dogs in the lumber camp began to bark -excitedly. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -A SMASH - - -Mr. Martin for a time thought there must be some sort of fight or -other kind of trouble among the lumbermen to cause all this noise. The -lumbermen, he knew, were, some of them, rough characters, and he did -not wish the Curlytops and Trouble to see any fighting or quarreling -among them. - -The children, however, were excited and curious. They looked toward the -bend in the road whence the noise came, and a moment later Janet cried -out in delight: - -“Oh, it’s the movie actors! See, there’s Mr. Weldon!” - -“That’s right--the cowboys!” added her brother. “I wonder what they are -doing here!” - -“They probably came to take some pictures in the lumber camp,” said Mr. -Martin. - -But taking pictures seemed very far from the thoughts of the movie -actors--at least, for the time being. They were intent on having a good -time, for they were laughing among themselves and many of the men were -giving voice to that “yi-yippy” yell which sounded so wild. - -“I guess they’ve just finished some hard work,” said Mrs. Martin, as -she laughed at some of the antics of the riders. “They’re like boys out -of school.” - -So it proved, for when Ned Weldon and some others of the men who had -been friendly with the Martin family while at Dawson’s Farm, saw the -family, they rode up and renewed their friendship, and also told why -they had come here. - -“We had to have a lumber camp location for this part of the film,” -explained Mr. Birch, the director. “So we came here.” - -“But we didn’t expect to find you here,” added Mr. Weldon, as he made -his horse prance on its hind legs, much to the amusement of Trouble. - -“We didn’t expect to come here,” stated Mr. Martin. “But when Mr. -Teeter invited us we thought it would give the children something new -to see for their vacation tour.” - -“And they’s bears, too!” exclaimed Trouble. - -“I guess you mean elephants, don’t you?” asked Mr. Weldon, who had more -than once laughed at the little fellow’s pronunciation of the name. - -“No, not nellifunts--bears,” insisted Trouble. “They’s over there,” and -he pointed to the two tame bruins, chained to a tree. The movie actors -had not yet seen the bears, it appeared. - -But Mr. Birch had no sooner looked toward the cubs than he gave a cry -of delight and said: - -“Just what we want! You remember that scene, Weldon, where you go into -the old cabin?” - -“Yes, I remember that,” answered the cowboy actor. - -“Well, I’ve been trying to think of something funny that could happen -there. The bears will be the very thing! We’ll put them in the cabin, -and you go in. Then the bears chase you out. It will be very funny.” - -“Funny for the bears, maybe, but not for me!” exclaimed Mr. Weldon. “Do -you think I’m going into a cabin with a couple of bears?” - -“Why, sure you are,” replied the director. - -“Well, sure I am not!” cried the cowboy. “I won’t do such a thing! Do -you think I want to be clawed by a bear and have my clothes torn?” and -he made such a funny face that the Curlytops laughed. - -But Trouble solved the problem by saying: - -“They is tame bears. They won’t hurt you, Mr. Weldon, and they eats -peanuts like nellifunts.” - -“Oh, if they’re tame bears, that’s another thing,” said the movie -actor. “But I want to be sure they are tame.” - -“Yes, they are,” said Mr. Martin. “The bears came to our camp last -night. We thought they were wild, but they soon proved to be tame. Mr. -Teeter has raised them from little cubs.” - -“Just the thing for us, then,” said Mr. Birch. “We’ll have those bears -filmed to-morrow. It will make a funny scene, Weldon, with you climbing -out of a cabin window chased by bears.” - -“All right--I’ll go through with it,” said the cowboy with a sigh and -another funny face which made the Curlytops laugh. “But if they tear -my clothes you’ll have to buy me a new suit.” - -“I will,” promised the movie director. - -By this time the moving picture actors and actresses had quieted down -and were getting ready to take their parts in the film. They were to -remain in the lumber camp several days, and the Curlytops were glad of -this, for they liked to see the work being done. - -Mr. Birch hurried off to arrange with the tamer of the bears about -using the animals in a scene with Mr. Weldon. The latter remained to -talk to the Martins. - -“Is Mr. Portnay here?” asked Mr. Martin. “I don’t see anything of him.” - -“No, he doesn’t take any part in this section of the film,” answered -the cowboy. “But we expect him to join us in a few days. Did you get -back your box of albums that his man took by mistake?” - -“Yes. I have the box here in the car,” answered the father of the -Curlytops. “We expect to reach Bentville soon, and then I will turn the -old books and pictures over to Mr. Cardwell. I shall be glad to get rid -of them, for I am always afraid something is going to happen to them.” - -One of the lumbermen came along then to say that Mr. Martin and his -family could occupy one of the cabins in the woods while they were in -the camp. - -“It’s only a rough shack,” he said; “but it’s the best we have.” - -“This will do very nicely,” said Mrs. Martin, when they had driven over -to it. “Cows can’t poke their horns in, at any rate.” - -“No, ma’am, we haven’t any cows here,” said the lumberman, with such a -puzzled look on his face that Mrs. Martin laughed and explained about -the cow that tried to enter the tent while Ted was asleep. - -The movie folk were distributed around the camp in the different -cabins, and soon the place quieted down. This, as I have said, was not -the busy season at the lumber camp in the woods, and only a few of the -men were there. Because of this, many of the cabins were vacant, which -gave the movie people and the Curlytops plenty of room. - -The remainder of the day Ted and his sister, taking Trouble with them, -watched the movie actors at work. Many short scenes were filmed, but -the children were more interested in watching Mr. Weldon practice, or -go through, his part with the tame bears. - -At first the actor was a bit timid when with the shaggy creatures. But -after he had seen Ted and Janet feed them lumps of sugar, Mr. Weldon -got courage enough to let them eat from his hand. After that it was -easy, and he and the two cubs were soon on friendly terms. - -“Now we’ll try how it goes when they chase you out of the cabin,” -suggested the director. - -“But they’re so friendly they won’t chase me,” said Mr. Weldon. - -“If you have some bread and molasses with you they will,” said Mr. -Teeter. “They’ll go anywhere to get bread and molasses. Just have some -of that with you when you play your part. Hold it out to the bears and -then pull it away. They’ll chase you from here to the end of Crystal -Lake to get the sweet stuff.” - -So that was tried. One of the cabins in the open part of the woods was -picked out as the scene in the picture. - -The bears were put inside, and then Mr. Weldon got ready to go through -his part. In his pocket he had some slices of bread covered with -molasses, which the lumber camp cook had given him. The bread was -wrapped in waxed paper so it would not make the actor’s pocket sticky. - -The idea in this part of the film story was that Mr. Weldon was to -enter the cabin, thinking it held a man whom he wanted to catch. So he -approached the place on tiptoe. But no sooner had he entered, than the -bears, who had been anxious to come out, rushed at him. They smelled -the bread and molasses in Mr. Weldon’s pocket. There was no need to -hold it out to them. - -“Now run!” cried Mr. Birch, while the cameras clicked. - -There was no need to tell Mr. Weldon to do this. He took one look at -the bears, hungry for bread and molasses, and away he rushed. After him -lumbered the cubs--not angry, just keen to get the sweets. - -“That’s good! Fine! Couldn’t be better!” cried Mr. Birch. - -Finally the bears chased Mr. Weldon so closely that, tame as they were, -he feared they might claw him in their eagerness. So he climbed a tree -and dropped the bread and molasses down to the shaggy fellows. - -This was all they wanted, and they stopped to lick up the molasses, -thus ending the scene. - -“That was great!” cried the director. - -“Glad of it,” said Mr. Weldon, as he came down from the tree after the -bears had been led away. “If it had been spoiled I wouldn’t have done -it over again. It was too exciting.” - -But there was no need to take the bear scene over again, as sometimes -happens when movies are being filmed. It was all right from the first -click of the cameras. - -Other scenes were taken the next day in the lumber camp, and in some -the Curlytops had small parts, much to their delight. They liked it in -the woods, and Mrs. Martin was glad to remain a few days in one spot -and have the shelter of a cabin in which to sleep. - -Mr. Birch decided that as long as he was in a lumber camp he had better -take some scenes of chopping down trees, and this was arranged for. -Then, as his company was one producing comedies, he wanted something -funny and decided to have a man up in a tree that was being chopped -down. - -One of the lumbermen volunteered to take this part, as he said it had -really happened to him once. He jumped out of the falling tree into -another standing near by, and so was not hurt. - -“I can do the same thing again,” he said. - -This scene took place on the edge of the clearing in the lumber camp, -where the light was good. As the company carried no powerful electric -lights with them, they had to depend on the sun, and in the depths of -the woods there was not light enough for taking good pictures. - -After some funny antics, the lumberman climbed the tree. Then another -man began to chop it down. It did not take long, for the lumbermen know -how to fell a tree in a few minutes. And as the big pine began to sway -toward the earth, the trunk being almost cut through, Mr. Birch cried: - -“Jump now!” - -The man jumped, a camera filming him as he leaped from the falling tree -to one standing near it. Then down to the earth crashed the tall pine. - -There was a shout of dismay from some of the movie people standing off -to one side. - -“I hope no one was hurt,” said Mrs. Martin. - -Mr. Teeter came running up through the cloud of dust caused by the fall -of the tree. - -“There’s been a smash,” he said. - -“A smash?” repeated Mr. Martin. - -“Yes. That tree didn’t fall just the way it should, and it smashed down -on your auto.” - -“Oh, is our car smashed?” cried Ted. - -“Not all of it, but one wheel is,” said a lumberman. “I’m afraid you -Curlytops can’t continue your tour. I’m very sorry.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -ABOARD THE MOTOR BOAT - - -Nothing could, have been more of a disappointment to the Curlytops just -then than to hear they could not keep on touring around. They were -having such fun they did not want it to stop. But if they had no auto -to go in, they would have to return home--and the trip wasn’t half -finished! - -“And how are we going to take those albums to Mr. Cardwell?” said Teddy. - -“Let’s go and see how badly the car is damaged,” suggested Mr. Martin. -“Perhaps it can be repaired so we can go on.” - -“It will need a new wheel,” answered the lumberman. “I think one can be -sent on from the factory, or the nearest supply house, but it will take -several days. It’s too bad!” - -“It couldn’t have been helped, I suppose,” said Mr. Martin, as, with -his wife and children, he walked toward his car. “I shouldn’t have -left it there.” - -“The tree was taller than any of us thought,” said the lumberman. “The -end of it stuck out farther than we calculated, and it was just the tip -of it that hit your front wheel.” - -It did not take more than a glance from Mr. Martin to tell him that he -could not continue touring in his auto--at least, until a new wheel was -secured. - -“If only the tire or the rim had been broken, we could have managed,” -he said. “For we carry a spare tire and rim. But I haven’t an extra -wheel.” - -“We’ll get you one,” offered Mr. Birch. “It was the fault of our -company that your wheel was broken, and we’ll pay for a new one. I’ll -telegraph and have one sent on from Blissville at once. There is a -branch agency there that keeps parts for your car.” - -“Don’t worry about it,” said Mr. Martin. “It can’t be helped now. I am -glad no one was hurt. There is no great hurry about our tour--a few -days’ wait will not matter.” - -But it would take more than a few days to supply a new wheel for the -one broken on the auto, it was found out. The agency was out of wheels -for the kind of car Mr. Martin owned, and it would be necessary to -send to Michigan for one. This would take about two weeks, stated the -telegram that came in reply to the one Mr. Birch had sent. - -“Do you think we want to stay in this lumber camp two weeks more?” -asked Mrs. Martin of her husband. - -“Hardly,” he answered. “And yet I don’t see how we can continue our -tour without a car.” - -“Couldn’t we go on horseback?” asked Ted. “When we were at Uncle -Frank’s ranch we rode on ponies.” - -“I’d like a pony,” Janet said. - -“The ponies might be all right for you two Curlytops and for me,” said -their father. “But I hardly think your mother and Trouble could manage -it. No, we had best either go back home or wait here for a new wheel.” - -Mr. Birch was saying how sorry he was that the plans of the family had -thus been spoiled when Mr. Teeter suddenly asked: - -“How about a motor boat?” - -“A motor boat?” asked Mr. Martin. “What do you mean?” - -“I mean,” explained the lumberman, “how would you like to keep on -touring in a motor craft? I suppose cruising would be a better word -than touring, when you speak of a boat. But how about it?” - -“A boat would be dandy fun!” exclaimed Ted. - -“I think so, too,” added his sister. - -“But it would take us as long to arrange to hire a boat as it would to -wait for a new wheel,” objected Mr. Martin. “Besides, how could we get -to Bentville by boat?” - -“Very easily,” answered Mr. Teeter. “Rockaway River, which is the -stream we float our logs down, flows from Crystal Lake, about fifty -miles up country. You could cruise along the river, and so get to the -lake. Then you cross the lake and you’re right at Bentville.” - -“Yes, I suppose we could do that,” admitted Mr. Martin, after thinking -it over. “But what about a boat? Where could we get one?” - -“Take mine,” offered the lumberman. “I have a very good little cabin -motor boat down in the river. You can put your things from the auto -into the boat and keep on going.” - -“Oh, Daddy, let’s do it!” cried Ted. - -“Please!” added Janet. - -“I like a boat on the water,” crooned Trouble. “Nellifunts, they squirt -water out of they trunks.” - -“What do you say, Ruth?” asked Mr. Martin of his wife. - -“It sounds very nice,” she answered, with a smile. “But I should like -to see the boat. Is there room on it for all of us?” - -“Plenty,” said Mr. Teeter. “Come on, I’ll show you.” - -It wasn’t far from the lumber camp to the Rockaway River, and at a -small dock was tied the gasoline motor boat, _Pine Tree_. This was a -very good name, the Curlytops thought, for a boat owned by a lumberman. - -“Say, she’s a dandy!” exclaimed Ted, as he went on board. - -“I like this better than an auto,” said Janet. “There’s more room to -move about.” - -This was true. Though the _Pine Tree_ was not an especially large motor -boat, there was much more room on her than in even the largest touring -car. There was a cabin in which they could eat, and at night the table -folded up out of the way and bunks, like those in sleeping cars, could -be let down. A sliding partition made the large cabin into two small -ones. One could be used by Ted and his father, while the other would do -for Mrs. Martin, Janet and William. - -“Well, do you think you want to go cruising for a while instead of -autoing?” asked the lumberman. - -“Yes, indeed, thank you,” said Mrs. Martin. “I’m almost glad, now, that -the wheel was broken. This is a lovely little boat.” - -So it was arranged. The baggage from the Martin car was put aboard the -_Pine Tree_, and the lockers and pantry were stocked with food. Things -could be cooked on a gasoline stove in the little galley, or kitchen. - -“Don’t forget the albums,” said Mrs. Martin to her husband, when the -boat was being made ready. “We don’t want to leave them behind.” - -“No, indeed,” he answered. “I have them here.” - -He stowed away, on board the _Pine Tree_, the box of old albums which -had been intrusted to him. They were still wrapped up as they had come -by express from Mr. Portnay in New York. The movie actor, it was said -by Mr. Birch, had been ill and would not resume work for a time. -Then he expected to go West to complete the film, part of which the -Curlytops had seen made. - -“All aboard!” called Mr. Martin, on the morning when a fresh start was -to be made in the touring plans of the Curlytops. “All aboard!” - -The lumbermen and the movie people had said good-by, wishing the -Curlytops and their family all sorts of good luck. Mr. Teeter arranged -for the Martins to come back in the boat and leave it at the camp when -they had cruised as much as they wished. - -“By that time I’ll have a new wheel on your auto,” he told Mr. Martin, -“and you can drive home in the car.” - -“That’s a good idea,” said the father of the Curlytops. - -You can imagine how delighted Ted, Janet and Trouble were as they sat -on the little deck of the _Pine Tree_ and looked at the scenery along -the Rockaway River, up which they were puffing their way to reach -Crystal Lake. Mr. Martin knew how to run and steer a motor boat. In -quiet stretches of the river he allowed Ted and Janet to hold the wheel -for a time. - -“It’s just lovely here,” said Mrs. Martin with a happy sigh as she -leaned back against a cushion. “It’s much nicer than the auto.” - -Mr. Martin thought so, too, and while of course he did not like to have -wheels smashed, still some good came out of it. Up the winding river -went the _Pine Tree_, new scenes presenting themselves every minute. - -They did not have to go ashore to spend the night, nor even stop for -meals, which were cooked on board. Mrs. Martin took charge in the -galley, and Ted and Janet gave whoops of delight when she blew a -whistle which meant that the first lunch was ready. - -They did not speed along, for, as before, Mr. Martin was in no hurry, -but they took their time, and that afternoon, as they were passing a -large town, they tied up at a wharf and went ashore, as Mrs. Martin -wanted to buy some food which they had not been able to put on board at -the lumber camp. - -“We aren’t going to travel in the night, are we?” asked Ted of his -father, as they puffed along late that afternoon, the cupboard having -been well stocked at the last stopping place. - -“No, I hardly think so,” he answered. “I don’t know this river well -enough to navigate it after dark. When it gets a little later we’ll -anchor for the night, and go on in the morning.” - -“Are we going to sleep on this boat?” Trouble wanted to know. - -“Of course,” answered Ted. “Do you think you’re going to sleep in the -water?” - -“I don’t see any beds,” remarked the little fellow, looking about. - -“Well, I don’t wonder at that,” laughed his mother. “The beds are -folded up, my dear. They come down like this.” - -As I have told you, the berths in the _Pine Tree_ were made to fold up -during the day like those in a sleeping car. A turn of a handle and a -pull brought down the beds out of recesses in the cabin walls. There -were blankets, sheets and pillows stored in each berth, just as on a -sleeper. - -“Oh, I like these little beds!” cried Trouble, as he saw them come down. - -“It’s a dandy boat,” declared Ted. - -When it was dark Mr. Martin ran the boat near shore and dropped the -anchor. Then, after a while, they all “turned in,” as a sailor would -say--that is, they went to bed. - -Janet suddenly awakened in the night--how late it was she didn’t -know--but something disturbed her. A low light, operated by a storage -battery, gleamed in the tiny cabin, and Janet looked across to the bunk -where her mother was sleeping, with Trouble on the berth below her. - -“Mother! Mother!” called Jan, in a low voice, so as not to awaken her -small brother. - -“Yes, dear, what is it?” asked Mrs. Martin. She was a light sleeper, -accustomed to being awakened many times in the night by her children. - -“I think,” said Janet in a whisper, “somebody is running away with the -_Pine Tree_.” - -“Running away with the _Pine Tree_! Do you mean with this boat?” asked -Mrs. Martin. - -“Yes, Mother! We’re moving! Don’t you feel it?” - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ON THE LAKE - - -Mrs. Martin sat up in her berth and listened. She could hear no sound -except the gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the _Pine -Tree_. There had been no motion when she went to sleep, for the river -did not flow swiftly at this point. But something had awakened Janet. - -“Don’t you feel it, Mother?” asked the little Curlytop girl. “Don’t you -feel us moving?” - -“Yes, I certainly do,” Mrs. Martin said, after sitting still for a few -seconds. “We are certainly moving. I’ll call your father.” - -“Do you think anything is going to happen?” asked Janet, greatly -excited by this time. - -“No, I think we are dragging our anchor--that’s all,” answered her -mother. “It must be seen to.” - -Putting on her dressing gown and slippers, Mrs. Martin went to the -other cabin where her husband was sleeping with Ted. A touch on his -shoulder awakened Mr. Martin. - -“What is it?” he asked sleepily. “Have we reached Pittsburgh yet, -porter?” - -“You aren’t in a sleeping car, traveling to Pittsburgh,” laughed his -wife. In his earlier days Mr. Martin had been a traveling salesman and -covered many thousands of miles in sleeping cars. - -“What is it, then?” he asked, sitting up. By the gleam of the little -light he saw his wife standing near his berth. - -“The boat is moving,” she told him. - -“Moving?” - -“Yes. Don’t you feel it? Janet felt it first and called me. I think we -are dragging our anchor.” - -“So we are!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, as he felt the sensation of the boat -moving. “But it isn’t anything serious. I’ll drop it in a new place -where it will hold better.” - -As he was putting on a coat and trousers to go out on the little -forward deck, where the anchor rope was caught around a cleat, Ted -awakened. - -“What’s the matter?” he wanted to know. “I’ll go up and help you, -Daddy,” he offered, when told of the trouble. - -“All right--come along,” agreed his father. “You had better go back to -bed,” Mr. Martin suggested to his wife. - -“Yes, I’ll stay with Trouble and Janet,” she agreed. - -It was dark up on deck, for the _Pine Tree_ was anchored in the river -away from any town or city. The stars alone dispelled the blackness of -the night. - -But Mr. Martin had a powerful flashlight with him, and, switching this -on, he held it over the side, focusing the electric rays on the water. -Then he noticed something that made him exclaim in wonder. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Ted. - -“Why, we’re going upstream instead of down,” was the answer. “If -we were dragging our anchor we would float down the river with the -current. We wouldn’t go up as we do when the motor is running.” - -“The motor isn’t running now,” said Ted, and it was not--the engine -having been shut off when they anchored for the night. “But what makes -us move, Daddy?” - -“Something has hold of our anchor rope and is pulling us upstream by -it,” said Mr. Martin. - -“You mean an alligator?” asked Ted. “Oh, I wish it was daylight! I’d -like to see an alligator!” - -“No, not an alligator,” said Mr. Martin, with a smile. “There are none -of those creatures in these waters. But something is towing us all -right.” - -“Maybe it’s river pirates,” suggested the Curlytop boy. “You know Mr. -Teeter said river pirates once took this boat.” - -“It isn’t pirates,” declared Mr. Martin. “They would have to use a boat -to tow us away and there isn’t a boat in sight. No, something has hold -of our anchor rope beneath the water. See?” - -He held the flashlight on the hemp cable. Ted could see where it went -down into the water, and just ahead of it were little ripples such as -are caused when a stick or a rope is dragged through the water. - -“What do you suppose it is, Daddy?” asked the lad. - -“Some sort of fish, or other water creature, has got caught in our -anchor,” decided Mr. Martin. “It’s towing us.” - -“Maybe it’s a big turtle,” said Teddy. “A big mud or snapping turtle.” - -“Maybe,” agreed his father. “I’m going to see. Here, Ted, you hold the -flashlight and I’ll haul up on the anchor rope.” - -The Curlytop boy focused the rays of the powerful little electric torch -on the rope extending into the water and Mr. Martin, taking hold of the -cable, near the deck cleat around which it was wound, began to pull up. -It was hard work, but finally he managed to get some slack, and then -Ted cried: - -“Oh, I see! It’s a big turtle!” - -“Yes, so it is,” agreed his father. For he had pulled up enough of -the anchor and rope to show a great snapping turtle with one of his -flippers caught on the rope, just where it was fastened to the “mud -hook,” as sailors sometimes call an anchor. - -“Can you pull him on board, Daddy?” asked Teddy. - -“I don’t know that I want to,” was his father’s answer. “He looks like -a pretty ugly customer.” - -A moment later the turtle gave a wriggle and dropped off into the water -with a splash. Pulling him up had loosened his hold on the anchor rope. -Then Mr. Martin let go the rope, the anchor dropped back to the bottom -of the river and held in the mud, bringing the boat to a stop. - -“Now I guess we’re all right,” said Mr. Martin, as he went down with -Ted, who looked to see the turtle rise again, but it did not. - -“What was it?” Mrs. Martin wanted to know. - -“A big snapping turtle, crawling along on the bottom of the river, got -caught in our anchor and rope,” explained her husband. “He kept right -on crawling, pulled up our anchor from the mud, and swam away. - -“He was so powerful that he was able to tow our boat,” went on Mr. -Martin. “It wasn’t hard to do, once he got it started, and being on the -bottom he could get a good hold for his feet, which have claws on them. -When I pulled up the rope I loosened his hold.” - -“If we could keep that turtle, and train him, he would pull the boat -for us, and we wouldn’t have to use gasoline,” said Teddy. - -“I’m afraid we’d be several years getting where we want to go,” laughed -his father. “A turtle is pretty slow.” - -They went back to bed and were not disturbed again that night. In the -morning the Curlytops looked for a sign of the turtle, and even tossed -bits of meat into the river, hoping to tempt him to rise, but he did -not, probably being asleep in the mud. - -They traveled on all that day, having a good time aboard the _Pine -Tree_ and late that afternoon they reached the place where the river -flowed out of Crystal Lake. - -“To-morrow we’ll cruise across the lake and reach Bentville,” said Mr. -Martin. “Then I’ll deliver the albums and after we spend some time -here, motoring about, we’ll cruise back to the lumber camp and get our -auto, which ought to have a new wheel on by then.” - -“This is a big lake,” said Mrs. Martin, looking across it as evening -settled down. “I hope no storms come when we are in the middle.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE WRONG BOX - - -Mr. Martin decided to anchor the _Pine Tree_ for the night, rather than -to try to cruise across the large body of water in the darkness. He had -never been on the lake before, though he had directions for reaching -Bentville. - -“But this is a good place to stay,” he told his wife, when they had -reached the point where the river flowed out of the lake. “We’ll camp -here.” - -“Do you mean go ashore and camp?” asked Teddy. - -“Oh, no; we’ll stay on the boat,” his father answered. “It will be -better, I think.” - -“Maybe a big turtle will give us a ride again,” suggested Trouble. He -had been told how the queer creature of the mud had towed the motor -boat, and his great regret was that he had not been awakened to see it. - -“No, I hardly think a thing like that will happen the second time,” -said Mr. Martin, with a laugh. “It was only by accident that the turtle -got tangled in our anchor rope.” - -Then they made ready to spend the night on board the _Pine Tree_. The -anchor was let down but a short distance from shore, the boat being -close to the bank so they could all reach dry land by crossing a small -gangplank which Mr. Martin ran out. - -When the boat had been made fast, the Curlytops and Trouble went -ashore, leaving their mother and father to get supper, for Mr. Martin -was helping his wife. - -“Don’t go too far, children,” called Mrs. Martin to the three who were -wandering along the shore of Crystal Lake. - -“We’ll soon be back,” promised Janet. - -“I’m going to see if I can find any apples,” said Teddy. - -“You’ll hardly find any apple orchards around here,” said his father. - -But the Curlytop boy did. He was walking along ahead of his sister and -small brother when he suddenly saw a group of trees in a green field, -and a second look told Ted they were apple trees. - -“Come on,” he cried. “Let’s see if any of the apples are ripe.” - -“Maybe we’d better not,” said Janet. “Whoever owns these apples -wouldn’t like us to take any.” - -“Nobody owns ’em,” said her brother. “There’s no house around here. I -guess they’re just wild apples and anybody that wants can pick ’em.” - -Ted had rather queer ideas, but he meant no wrong, and soon the three -children were under the trees, gathering the fruit. It was just getting -ripe. - -Presently Trouble, who seemed to care more about running around than he -did about picking up apples, gave a cry and pointed at something in a -distant field. - -“What is it?” asked Janet. - -“It’s a man. He’s coming here,” announced the little fellow. “I see a -tramp man.” - -“Oh, Ted!” gasped Janet, “what’ll we do?” - -“Well, if it’s a tramp we’ll just go back to our boat,” decided the -Curlytop lad. “He won’t dare say a word when he sees father and -mother.” - -“Yes, but s’posin’ it’s the man that owns these apples?” went on Jan. - -“Well,” and Teddy thought about that a moment, “we can say daddy will -pay him for ’em, and he will. We only took some because we didn’t think -anybody wanted ’em. I’m not afraid.” - -“Where’s the man, Trouble? Show me,” Jan told her small brother. “I -don’t see any one.” - -“There he is,” and Trouble led Janet to a corner of the fence. It was -from here that he had looked before, coming back to tell the news. - -“He’s taking his time getting here,” thought Teddy, munching an apple -and following his sister and brother. Ted decided that if there was to -be a fuss about the apples he might as well have one to eat, anyhow. - -“There’s the man,” Trouble said, pointing the individual in question -out to his sister and brother. - -Jan noted the ragged flapping coat and the ragged hat set on one side -of the head. Then Ted saw it and gave a howl of laughter. - -“Don’t make fun of him!” his sister begged. “The farmer won’t like it, -and he’ll scold us for taking his apples.” - -“Farmer!” chuckled Ted. “That isn’t a farmer.” - -“Well, tramp then,” went on Janet. “He does look like a tramp.” - -“It isn’t a tramp, either,” laughed Ted. - -“What is it then?” Janet wanted to know. - -“It’s a scarecrow. That must be a field of corn, or something, over -there, and the farmer that owns it has put up a stuffed man to keep the -crows away. Ho! Ho! It’s a scarecrow!” - -“How can you tell?” asked Janet. - -“’Cause it hasn’t moved since we’ve been looking at it. Here, I’ll show -you!” - -Ted caught up a stone and threw it at the ragged figure, the rock -striking it full in the back. There was a sound as when a stone hits a -board fence, and the ragged figure never moved. - -“See! I told you!” cried Ted. - -“Yes, I guess it is a scarecrow,” admitted Janet. “I’m glad of it. Now -we can take all the apples we like.” - -“Yes, it isn’t an apple-scarer,” laughed Teddy. - -“But it looks terribly natural,” said Jan, as they turned back to the -orchard. “No wonder Trouble thought it was a man.” - -The scarecrow was very well made, and in the dusk of the evening would -have misled almost any one who did not know about it. - -“My, you have enough apples for a pie and some sauce,” said Mrs. Martin -when the children reached the boat and had told about the ragged -figure. “I don’t suppose whoever owns the trees will mind our taking a -few apples,” she said to her husband. - -“I think not. But to be on the safe side and to be honest I’ll put -twenty-five cents in an envelope and hang it on one of the branches,” -said Mr. Martin, and he did this. - -Very likely the farmer who owned the apples was surprised on visiting -his orchard some time later to find the money and the note with it. He -had made a sale where he had not expected to. - -The night passed quietly, but toward morning Mrs. Martin was awakened -by the pitching and tossing of the boat. She looked out to find that -the wind was blowing, making the lake very rough. - -“Do you think it will be best to start with the wind blowing like -this?” asked Mrs. Martin after breakfast, when the boat was still -tossing some. - -“Oh, yes,” her husband answered. “I think the breeze will go down. I -am anxious to get to Bentville and deliver the albums to Mr. Cardwell. -Then we can go about as we please.” - -“I think there’s going to be a bad storm,” went on his wife. - -“Oh, I guess we’ll get to the other side of the lake before it comes,” -Mr. Martin said. - -But they did not. Though the wind went down for a time just as the -anchor was pulled up and a start made, the breeze began to rise again -when they were out in the wide water. The waves began to toss, and the -_Pine Tree_, though a staunch, stout craft, began to pitch about. - -“I wish we hadn’t started,” sighed Mrs. Martin. - -“Well, now that we have, we might as well keep on,” her husband said. -“In fact, it is safer to go on, heading into the wind as we are, than -it would be to put back.” - -“I like it rough,” cried Teddy, holding fast to prevent himself being -bumped about. - -“It’s like being on a nellifunt’s back,” declared Trouble. “It goes up -and down and jiggles.” - -“It jiggles all right,” said his mother. “It jiggles too much for me. -What’s that, do you suppose?” she said, as a crash sounded in the -cabin. They were all out on deck at the time. - -“Something fell,” replied Mr. Martin. “Perhaps you had better go see -what it is. I can’t leave the wheel.” - -Mrs. Martin went down, followed by the children. In the cabin they -saw that a pile of valises, which had been stowed in one corner, had -toppled over. With the valises had been placed the box sent back from -New York by Mr. Portnay. - -In falling this box had come out of the paper wrapping, and had opened. -And when Mrs. Martin looked at the contents she exclaimed: - -“The wrong box! It’s the wrong box!” - -“What do you mean--wrong box?” called her husband. - -“I mean Mr. Portnay sent you back his make-up box by mistake, and he -has kept the box of albums! Look, here are his false wigs and paints. -This is the wrong box!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -TROUBLE’S PUSSY - - -Mr. Martin, hearing what his wife said, gave a quick look ahead across -the stormy lake. Then, seeing no other boats in his course, he fastened -the steering wheel, so the _Pine Tree_ would keep on in a straight -line, and down into the cabin he hurried. He saw just what the others -had seen--the pile of valises and also the wooden box with the cover -opened. - -“It surely is the wrong box!” said the father of the Curlytops. He -noticed a collection of wigs, false beards and mustaches, together with -a number of tubes of colored paint such as actors use whether in the -movies or on the stage. - -“Where are Mr. Cardwell’s albums?” Ted asked. - -“I suppose they are back in New York in Mr. Portnay’s studio,” said his -father. - -“Unless he has discovered his mistake by this time,” suggested Mrs. -Martin, “and has sent the right box on to us at the lumber camp.” - -“He wouldn’t know we were at the lumber camp,” said her husband. “We -only stopped there by accident.” - -“But Mr. Portnay knows that his company was there, making films,” went -on Mrs. Martin. “And he might think that they could tell where we were. -I say, let’s go back to the lumber camp and see if the right box isn’t -there.” - -Mr. Martin thought this over a moment or two, while the Curlytops and -Trouble looked out of small windows, or portholes, in the cabin, noting -how rough the lake was growing. The storm was getting worse, and the -wind was howling loudly. - -“There has been a mix-up and mistake about this box of albums from the -start,” said Mr. Martin. “I don’t see how Mr. Portnay could make a -mistake a second time and send us his paints and false wigs in place of -the old books.” - -“The boxes look exactly alike,” said Mrs. Martin. “I guess these -movie people are so busy thinking about the parts they are going to -play that they don’t pay any attention to much else. Or perhaps Mr. -Portnay’s man may have caused the mix-up.” - -“Well, it’s a mix-up all right,” her husband said. “And I think your -advice, to go back to the lumber camp, is the best thing we can do. As -you say, that movie man may come there or send the box there. We’ll go -back.” - -“I’d like to be out of this storm,” went on Mrs. Martin. “It is getting -much worse.” - -“Yes,” agreed her husband, “it is. I think I can turn back, though, -with safety if I use care.” - -“But if we have the movie man’s things that he puts on his face to make -him look different in pictures, how can he act?” asked Ted. - -“I guess he can easily get another make-up box,” replied his father. -“But it is impossible for us to get other Cardwell albums, and the -pictures of the twins, now dead, and the young boy lost at sea. We -simply must get back the right box. So I’ll go up and turn the boat -around. Better hold fast, everybody, for it will be rougher going the -other way.” - -“I’ll come up on deck and help you steer,” offered Ted. - -“No, Son, you’d better stay below with your mother, and help straighten -up the cabin,” suggested his father. “Pick up the valises and wrap up -that wrong box. Mr. Portnay will want it back, I think.” - -The Curlytops helped their mother set things to rights, and then, -indeed, they had to hold on, for the _Pine Tree_ pitched and tossed -in the storm, much as might her namesake in a forest with a big wind -blowing. - -Once it almost seemed that the boat was going to turn over, so far did -she tilt to one side. It began to rain, too, and Mr. Martin, up on -deck, had to put on his rubber coat. But he was a good sailor, and knew -how to manage the boat. - -In the afternoon, following a hasty meal on cold victuals, for Mrs. -Martin did not want to light the stove in the storm, the boat seemed to -ride easier. - -“I guess it’s going to clear off,” said Janet. - -But it was not that. Mr. Martin was near shore now, and under the lee -of a big hill, which kept off some of the wind. - -When evening came the touring Curlytops and their family were back -where they had started from--the place where the river ran out of the -lake. - -“We’ll tie up here for the night, and when morning comes we’ll navigate -down the river,” said Mr. Martin. “We’ll get to the lumber camp more -quickly than we came away from it, for we shall be going downstream -instead of against the current.” - -“Suppose the movie people are gone--what then?” asked Ted. - -“Well, the men in the lumber camp will know where they went,” answered -his father. “We’ll find them sooner or later, and get back the right -box of albums.” - -It was still raining hard, but the wind did not blow so fiercely in the -sheltered place where the _Pine Tree_ was anchored. Jan was glad of -this, for she did not like rough weather. - -It was in the middle of the night, when the storm seemed to have -quieted down a bit, that Trouble awakened his mother by calling to her. -Mrs. Martin was ever on the alert for the calls of her children in the -night, and she had formed a habit of answering them when but half -awake herself. Usually it was only a drink that William wanted. - -But this time, when Mrs. Martin became aware that he was calling to her -from his little bunk in the sleeping cabin, she did not hear him ask -for water. - -“Mommie! Mommie!” murmured the little fellow. - -“Yes, dear, what is it?” asked his mother sleepily. - -“Why don’t you let the pussy in?” asked Trouble. - -“What pussy, Trouble?” she asked, not yet quite awake. “There isn’t any -pussy here. You must be dreaming. Go to sleep again.” - -“Yes they is a pussy!” insisted the little fellow, sitting up in his -berth. His mother could see him in the dim little electric light. “They -is a pussy and she’s mewing and she wants to come in out of the rain. -Bring her in, Mommie.” - -Mrs. Martin thought Trouble was imagining all this, or that it was part -of a dream. Often he had dreams and went right on with them when he -awoke. - -“I’ll get you a drink, and then you can go back to sleep again,” his -mother said, as she got up. - -“Pussy wants a drink, too,” declared Trouble. “She wants a drink of -milk. There! Didn’t you hear her mew?” - -There came a lull in the storm and, to her surprise, Mrs. Martin heard, -through a porthole opened for ventilation on the leeward side of the -boat, the mewing of a cat. - -“Why, Trouble!” she exclaimed, “there _is_ a pussy out in the rain. The -poor thing!” - -“It’s my pussy!” declared the little fellow. “Bring her in!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE RIGHT BOX - - -Hardly stopping to think why Trouble should claim as his the pussy that -was crying in the night, Mrs. Martin started out of the cabin. Her -husband, sleeping in the other cabin with Ted, heard her and asked: - -“What’s the matter?” - -“Trouble heard a cat crying. It’s out in the rain. He wants me to bring -it in,” his wife answered. - -“A cat?” questioned Mr. Martin. Then with a little chuckle he added: “I -hope it isn’t a wildcat.” - -“What’s that?” exclaimed Ted, suddenly awakening. “A wildcat? Have we -got a gun to shoot it?” - -“Now don’t get excited,” laughed his father. “This is a tame cat, I -guess. I’ll go out and get it.” - -Slipping on his rubber coat, for it was still raining, Mr. Martin went -out on deck. Near the porthole, which was open a little way, but not -far enough to allow the cat to enter, was a crying, wet pussy, mewing -pitifully. - -“You poor little thing!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, who was as fond of -animals as were his children. “We’ll take care of you. But I wonder how -you got here?” - -The _Pine Tree_ was anchored some distance out from shore, and there -was no plank laid out on which the little cat might have crossed. - -“I guess she fell into the lake and drifted down until she caught hold -of our anchor rope,” said Mr. Martin, as he brought the drenched pussy -down into the cabin. “She climbed up on the rope and so reached the -deck.” - -“The poor little creature,” murmured Mrs. Martin. - -“Let me have her--she’s my pussy!” demanded Trouble. - -He wanted her in the bunk with him, but his mother said the wet fur of -the pussy would make the sheets damp. - -“I’ll dry her off and give her some milk, and then you may have her, -William,” she said. - -The little cat, warm and almost dry, was soon purring contentedly in -William’s arms and going to sleep with him, after lapping up some warm -milk, for Mrs. Martin, now that the boat was not pitching and tossing, -had lighted the gasoline stove. - -Ted and Jan looked in at the sight of the stray pussy that had come to -their little brother out of the storm. - -“Isn’t he cute!” murmured Jan. - -“Who?” asked Ted, for she was looking at her little brother and the -cat--both asleep now. - -“They’re both cute,” whispered Jan. - -The remainder of the night passed quietly, and when morning came the -storm had passed and the river and lake gleamed in the sunshine. - -“Now for another tour,” laughed Mr. Martin, as he and Ted hauled up the -anchor. “Back to the lumber camp!” - -“And I hope we get the right box,” said Mrs. Martin. - -They were going down the river the second day, and expected to reach -the lumber camp that afternoon when, as they turned a bend in the -stream, Ted and his father, who were out on deck, saw a small boat just -ahead of them. There were two little boys in the boat, and as the _Pine -Tree_ came into view the boys stood up and cried: - -“Help! Help!” - -“What’s the matter?” called Ted. - -“Sit down, boys. Sit down!” ordered Mr. Martin. “You’ll upset!” - -The little lads sat down, but they continued to cry for aid, and Mrs. -Martin and Jan came out to see what the trouble was. - -“I guess they don’t know how to row, or else they’ve lost their oars -and don’t know how to get back where they came from,” said Mr. Martin, -as he slowed the _Pine Tree_ and guided her close to the small, -drifting craft. - -His last guess proved correct. The boys were from a summer camp on the -river. They had set out in a boat, thinking they could manage to row, -but they knew little of how to do it. First one oar slipped overboard -and drifted away, and then the other. The little fellows were helpless -on the river, the current of which was carrying them away. So they -shouted for help when they saw the _Pine Tree_. - -“I’ll tow them back to camp,” said Mr. Martin. - -This he did, and received the thanks of the parents who had begun to -spread an alarm through the camp concerning the missing boys. - -This turning back made the Curlytop family a trifle late, and it was -after dark when they reached the dock in the river alongside the lumber -camp. - -“Hello, what brings you back so soon?” asked Mr. Teeter, as he came -down with a lantern to see who was tying up at his dock. “I thought -you’d be gone for a week longer.” - -“We got the wrong box,” explained Mr. Martin. “Are the movie people -still here?” - -“No, they’ve gone,” was the answer. “Left this morning.” - -“Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “How unfortunate. Shall we ever get -those albums back?” - -“When I say the movie people have gone, I mean all those have gone who -were here when you were,” went on Mr. Teeter. “But the head man is -here, Harry Portnay--the leading man I believe they call him. He’s here -with a couple of camera men. They’re going to make some pictures of -him alone.” - -“Oh, if Mr. Portnay is here, he’s the very one I want to see,” stated -Mr. Martin. “I hope he has the right box.” - -“He’s right over in that cabin,” said the lumberman who owned the tame -bears. “I guess he hasn’t gone to bed yet--there’s a light going.” - -Mr. Martin, carrying the wrong box, hastened over to the cabin of the -movie actor. Mr. Portnay greeted the visitor, looked at the box the -Curlytops’ father held out, and exclaimed: - -“That’s mine!” - -“And I guess that’s mine!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, pointing to a box just -like it on the table. “Has that two old photograph albums in it?” - -“Yes, it has,” answered the movie actor. “And has the box you have -there some wigs in?” - -“It has,” answered Mr. Martin. - -“Thank goodness! Now I can go on with my picture. I really need certain -wigs and false whiskers, because I used them earlier in the film, and -it would look strange to see me go into a room with one sort of beard -on and come out with quite another, which might happen. I am glad to -get my own box back again.” - -“And I am glad to get back my right box, the one with the albums in -it,” said Mr. Martin, opening the second package and making sure the -Cardwell albums were within. - -Then the actor explained how, in the hurry and bustle of getting to New -York and looking after matters there, one of his men had packed and -shipped the wrong box. - -“I did not find it out until yesterday when I wanted to get ready to -finish making this picture,” said Mr. Portnay. - -“And I did not open the box you shipped me by express, for of course -I thought it was the right one,” said Mr. Martin. “It was a series of -mistakes all around.” - -“Well, I’m glad it has ended now,” said the actor. - -The Martin family spent the next few days in the lumber camp, watching -pictures being made of Mr. Portnay in his false hair and beard, which -completely changed his appearance. But the making of these pictures was -not as interesting as the taking of those with the cowboys and bears in -them. - -“Well,” announced Mr. Martin, a few days later, when Mr. Portnay had -packed his belongings and gone to join his moving picture company, “I -think we had better resume our tour. The new wheel has arrived for the -auto, and we’ll go on in that.” - -“Whatever you do, be sure that you have the old albums in the right -box,” cautioned Mrs. Martin. - -“I’ll not let them out of my sight again until I deliver them to Mr. -Cardwell,” declared Mr. Martin. - -About a week later, after a jolly trip and some adventures, the touring -party reached Bentville and called on Mr. Cardwell. - -“I’m glad to see you,” said Reuben, the brother of James Cardwell, who -had sent the albums. “I had a letter from Jim, and he told me you were -bringing these. But I was beginning to think you were lost.” - -“The albums nearly were--more than once,” said Mr. Martin. “But I’m -glad you now have them.” - -“So am I,” said the old man. “We think a great deal of these pictures,” -and he looked lovingly at the photographs of the twins and of the -sailor boy, lost at sea. - -So the summer tour of the Curlytops came to a successful end. They -remained for a time in Bentville, and then started back home, reaching -there safely after some jolly adventures. - -“It was the best summer we ever had,” declared Janet. - -“Corking good times!” exclaimed Ted. - -“But we didn’t see any nellifunts!” lamented Trouble. - -“Never mind, maybe we shall next year,” said Janet, with a laugh. - - -THE END - - - - -BOOKS ARE A SYMBOL OF LIBERTY - - -Books have always been the priceless heritage of a free people. When -a new volume has been added to our shelves, it simply means that -democracy and all it stands for is still at work. - -Take away our books, and we become slaves, unknown and unknowing. - -They BURNED the books in that dark land of oppression and cast into the -flames not only words of beauty and knowledge, but a symbol of liberty: -Man’s right to read the books of his choice. - -We must never let that happen here! - -BUY WAR BONDS AND STAMPS NOW so that we and our children may continue -to enjoy the blessings of freedom, now and forever. - -[Illustration] - - - CUPPLES and LEON COMPANY - _Publishers_ NEW YORK - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS TOURING -AROUND *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Garis—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> /* <![CDATA[ */ - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tiny {width: 10%; margin-left: 45%; margin-right: 45%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.full {border: 1px solid; width: 100%; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 0%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.tdr {text-align: right;} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; -} - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 7.5%; - margin-right: 7.5%; -} - -.x-ebookmaker .blockquot { - margin-left: 7.5%; - margin-right: 7.5%; -} - -.bbox {border: 2px solid; width: 400px;} - -.bt {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; width: 12em; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid; } - -.gap {margin-left: 11em;} -.gap2 {padding-left: 1em;} -.gap3 {padding-left: 4.7em;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;} -.ph2 {text-align: center; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;} - -div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} -div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} - -.xlarge {font-size: 150%;} -.large {font-size: 125%;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} - -.x-ebookmaker .hide {display: none; visibility: hidden;} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -.indentleft {margin-left: 1em;} - -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {display: inline-block; text-align: left;} - -.poetry .center {text-align: center;} -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; - padding: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Curlytops touring around, by Howard R. Garis</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Curlytops touring around</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>The missing photograph albums</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Howard R. Garis</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Julia Greene</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 23, 2022 [eBook #68825]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: David Edwards, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="450" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">TED MARTIN HIT THE GROUND WITH A HARD THUMP.<br /> - -“Curlytops Touring Around” <span class="gap">Page <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span></p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>THE CURLYTOPS<br /> -<small>TOURING AROUND</small></h1> - -<p>OR<br /> - -<span class="xlarge"><i>The Missing Photograph Albums</i></span></p> - -<p>BY<br /> -<span class="large">HOWARD R. GARIS</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Author of “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,”<br /> -“The Curlytops in the Woods,” “The Curlytops<br /> -at Sunset Beach,” Etc.</span></p> - -<p><i>Illustrations by</i><br /> -<span class="large"><i>JULIA GREENE</i></span></p> - -<p>NEW YORK<br /> -<span class="large">CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="bbox"> -<p class="ph1">THE CURLYTOPS SERIES</p> - -<p class="ph1"><span class="bt">By HOWARD R. GARIS</span></p> - -<p class="center">12mo.<span class="gap2"> Cloth.</span><span class="gap2"> Illustrated.</span></p> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div class="blockquot"> -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Vacation Days in the Country</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Camping Out With Grandpa</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Grand Fun With Sleds and Skates</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK’S RANCH</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Little Folks on Ponyback</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, On the Water With Uncle Ben</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Uncle Toby’s Strange Collection</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Jolly Times Through the Holidays</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, Fun in the Lumber Camp</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS AT SUNSET BEACH</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, What Was Found in the Sand</i></span></p> - -<p><i>THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND</i><br /> -<span class="indentleft"><i>Or, The Missing Photograph Albums</i></span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="ph1">CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York</p> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="center"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1925, by<br /> -Cupples</span> & <span class="smcap">Leon Company</span></p> - -<hr class="tiny" /> -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Curlytops Touring Around</span></p> - -<p class="center">Printed in U. S. A.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table> - -<tr><td class="tdr"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class="right" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">I</td><td> <span class="smcap">Down the Well</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1"> 1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">II</td><td> <span class="smcap">Good News</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14"> 14</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">III</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Cardwell Albums</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24"> 24</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IV</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Big Crowd</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35"> 35</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">V</td><td> <span class="smcap">Moving Pictures</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45"> 45</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VI</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Albums Are Gone</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53"> 53</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VII</td><td> <span class="smcap">On the Trail</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65"> 65</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VIII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Off Again</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75"> 75</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IX</td><td> <span class="smcap">At the Farm</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84"> 84</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">X</td><td> <span class="smcap">Trouble’s Danger</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96"> 96</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XI</td><td> <span class="smcap">Funny Fish</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108"> 108</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Flip-Flops</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117"> 117</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Ted Falls Off</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_127"> 127</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIV</td><td> <span class="smcap">Jan in a Trap</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137"> 137</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XV</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Box Comes Back</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_146"> 146</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVI</td><td> <span class="smcap">On Again</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_158"> 158</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Along the River</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_166"> 166</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII</td><td> <span class="smcap">Two Bears</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_175"> 175</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIX</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Lumber Camp</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_183"> 183</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XX</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Smash</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_193"> 193</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXI</td><td> <span class="smcap">Aboard the Motor Boat</span>     </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_204"> 204</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXII</td><td> <span class="smcap">On the Lake</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_214"> 214</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Wrong Box</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_221"> 221</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIV</td><td> <span class="smcap">Trouble’s Pussy</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_229"> 229</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXV</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Right Box</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_236"> 236</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span> - -<p class="ph2">THE CURLYTOPS<br /> -TOURING AROUND</p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I<br /> - -<small>DOWN THE WELL</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Come</span> on, Jan! Now will be a good time -to try it!”</p> - -<p>“All right, Ted. But are you sure it will -be safe?”</p> - -<p>“Course I am! Why, it’s a big rope and -I’m not very heavy, Jan.”</p> - -<p>“I know that. But s’posing I shouldn’t -be able to pull you up again?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I could get up by a ladder, I guess. -Come on now before Trouble comes out to -bother us. He’s in the house with mother -and we have a good chance now.”</p> - -<p>Two children, a boy and a girl, each with -clustering curls on their heads, darted down -a path, around the house, and ran toward -the apple orchard at the rear.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>Ted Martin’s hair was darker than that -of his sister Janet, but the locks of each were -so clustered on their heads that the children -were more often called “Curlytops,” than -their right name.</p> - -<p>Now the curly tops of the brother and sister -were bobbing about as they ran along, -intent on having what they called “fun,” -though, as you will soon see, it developed -into mischief. But that, as Ted said afterward, -wasn’t their fault.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad Trouble is in the house,” remarked -Jan, as she hastened along beside -her brother.</p> - -<p>“So’m I,” answered Ted. “William is -a good little boy, but when you want to do -something he always wants to do something -else.”</p> - -<p>“Always,” agreed Janet, with a wise -shake of her head.</p> - -<p>From this you may know that “Trouble” -was only the jolly nickname of the small -brother of Ted and Janet. Mother Martin -used to call him “Dear Trouble” when he -upset a glass of milk on the table or shoved -his plate to the floor. Daddy Martin used -to speak of William as a “Bunch of Trouble” -when he had to drop his paper and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> -rush out, perhaps to pull the little fellow’s -head loose from between the fence pickets, -where, possibly, he had thrust it.</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet called their little brother -simply “Trouble” and let it go at that.</p> - -<p>The two older children had been playing -in the front yard of their home when Ted -had suddenly thought of a trick he had been -wanting to try for a long while. He had a -strange idea in his head, and he needed the -help of Janet to carry it out. Now seemed -a good time.</p> - -<p>It was the beginning of the long vacation -from school, and though the Martin family -expected to go away for the summer, plans -had not yet been made.</p> - -<p>So Jan and Ted were amusing themselves -as best they could until, tiring of “playing -store,” into Ted’s head had popped his big -idea.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute now, Jan!” cautioned -Ted, as they neared the back of the house -and could look over toward the apple orchard. -It wasn’t a very large orchard, but -there were enough trees to call it by that -name. Though, as yet, the season being -early, only green apples were on the -branches.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>“What’s the matter—aren’t you going to -do it?” Jan wanted to know, as her brother -put out a hand and detained her behind a -screening bush.</p> - -<p>“Course I’m going to do it!” he declared. -“But I want to look and see if Patrick isn’t -there. Patrick maybe wouldn’t let me do -it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” agreed Janet. “And if Nora -saw us, she maybe wouldn’t let us, either.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Ted, in a low voice. He looked -carefully out from the fringe of the bush, -but saw neither Patrick, who did odd jobs -about the Martin place, nor Nora, the cook; -so the coast was clear.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Jan!” Ted whispered.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I—I’m almost getting scairt!” -whispered the little girl, as she and her -brother neared the scene of their latest -trick.</p> - -<p>“Pooh! Silly! What’s to be scared of?” -asked Ted. “Come on!”</p> - -<p>Thus teased, Janet took her brother’s -hand for a quick dash across the open space -to the shelter of the orchard. Suddenly, -when the children were halfway over the -little space, they heard their names called:</p> - -<p>“Ted! Jan! Where are you? Come<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> -here! Mother says you have to ’muse me! -Come on!”</p> - -<p>“It’s Trouble!” gasped Janet.</p> - -<p>“And we’ve got to amuse him!” sighed -Ted. “Oh, jinkity jinks!”</p> - -<p>He kicked the sand at his feet peevishly.</p> - -<p>“Come on! Let’s make believe we didn’t -hear him. He hasn’t seen us and we can -hide from him.”</p> - -<p>Janet was about to agree to this, but -Trouble was smarter than either of the older -ones gave him credit for. He had run on -after his first call, and now he stood where -he could look full at Ted and Jan.</p> - -<p>“I see you!” he laughed. “You playin’ -hide-an’-find? Anyhow, mother says you -have to ’muse me! Go on! ’Muse me!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Martin often, when she was tired of -looking after William or when she had to -do something else, would call to the other -children:</p> - -<p>“Come and amuse Trouble!”</p> - -<p>Nearly always Jan or Ted would be glad -to do this. But now they had something -else they wanted to do.</p> - -<p>“Too late!” sighed Ted. “We can’t skip -away from him now.”</p> - -<p>“No, if we did he’d tell mother,” agreed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -Janet. “Oh, I know what we can let him -do! He can do it all alone, too, so we can -go to the diamond mine!” she added.</p> - -<p>“What?” asked Ted, to whom the reference -to a “diamond mine,” did not seem -strange. That was part of the game they -were going to play.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get the sifter we were using when -we played store, and I’ll let Trouble sift -a lot of sand and tell him to pick out all the -stones,” suggested the little girl. “That -will keep him amused a long while.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess it will,” stated Ted.</p> - -<p>“You playin’ hide-an’-find?” asked -Trouble again. This was his name for the -game of hide-and-seek.</p> - -<p>“No, we aren’t playing that, Trouble -dear,” said Jan, with more sweetness than -usual in her voice. She wanted to be nice -to her little brother so he would be satisfied -to play by himself.</p> - -<p>“You goin’ to ’muse me?” demanded the -little fellow.</p> - -<p>“Sure we are!” exclaimed Ted. “I’ll -get the sifter,” he told Janet. “You keep -him here a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Come here and I’ll tell you a little -story,” offered Janet.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>“I’m comin’,” Trouble announced, as he -toddled to his sister. She kept him amused -until Ted came running back with the sieve -which, a little while before, he and Janet -had borrowed from Nora in the kitchen -so they could use it in sifting sand, which -they pretended was sugar in their play -store.</p> - -<p>Near the spot where Trouble had so unexpectedly -found his brother and sister was -some clean sand, and it was this that Janet -had thought William could be induced to -play with, while she and her brother went -on with their own plans.</p> - -<p>And, for once at least, Trouble did just -what was wanted of him.</p> - -<p>“See the nice sand, Trouble,” murmured -Janet. “Look, you put it in this sifter and -you jiggle it and all the nice little sand falls -through. The big stones and little stones -stay inside. Then you pick out all the -stones and put them in a pile and you sift -more sand. See!”</p> - -<p>“Yep, I see,” murmured Trouble. “Let -me shift sand.”</p> - -<p>Janet gave him the sieve and filled it for -him. He moved it to and fro and a little -pile of fine sand grew in the shape of a pyramid.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -Trouble looked at the stones left in -the sieve.</p> - -<p>“What I do wif these?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Put ’em in a pile and then we’ll make -believe they’re raisins and we’ll stick ’em -in mud pies,” said Ted.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I like to make mud pies!” cried -Trouble, with shining eyes.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but not now! Not now! After a -while!” cried Janet quickly, for the little -fellow seemed ready to drop the sieve. -“What did you want to say that for?” she -asked Ted, in a whisper. “You’ll spoil -everything! Leave it to me!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, all right,” mumbled Ted. “Go -ahead! As soon as you can leave him alone -come on over to the old well.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” answered Janet. “Now, -Trouble,” she went on, as she filled the sifter -again, “shake this out and pick out all the -stones. Put the big ones in a pile by themselves -and the little ones in a pile by themselves.”</p> - -<p>“Den we make mud pies,” laughed -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“I guess so—yes—maybe,” murmured -Janet, who did not want to be too sure on -this point. “Now you play here, Trouble,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -and don’t go away, will you?” she asked, -as she prepared to follow Ted.</p> - -<p>“Trouble stay here and shift sand,” -gravely promised the little fellow. “But -where you goin’, Jan?” he asked suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“Oh, just over here a little way,” she -answered. “I’ll soon be back. Now sift a -lot of sand, Trouble, and pick out all the -stones.”</p> - -<p>“Aw right—I shift sand.”</p> - -<p>He was having fun now, being “’mused” -as his mother had told him he would be, and -he did not much care what Ted or Janet did—at -least for a while.</p> - -<p>“Is he all right?” asked Ted, as his sister -joined him under an apple tree where an old -well had been dug.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess he’ll stay there until we -play diamond mine a while,” said Janet. -“But are you sure it will be all right, Ted?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I am. I’ll just step on the bucket -and hold to the rope, and all you’ll have -to do is to keep hold of the handle and let -it unwind slowly. Then I’ll go down in the -well and we’ll play it’s a diamond mine.”</p> - -<p>“But how you going to get up again, -Ted?” his sister asked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>“Why, you can wind up the handle just -as you unwound it, can’t you? It’ll be like -pulling up a bucket of water when there -used to be water in the well. That’s how -I’ll get up.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see! All right.”</p> - -<p>The Curlytops ran over toward the old -well, which had not been used for a number -of years, the water having seeped out of it, -so that the well was dry. But the curbing, -the windlass, the bucket, and the rope were -still in place, and they had given Ted the -idea for playing diamond mine. He had -seen some pictures of miners going down a -hole in the ground by means of a bucket and -rope, and had got the idea that diamonds -were thus secured.</p> - -<p>The reason Ted and Janet had not, before -this, played at the old well, was because they -did not know it existed. It was on some -land next to their house which Mr. Martin -had recently bought. And, learning there -was an old well on it, the children’s father -had decided to do away with it, for it might -be dangerous, even if there was no water -in it, for it was about thirty feet deep.</p> - -<p>The first step in doing away with the old -well had been to have Patrick clear away<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -the weeds around it. Then the curbing was -to have been taken away and the well filled -up. But when Patrick had cut down the -weeds he was called to other tasks, and so -the old well stood plainly revealed.</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet had discovered it, and -then into Ted’s mind had come the idea of -going down into the dry well. He had tested -the rope, with its bucket and windlass, and -found that it worked.</p> - -<p>“Now, Jan,” said her brother, when they -were at the well, with no one near to stop -their mischievous play, “I’ll climb up and -stand on the bucket. You keep hold of the -handle and let it unwind slowly. I don’t -want to go down too fast, you know.”</p> - -<p>“No, I guess you don’t,” agreed Jan.</p> - -<p>“After I get down to the bottom I’ll make -believe dig diamonds,” went on Ted. “Then -you can twist the handle the other way and -pull me up. After that I’ll let you go -down.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to go down!” said Jan -quickly, after one look into the black depths -of the well. “You can go. I don’t want -to.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” agreed Ted cheerfully. “I’ll -go down twice. Now get ready.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>He climbed the well curbing and put one -foot on the edge of the bucket, which was -a little way below the top of the curbing, or -elevated wooden rim about the well. The -rope was wound around a wooden roller, or -windlass, to the end of which a crank was -made fast. And there was a ratchet catch -to prevent the rope from unwinding and -letting the bucket down into the well until -such time as the person drawing was ready. -This catch now prevented Ted from dropping -down into the well.</p> - -<p>The curly-haired little boy steadied himself -on the edge of the bucket by holding -to the rope above his head. He looked down -into the well. It was deep and black, but -there was no water in it, so Ted did not -hesitate.</p> - -<p>“All right, Jan! Let me down!” he called -to his sister.</p> - -<p>Already he was a little way down the -shaft of the well, for the rope was partly -unwound and the bucket perhaps two feet -below the top of the curbing when Ted took -his place.</p> - -<p>Janet loosened the catch of the windlass -and then, holding to the handle with all her -strength, let it slowly revolve. It would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -have gotten out of control, and would have -whirled around very fast, for Ted was much -heavier than a bucket of water, only the affair -was old, rusted and stiff. So, after -all, Ted was quite safely lowered.</p> - -<p>Down and down he went into the black -depths of the old, dry well.</p> - -<p>“It’s lots of fun, Jan!” he called up. -“You’d better come down next time!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to. You can,” answered -his sister.</p> - -<p>“Now I’m all the way down. I’m standing -on the bottom!” called up Ted. “I’m -going to dig for diamonds!”</p> - -<p>Jan could see that there was no longer -a strain on the rope. The handle turned -freely. Suddenly it gave a little quiver, Jan -saw the rope slip loose from around the -windlass and then, as the end of it fell down -the well, the little girl screamed:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Ted! Ted! Oh, something dreadful -happened!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II<br /> - -<small>GOOD NEWS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Down</span> in the dark depths of the old well, -Ted Martin heard what his sister called in -such frightened tones.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” he asked.</p> - -<p>A moment later he learned on his own account. -For the bucket rope having slipped -off the windlass, from which it had rotted -away, tumbled down the well. It caught for -a moment on a projecting stone, and then -went down into the depths. It fell partly -on top of Ted’s head as he stepped off the -edge of the bucket on to the pile of dried -sticks and leaves which had blown and -tumbled into the well during the years it had -not been in use.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Teddy!” cried Janet. “The rope -came loose and it fell down!”</p> - -<p>“I know it did,” Ted answered. For the -rope was coiled about him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>“Then how are you going to get up?” -Janet wanted to know. “How are you going -to get up out of the well when I can’t -wind up the rope?”</p> - -<p>To this Ted made answer:</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, Jan. I guess I’m in a -sort of pickle. But wait a minute. Don’t -run away and leave me!”</p> - -<p>Janet had no such idea. She wouldn’t -desert Ted in trouble.</p> - -<p>While the little fellow is down in the old, -dry well, trying to think of a way to get out, -and while Janet is also puzzling her head -over the same matter, I will take just a moment -to let my new readers know something -about the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>I have told you the reason for their nickname. -They had been christened in this order: -Theodore Baradale Martin, who was -called Ted or Teddy, except when he had -done something wrong, and then he heard -his full name spoken. Next came Janet -Louise Martin, which was shortened into -Janet or Jan. She was just a year younger -than Ted. Last of all was William Anthony -Martin. He was “Trouble,” you know.</p> - -<p>Mr. Richard Martin, the father of Trouble -and the Curlytops, was the owner of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -large, general store in Cresco, in one of our -eastern states. In the first book of this -series, called “The Curlytops at Cherry -Farm,” I related how the children went to -visit Grandpa Martin on his wonderful -farm, and I told you what happened after -they reached there. During other vacation -seasons the children traveled to Star Island, -they were snowed in, visited Uncle Frank’s -ranch, and camped on Silver Lake with -Uncle Ben. The children had some queer -pets, as you may learn by reading another -book, and they had many playmates with -whom they had jolly times. After a trip to -the woods, the children found something -in the sand, as told in the book just before -this, called “The Curlytops at Sunset -Beach.”</p> - -<p>After the summer at the shore the Martin -family returned to Cresco. Through the -long winter Janet and Ted played in the -snow. Then came spring. Now it was summer -again and the long vacation had arrived.</p> - -<p>“And it means a lot of work, too,” sighed -Mrs. Martin, on the last day of school. “I’m -sure I don’t know what the children will do -with so much time on their hands!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>But this did not worry Ted, Janet or -Trouble. They knew they could have fun, -and one of the ways hit on by Ted and his -sister was to play “diamond mine,” as we -find them doing at the old well when this -story opens.</p> - -<p>“Do you think you can get out, Ted?” his -sister called anxiously down into the depths -of the dark well.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” was Ted’s answer. “But -don’t go away. I’m going to try to climb -up, Jan.”</p> - -<p>“How you going to climb up?” the little -girl wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“Well, there’s a lot of stones sticking out -on the sides. They’re like steps, and maybe -I can get up on them.”</p> - -<p>Ted tried; but though a man or an older -boy might have managed to hoist himself -out of the well in this way, it was beyond -the strength of the Curlytop lad. He got -up a little way but slipped back to the soft -bed of dried leaves at the bottom of the well.</p> - -<p>“Did you hurt yourself?” asked Jan anxiously, -as she heard her brother grunt as he -slipped back.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t hurt myself,” he answered. -“But I jiggled myself a little.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>Ted’s use of the word “jiggled” reminded -Jan that she had left Trouble “jiggling” -the sieve at the pile of sand. She wondered -if her little brother was all right, but she -did not want to leave Ted in order to make -sure.</p> - -<p>However, she did not need to do this for -just as Ted called up to her that he was -going to try to toss up the rope, so she -could fasten it to the windlass, Janet saw -her little brother coming along a path that -she and Ted had trampled through the -weeds.</p> - -<p>“Oh, now I is found you!” remarked -Trouble, with a smile on his cute, dirty little -face. “I is found you! Here is Jan, -Mother!” he called more loudly. “I is -found her!”</p> - -<p>“Is mother looking for us?” asked Janet.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Jan,” answered the voice of Mrs. -Martin herself. “I told you and Teddy to -amuse William, and I find him all alone -sifting sand. Not but what he was having -fun, but I thought you would stay with him. -I asked him where you went and he pointed -off this way. Why, what are you doing at -the old well?” went on the mother who, having -followed Trouble along the weed-grown<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> -path, now saw Janet standing near the curbing -and windlass. “What are you doing -there?” she repeated.</p> - -<p>“Teddy—now—Teddy—he’s down -there!” gasped Jan, pointing.</p> - -<p>“Teddy in the well!” exclaimed Mrs. -Martin. “Is he——”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t any water in it,” Janet hastened -to add, and then Mrs. Martin herself -remembered that her husband had told -her that same fact. So she asked more -calmly:</p> - -<p>“How did Teddy get down in the well?” -She hurried forward, keeping a tight hold -of Trouble’s hand, so he wouldn’t slip into -the black depths.</p> - -<p>“We were playing diamond mine,” Janet -began to explain, when Ted, at the bottom of -the well, heard his mother’s voice and cried:</p> - -<p>“I’m all right! I can get up if you can -fasten the rope to the windlass, or lower a -ladder to me!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Teddy! Why did you ever go down -there?” cried Mrs. Martin, as she leaned -over the curbing and looked down. “You -shouldn’t have done such a thing!”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean to get stuck down here, -Mother!” the boy answered. He could look<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -up and see his mother quite plainly, for she -was in the sunlight. But she could hardly -see him at the bottom of the well.</p> - -<p>“The rope slipped off,” explained Janet.</p> - -<p>“If we had a cowboy here he could lasso -Teddy up,” said Trouble, with a laugh.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but we haven’t any cowboy,” said -Mrs. Martin. “Jan, you run and tell Patrick -to come here. Tell him to bring a ladder. -I hope we have one long enough. -Hurry, Jan!”</p> - -<p>Now that her mother was on the scene, -Janet felt sure that Teddy would soon be -out of the well. As she hastened back -toward the house, she saw Patrick working -in the garden.</p> - -<p>“Please take a long ladder to the old well -so Teddy can get out, Patrick,” she begged. -“Hurry!”</p> - -<p>“What’s that, Jan?” asked the man of -all work.</p> - -<p>When the little girl had explained, Patrick -ran off toward the barn, chuckling to -himself and saying:</p> - -<p>“They call the little one ‘Trouble,’ but -I’m not sure but what it would be a good -name for the other two. Sure, they’re into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -twice as much mischief as William! It’s a -good thing the well is dry!”</p> - -<p>Patrick was on his way to the well, carrying -a long ladder, which, he told Janet, -would surely reach the bottom, and the little -girl was following him when she saw her -father coming around the house by a side -path.</p> - -<p>It was not usual for Mr. Martin to come -home from his store in the middle of the -afternoon. When he did, something extraordinary -nearly always happened, and -this time Janet thought he had heard about -Teddy. So she said:</p> - -<p>“He’s all right now, Daddy! We’ll soon -have him out!”</p> - -<p>“Who’s all right? Who’s going to be -out soon?” asked Mr. Martin, much puzzled. -“And what are you going to do with -that ladder, Patrick?”</p> - -<p>“Sure an’ I’m going to get Teddy out of -the old well.”</p> - -<p>“Out of the old well?” cried Mr. Martin. -“Do you mean to tell me Ted has fallen -down there?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t perzackly <i>fall</i> in,” said Janet. -“I let him down by the rope, but the rope -slipped off and he’s down there. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -couldn’t climb out, so mother told Patrick -to bring the ladder.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, if your mother’s there I guess -matters will soon be all right,” said Mr. -Martin, breathing more easily. “Why did -you children go to that well? We must fill -it up at once, Patrick.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir. I was going to do it this afternoon. -But they got ahead of me, the Curlytops -did.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin hurried on with Patrick, helping -him carry the ladder, while Janet followed. -Mrs. Martin and Trouble were still -standing at the well curbing, and when Mrs. -Martin saw her husband she, too, thought he -had come home because of what had happened -to Ted.</p> - -<p>Then, as she knew he could not have heard -of it at the store, she said to Mr. Martin:</p> - -<p>“Is anything wrong? Why did you come -home at this time of day?”</p> - -<p>“Everything is all right,” replied Mr. -Martin, with a smile. “I came home to tell -you some good news. But first we must get -Teddy out of the well.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin leaned over and looked down -into the depths. Ted saw his father and -called to him:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>“I’m all right!”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad of it,” was the answer. “We’re -going to lower the ladder down to you so -you can climb up. Stand to one side so it -won’t hit you.”</p> - -<p>And as her father and Patrick lowered -the ladder into the well, Janet wondered -what good news it was that had brought Mr. -Martin home in the middle of the afternoon.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III<br /> - -<small>THE CARDWELL ALBUMS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ted Martin</span> was in no danger in the dry -well. His father and mother knew this as -soon as they had looked down at him. There -was not a drop of water in the well, and the -sides were well walled up so they wouldn’t -cave in.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ever do anything like this again, -Theodore!” his father said quite sternly to -the little chap, as the ladder was being put -into place.</p> - -<p>“No, sir,” answered Teddy.</p> - -<p>“We didn’t mean to do it,” said Janet.</p> - -<p>“I know you didn’t,” her mother admitted. -“But just think what would have -happened if there had been water in the -well?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t have gone down if there had -been water in,” Teddy called up, for he -could hear what was being said.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>“Well, I’m glad you have that much -sense,” his father told him. “Now, Patrick, -you hold the upper end of the ladder -steady and I’ll put this end down in.”</p> - -<p>Slowly the ladder was lowered into the -well, Teddy crowding back against the -stones as he stood on the leafy bottom, so -as to be out of the way. At last the ladder -was in place.</p> - -<p>“Now can you climb up, Ted?” called his -father.</p> - -<p>“Sure I can climb up,” was the answer, -and a little later the head of the Curlytop -lad appeared above the curbing. There were -leaves and dirt and cobwebs in Teddy’s hair, -but he didn’t mind that. “I brought the -end of the rope up with me,” he said, showing -it to his father. “You can fasten it to -the windlass if you want to.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to,” declared Mr. Martin. -“And, just so you and Janet won’t be -tempted to play diamond mine again, we’ll -drop this old rope back to the bottom of the -well. And you must start at once, Patrick, -to fill it up.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, I will,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin took the end of the rope from -Ted and let it drop back into the black<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -depths where it fell on the bucket, already -on the bottom.</p> - -<p>Then the ladder was pulled up, and as -Mr. Martin walked back toward the house -with his wife and children Patrick got a -shovel and began tossing dirt and rocks into -the well, to fill it up level.</p> - -<p>“There’ll be no more Curlytops down in -you!” said the man, as he labored away. -The wooden curbing was torn loose and the -windlass broken. It was the end of the old -well.</p> - -<p>“But, anyhow, I got down it all right,” -declared Ted, as he looked back and saw -Patrick filling up the hole.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but you might not have gotten out -so easily if we hadn’t come to help you,” -suggested Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“I guess that’s right,” agreed Ted. “I -tried to climb out, but it was hard work.”</p> - -<p>“He was like ‘ding-dong bell, pussy in the -well,’ wasn’t he, Mother?” laughed Trouble, -as he stumbled along beside his father.</p> - -<p>“Yes, and daddy was Big Johnnie Stout -who got Teddy out!” added Janet. “But -what’s the good news?” she asked. “You -said you had good news, Daddy.”</p> - -<p>“It’s about our summer vacation,” replied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -Mr. Martin. “You know, my dear,” -he went on, turning to his wife, “we haven’t -been able to make any plans for the vacation, -because I didn’t know how matters -were going at the store. Well, I have just -found out that I can get away next week, -and be gone for a month, so I hurried home -to let you know. We shall have a fine vacation -this season!”</p> - -<p>“Where are we going?” asked Ted, -brushing some of the well dirt from his -clothes.</p> - -<p>“To the seashore?” asked Janet.</p> - -<p>“No, we aren’t going any special place,” -her father replied.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I thought you said we were going -to have a fine vacation!” objected Ted.</p> - -<p>“So I did, and so we are. But we aren’t -going to any special place. What do you -say to touring around—going from place to -place in our auto, and perhaps taking a trip -in a motor boat? How would my Curlytops -like that?” and Mr. Martin ruffled first the -hair of Janet and then that of Teddy.</p> - -<p>“I think that will be lots of fun!” cried -Janet.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean touring around in our car<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -and sleeping in it and camping out and all -that?” asked Ted.</p> - -<p>“Well, something like that,” agreed Mr. -Martin. “Of course we can’t exactly sleep -in our auto, as it isn’t a Gypsy wagon. But -we can take along a tent that can be fastened -to the auto, and we can sleep in that if we -wish. Or we can put up at hotels along -the way. It will be partly a camping trip.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’ll be dandy fun!” cried Ted. -“When can we start?”</p> - -<p>“Next week. But in the meanwhile don’t -go climbing into any more wells,” urged his -father.</p> - -<p>“No, sir, I won’t!” the Curlytop boy -promised. “Oh, hurray for touring around! -Hurray for touring around!” he cried, -turning a somersault on the grass.</p> - -<p>“’Ray! ’Ray!” echoed Trouble, trying -to do as he saw his brother do. But Trouble -toppled over to one side, laughing as he fell.</p> - -<p>“We’ll have lovely fun!” confided Janet -to her mother. “I think daddy is just wonderful, -don’t you, Mother?”</p> - -<p>“He is, indeed, quite wonderful,” agreed -Mrs. Martin, with a smile.</p> - -<p>From then on, as you can imagine, there -were busy times in the home of the Curlytops.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -Once it was decided that they would -spend part of the summer vacation touring -around, going to no particular place, but -stopping wherever they felt like it, many -preparations had to be made.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin owned a big touring car, and -he bought a camping outfit and tent to go -with it. The tent could be fastened to one -side of the car, and cots put beneath the -canvas covering.</p> - -<p>“The children can sleep in the car, when -it rains too hard,” decided Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“And can we cook, and eat and everything -like that out of doors?” Janet wanted to -know.</p> - -<p>“Of course we have to cook!” declared -Ted. “I’m going to make the campfires,” -he declared.</p> - -<p>“We’ll see about that,” Mr. Martin said. -“Very likely we’ll take along an alcohol -stove. That’s more certain for cooking than -wet wood. But we can have a campfire once -in a while.”</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet told their many boy and -girl chums about the coming touring trip, -and all the lads and lassies wished they were -as lucky as were the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>It was one evening, about four days after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -Ted had gone down into the well which was -now filled up, that, as the Curlytops and -the others of the family were talking about -the coming trip, a ring sounded at the front -door.</p> - -<p>“I wonder who that can be?” said Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s pretty hard to guess,” her husband -answered, with a laugh. “But we’ll -soon see, for Nora is opening the door.”</p> - -<p>In came Mr. James Cardwell, an elderly -neighbor who lived two or three houses down -the street. Under his arm Mr. Cardwell carried -two large books, which, a second look -told Janet and Ted, were old-fashioned photograph -albums.</p> - -<p>“Good evening, Mr. Cardwell,” said Mr. -Martin. “Have a chair.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks, but I didn’t come to stay long,” -said Mr. Cardwell, as he put his albums -down on the table. “I came to ask you to -do me a favor.”</p> - -<p>“Did you want our pictures to put in your -album, Mr. Cardwell?” asked Ted, for he -and Janet had had their photographs taken -the week before.</p> - -<p>“Thank you, little man, but these albums -are filled,” was the answer. “I’d like to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -get your pictures, though, for another album -I have at home. What I came over for,” -he went on, “is to see if you would take these -albums to my brother Reuben in Bentville, -Mr. Martin. I hear you are going on a long -auto tour, and that you will pass through -Bentville. Is that right?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we planned to make Bentville one -of our stops,” said Mr. Martin, naming a -town about three hundred miles away.</p> - -<p>“That’s my old home,” said Mr. Cardwell. -“There is going to be a reunion of -the Cardwell families there in the fall. We -have it every year. All the Cardwells for -miles around come to this reunion.</p> - -<p>“Now in this album are a lot of pictures -of Cardwells that are dead and gone—dead -and gone,” and the old man’s voice trembled. -“Some of their relatives would like -to look at these pictures. I thought it would -be a good plan to have them at the reunion.”</p> - -<p>“Very nice, I should say,” remarked Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I thought. Well, I want -to send my albums on ahead, before I start, -which won’t be until fall. I want to send -them to my brother, Reuben Cardwell of -Bentville. The albums have been in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -family many years. I’d hate to see them -lost, or have anything happen to them. I’m -afraid to send them by mail or express. But -I thought, as long as you’re going to tour -out that way, you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Martin, -leaving these albums with my brother.”</p> - -<p>“I shall be glad to do that,” replied the -Curlytops’ father. “If you think you can -trust me with them,” he added.</p> - -<p>“Of course I’ll trust you,” said Mr. Cardwell. -“Though we think so much of these -albums in our family that I wouldn’t trust -every one. I don’t know what would happen -if they got lost or were destroyed. See, -here are pictures of my dear little twin girls, -who died when they were ten years old. -They’re the only pictures we have of them—Mary -and Alice.”</p> - -<p>He turned the heavy pages and showed -pictures of two pretty girls, with long, curling -hair. The pictures were of a bygone -time, old-fashioned and rather strange to -the Curlytops. But they could see that Mr. -Cardwell thought a great deal of them and -of the albums.</p> - -<p>“And here is another picture we prize -highly,” said the elderly neighbor. “It’s a -picture of my brother’s boy Tom. He was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -only eighteen,” and he turned to the photograph -of a fine-looking lad.</p> - -<p>“Did he die, too?” asked Mrs. Martin -softly.</p> - -<p>“Yes—at least, we suppose so,” said Mr. -Cardwell gently. “He went away to be a -sailor. His ship was sunk and we never -heard anything more from him. I suppose -the poor young fellow died at sea. This is -the only picture of him, and I know how -badly my brother would feel if it were lost. -So will you take charge of these old family -albums, Mr. Martin, and deliver them in -Bentville?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ll be very careful of them,” promised -Mr. Martin. “I know what it means -to lose such things.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t they ever find the boy who was -lost at sea?” asked Ted, to whom this little -story appealed greatly.</p> - -<p>“No, Ted, we never heard a word from -him,” sighed Mr. Cardwell. “I suppose the -sea has him. He is as much lost as my dear -little twin girls are,” and he turned back to -the pictures of the children.</p> - -<p>“I have a small chest, or box, down at the -store, Mr. Cardwell,” said Mr. Martin, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -the caller was about to leave. “I’ll put your -albums in that chest so they will be safe.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you. Tell my brother, when you -see him, why I sent them to him this way—I -didn’t like to trust the mails or the express, -and I won’t be out to Bentville myself -until fall.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell him,” was the promise.</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet were looking at the queer, -heavy covers of the old books and wondering -what games the pictured children used to -play when they were on earth, when suddenly -from outside came a number of -sounds.</p> - -<p>There was the sound of the clanging of -bells, the blowing of whistles and the shouting -of men and boys.</p> - -<p>“It’s a fire! A fire down the street!” -cried Ted, as he raced to the door. “Oh, -Mr. Cardwell, I guess your house is on fire!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV<br /> - -<small>A BIG CROWD</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Nothing</span> causes quite so much excitement -as does a fire. And when the fire is on your -own street, and near your house, and perhaps -in the home of some one you know—why, -then there is excitement enough to -cause even the grown-ups to move about -quickly.</p> - -<p>And this is just what happened when Ted -Martin called out:</p> - -<p>“I guess your house is on fire, Mr. Cardwell!”</p> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. Martin, as well as their visitor -who had brought the two old photograph -albums with him, ran to the door. And you -may be sure that Janet was there ahead of -them, for she had heard what her brother -shouted. William, also, was right there, -making his way in and out among chairs -until he finally pushed through between -Ted’s legs as that lad stood on the porch.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>“I’m goin’ to fire!” cried the little fellow.</p> - -<p>“No, Trouble! You stay here!” commanded -Ted, catching hold of him just in -time.</p> - -<p>“It is a fire, surely enough,” declared -Mrs. Martin, when she had looked down the -street.</p> - -<p>“And it’s near my house, if it isn’t in it!” -exclaimed Mr. Cardwell. “Excuse me!” he -said hastily, as he pushed his way between -Ted and Janet on the steps. “But I’d better -get down there!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll come and help,” offered Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“May I come?” asked Ted.</p> - -<p>“No, Son, you stay with your mother,” -directed his father.</p> - -<p>As the two men hurried out of the front -gate, joining the throng that was running -toward the scene of the fire, Mrs. Martin -took Trouble by one hand and Janet by the -other and said:</p> - -<p>“We’ll just walk down a little way to see -what’s going on. Come along, Ted.”</p> - -<p>Much pleased that he did not have to stay -away altogether from the fire, the Curlytop -lad followed his mother and the others. -The engines were already on hand, and it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -was their puffing and tooting of whistles -that had made some of the noise.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t Mr. Cardwell’s house, though,” -said Mrs. Martin, when she and the Curlytops, -with Trouble, had gone far enough -down the street to see just where the fire -was. “It’s next door to him.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t want a fire next door to me,” -sighed Janet.</p> - -<p>“I would!” cried Ted. “You could see it -fine!”</p> - -<p>“A fire is a terrible thing,” said Mrs. -Martin. “We shouldn’t want one anywhere -near us.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, of course not! I don’t exactly -<i>want</i> one,” admitted Ted. “But if one has -<i>got</i> to come I wish it would be near our -house, but not in it, so I could see it good.”</p> - -<p>“This isn’t a very big fire,” observed -Janet, when they had watched for a few -minutes. “I guess it’s out now.”</p> - -<p>“I hope so,” said her mother.</p> - -<p>And such proved to be the case, for in a -little while the firemen who had rushed into -the home of Mr. Blakeson, next door to the -residence of Mr. Cardwell, came out with a -long, thin hose. It was the hose from the -chemical engine, and not the big water hose.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>“It was only a fire in the chimney,” said -Mr. Martin, as he came walking back with -Mr. Cardwell. “No damage done, but the -folks were pretty well frightened. They -put it out with chemicals.”</p> - -<p>“How could a chimney be on fire?” Jan -wanted to know. “A chimney is brick, and -bricks can’t burn.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t the bricks that burn,” her father -explained. “But when a chimney has been -used a number of years it gets coated, or -lined on the bricks inside, with soot. Soot -contains oils and other things that burn. -Finally, some day, a hot fire sets the soot -inside the chimney on fire, and it burns -fiercely. And if it burned long enough it -would make the bricks so hot that they -would set fire to the roof or the wooden -parts of the house near them. That’s why -a chimney fire is dangerous, even though the -bricks themselves can’t burn.”</p> - -<p>“Did they put salt on the fire?” asked -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Ho! Ho!” laughed Ted. “I’ve heard of -putting salt on the tail of a wild bird to -tame it, but I didn’t know you put salt on -a fire.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you do, sometimes,” stated Mr.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -Martin. “Salt is said to put out chimney -fires. Some sort of chemical is released -when salt is heated, and this smothers the -fire in the chimney. But the firemen put this -fire out, and without any damage being -done.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad of that,” said Mrs. Martin, as -they went back to the house.</p> - -<p>“And I’m glad the fire wasn’t in my -house,” remarked Mr. Cardwell. “If it had -been, and if those albums had burned, with -those pictures of my children and my -brother’s boy—pictures we never could get -again—my wife and I would have felt very -sad. My wife thinks a great deal of those -albums. I’ve been planning for a long time -to send them out to my brother, but we never -dared trust them to any one before. I hope -you will take good care of them, Mr. -Martin.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I surely will, Mr. Cardwell,” replied -the father of the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>That night, when the children were in -bed and Mr. and Mrs. Martin were quietly -talking over their plans for the coming tour -around the country, Mrs. Martin said:</p> - -<p>“I almost wish you didn’t have to bother<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -with those two big albums of pictures, -Dick!”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked her husband.</p> - -<p>“Oh, just suppose something happens to -them?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing will happen to them. I’ll pack -them in that small chest I have down at the -store, and we’ll put it in the back of the auto. -When we reach Bentville I’ll give the albums -to Mr. Cardwell’s brother. That will -end the matter.”</p> - -<p>“I shall be glad when it is ended,” said -Mrs. Martin, as she carefully carried the -precious old books of pictures upstairs with -her.</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do with them, -my dear?” asked her husband, as he noticed -what she was doing.</p> - -<p>“I thought I’d have them handy so I -could pick them up and run out with them -in case our house caught fire during the -night.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, nonsense!” laughed Mr. Martin. -“Nothing is going to happen!”</p> - -<p>But it did. Not that night, nor the next -night, but before very long, as you shall -read.</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet, with Trouble also, were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> -very busy the next day, going over their toys -and playthings to pick out the things they -wanted to take on the tour with them. Jan -had a number of dolls, a ball, some books, -a few things she thought her dolls might -need and even a carriage. Ted had picked -out some books, his top, a pair of roller -skates and a bow and arrows.</p> - -<p>“Why, children, you can’t take all those -things!” laughed their mother. “There -wouldn’t be room in the auto, for one thing, -and, besides, you will have no time to play -with your toys. We shall be traveling most -of the day, and at night you’ll want to sleep. -Don’t take any of those things.”</p> - -<p>After some talk Ted and Janet agreed to -limit the toys they would take with them. -Janet picked out the doll she liked best and -one book, and Ted took a ball and a book. -As for Trouble——</p> - -<p>Well, by the time Mrs. Martin had settled -on what the two older children could take, -she had forgotten about Trouble. Then, all -of a sudden, she remembered him.</p> - -<p>“Where is William?” she asked.</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet looked at each other. They, -too, had forgotten their small brother. But -a moment later a cry was heard:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>“Come and get me out! Come and get -me out!”</p> - -<p>“There’s Trouble now!” exclaimed Janet.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what has happened to William -now?” sighed Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>By this time Janet had run into the front -yard, and from there she shouted:</p> - -<p>“Here’s Trouble! He’s all right! But -he’s got his head stuck in the fence and he -can’t get loose!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Martin and Ted rushed out to find -that the little boy had stuck his head in -between two pickets of the fence, at a place -where one picket was loose. His head had -gone in easily enough, but when he tried to -draw back his ears stuck out so he couldn’t.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my poor little William!” said his -mother.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get him loose!” exclaimed Ted, -which he did, by pulling off the loose picket -so there was room enough for his little -brother to draw back his head.</p> - -<p>Trouble was frightened, and the skin, -back of his ears, was scratched a little, but -otherwise he was not hurt.</p> - -<p>“What made you stick your head through -the fence like that, William?” his mother -asked him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>“I—now—I was pickin’ a flower to take -in the auto with us,” Trouble explained. “I -reached through the fence to get the posie.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, the little darling!” murmured Jan, -kissing him. “I’ll pick flowers for you,” -she offered. “Don’t stick your head through -the fence again.”</p> - -<p>She went out and found where her little -brother had reached out to gather some -flowers that grew just beyond the fence. He -could have gone out of the gate to get them, -but, instead, he reached through the pickets. -Jan picked some blossoms and took them to -Trouble.</p> - -<p>Such happenings as this did not worry -Mrs. Martin much, for so many of them -took place each day that she was getting -used to them. Trouble soon stopped his crying -and went out to play with Ted and -Janet, while their mother went on with the -preparations for the auto tour.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin, that day, brought home the -small, stout box to hold the Cardwell albums, -and they were put in and locked up, -ready to be taken to Mr. Reuben Cardwell -of Bentville.</p> - -<p>In a few days all was in readiness for the -start. Mr. Martin left his store in charge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -of his head clerk, the house was closed up, -the auto had been piled with valises, and -the tent, for sleeping at night, had been -strapped on the running-board. In piled -the Curlytops and Trouble and Mr. Martin -blew the horn.</p> - -<p>“Good-by! Good-by!” called friends, -neighbors and the playmates of the children.</p> - -<p>“Good-by! Good-by!” echoed the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>Just then along came running Jack Turton, -a funny little fat chap. He was all out -of breath.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Jack? Is there a -fire?” asked Mr. Martin, as he was about to -start the auto.</p> - -<p>“No, sir. But there’s a terrible big crowd -down in the meadow near the white bridge!” -gasped Jack. “Oh, it’s a terrible big crowd, -and I’m going down to see. Maybe there’s -somebody drowned!”</p> - -<p>Away he rushed, as fast as his fat legs -would take him.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V<br /> - -<small>MOVING PICTURES</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Well</span> did the Curlytops know the place -spoken of in such a hurry by fat Jack Turton. -Ted and Janet had often gathered -flowers in the meadow, and Ted had, more -than once, caught fish under that same white -bridge spoken of by the fat lad.</p> - -<p>“The water is deep down by the white -bridge,” said Ted, as he watched Jack hurrying -down the street. Other children, -gathered to say good-by to the Curlytops, -had heard what Jack said about a big crowd -in the meadow, and they were following him -down to the place.</p> - -<p>“I hope no one is drowned,” murmured -Mrs. Martin, looking at her three children -in the auto and feeling thankful that they -were safe with her.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Daddy!” exclaimed Janet, “couldn’t -we drive down past the meadow on our way -and see what the crowd is there for?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>“Maybe it’s a circus!” exclaimed Trouble, -who had caught some of the talk, but -didn’t know exactly what it was all about.</p> - -<p>“No, it can’t be a circus,” declared Ted. -“There haven’t been any circus posters -around town. I’d have seen ’em if there -was.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t a circus,” decided Mr. Martin. -“I think, as long as we have time, that I’ll -drive around that way. We can take the -road over the white bridge as well as any -other.”</p> - -<p>In fact, the Curlytops were going to tour -around the country, not going to any certain -place at any certain time, so they could do -as they pleased, which is half the fun of -touring.</p> - -<p>“Dick,” said Mrs. Martin, touching her -husband gently on the arm as he was about -to start the car down the street after Jack -and the other children, “perhaps we had -better not go down there.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“If it’s a drowning it would be a sad -sight, and——”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin appeared undecided as his -wife brought this thought to his mind, and -it might have been that he would have taken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -some other route, except that he saw Doctor -Whitney driving along in his small car. The -physician was coming from the direction of -the white bridge.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Whitney will know if an accident -has happened,” said Mr. Martin. “If -there’s been a drowning he wouldn’t be coming -away from it. He would stay there -and try to save the drowned person.”</p> - -<p>“Please ask him,” suggested Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>Accordingly her husband called:</p> - -<p>“Anything the matter down at the white -bridge, Doctor?”</p> - -<p>The doctor brought his car to a halt near -that of the Curlytops, and waved his hand -to the children after he had raised his hat -to Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Drowning at the white bridge?” he -asked. “No, nothing like that. Though -there may be if they keep on. There’s a -big crowd there and some of the youngsters -may fall in.”</p> - -<p>“What’s going on?” asked Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Is it a circus?” Trouble asked. “I’d -like to see a nellifunt!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you saw one once!” laughed his -mother.</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t a circus, though the kids are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -having almost as much fun as if there was -one,” chuckled the doctor. “And the men -are having as much trouble trying to keep -the boys and girls back as though there were -two circuses.”</p> - -<p>“Sounds rather interesting!” laughed -Mr. Martin. “But I’m glad no one is -drowned—that’s what fat little Jack suggested.”</p> - -<p>“What in the world is it?” asked Mrs. -Martin, and Ted and Janet listened eagerly -to the answer of the physician, for they -could not imagine what was happening at -the white bridge.</p> - -<p>“It’s moving pictures,” the doctor replied.</p> - -<p>“Moving pictures!” cried the Curlytops -together, just as twins might have done. -But Ted and Janet were not twins, though -they were born on the same day of the year. -Ted was exactly a year ahead of his sister.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know they were showing movies -in the meadow,” said Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“They aren’t <i>showing</i> moving pictures,” -replied Doctor Whitney. “They’re <i>taking</i> -them.”</p> - -<p>“Taking movies!” gasped Ted. “Oh, I -want to see that!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>“Real moving pictures?” Janet wanted -to know.</p> - -<p>“I guess they’re real enough,” answered -the doctor. “I don’t know much about such -things, but there is a company of men and -women down in the meadow, posing around -on the bridge and on boats in the river. -They’re all painted up—I mean their faces—and -they are wearing fancy clothes. A -lot of men with megaphones are shouting directions, -and other men are grinding away -at the cranks of moving picture machines. -So I guess it’s real enough.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Daddy, please take us there!” -begged the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>“Shall we go, Mother?” asked Mr. Martin -of his wife.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I would like to see it,” she answered. -“And I’m sure the children would -be amused.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, say, I guess we would!” murmured -Janet.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Dad! Step on it!” cried Ted, -meaning for his father to press on the gasoline -accelerator of the car and move the -machine faster.</p> - -<p>“Ted and Janet, they didn’t ’muse me,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -remarked Trouble. “An’ Ted, he fell down -in the well—he did!”</p> - -<p>He remembered this event quite clearly.</p> - -<p>“Well, we hope no one falls into the -river,” laughed Mrs. Martin, as they said -good-day to Doctor Whitney and moved -along. A large creek, or a small river, -whichever way you looked at it, flowed under -the white bridge on the outskirts of -Cresco.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go! Let’s go!” chanted Ted.</p> - -<p>“I’d love to watch them take movies,” remarked -Janet. “I’ve never seen them do -it.”</p> - -<p>“I did once, at a baseball game,” stated -Ted. “But it didn’t amount to much. -This’ll be a lot better.”</p> - -<p>As the Curlytops approached the white -bridge and the meadow through which -flowed the river, they saw others also hurrying -to the scene. For Cresco was a small -city, or a large town, you might say, and -anything like excitement—such as taking -moving pictures near it—was sure to draw -a throng.</p> - -<p>As Mr. Martin drove his car over the -bridge and down a lane into the meadow, -where many other cars were parked, there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -was no doubt about what was going on. -Moving pictures were certainly being taken -there, or “filmed,” to use the right word.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look at the cowboys!” cried Ted, -for some of the actors were attired in western -suits—big hats, “chaps,” or leather -breeches, and spurs on their shoes, while -some of them carried coils of ropes. -“They’re lassoes,” explained Ted.</p> - -<p>“Pooh, I knew that!” scoffed Jan.</p> - -<p>“Why, there’s quite a company of them!” -remarked Mrs. Martin, as she noticed the -number of men and women who, it was plain -to be seen, were not residents of Cresco. -They belonged to the company. “Why do -you suppose they came here to take pictures?” -she asked her husband.</p> - -<p>“It’s hard to say,” he answered. “Probably -the play they are taking needed just -such a scene in it as this bridge, river and -meadow provide. The company is out on -‘location,’ as it is called. That is, they have -come out from their studio, or the ‘lot,’ as -they call it, and they have found just the -right location for making certain scenes.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, look, that lady is going to jump -from the boat!” cried Janet, pointing to a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -small skiff on the river, which held one -young lady and several men.</p> - -<p>The actress was, indeed, standing up in -the bow of the boat and, as Jan had said, -seemed about to jump into the river. One -man was rowing the boat, and the other, in -the stern, was moving forward as if to stop -the young lady from leaping overboard.</p> - -<p>“This is great!” cried Ted, with shining -eyes.</p> - -<p>“Awfully exciting,” admitted Janet.</p> - -<p>“It’s like a circus,” said Trouble. “But -I don’t see any nellifunts! Where are the -nellifunts?”</p> - -<p>Several persons standing near Mr. Martin’s -car laughed at this. But they quickly -looked away from the Curlytops and toward -the boat on the river as the young lady in -it gave a scream and leaped into the water, -making a great splash.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my goodness!” cried Mrs. Martin. -“There’ll be a drowning after all!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI<br /> - -<small>THE ALBUMS ARE GONE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">More</span> than one, at least in the crowd that -had gathered to watch the movie folk, was -almost as much excited as was Mrs. Martin, -when they saw the actress jump out of the -boat into the river. But Mr. Martin quickly -understood that it was all part of the work -of making moving pictures, and said:</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Mother! Don’t worry!”</p> - -<p>“They’ll get her out!” added Ted. -“Look, there goes a man in after her now!”</p> - -<p>As he spoke the man in the stern of the -boat threw off his coat and leaped with a -great splash into the water after the young -lady.</p> - -<p>“And they’re taking pictures of it all the -while!” called out Jan. “Oh, I wish I could -see them on the screen!”</p> - -<p>What Janet said was true—from the time -the boat started up the stream near the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -white bridge until the moment when the -young lady leaped out and the actor leaped -after her, men on the bank, and also men in -another boat, were quickly turning the -handles of their moving picture cameras, -filming every action of the actors and -actresses.</p> - -<p>“Why do they have three cameras, -Daddy?” asked Janet, for she noticed at -least this number of men, with their caps -on backward, grinding away.</p> - -<p>“There are two reasons for that,” answered -Mr. Martin. “One reason is that -one film might be spoiled, and if it was the -only one taken all the work would have to -be done over again. Another reason is that -the pictures give different views of the -same scene, and it can not be told, until after -the films are developed and printed, which -is the best. So they take two or three, the -same as a photographer takes more than -one picture of you when you go to his -studio.”</p> - -<p>“Did they take more than one picture of -the little twin girls that died?” Janet asked, -pointing to where, in a box in the rear of -the auto, the two Cardwell albums had been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -placed. “And did they take two pictures of -the boy who was lost at sea?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know about that,” her father -answered. “I suppose they did, though the -pictures were taken a number of years ago -when it wasn’t as easy to make photographs -as it is now. When those twin girls and -the Cardwell boy sat for their portraits, -moving pictures weren’t thought of—at -least, not as we see them now.”</p> - -<p>“There—they’ve got her!” cried Ted, as -he saw the man from the boat reach the girl -who had leaped overboard. “She’s saved!”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad of that,” remarked Mrs. -Martin, with a sigh of relief.</p> - -<p>“But she wasn’t going to drown, anyhow!” -went on the Curlytop lad. “She -knew, all the while, that she’d be saved, -didn’t she, Daddy?”</p> - -<p>“I guess she did,” Mr. Martin admitted, -with a smile. “These movie people don’t -take many chances. Of course, some of them -who do ‘stunts’ run into danger, but, in the -main, they are pretty careful. I guess this -young lady was a good swimmer.”</p> - -<p>“They’re taking more pictures of her,” -cried Jan. “Look! She’s on the bank over<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -there and they’re taking a lot more pictures -of her.”</p> - -<p>“So they are,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “The -poor thing—they won’t even give her a -chance to get into dry clothes.”</p> - -<p>“Probably the story of this movie doesn’t -call for that,” suggested Mr. Martin. “The -young lady may have to be shown coming up -from the water dripping wet.”</p> - -<p>That seemed so, for as soon as the man -who had jumped from the boat into the -water after the actress began to carry her in -his arms up the bank of the creek, some of -the camera men ran around with their machines -and again began grinding very fast -at the handles.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it must be wonderful to be a movie -actress!” sighed Jan.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to be one of the cowboy actors!” -exclaimed Ted, looking at the men in western -costume, who, just then, did not seem to -have much to do. They were standing idly -about near their horses.</p> - -<p>“Well, if being a movie actress means -jumping into a river with all your clothes -on, I beg to be excused,” laughed Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>“I’m glad we came here,” said Ted. -“Aren’t you, Jan?”</p> - -<p>“I just guess I am!” she murmured. -“Oh, look! Now she’s running away from -the man who saved her!”</p> - -<p>Indeed, this very scene was then taking -place, and it caused some more excitement.</p> - -<p>For the young lady, dripping wet as she -had been taken from the water, had rested -on the bank only a moment, while some pictures -of her and her rescuer were taken, and -then, with a scream, she broke away from the -man and rushed off across the meadow.</p> - -<p>But it was all part of the play that was -being taken, for the Curlytops noticed that -the young lady was running straight toward -a camera that had been set up near a clump -of willow trees. And as she approached the -machine the man behind it kept it focused, -or “aimed,” as Ted said, straight at the -actress, picturing her every movement.</p> - -<p>“I wish they’d take a picture of a nellifunt!” -sighed Trouble, and again his queer -remark caused a laugh.</p> - -<p>“I guess they haven’t any elephants in -this outfit,” remarked a man standing near -the Martin auto.</p> - -<p>“What do you suppose it’s all about?”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -asked Mrs. Martin of her husband, as they -got out of the car and walked toward a group -of the picture people. “I mean what is the -story they are filming?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, and I doubt very much if -even those taking part in it know what it’s -all about,” said Mr. Martin. “You see,” he -explained, “in taking moving pictures they -make views of all the scenes that take place -in a certain spot all at once. That’s so they -won’t have to come back to it again. Now -they may take views of the cowboys here at -the bridge and also pictures of the girl in the -boat. But the cowboy scenes may be shown -at the beginning of the finished film, and the -scene we have just witnessed may be at the -very end. That’s how movie work is done.”</p> - -<p>“Look, they’re going to take cowboy pictures -now!” cried Ted, as he saw some camera -men approaching a group of the horsemen. -And the cowboys, who had been idly -talking, now leaped to their saddles as if to -be in readiness for something.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” remarked Mr. Martin, as he -glanced across the meadow, nodding to several -Cresco men whom he knew, “I think -they have finished filming the drowning lady -for the present. She may put on dry clothes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -and take part in some other part of the play. -Now we’ll watch the cowboys. They’ll make -it lively, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Have we time to stay here and watch -this?” asked Mrs. Martin, as she followed -her husband and the children from the auto -out over the green meadow.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” he answered. “We are off on -a pleasure tour, you know, and this is giving -the children as much pleasure as anything -we could let them see. It is educational, too, -and this seems like a company of nice people.”</p> - -<p>“Will it be safe to leave the car?” went -on his wife.</p> - -<p>“Oh, surely!” laughed Mr. Martin. “No -one will run away with it. There are police -here,” and he pointed to some of the -Cresco force that had gathered to keep order -while moving pictures were being taken. -“Besides, I’ll lock it; then it will be safe.”</p> - -<p>This he did, and then he took the Curlytops, -his wife, and Trouble over where they -would have a good view of what the cowboys -were about to enact.</p> - -<p>“What company is this?” asked Mr. Martin -of Mr. Taylor, the feed merchant.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s one that makes funny films,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -was the answer. “Comedies, you know. -They have a studio in Mansfield, but they’re -out here just for the day. Quite a sight, -isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s interesting,” admitted Mr. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“Your children are taking it all in,” -added Mr. Taylor, laughing.</p> - -<p>“They don’t miss much,” admitted Mr. -Martin.</p> - -<p>By this time, with the Curlytops and -Trouble in a place where they would have a -good view, that part of the play in which the -cowboys had a part began to be filmed.</p> - -<p>One actor waved his hat and flapped it -against the sides of his pony, starting it off -at a fast gallop down the meadow. As he -rode along the children could see cameras -grinding away, taking pictures of this fast -ride. Then, after the first man, rode a number -of others. Now began a scene of great -excitement, for the cowboys chasing after -the one who had first ridden away began -firing their big revolvers and shouting at the -tops of their voices.</p> - -<p>“My goodness!” cried Mrs. Martin, holding -her hands over her ears at the sounds<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -of shooting. “I hope they aren’t firing real -bullets!”</p> - -<p>“They’re only blank cartridges,” declared -Teddy. “Aren’t they, Daddy!”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look!” suddenly cried Jan. “One -man fell off his horse!”</p> - -<p>That actually happened to one of the riders -chasing after the lone cowboy. Off his -horse he rolled, tumbling over and over. -The pony got up after the fall and walked -about, beginning to eat grass as if nothing -had happened. The cowboy, also, picked -himself up and walked with a limp over to -get back on his steed.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad he wasn’t hurt,” said Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he did that on purpose!” said Ted.</p> - -<p>“I guess he did,” Mr. Martin agreed. -“They want to make the picture look as natural -as possible, so often the riders fall off -on purpose.”</p> - -<p>“I should think they’d be hurt,” observed -the mother of the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>“Cowboys know how to fall,” said Ted. -“Maybe I’m going to be a cowboy when I -grow up, and ride a bucking bronco.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>“An’ maybe I’ll ride a nellifunt!” declared -Trouble.</p> - -<p>After an exciting chase, which was all -taken in by the cameras, the cowboys quieted -down. This seemed to be the end of making -pictures for that time and in that place. -The actors and actresses hurried to waiting -automobiles, and the camera men began taking -the long-legged tripods from their machines.</p> - -<p>“You picked a good spot to leave your -car, Mr. Martin,” said Mr. Taylor, as the -family was walking back to resume their -tour.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Your machine is right next to that of -Harry Portnay, the actor. That’s his car -there,” and Mr. Taylor pointed. “He’s getting -into it now. His car is the same make -as yours and the same kind.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, is that Mr. Portnay?” exclaimed -Mrs. Martin. “I’ve often seen him in the -films. How interesting! He was one of the -cowboys, wasn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” agreed Mr. Taylor. “And he’s -very funny. He’s the one who fell off his -horse.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>“No wonder he knew how to fall!” -laughed Ted. “I like him!”</p> - -<p>Indeed, Mr. Portnay was well known in -the films, and quite a favorite with boys and -girls. Ted and Janet had often seen the -Portnay pictures in the Cresco theater.</p> - -<p>With wondering eyes at being this near to -a real movie actor, the Curlytops watched -Mr. Portnay get into his car and drive away -with others of his company who had come -to Cresco on location.</p> - -<p>“Well, I guess the excitement is all over,” -remarked Mr. Martin, as the crowd began -leaving the field when the actors and camera -men had moved away.</p> - -<p>“But we saw a lot, didn’t we, Jan?” asked -Ted.</p> - -<p>“It was wonderful!” she returned. “I’d -like to see it all over again!”</p> - -<p>“But we must start on our tour, if we’re -going,” said Mrs. Martin, as she lifted -Trouble into the car. “Come along, Curlytops.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin looked over his machine, to -make sure everything was all right. He -counted the bags, valises, and other things -they had brought with him, and noted that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> -the tent to be used for camping was on the -running-board.</p> - -<p>Suddenly he gave a start of surprise and -asked his wife:</p> - -<p>“Did you move that box of albums?”</p> - -<p>“You mean the Cardwell albums?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. It was in the back of the car. Did -you move it?”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t touch it. I saw it there -when we got out, though.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it isn’t there now!” exclaimed her -husband. “The Cardwell albums with the -old pictures in them are gone! I wonder -who could have taken them!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VII<br /> - -<small>ON THE TRAIL</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Curlytops, and Trouble also, were so -much taken up with watching the moving -picture people leave the meadow that for a -time they did not listen to what their father -and mother were talking about. But at last -Jan heard something said about the Cardwell -albums and asked:</p> - -<p>“Did we lose them out of our car?”</p> - -<p>“No; we had them when we parked here,” -answered her father. “I remember putting -the box under a robe, so it wouldn’t be in -plain sight. It could be mistaken for a -fancy box of lunch, I thought, and some -hungry boys, thinking it contained sandwiches, -might be tempted to take it.”</p> - -<p>“Did they?” asked Ted.</p> - -<p>“Some one has taken the box with the -albums in it,” answered Mr. Martin. “It’s -gone!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>“Let’s look again, to make certain,” suggested -his wife. “We don’t want to make a -fuss and then find the box, after all.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe we’ll find it,” replied Mr. -Martin, and there was a worried look on his -face. “It isn’t in the car—it’s been taken -out. And what to say to Mr. Cardwell I -don’t know! He will be very sorry to learn -that the albums are gone, for he never again -can get pictures of his twin girls who are -dead. And that sailor boy’s picture, too! -That’s gone.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, perhaps we’ll find the box and the -albums,” said Mrs. Martin more cheerfully. -“No one would really steal them—they -would be of no value to any one.”</p> - -<p>“No; and that’s what I can’t understand!” -complained the father of the Curlytops. -“But the albums are gone, sure -enough!”</p> - -<p>It really seemed so, for when the children—even -Trouble helping—had looked -through the car, the box was not to be found.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know what to do,” said -Mr. Martin, walking up and down with a -worried air, beside his auto. “I don’t want -to go back and tell Mr. Cardwell we have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -lost his valuable relics. And yet it isn’t fair -to him not to let him know.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe he came here himself and got -them,” suggested Ted.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean, Son?” asked his -father.</p> - -<p>“I mean that maybe after he gave them -to you he found out he was going to Bentville -himself, and he came here to tell you. -He didn’t see us, because we were looking -at the cowboys, and he just took the box out -of our car.”</p> - -<p>“He wouldn’t do that without telling -me,” said Mr. Martin. “No, something else -happened. I wish I knew what. I’d like -to get those albums back.”</p> - -<p>While Mr. Martin was still nervously pacing -up and down beside his auto and Mrs. -Martin was making another search among -the robes and valises for the box, one of the -cowboys who had taken part in the moving -picture rode past. Ted and Janet looked at -him with eager eyes, for he was a hero to -them.</p> - -<p>Seeing the children, the actor smiled, and -then, noticing that something was wrong, he -stopped his horse, removed his big, broad-brimmed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> -hat in a bow to Mrs. Martin and -asked:</p> - -<p>“Is anything wrong? Can I help you? -Did some of our people bump into your car? -I know that sometimes happens when a -crowd gathers as we are taking films.”</p> - -<p>“No, nothing like that happened,” answered -Mr. Martin. “But I left a box with -some valuable books in it here in my car, and -now the box is gone. I suppose some one in -the crowd thought it contained food and -made off with it. I wish they’d bring it -back, for the books are of no value except as -keepsakes to a family in Bentville where we -are going.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of box was it?” asked the cowboy, -one of the last of the moving picture -actors to leave the green meadow near the -white bridge.</p> - -<p>“It was a dark red wooden box, with inlaid -pieces of light wood,” Mr. Martin explained. -“It had a brass handle to carry it -by. It was a box I used to keep my papers -in at my store. But I had put these books -in it for safety. I might better have left -them out.”</p> - -<p>“Was it a box about so long?” asked the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -cowboy, holding his hands out about two feet -apart.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Then I know where it is!” exclaimed the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>“You do?” cried Mr. and Mrs. Martin -together, while the Curlytops gazed at the -rider with eager eyes. As for Trouble, he -was gazing at the horse and murmuring:</p> - -<p>“You aren’t as big as a nellifunt! I fed -a nellifunt peanuts once, I did!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know where your box is; or at -least, I know who took it,” went on the -actor. “It was all due to a mistake.”</p> - -<p>“Who has it?” asked Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“I think you will find it in the car of Mr. -Harry Portnay, our head actor, or leading -man, as we call it,” replied the cowboy, with -a smile.</p> - -<p>“What would he be doing with old photograph -albums?” asked Mr. Martin. “For -those are the books in the box—just old -photograph albums, though they contain -pictures highly valued by those who own -them.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Portnay didn’t want the albums,” -said the actor, who gave his name as Ned -Weldon. “But his helper, Jim Lewis, took<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -them to him by mistake. Lewis thought -your box was Mr. Portnay’s make-up box.”</p> - -<p>“Make-up box? Do you mean the box -with false mustaches and grease paint and -things like that in it?” asked Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered the cowboy. Later Mrs. -Martin explained to the Curlytops that -actors when they “dress up” as different -characters must also change their faces as -well as their clothes. They must sometimes -put on powder and paint, as well as false -hair and beards. And each actor has what -is called a “make-up box,” consisting of -many things which enable him to make himself -up to look like some one else.</p> - -<p>“This is how it happened,” went on Mr. -Weldon. “Your car was parked next to that -of Mr. Portnay. I remember seeing that as -I rode about taking part in the picture. He -has the same make and model car that you -have.</p> - -<p>“During the cowboy race Mr. Portnay -happened to want something from his -make-up box. I heard him tell Lewis to go -and get it. I was sitting on my horse near -Mr. Portnay when Lewis came back with a -box such as you describe. At first it looked -a good bit like Mr. Portnay’s make-up chest,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -but our leading man knew right away that -it wasn’t.</p> - -<p>“Lewis, by mistake, had gone to your car -and taken your box of albums in place of -Portnay’s make-up box. Portnay laughed -at the mistake, and sent Lewis back to get -the right box.</p> - -<p>“Now, in all probability, what happened -was this. Instead of putting the box of -albums back in your car, Lewis put it in -Mr. Portnay’s car and also took from that -car the make-up box. He left your box in -Mr. Portnay’s car and now our leading man -has gone away with it. That’s what happened -to your albums, I feel sure. No one -took them purposely.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it must have happened as you say,” -agreed Mr. Martin. “I’m glad to learn the -books weren’t stolen.”</p> - -<p>“But how can we get them back?” asked -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“The albums aren’t ours—we are carrying -them for a neighbor, Mr. James Cardwell,” -explained Janet primly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s it,” said the little Curlytop -girl’s father.</p> - -<p>The cowboy actor looked at his watch and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -seemed to be trying to calculate something -in his mind.</p> - -<p>“We’re to take more scenes on location, -as we call it, to-morrow,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean here?” asked Mr. Martin. -“We planned to go on, but if it means getting -back the albums we can stay.”</p> - -<p>“No, not here,” answered Mr. Weldon. -“Our next scenes will be taken at Cub Mountain, -about fifty miles from here.”</p> - -<p>“I know where Cub Mountain is,” said -Mr. Martin. “I’ve been there, but I didn’t -intend visiting it on this tour. You see, we -are touring around for our summer vacation,” -he added.</p> - -<p>“I see,” remarked Ned Weldon. “Well, -Mr. Portnay and the rest of the company, -or at least most of us, will be at Cub Mountain -this time to-morrow, or a little earlier. -We are taking scenes about a log cabin on -the mountain. If you are there you can -very likely see Mr. Portnay and get back -from him your box which his man took in -mistake for the make-up chest.”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t we catch Mr. Portnay before -then?” asked Mr. Martin. “I mean, -couldn’t we trail after him now and come up<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -with him somewhere before he reaches Cub -Mountain?”</p> - -<p>“You might try,” said the man who -played the part of a cowboy. “He is going -through Midvale, which is about halfway -there. Probably he’ll stop in Midvale all -night. He’ll be very sorry this has happened, -and he’ll be glad to give you back your -box.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” replied Mr. Martin. -“Then I think the best thing for us to do is -to take the trail after this Mr. Portnay. I -can get back the albums without having to -worry Mr. Cardwell about them. Come on, -children!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’s comin’,” murmured Trouble.</p> - -<p>Into the auto scrambled the Curlytops and -Trouble. Mrs. Martin took her place beside -her husband, and, waving a farewell to the -cowboy actor, they started on the trail of -Mr. Portnay.</p> - -<p>The green meadow by the white bridge -was now almost deserted. The curious ones -from the city of Cresco had left, and so had -the moving picture people, with the exception -of the actor who had solved the mystery -of the disappearance of the albums.</p> - -<p>“Well, we are having rather an exciting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -start of our tour,” laughed Mrs. Martin, as -the auto rolled along the smooth road. -“First we meet these interesting moving picture -people, and then we have to chase after -them. It’s very exciting.”</p> - -<p>“It’s lots of fun!” laughed Janet.</p> - -<p>“I hope we see some more cowboy races,” -remarked Ted.</p> - -<p>They rode on for several miles, and as -they went slowly around a bend in the road, -Trouble called out:</p> - -<p>“Look! Look! Look at the monkey!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - -<small>OFF AGAIN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Trouble Martin</span> was not given to calling -out alarms like this; so, at first thought, his -mother imagined he was playing some sort -of joke.</p> - -<p>“William, you mustn’t say such things!” -she exclaimed, with a little laugh, giving him -a playful shake. “There aren’t any monkeys -in these woods.” Just then they were -slowly passing along a road over which the -branches of big trees arched.</p> - -<p>“You didn’t see any monkey!” cried Ted. -“If you saw anything it was one of your -‘nellifunts,’ Trouble.”</p> - -<p>“I did see a monkey!” insisted the little -fellow. “There he is now. He’s swinging -in a tree!” and he pointed ahead.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin was now running the auto -very slowly, for there was a bad place in the -road where it had been dug up. So there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -was plenty of time for them all to look where -Trouble pointed with his chubby finger. -Jan, the first to see something, cried:</p> - -<p>“It is a monkey! Oh, look! He’s hanging -by his tail from a tree!”</p> - -<p>Then they all saw it, and as Mr. Martin -stopped the machine just beneath the swaying -monkey, Mrs. Martin exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“What in the world does it mean? -Trouble, I beg your pardon! You were -right, after all! I thought you were fooling.”</p> - -<p>“He’s my monkey!” declared the little -fellow. “I saw him first! He’s mine!”</p> - -<p>“If you can get him!” chuckled Ted. -“But I guess he’s going to stay up there out -of reach.”</p> - -<p>“How do you suppose a monkey comes to -be in these woods?” asked Mrs. Martin of -her husband. “Could it have escaped from -a circus?”</p> - -<p>“There’s nellifunts in a circus,” announced -Trouble, getting back to his favorite -subject.</p> - -<p>“Yes, this little chap might have come -from a circus,” said Mr. Martin, with a -smile, as he looked up at the monkey, now -swinging above his head. “Or from some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -house. Some people have monkeys for -pets.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe it belongs to the moving pictures!” -exclaimed Ted. “They have a lot -of animals in the pictures.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe it was with Mr. Portnay’s -company,” Mrs. Martin remarked. “We -didn’t see any such animals there. But -what are we going to do about this one?”</p> - -<p>“Guess we’ll have to leave him where he -is—up in the tree,” answered her husband. -“He can’t do much harm, and since it is -summer, he won’t suffer from the cold. If -winter was coming on he’d be a pretty sick -monkey—out in the open like this.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I could have this monkey!” -pleaded Trouble. “I like a monkey better’n -I do a nellifunt, I guess!”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s quite a thing for you to -say!” laughed the little fellow’s father. -“But I’m afraid we can’t get you this for a -playmate. Hold fast, children, I’m going -to start.”</p> - -<p>As he was about to let in the clutch and -send the car ahead, there appeared, running -around the bend in the road, an excited Italian -organ grinder with his music box. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -was running fast, and when he caught sight -of the auto he cried:</p> - -<p>“You seena da monk? You seena da -monk?”</p> - -<p>At this moment the monkey in the tree, -still swinging by his tail, began to chatter -shrilly. Doubtless he had caught sight of -his master and the organ to which tunes the -monkey danced. And as the monkey chattered -the Italian looked up, catching sight -of his pet.</p> - -<p>“Ah, da monk! My leetle monk!” he exclaimed, -and then he talked in his own language. -After which he again spoke English, -saying: “Come down, Mickey! Come -down to papa!”</p> - -<p>The children laughed at this, and the Italian -joined them in the mirth.</p> - -<p>“He gooda da monk, but he run away,” -explained the man. “Da string, she break, -Mickey go ’way. Come down! Come -down!” he begged, holding out his cap. -“Come to papa!”</p> - -<p>But the monkey did not appear to want -to come down. It turned right side up, no -longer swinging by its tail, but sitting on a -branch.</p> - -<p>“If you had some peanuts he’d come down<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> -for those,” suggested Ted, searching -through his pockets, hoping to find a stray -“goober.”</p> - -<p>“Mickey lika da peanut, but Mickey lika -da banan mooch better,” said the Italian. -“If I hada da banan, down queek he come.”</p> - -<p>“I have a banana,” said Mrs. Martin. “I -bought some after we left the moving picture -place, and the children didn’t eat all of -them. Here’s a banana for Mickey,” she -added, handing to the Italian organ grinder -one of the yellow fruits.</p> - -<p>“T’ank you,” murmured the man. Then, -peeling the banana, he bit off a little end of -it and held the remainder out so the monkey -could see it. “I no fool you,” the man murmured -to his pet. “Dese banana, he good! -See, I eat some of heem!”</p> - -<p>Again he took a nibble as if to prove to the -watching monkey that the fruit was real and -good. And, seeing this, the monkey gave -another chatter and then began to climb -down the tree. Once he had made up his -mind to descend, he lost little time, and he -was soon perched on the organ eating the -banana while his master fastened to the collar -the little animal wore, the end of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -string from which Mickey had broken -loose.</p> - -<p>“Now you be da good monk and come -weeth papa!” said the organ grinder, at -which the Curlytops laughed again, the -Italian joining in.</p> - -<p>“Mother, isn’t it funny for him to call -himself the monkey’s papa?” whispered -Jan.</p> - -<p>“Rather funny, yes,” admitted her -mother. “But the Italians are like that.”</p> - -<p>“I t’ank you for catcha da monk,” said -the Italian, taking off his hat and bowing -to Mrs. Martin, as Mickey finished the -banana. “Mebby I never no get heem if so -dat he not smell da banana.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad I had one to tempt him down -with,” replied the mother of the Curlytops, -with a smile.</p> - -<p>“Does your monkey act in moving pictures?” -asked Ted, as the traveler got ready -to move along.</p> - -<p>“Da movie pitcher—no—no!” cried the -Italian. “Mickey he only hand-organ monk—no -movie da pitcher monk! Goo’-by! -T’ank you!”</p> - -<p>“Good-by!” echoed the Curlytops and the -others.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>Then Mr. Martin started his car along the -road while the Italian, glad that he had -recovered his pet which had run away from -him, went in the other direction.</p> - -<p>“Well, another adventure on our tour,” -laughed Mrs. Martin. “I couldn’t imagine -what Trouble meant when he called out -about a monkey in the tree.”</p> - -<p>“Neither could I,” said the little fellow’s -father. “I thought he was fooling.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll have to pay more attention to -Trouble after this,” said Ted.</p> - -<p>“Next time he may see a bear!” laughed -Jan.</p> - -<p>“Don’t like bears!” murmured the little -fellow, who was getting sleepy. “Like nellifunts -an’ monkeys, but not bears.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t believe we are likely to -meet any bears,” said Mr. Martin. “What -I would like to meet, though, is that moving -picture actor with the Cardwell albums.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll find him at the hotel in Midvale -and get the albums back,” said his wife.</p> - -<p>“I hope so,” her husband answered.</p> - -<p>They were now on their way again. Since -Mr. Martin had made no special plans for -their touring vacation, he and his wife decided -that it would be as well to stop in Midvale<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -for the night, and go on in the morning, -as it would be to try to reach some more -distant place.</p> - -<p>“Will we sleep in the tent at Midvale?” -asked Ted, when signs along the road showed -the Curlytops that they were entering that -small city.</p> - -<p>“No, I think we’ll go to the hotel,” replied -Mr. Martin. “We have to stop at the hotel, -anyhow, to catch this movie actor, so we may -as well stay all night.”</p> - -<p>“It would be more fun in the tent,” urged -Ted.</p> - -<p>“Heaps more fun,” agreed his sister.</p> - -<p>“Oh, we’ll have enough of tent life before -we finish this tour, children,” laughed Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>They reached the Midvale hotel about five -o’clock that afternoon. Mr. Martin told his -family to remain in the car until he went in -to make sure they could get rooms. He came -out a little later and there was a look of -disappointment on his face.</p> - -<p>“Can’t they take us in for the night?” -asked his wife.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we can stay here. But Mr. Portnay -isn’t here. I can’t get the albums from -him.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>“Not here? Then, where is he?” asked -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“He stopped here, but has gone on,” her -husband answered. “He has gone on to Cub -Mountain, and, I suppose, has the box of -albums in his car with him. Perhaps he -doesn’t know about them, and they may get -lost. I wish he had stayed here until I -came!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IX<br /> - -<small>AT THE FARM</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">While</span> the young Curlytops did not think -much about the missing albums, they could -see that their father was worried because he -had not got them back from Mr. Portnay. -And anything that worried their father and -mother also worried Ted and Janet.</p> - -<p>For they could see that Mr. Martin was -bothered by the failure to meet the moving -picture actor and get back from him the box -his man had taken by mistake, thinking it -contained false hair, false beards and make-up -paint.</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?” Mrs. Martin -asked her husband.</p> - -<p>“I hardly know,” was his answer.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you telephone or telegraph on -ahead to Cub Mountain and ask him to wait -for us, or to leave the box of albums where -we can get it when we arrive there to-morrow?” -Mrs. Martin asked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>“I might do that if I knew where to send -a telegram or where to telephone to Mr. -Portnay,” answered her husband. “That’s -what I should have done here—sent a telegram -to that actor at this hotel. He would -have received it and have left the box here -for me. But I didn’t think of that; so he -has gone on, taking my box with him. Very -likely, he doesn’t even know he has it; he is -so busy making this picture.”</p> - -<p>“You say you can’t reach him at Cub -Mountain?” Mrs. Martin inquired.</p> - -<p>“No, the people at this hotel say Cub -Mountain is only a small settlement, and that -there isn’t even a hotel there. If the moving -picture company doesn’t set up a camp, -Mr. Portnay will probably stop with some -friends or in a private boarding house. -There may be telephones in some houses or -cabins at Cub Mountain, but there is no telegraph -station there. The only thing to do -will be to go on there.”</p> - -<p>“Now?” asked Ted, who was getting -hungry and who looked at the Midvale hotel -with longing eyes.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, we won’t go on now,” replied his -father. “We’ll stay here for the night and -travel on to Cub Mountain in the morning.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -The roads aren’t any too good. I want to -travel them by daylight. Well, you may as -well get out and come in,” he told his wife -and children.</p> - -<p>While Mrs. Martin was signing her name -to the hotel register, she listened to her husband -talking to the clerk about the moving -picture actor.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he was here,” the clerk said; “he -and a number of his company. But the -crowd stayed only to eat and then went on. -I heard one of them say they had a lot of -scenes to take at Cub Mountain, and they -wanted to start the work early in the morning.”</p> - -<p>“Did you see Mr. Portnay have a reddish -brown box, about so large?” inquired Mr. -Martin, showing the size of the little chest -containing the albums.</p> - -<p>“No, he didn’t bring in any baggage,” was -the answer.</p> - -<p>“Then it’s probably still in his car,” said -the Curlytops’ father. “I hope I can get it -back to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>They went up to their rooms, Ted and his -father having one, with two beds in it, while -Mrs. Martin took Janet and Trouble in with -her.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>“Better get ready to eat, children,” suggested -their father, as he noticed Ted and -Janet looking from the windows out across -the country, for Midvale was on the side of -a hill from which a good view could be had.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Martin washed Trouble, and put -clean clothes on him from the supply carried -in the valises, and thus he was first ready to -go down to the dining room. When neither -his father nor his mother noticed him he -wandered out into the hall.</p> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. Martin were ready to go -down, and so were Ted and Janet, when -Trouble’s mother looked around for him.</p> - -<p>“Where’s William?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I saw him go out into the hall,” answered -Ted. “I’ll get him.”</p> - -<p>As he opened the door to go into the hall, -the others following, they heard the tinkle of -broken glass, and then, directly afterward, -a bell began to ring.</p> - -<p>Instantly, throughout the hotel, which was -not a very large one, there was a great commotion. -The elevator shot up to the floor -where the Martin family stood and the colored -boy in the cage cried:</p> - -<p>“Come on! Git in! Ah’ll take yo’ all -down ’fore de place burns!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>“Before the place burns? What do you -mean?” asked Mr. Martin. “The hotel isn’t -burning!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, ’tis!” cried the colored elevator lad, -his eyes big with fright. “Doan yo’ all hear -de ’larm!”</p> - -<p>“I do hear a bell ringing!” exclaimed -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>There was more commotion in the hotel, -and several guests began running from their -rooms, carrying bags and clothing. It began -to look as if there was a fire, but there was -no appearance of flames, nor could Mrs. -Martin smell smoke.</p> - -<p>Then Ted exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“It was Trouble! He sent in a false -alarm! Trouble pulled the fire alarm! -Look!”</p> - -<p>He pointed to the little fellow who was -climbing down from a chair in the hall. The -chair was some distance down the corridor, -and near a small red box fast to the wall.</p> - -<p>In a moment Mr. Martin understood. He -had seen these fire signal stations in various -places about the hotel. In front of a small -iron box was a sheet of glass, and hanging -down from the box by a chain was a little -iron hammer. Directions on the box said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -to break the glass with the hammer and pull -down the hook inside, which could only be -reached when the glass was smashed.</p> - -<p>“Trouble smashed the glass and pulled -the hook!” cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“I heard some glass break,” added Janet.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin ran down the hall to the small -boy, who stood near the chair. On the carpet -were pieces of shattered glass.</p> - -<p>“Trouble, did you do this?” cried his -father.</p> - -<p>“I—now—I jist hit the glass a little wif -de hammer and it did break,” confessed -William. “Den I pulled on de button -hook!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you did more than that!” exclaimed -his father, with a grim laugh. “You -sent in the alarm when you pulled the hook. -There’s no danger, my friends!” he called -to the guests who were crowding out into -the corridor. “There’s no fire. It was a -false alarm! I shall have to punish my little -boy for breaking the glass and sending in -a false alarm.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t punish him!” murmured a -lady, who in running from her room had -caught up a canary bird in a cage and a pair<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -of old slippers. She hardly knew what she -was doing in the excitement.</p> - -<p>“No, he didn’t mean to do it,” said a man. -Trouble, by this time, knew he had done -something dreadful, and was crying behind -his mother’s skirts.</p> - -<p>Luckily, the alarm Trouble caused to be -sent in was only a private one, just in the -hotel itself. It did not bring the Midvale -fire department out, for word went to the -clerk downstairs that there was no danger -and he did not call out the engines or hook -and ladder apparatus.</p> - -<p>So, after all, little harm was done, except -to cause some excitement and fright among -the hotel guests. But this soon passed, and -when the Martins went to the dining room -a little later, every one looked at Trouble as -a guest of some importance.</p> - -<p>“But don’t ever do it again!” his mother -warned him.</p> - -<p>“No’m, I won’t,” he promised.</p> - -<p>The broken glass was swept up by one of -the chambermaids, and a new sheet put in -front of the hook in the fire alarm box.</p> - -<p>That evening after dinner Mr. Martin -took his family to the moving picture theater -near the hotel. You can imagine how<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -surprised they were when one of the pictures -proved to have been made by Mr. Portnay’s -company, and he himself took a large part -in it.</p> - -<p>There, on the screen, the children saw the -very man they had watched act in the green -meadow that morning. Ned Weldon, the -cowboy actor with whom the children had -talked, was in it, too. Of course these were -not the scenes they had watched being filmed, -for that picture was far from being finished. -But it was very exciting to see the people -they had so recently watched.</p> - -<p>“I wish Portnay were here in person instead -of only in the movies,” remarked Mr. -Martin, as they left the theater. “I’d ask -him for those rare albums. But I suppose -we shall have to wait until we meet him at -Cub Mountain.”</p> - -<p>The next morning, after a quiet night, the -Curlytops resumed their tour, and made a -safe trip to Cub Mountain, on which was a -small country settlement. The scenery was -just wild enough to be the right background -for moving pictures.</p> - -<p>“Where are you going to inquire about -Mr. Portnay?” asked Mrs. Martin, as her -husband stopped his car on what appeared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -to be the only, as well as the main, street of -the village.</p> - -<p>“Right here in the post-office,” he answered, -for it was in front of the post-office -that they had stopped. “They’ll know here -about the moving picture people, I guess.”</p> - -<p>But again Mr. Martin was doomed to disappointment. -For when he inquired of the -postmaster that official said:</p> - -<p>“Yes, there was a company of movie people -here. But that was early this morning—about -three hours ago, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“Have they left?” asked Mr. Martin, -wishing he had made an earlier start.</p> - -<p>“Yes, they went on to the Dawson Farm. -They’re going to film some scenes there, so -I heard ’em say.”</p> - -<p>“Where is the Dawson Farm?” asked -Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“About ten miles from here. Keep -straight on and you can’t miss it. It’s a big -place—old-fashioned white farmhouse, red -barns, and all that. Just the thing for -movies, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, I’ll go there,” said Mr. Martin, -and when he rejoined his family he said -to his wife:</p> - -<p>“This Portnay actor keeps me on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -jump. I wish he’d stay in one place long -enough for me to get back those albums.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll very likely catch him at the -farm,” said Mrs. Martin. “But perhaps it -would be as well to telephone from here and -say you are coming.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ll do that,” the Curlytops’ father -said.</p> - -<p>He went back into the post-office, where -he had noticed a telephone on the wall. But -when he asked if he could use it to send a -message to the Dawson Farm the postmaster -smiled and said:</p> - -<p>“Well, you’re welcome to use it as far as -I’m concerned, but you can’t get Dawson’s -Farm on that machine.”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t they a telephone?” Mr. Martin -wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, they have a ’phone. But this -one here is out of order and it won’t work. -I’ve sent for a feller to fix it, but he hasn’t -come.”</p> - -<p>“Is there another telephone here?” asked -Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“No, this is the only one, and this is out -of order. I’m sorry!”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry, too,” Mr. Martin answered. -“I’d like to get a message through to Dawson’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> -Farm, so Mr. Portnay won’t again -leave and take my box with him.”</p> - -<p>However, there was nothing to do but to -hurry on to the farm as fast as they could -go. The postmaster explained that the place -was a real farm, not one for moving picture -purposes, though scenes were frequently -filmed there, as many farm animals were -ready to be photographed as a background -for the actors and actresses.</p> - -<p>“It’s just like a game, isn’t it, Daddy?” -said Teddy.</p> - -<p>“Like hide-and-seek,” added Janet, giggling.</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” agreed Mr. Martin. “But I -don’t like playing the game very much.”</p> - -<p>Down off Cub Mountain drove Mr. Martin -with his auto load of family, and after rather -a bumpy trip over rough roads he turned -onto a firm, smooth highway and soon they -read a sign which said it was but one mile -to Dawson’s Farm.</p> - -<p>“There it is!” cried Ted, a few minutes -later, as they made a turn in the road. Before -them lay the big farm and buildings -spoken of by the Cub Mountain postmaster. -And, as the Martins drew nearer, Janet -cried:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>“I see the movie people! There they -are!”</p> - -<p>She pointed to a number of persons, some -on horses and others on foot, who were, undoubtedly, -some of the same ones they had -watched in the green meadow.</p> - -<p>“Now I’ll get those albums back,” said -Mr. Martin.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER X<br /> - -<small>TROUBLE’S DANGER</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">This</span> is a dandy place!” exclaimed Ted, -as his father guided the auto into a lane that -led from the main road up to the group of -farm buildings.</p> - -<p>“Indeed it is,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “I -should like to spend part of our vacation -here, if they would let us.”</p> - -<p>“Look at the cows! Look at the cows!” -cried Trouble, pointing to a herd of fine -animals in a distant pasture.</p> - -<p>“And what a lot of horses, too,” added -Janet.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin, however, was most interested -in the company of moving picture players -clustered around one of the buildings. He -was looking for a sight of Harry Portnay -who, by mistake, had taken the box of the -Cardwell albums.</p> - -<p>As the auto came to a slow stop not far<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -from the group of movie folk who were being -filmed in some scene, a man on a horse rode -up to the car.</p> - -<p>“How do you do, Mr. Martin!” he said.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s Mr. Weldon!” exclaimed the -father of the Curlytops, as he recognized -the movie cowboy actor who had first given -the information about Mr. Portnay’s man -taking the album box by mistake.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’m here again,” was the answer. -“I just got my costume on. They’re going -to shoot me and some of the other boys pretty -soon.”</p> - -<p>“Shoot you!” cried Ted, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I forgot—you youngsters don’t know -all the movie terms,” laughed Mr. Weldon. -“I mean they’re going to aim the moving -picture cameras at us and ‘shoot’ us that way—not -with guns!”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” murmured Ted, laughing with the -actor. “Well, I’m glad they aren’t going to -shoot you with guns.”</p> - -<p>“They shoot nellifunts with guns!” broke -in Trouble. “But if I had a nellifunt I -wouldn’t let ’em shoot him. And we saw a -monkey, we did!”</p> - -<p>“My, that’s a fine thing to see!” chuckled -Mr. Weldon. “But I suppose you saw Mr.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> -Portnay and got back your box of valuable -hot cross buns, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t hot cross buns!” laughed -Janet, for this actor had a jolly way about -him. “It was <i>albums</i>—albums for pictures, -you know.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes, so it was! Albums!” said Mr. -Weldon, with a smile. “I was just joking, -you know. But I suppose you got them -back?” he said to Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t,” was the answer. “That’s -why I came on here after them. I missed -Mr. Portnay in Midvale.”</p> - -<p>“That’s too bad,” returned the actor. -“You’re out of luck again.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” inquired Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“Why, I mean Mr. Portnay isn’t here.”</p> - -<p>“Not here!” echoed Jan’s father. “Why, -I thought this was his moving picture company -and that he’d surely be here. The postmaster -at Cub Mountain told me he had -come on here.”</p> - -<p>“Some of us did after the scenes there -were taken,” explained the actor cowboy. -“But Mr. Portnay didn’t. He isn’t in these -pictures that are going to be taken at the -farm. Or, at least, he doesn’t come in until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -later. So, while this is his company, or the -company of which he is the star, he isn’t -needed just now; so he went back to New -York. He left just a little while ago to take -the train.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “It -seems we are never going to catch up with -that man.”</p> - -<p>“It is rather unfortunate,” said her husband. -“But perhaps he left my box here,” -he went on to Mr. Weldon. “He wouldn’t -take that back to New York with him.”</p> - -<p>“No, he wouldn’t if he knew what it was,” -admitted the movie actor. “But he leaves -all such matters to his helper, Jim Lewis. -And Jim probably packed your box with the -other baggage belonging to Mr. Portnay -and shipped it to New York.”</p> - -<p>“Is there any one here I could ask if the -box has been left?” inquired Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; our director, Tony Birch. He’d -know if any one would,” said Mr. Weldon. -“There he is over by the chicken houses. -They’re going to take a picture of Miss -Marcell feeding the hens, I believe.”</p> - -<p>“Is Miss Marcell the young lady who -jumped into the river?” asked Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>“Yes, the same one. She’s our leading -lady as Mr. Portnay is our leading man.”</p> - -<p>“You stay here with the children, my -dear,” said Mr. Martin to his wife, “and -I’ll go and ask Mr. Birch if he knows anything -of my box of albums that Mr. Portnay -took. I’ll be right back.”</p> - -<p>The Curlytops watched their father cross -a field and approach a group of movie folk -who were being filmed in some scene that had -to do with the fowls, of which there were a -large number on the Dawson Farm. From -where they sat in the auto the Curlytops and -their mother could see and hear something -of what went on. Trouble had gotten down -out of the car and was playing with a little -puppy at one side, so he was accounted for -for the time being.</p> - -<p>As Mr. Martin approached the scene at -the chicken houses he could see Miss Marcell -tossing grain to the hens and roosters. In -front of her, and to one side of a movie -camera, was a man with a megaphone in his -hands. Through this he called directions to -the actress as the man at the camera ground -the crank.</p> - -<p>“Not so fast! Not so fast!” cried Tony -Birch, for it was the director who was managing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -matters. “Don’t throw the chickens -corn so fast, Miss Marcell! You’ll make -them have indigestion. Do it slowly, as if -you were a girl on a farm.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” was the smiling answer, and -she began to scatter fewer grains.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you’ll have to give them more than -that or they’ll think you’re stingy!” exclaimed -the director. “There—that’s better. -Shoot!” he called to the camera man, -and the latter, who had ceased grinding out -the film while the actress was being corrected, -began again.</p> - -<p>When the scene was over Mr. Martin -asked the director:</p> - -<p>“Did Mr. Portnay leave behind him a red -box belonging to me? He took it by mistake -yesterday when you were at Cresco.”</p> - -<p>The director thought for a moment and -answered:</p> - -<p>“No, I am sorry to say he didn’t. Mr. -Portnay had to leave in a hurry to get back -to New York to arrange some matters, and -I suppose he didn’t think of your box.”</p> - -<p>“It may be that he doesn’t even know he -has it,” explained Mr. Martin. “His man -Jim Lewis took it by mistake for a make-up -box.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>“Oh, I see. Um—yes. Well, I tell you -the best thing to do. Mr. Portnay will join -us here in about a week. He’ll be in New -York during that time. I can give you his -address and you can write or telegraph and -ask him to be sure and bring your box back -with you.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you. But won’t he return for a -week?” asked Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“No. We have a number of scenes to film -here at the farm, and we are going to stay -for a week. They are scenes in which Mr. -Portnay has no part, so he isn’t needed here. -But when he comes back he can bring your -box.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose that is the best I can do,” said -Mr. Martin, a bit disappointed. “But I am -touring around with my family. I didn’t -count on staying here a week.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a good place to stay,” urged Mr. -Birch, with a smile. “We movie people have -engaged board here, and there is room for -more. Why don’t you stay with your family? -You’ll see some interesting sights. -We’re going to film a big part of the picture -here. And Dawson’s Farm is a good place -for a vacation.”</p> - -<p>“So my wife said,” remarked Mr. Martin.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -“Well, I’ll talk to her about it. The only -way to get back those albums seems to be to -get in touch with Mr. Portnay personally, -and I can best do that by staying here. The -children ought to like it,” he murmured, as -he looked over the big, pleasant farm.</p> - -<p>“Why, certainly! By all means, stay!” -exclaimed Mrs. Martin, when told of the -situation. “We don’t have to travel on -until we get ready.”</p> - -<p>“No,” agreed her husband. “And I certainly -must get those albums back or there -will be trouble in the Cardwell family. -Well, I guess the best thing to do is to stay.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, goodie!” cried Janet, when she heard -this.</p> - -<p>“Hurray!” shouted Ted.</p> - -<p>“Will they be any nellifunts?” asked -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“No. But there are lots of other animals,” -his mother said. “But will they keep -us here?” she asked her husband. “It’s a -delightful place, but with all these movie -folk here, will there be room for us?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Birch said so. But we can soon -make sure of it,” said the father of the -Curlytops.</p> - -<p>Mr. Dawson, who owned and ran the big<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> -farm, was a jolly kind of man. He was -proud of his place, and one reason he consented -to let the movie people take scenes -of it was so that other persons, all over the -country, would see what a fine farm his was.</p> - -<p>“They’re going to show a picture of me, -too,” said Mr. Dawson to Mr. Martin. “And -the name ‘Dawson’s Farm’ is to go in some -of the titles. We farmers ought to make the -world proud of us, and by showing movies -of a big farm like this city folks will think -more of the man who tills the soil.”</p> - -<p>“I agree with you,” said Mr. Martin. -“But what about keeping us here?”</p> - -<p>“Plenty of room! Plenty!” laughed Mr. -Dawson heartily. “And you say you have -two children?”</p> - -<p>“Three,” answered their father.</p> - -<p>“Three! So much the better! I love children! -Bring ’em in! My wife will want to -see them! She loves children, too!”</p> - -<p>So it was settled that the Martin family -was to remain at Dawson’s Farm until Mr. -Portnay came from New York, or else -shipped back the box of albums. Mr. Dawson -kept quite an establishment, having a -number of hired men and servants, and he -took the Curlytops and their family right<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -into his own house. The movie people -“camped” out by themselves in a separate -building. They would do their own cooking -and look after themselves. But the Martins -would eat with the Dawson family.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a lot of fun we can have here!” -cried Jan, after she and her brothers had -put on “old clothes” and were romping -about. Mr. Martin had gone to write a letter -to Mr. Portnay which that actor would receive -in New York. Mrs. Martin was talking -to Mrs. Dawson, who was a kind, motherly -soul with no children of her own.</p> - -<p>“I know just how you feel, losing that -album with those little girls’ pictures in it,” -she said. “It’s worse than if it was your -own, belonging to some one else that way.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s what Mr. Martin thinks,” -said his wife. “Well, we hope we’ll get it -back.”</p> - -<p>“I hope so, too. Now I want the children -to have a good time. Let them do just as -they please.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I can’t quite do that,” replied Mrs. -Martin, with a smile. “Though they’ll -pretty nearly do that, anyhow,” she added.</p> - -<p>If she could have seen Janet and Ted -then she would have had reason to add to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -this, for the Curlytops were climbing an -apple tree, where Ted had seen some fruit -that looked nearly ripe.</p> - -<p>“I’ll climb up and shake some down to -you, Jan,” he had said.</p> - -<p>“You needn’t, thank you,” laughed Janet. -“I can climb a tree as well as you can!”</p> - -<p>“You can not!” declared her brother.</p> - -<p>“I can so! I’ll show you!”</p> - -<p>Toward the tree ran the Curlytops, and -while they were climbing it Trouble was -doing something else. He had wandered off -by himself, though Mrs. Martin had told Jan -and Ted to look after him. Going down a -path that led away from the orchard, he -came to a field in which was pastured an old -boar, a savage pig with long, curving tusks—teeth -that stuck out like the tusks of an -elephant.</p> - -<p>The sight of these tusks, small as they -were, made Trouble think the boar might be -a small animal of the kind he was so interested -in.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s a little nellifunt! It’s a little -nellifunt!” cried Trouble. “I’m going in -an’ give him a peanut!” for he had asked -his mother to buy him some nuts just before -reaching Dawson’s Farm and he had a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -of the goobers left. “I give you peanut, little -nellifunt!” cried Trouble, as he crawled -in between two strands of the prickly wire -fence. His waist caught and was torn a little, -but he didn’t mind that.</p> - -<p>The boar gave a grunt as he saw Trouble -enter the field. The boar wasn’t used to this. -He didn’t very often have company, especially -small boys. And the boar was savage—he -didn’t like company of any kind! The -only things he was afraid of were dogs and -a man with a sharp pitchfork or a big stick.</p> - -<p>So, as soon as Trouble crawled through -the fence, the savage boar, with loud grunts, -made a rush for the little fellow.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XI<br /> - -<small>FUNNY FISH</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> the 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.</p> - -<p>“’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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>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.</p> - -<p>“I—I don’t like you! Go on ’way!” called -Trouble, after a second of watching this big, -ugly animal. “Go ’way!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The cry of their little brother reached the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -ears 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:</p> - -<p>“I’m coming, Trouble! I’m coming! I -wont let the pig bite you!”</p> - -<p>For Ted knew that boars are very savage -when once roused.</p> - -<p>“I’m coming, too!” cried Jan.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>However, neither Ted nor Janet would -have reached Trouble in time to save him.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -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:</p> - -<p>“I’ll get him! Stand still, little boy!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“There you are, little man!” said Mr. -Weldon, as he brought his horse to a slow<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -pace 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.”</p> - -<p>“I should say not!” cried Ted, who had -been surprised with the quickness of it all. -“What made you go in there, Trouble?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose so,” said Mr. Weldon. “But -keep watch of him, so he doesn’t go in there -again.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we will,” promised Ted.</p> - -<p>“And thank you for saving Trouble,” -added Jan.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“That’s all right,” said the movie man,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Though if Mr. Portnay sends back that -box of albums any sooner, we might travel -on,” said Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Oh, let’s stay here!” pleaded Jan. “It’s -lovely here!”</p> - -<p>“We can have lots of fun,” added Ted.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 farm<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -there is so much going on that Trouble may -easily get into danger.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll take good care of him,” promised -Jan.</p> - -<p>“I’ll take him with me wherever I go,” -said Ted.</p> - -<p>“Well, then I’ll feel better about it,” said -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>It was because of his promise that the next -day, when Ted and Janet decided to go fishing, -Ted called:</p> - -<p>“Come on, Trouble! You may come with -us!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I like fishin’!” declared the little -boy. “I’m going to catch a big one.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I know he will,” said Janet. “I’ll take -care of him while you fish.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>Ted picked out what he thought was a -good spot and, posting Jan and Trouble a -little way from it, cast in his hook.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Ted had not been fishing long when he felt -that he had a bite.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>“Oh, jinks!” he cried in disgust. “Look -at that!”</p> - -<p>“That’s a funny fish!” laughed Jan.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll get a real one this time!” declared -her brother.</p> - -<p>In he cast again. There came a gentle -tug on his line.</p> - -<p>“Now I’ve got a bite!” he shouted. Again<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -he pulled up. Something flopped on the -grass behind him.</p> - -<p>But it was only an old shoe!</p> - -<p>“Say, what’s the matter here, anyhow?” -demanded Ted.</p> - -<p>“Ha! Ha!” laughed his sister. “What -funny fish!”</p> - -<p>“Look at Ted’s funny fish!” chuckled -Trouble.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XII<br /> - -<small>FLIP-FLOPS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Pulling</span> up a rubber boot in place of a -fish wasn’t strange for the first time, since -Ted had before this done much the same -thing when out for a day’s sport. But when, -the second time, he hooked an old shoe, it -was too much!</p> - -<p>If he had been fishing with some of the -Cresco lads he would have suspected a trick, -for often one of them would slip away, reach -for a chum’s hook in a spot where he couldn’t -be observed, and fasten on the hook some -queer object, putting it softly back into the -water again and waiting for the fun that was -sure to follow.</p> - -<p>But Ted knew none of his chums were -with him now, and Janet, though she sometimes -played tricks, was too far away, looking -after Trouble, to have put the boot and -shoe on his hook.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>“Of course I might have picked them up -off the bottom, but I don’t believe it,” -thought the Curlytop lad. “I’m going to -watch.”</p> - -<p>“I got a better fish than yours!” boasted -Trouble, holding up a small “sunny,” which -had rashly nibbled at his hook.</p> - -<p>“So you did,” admitted Ted. “But I’ll -get a big fish soon.”</p> - -<p>“That was <i>big</i> enough!” laughed Janet, -pointing to the rubber boot, from a hole in -the toe of which water was running.</p> - -<p>“But it isn’t real,” said Ted ruefully. -“Just you wait!”</p> - -<p>When Janet went back to the comfortable -place she had picked out for herself and -William, Ted again took his position on the -jutting-out bank near the deep eddy. Once -again he threw in his line, letting out plenty -of it. But this time, instead of gazing off -at the distant hills, Ted kept watch of his -tackle. Presently he saw it begin to move -in toward the shore at a place where tall -grass and rushes made a secret hiding place.</p> - -<p>“That’s funny,” said Ted to himself. “If -a fish was on my hook a fish would move out -toward the middle of the brook—not toward -the bank.” For this is true of fishes. Once<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -hooked, they try to get into deep water, -hoping to get the sharp point out of their -mouth.</p> - -<p>But Ted’s line was being slowly pulled in -toward the grass-screened bank, and it -wasn’t at all as if a fish was hooked.</p> - -<p>“It might be a mud turtle,” thought the -lad. “A turtle would go slow like that—but -not a fish. I’ll wait and see what happens.”</p> - -<p>His line was pulled in a little farther toward -the bank. There was a movement in -the tall grass and the lad felt a tug on his -pole as if a fish were nibbling. It was just -like the other two “bites” he had.</p> - -<p>“Now to see what it is!” thought Ted.</p> - -<p>But instead of calling to his sister to look -what a big “fish” he had, the lad kept quiet -and began to haul in.</p> - -<p>Something heavy was on his hook, that -was certain. But when he hauled it up out -of the water all that met his eyes was—an -old rusty tin can!</p> - -<p>Janet looked up in time to see it sailing -through the air and she cried, as well as she -could for her giggles:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Teddy! what’s the matter with you? -More funny fish!”</p> - -<p>“It’s a trick—that’s what it is!” declared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -the Curlytop lad. “A trick. Somebody -down there in the grass is putting boots and -shoes and tin cans on my hook!”</p> - -<p>Dropping his pole, Ted made a dash for -the clump of tall grass and rushes where he -had seen the cautious movements. Before -he reached the place there was a commotion -there, and out and up leaped a queer little -man—a man who shouted and laughed and -at once began turning somersaults on the -open place a little way back from the edge -of the stream.</p> - -<p>Backward and forward the queer little -man turned somersaults. Then he sprang -up in the air, landed on his hands, and -bounced back to his feet. With a whoop he -turned a “cartwheel,” and then rolled over -and over in the grass.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look! He’s doing flip-flops! He’s -doing flip-flops!” cried Trouble who, with -Jan, had risen from his fishing place to look -at the funny man. “He’s doing flip-flops -like the nellifunt man in the circus!”</p> - -<p>Indeed, this odd character seemed to have -come from a circus, except that he did not -have on a gayly colored suit with shining -spangles.</p> - -<p>As Ted watched the thought came into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -lad’s mind that this strange man was the one -who had fastened the boot, the shoe and the -tin can on the fish hook.</p> - -<p>“Whoop-la! That’s the way to do it!” -cried the man in a jolly voice, as he walked -around on his hands. He then very suddenly -straightened up. “How’s fishing?” -he asked, as he walked toward Ted.</p> - -<p>“Why, it isn’t so very good—not with you -around.” When Ted said this, which might -not be considered very polite, a smile came -to his face. One could not help smiling when -one looked at the jolly countenance of the -“flip-flop man” as Trouble called him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, ho! So I spoiled your fishing, did -I?” asked the acrobat.</p> - -<p>“Somebody did,” declared Ted. “That’s -all I caught.” He pointed to the rubber -boot, the shoe, and the rusty tin can on the -grass.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear! That’s too bad! Too bad!” -sighed the funny man. “And there’s good -fish in here, too. I know it, for I’ve pulled -them out. Suppose you try again.”</p> - -<p>“I will if you’ll stay up here and not go -down there to put things on my hook,” -agreed Ted, pointing to the clump of tall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -grass near the water’s edge, whence the man -had come.</p> - -<p>“Oh, ho! So you suspect me, do you?” -asked the tumbler.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do!” laughed Ted. “Didn’t you -do it?”</p> - -<p>“I’m like George Washington. I must -tell the truth,” said the man. “I did it. I -hope I didn’t bother you. It isn’t too late -to catch some real fish. Come on—throw in -again. I’ll sit here on the bank and keep as -quiet as a little mouse. Did you ever see a -little mouse?” he asked Trouble, winking -first one eye and then the other at the small -boy.</p> - -<p>“I—now—I saw a nellifunt,” was Trouble’s -answer.</p> - -<p>“Hum! Then you must belong in the circus -where I came from,” laughed the man.</p> - -<p>“Oh, are you from the circus?” asked Jan -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“I used to act in one—doing flip-flops and -other clown work,” answered the man. -“Now I’ve joined the movies. I’m Jimmie -Tizzy!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, are you Jimmie Tizzy?” cried Ted, -for well he knew that name, having laughed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> -more than once at the funny antics of this -clown of the movies.</p> - -<p>“That’s who I am,” the man replied, with -a laugh.</p> - -<p>“You don’t look like him,” ventured Jan -doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“That’s because I haven’t my make-up -on, nor dressed as you generally see me,” -said Mr. Tizzy. “But if you stay around -here long enough you’ll see me as I really -am. I’m going to have a part with Mr. -Portnay next week.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, are you stopping here at the farm, -and are you with Mr. Portnay’s movie company?” -cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“That’s right!”</p> - -<p>“We haven’t seen you before, and we’re -staying at the farm, too,” said Jan.</p> - -<p>“There are so many of us, it’s no wonder -you missed me,” said Mr. Tizzy. “I really -haven’t done any acting for the camera since -we came here. My part doesn’t get filmed -until next week. But I wanted to keep in -practice, so I came out here to do a few flip-flops. -Then I saw you fishing and I thought -it would be fun to play a little joke on you. -I hid in the deep grass, pulled your hook in -with a long stick and fastened the boot on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -first. Then I put on the shoe and lastly the -tin can. Did you mind it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no,” admitted Ted, with a laugh. -“At first it puzzled me. But it’s all right. -I hope I can catch some real fish now.”</p> - -<p>“I think you can,” said Mr. Tizzy. “I -won’t play any more jokes.”</p> - -<p>Ted baited his hook anew and prepared -to cast in again, while the funny acrobat -sat down on the bank near the Curlytop lad -to watch him.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Trouble,” said Jan, in a low -voice. “We’ll let Ted catch a big fish for -us.”</p> - -<p>But Trouble didn’t want to go. He -dragged and held back.</p> - -<p>“Wait! Wait!” he begged. “I want to -ast him suffin!”</p> - -<p>“What is it, little man?” inquired Mr. -Tizzy, with a smile. “Do you want me to -stand on my head again? I’d better not -until your brother catches a fish. But what -else do you want to ask me?”</p> - -<p>“Can you do flip-flops on a nellifunt’s -back?” inquired Trouble.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ve done that,” admitted Mr. -Tizzy. “If you’ll bring your elephant here -I’ll flip-flop on his back.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>“I hasn’t got a nellifunt,” admitted the -little lad. “But maybe I could find one in -the woods. Once I gave a nellifunt peanuts.”</p> - -<p>“And he’s never forgotten it!” laughed -Jan. “But come on,” she urged her small -brother. “Ted wants to fish. Maybe Mr. -Tizzy will do some other tricks for you,” she -added.</p> - -<p>“I surely will,” promised the acrobat. -“I must keep myself in practice ready for -the work next week. Now go ahead and fish, -Ted.”</p> - -<p>When it grew quiet, the lad eagerly waited -for a nibble, and he was soon rewarded by -pulling up a good-sized fish.</p> - -<p>“It’s a real one this time!” Ted shouted, -as the beauty flopped on the grass.</p> - -<p>“I must watch him,” said Mr. Tizzy. “I -may get some ideas from the way he leaps -about.”</p> - -<p>From then on Ted had good luck and -caught five fish before it was time to go home. -Trouble, also, caught a fair-sized perch, -which much delighted him.</p> - -<p>“Now for a few more flips and I’ll walk -back with you,” said Mr. Tizzy. “I’m glad -to know we’re stopping at the same place.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -I heard some talk last night about children -being at the farm, but I thought they meant -movie children.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’re sort of on the move,” explained -Ted. “We’re touring around for -our vacation. But Mr. Portnay took two -old photograph albums by mistake, and -we’re waiting for him to send them back.”</p> - -<p>“Go on—do a flip-flop!” urged Trouble -eagerly. “I like ’em!”</p> - -<p>“All right. Here goes, little man!” cried -Mr. Tizzy.</p> - -<p>He began turning somersaults again, leaping -back and forth, doing handsprings and -cartwheels on a smooth place in the grass.</p> - -<p>“Now watch this!” he cried, and he bent -himself in the shape of a hoop by grasping -his ankles with his hands. Around and -around he rolled, the children laughing in -glee until, all at once, Mr. Tizzy disappeared.</p> - -<p>Out of sight he vanished, as though the -earth had opened and swallowed him!</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIII<br /> - -<small>TED FALLS OFF</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">For</span> a while the Curlytop children and -Trouble thought this sudden vanishing of -Mr. Tizzy was one of his tricks—he was so -full and bubbling over with them. Ted said -afterward he thought the movie man had -doubled himself up into as small a ball as -possible and was hiding behind a clump of -grass.</p> - -<p>But when nearly a minute passed and Mr. -Tizzy did not come back, the children began -to get worried. A trick and a joke might -be all right, but this was a little too much!</p> - -<p>“Maybe he hurt himself,” suggested Jan.</p> - -<p>This very thought was in Ted’s mind, but -his sister spoke of it first.</p> - -<p>“Let’s look and see where he is,” went on -Jan.</p> - -<p>“He went down in a hole!” declared -Trouble.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>Certainly it looked so, and when Ted -walked forward, toward the place where he -had last seen the acrobat and when Janet -and Trouble followed, the Curlytop lad -found that what his little brother said was -true.</p> - -<p>There was a hole in the ground, a rather -deep and steep hole with grass growing close -to the edge of it. And down in this hole lay -the acrobat in a huddled heap.</p> - -<p>So still and quiet he was, all doubled up, -that Janet felt frightened. She was going -to ask Ted if he thought the jolly man might -be dead. But Ted suddenly exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“I guess he’s fainted. I’ll get some water -and pour it on him.”</p> - -<p>Ted had once seen his aunt faint, and his -mother had dashed water on her face.</p> - -<p>Back to the stream ran the boy, and in the -can he had fished out he brought back some -water. When some of this had been spilled -on the face of the man lying in the hole, he -opened his eyes and asked rather faintly:</p> - -<p>“What happened?”</p> - -<p>“You flip-flopped into a hole,” answered -Ted. “Can you get out or shall I run back -to the farm for help?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I guess I’m all right now,” was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -answer. “I remember now. I was cartwheeling -around and, all of a sudden, I saw -this hole in front of me. Before I could stop -myself I rolled into it. I hit my head on a -stone, and that’s all I remember. But I’m -all right now, though I guess I was unconscious -for a minute or two.”</p> - -<p>“We didn’t know what had happened to -you,” remarked Janet.</p> - -<p>“Well, it isn’t anything to worry about,” -said the man, as he untangled himself, for -his legs and arms were rather mixed up. -“I’ll be all right in another minute.”</p> - -<p>He scrambled out of the hole, gave himself -a shake to make sure no bones were -broken, and then went down to the edge of -the little river, where he bathed his head, -especially the place that had hit a stone, and -drank some water.</p> - -<p>“Now I feel better,” he announced. “But -I guess I won’t do any more flip-flops right -away.”</p> - -<p>“What do you think made that hole?” -asked Ted, as they stood around the edge, -looking down in it, after Mr. Tizzy said he -thought they had better start back to the -farm.</p> - -<p>“Some boys may have dug it for a cave to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> -play in, or some one may have dug a big -stone out of there,” said the acrobat. “But -if they took a stone out, where it is I can’t -see,” and he looked around in vain for a -sight of the bowlder. “More likely it was -boys at play,” he said. “But it was dug -some time ago, for the grass has grown all -around the edge and the dirt they took out -has disappeared.”</p> - -<p>Glad that nothing more serious had happened, -the Curlytops started back toward -the group of farm buildings. Ted carried -the fish he had caught, and Trouble insisted -on bringing home his small sunny and the -perch, neither of which were of much account -for the kitchen.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a fine fisherman you are, William!” -his mother exclaimed, when she saw -what he held up for her to admire. “Why, -you’ll soon be able to catch enough for a -whole meal.”</p> - -<p>“I caught a fish before Ted did,” announced -the little lad. “He got a rubber -boot!”</p> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. Martin laughed at the story -of the funny trick played on Ted by the flip-flop -man, and a little later that day they met<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -the actor and talked to him, liking him very -much.</p> - -<p>While Mr. Martin was waiting for an -answer to the letter he had sent to New -York, asking Mr. Portnay to return the -photograph albums taken by mistake, there -was nothing to do save to amuse himself as -well as he could at the farm and make the -best of matters.</p> - -<p>The moving picture actor might ship the -box of albums back by express, or he might -bring them himself, so Mr. Weldon said.</p> - -<p>“Harry Portnay is a queer chap,” said -the cowboy actor who had leaped his horse -over the fence to save Trouble from the ugly -boar. “He never does what you think he -will. It would be just like him to send a -special messenger back with those books, or -he may even forget all about them and leave -them in his New York office.”</p> - -<p>“But I have written him a letter about -them!” exclaimed Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know. But he gets a lot of letters -every day—all movie stars do—and he may -not pay much attention to yours.”</p> - -<p>“I must get those albums back if I have -to go to New York for them myself,” declared -the father of the Curlytops.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>“Oh, I’d like to go to New York!” cried -Ted.</p> - -<p>“So would I!” added his sister.</p> - -<p>“We have made other plans,” their -mother answered, with a smile. “We are -going to tour around and make a stop in -Bentville—as soon as we get the albums.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the only thing to do was to -wait, and it was a pleasant waiting, at least -for the children. They liked it at the Dawson -Farm, for there was much to see and do, -especially with the moving picture people -there. Every day some scenes were taken—nothing -very elaborate or big, because of the -absence of the star, but enough to keep the -camera men and the actors and actresses -busy.</p> - -<p>To their delight, the day after the queer -fishing trip the children saw Mr. Tizzy do -some of his funny tricks in front of the camera. -The acrobat said he was all right again -after his tumble into the hole, and he certainly -was lively enough, leaping here and -there.</p> - -<p>One afternoon Mr. Birch, the director, -walked over to the Martin family, who were -all sitting under a shade tree. The director -seemed to have something on his mind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>“Did your children ever act in the -movies?” he asked Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe they ever did,” was the -answer.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Daddy, I did, once!” cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“You did! Where?” asked his mother, -for she did not remember any such happening.</p> - -<p>“Why, they took pictures of a baseball -game in Cresco once,” went on the Curlytop -lad. “I was there in the grandstand. They -took pictures of the people in the stand and -they took mine. I saw myself in the movies -afterward.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I do remember that,” said Mrs. -Martin. “But that wasn’t really acting.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I can give them a chance now, if -you’ll let them take it,” said the director. -“One of our writers has made a change in -this story we are filming, and we need three -child characters in it for a short scene. If -you’ll let your Curlytops and their little -brother take part, it will be a big favor -to us.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see any objection,” replied Mr. -Martin, as his wife looked at him. “What -do you want them to do?”</p> - -<p>“I want them to ride on the back of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -pony,” explained the movie director. “Mr. -Dawson has a very safe pony, and I’d like -to have the children shown crossing a -meadow where the pony is pastured. They -have been after berries, we’ll say. On the -way back they want some fun, so they ride -on the pony’s back—all three of them. -We’ll take pictures of them doing that.”</p> - -<p>“Three of them on one pony? Maybe the -pony wouldn’t like it,” said Mr. Martin, -with a laugh.</p> - -<p>“Oh, the pony won’t mind,” the director -assured him.</p> - -<p>So it was arranged, and the next morning -the three children went to the pasture, followed -by some of the movie people and two -camera men. Mr. Dawson had given permission -to use the pony.</p> - -<p>“Now don’t think of anything except having -fun,” the director advised them. “Ted, -you help your sister and your brother on the -pony’s back, and then scramble up yourself. -Janet, you guide the pony as I call to you -through my megaphone. But, above all, -don’t look directly into the camera. We -want this to seem natural.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t keep Trouble from looking at -the camera,” laughed Ted. “He’s doing it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -now. I guess he thinks music will come -out.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it doesn’t matter so much about -him,” replied the director. “But you two -older ones keep your eyes away from the -camera. Look anywhere but there.”</p> - -<p>There was a rehearsal first and finally the -director said the children did very well.</p> - -<p>“All right now, we’ll try it in earnest,” -he said. “Come on—camera!”</p> - -<p>Ted led his brother and sister through the -pasture toward the pony, which was a tame -one and fond of children. The Curlytops -had made friends with him the first day they -arrived.</p> - -<p>“All right now,” called the director -through his megaphone, while the cameras -clicked away. “Put your sister up on the -pony’s back, Ted.”</p> - -<p>This was done, and then the delighted and -shouting Trouble was helped up by Ted to -a seat behind Janet.</p> - -<p>“Now you get on, and try to make the -pony run!” the director suggested.</p> - -<p>Ted managed to scramble up on the back -of the little horse, and he did it very well. -But the pony this time seemed to dislike so -many on his back. Instead of running as he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -was wanted to, the pony kicked up his heels, -and the next thing Ted knew he was falling -off.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you’re spoiling the picture! You -have spoiled it!” cried Janet, as she glanced -back, a funny look on her face, and saw her -brother slipping off.</p> - -<p>But the cameras clicked away.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIV<br /> - -<small>JAN IN A TRAP</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ted Martin</span> hit the ground with a hard -thump. He grunted, for the breath was -knocked out of him. But he wasn’t hurt. -He knew that as soon as any one. At school -Ted played football sometimes, and more -than once he had had a harder fall than this.</p> - -<p>“Whoa! Whoa!” cried Janet to the pony. -She pulled on the reins and the little animal -came to a stop.</p> - -<p>“What’s matter?” Trouble wanted to -know. “Why don’t horse go on?”</p> - -<p>“Because Ted’s fallen off,” explained his -sister.</p> - -<p>By this time the Curlytop lad had leaped -up and was running to get on the pony. -What bothered him more than anything else -was the fact that the camera men, laughing -among themselves, were still grinding away -at the cranks of their machines, taking moving -pictures.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>“Wait! Wait!” cried Ted. “Don’t take -me now! Wait until I get on the pony!”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right, Ted!” laughed Mr. -Birch. “This is funnier and better than I -thought it would be. Can you fall off -again?” he asked, as the camera men stopped -grinding, for Ted was now beside the pony -which had come to a halt, with Janet and -Trouble still on its back. “Can you fall -off again, Ted?”</p> - -<p>“Can I fall off again?” cried the boy, in -surprise. “Do you mean you want me to -fall off on purpose?”</p> - -<p>“That’s just what I want,” replied Mr. -Birch. “The cameras happened to snap you -when you fell the first time. It made a good -scene, and I’m going to change the story -about to fit it in. But if you can do the same -thing again, maybe in a little different way, -it will be very funny. Want to try?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I do!” declared Ted. “I’ll be just -like one of the funny men in the pictures, -won’t I?”</p> - -<p>“Shouldn’t wonder,” agreed Mr. Birch, -with a laugh. “Now get ready,” he went -on. “Janet, you guide the pony along and -Ted will run up and try to get on. When -he does you make the pony go a little faster<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -as if you were trying to get away. Then Ted -will slip to the ground as he did before. You -aren’t afraid, are you, little man?” he asked -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“No, I not ’fraid,” was the answer. “I -like horsies an’ I like nellifunts. Once I -roded on a nellifunt, I did.”</p> - -<p>“Good! Then a pony oughtn’t to frighten -you,” chuckled Mr. Birch. “Get ready -now!”</p> - -<p>Again the pony ambled forward, with -Janet and Trouble on its back, and Ted ran -forward to get on. Janet did just as the -director told her to, and her brother slipped -off in a funny fashion.</p> - -<p>“That’s fine!” cried Mr. Birch, with a -laugh. “You children will be in the movies -some day. It’s a good thing you fell off, -Ted, even if it was accidental at first, for it -gave me an idea. That’s the way it often -happens in this sort of work—accidents, -many times, make the best scenes.”</p> - -<p>“I thought sure he’d spoiled the picture -when he slipped off,” confessed Janet, when -the cameras had stopped grinding.</p> - -<p>“I did, too,” admitted Ted. “I’d like to -see how I looked when I fell.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll let you do that some day,” promised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -the director. And I might say that, -later in the season when they were back -home, the Curlytops saw this picture, in -which they had had a part in making, shown -in the Cresco Theater. Ted beheld himself -running after the pony and slipping from -its back in a queer way that made him laugh. -All who saw it also laughed, including Ted’s -friends and playmates. As for Trouble, -when he saw himself and Janet on the pony, -the little fellow let out a scream of delight.</p> - -<p>So, all in all, though at first it seemed as -though their efforts were going to fail, the -initial appearance of the Curlytops in the -movies was quite a success.</p> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. Martin liked it very much -at Dawson’s Farm, and only for the fact that -he had planned to make a tour induced the -father of the Curlytops to carry out the idea.</p> - -<p>“It would be nice to stay here all summer,” -he said to his wife.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she agreed. “But I would like a -little change, and so would the children. I -want to get near a lake or a large river for -a week or two.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’d like that myself,” said Mr. Martin. -“And if I can manage it we may take -a motor boat trip. We’ll stay here until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -Mr. Portnay sends back that box of albums, -and then we’ll travel on.”</p> - -<p>“You ought to hear from him in a day or -so,” said Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“I expect to,” replied her husband.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the Curlytops and Trouble -were having a great deal of fun on the farm. -They were allowed to gather eggs and do -some of the small chores about the place, -such as feeding the chickens and taking salt -to some sheep in a distant pasture.</p> - -<p>Every day some moving pictures were -taken, and when this happened not too far -away the children were allowed to watch. -Some of the scenes were filmed several miles -distant from the farm, in rocky glens or in -bits of woodland which were needed for the -background. On such occasions the actors -and actresses were piled into automobiles, -or those who had horses rode them, and the -whole company, cameras and all, would go -to the spot picked out by Mr. Birch.</p> - -<p>Once he filmed a fishing scene, and when -Mr. Tizzy happened to mention the trick he -had played on Ted, the director had a great -idea.</p> - -<p>“We’ll do that for the movies!” he cried.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -“It will be great. Will you children go -through with it for us?”</p> - -<p>“I guess so,” said Ted, “if my father -thinks it’s all right.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin gave his consent, and so, for -the second time, the Curlytops faced the -camera. Or, rather, they didn’t exactly face -it, for if you will notice in moving pictures, -the players hardly ever gaze directly at you, -which means that they don’t peer straight -at the lens of the camera.</p> - -<p>But Ted threw in his baited hook and -waited for a bite, while the flip-flop man, -hidden in the grass around the bend in the -bank, fastened on a rubber boot. Another -camera took close-up views of this scene, -while the first camera was picturing Ted’s -surprise when he pulled up the rubber boot -full of water which spurted from the hole in -the toe.</p> - -<p>The rest of the funny scene, with the shoe -and the tin can, was also taken, and Trouble -was even filmed catching a real fish, much to -his delight. Then Mr. Tizzy did flip-flops -while the children were shown laughing at -him after they had discovered the trick. -But the funny man did not again fall down<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> -the hole, as that was considered too dangerous.</p> - -<p>The next day Mr. Martin received a letter -from the movie actor in New York, saying -how sorry Mr. Portnay was to learn that his -helper had, by mistake, picked up the box -of albums.</p> - -<p>“I am having your box shipped back to -you by express,” wrote the leading man. “I -hope you will receive it safely. I may see -you before the summer is over, as my company -is going to travel in the same direction -you are taking on your tour.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I hope we do see him again!” exclaimed -Janet, when the letter was talked -about one afternoon. “I like him.”</p> - -<p>“So do I,” declared Ted. “I wish I -could ride a horse as he does, or like Mr. -Weldon.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I shall be glad to get back Mr. -Cardwell’s albums,” said Mr. Martin. “As -soon as that box comes we’ll travel on again -and bid good-by to the movie folk, at least -for a while.”</p> - -<p>It was some time later, that same afternoon, -that Janet wandered off by herself to -a little wood lot about a mile from the farmhouse. -She wanted to pick some wild flowers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -and Ted, whom she asked to come with -her, said he didn’t want to.</p> - -<p>But Janet did not mind going alone, for -she had often been in these same woods before. -She had been taking care of Trouble -nearly all of that day, and Trouble certainly -lived up to his name—he was full of mischief. -Jan was glad to get away from him -for a time, dearly as she loved him.</p> - -<p>So she wandered about, picking flowers -that grew in the woods and enjoying the -beautiful scenes all about her. She neared -a little gully, down the sides of which grew -some blossoms she had not before noticed—beautiful -red flowers.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m going to get some of them!” she -murmured.</p> - -<p>Down the pine-needle-covered sides of the -gully she scrambled, toward a big clump of -ferns, near which grew the red flowers she -so much admired.</p> - -<p>The sides of the gully were steeper than -Janet realized, and she was going faster -than she thought—so fast, in fact, that -when she reached the clump of ferns she -couldn’t stop. Right through them she had -to run, and, before she knew it, she saw that -just behind them, hidden in a growth of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -tangled bushes, was what seemed to be a -large box.</p> - -<p>It was a box one end of which was open. -Before Janet had time to wonder what such -a big box was doing out there in the woods, -and before she could stop herself, she had -run right into it, through the opening.</p> - -<p>“I wonder what this is?” thought the -little girl. “It has such a funny smell—like -wild animals in the circus!”</p> - -<p>There was a clicking sound and the big -box, which Janet was now inside of, began -to tremble. Then came a jar and a thud, -and it suddenly grew dark.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” gasped Janet.</p> - -<p>She whirled about, but too late!</p> - -<p>Behind her, the opening was closed. The -sliding end of the box trap—for such it was—had -dropped into place, falling shut, and -making poor Janet a prisoner.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m in a trap!” she cried. “In a -wild animal trap! How am I ever going to -get out?”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XV<br /> - -<small>THE BOX COMES BACK</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Janet Martin</span> was frightened—very -much so, though not so much but what she -kept her wits about her and looked around -the strange prison in which she found herself.</p> - -<p>At first, when the sliding door in the end -of the box trap had fallen, closing the only -way out, it had been very dark. But in a -few moments Jan was able to look about her, -and she noticed that near the top of the box -there were openings which let in light and -air. The openings were merely holes, not -large enough for a cat or dog to get through, -to say nothing of a girl like Janet.</p> - -<p>The box was about six feet wide, almost -as long, and quite as high, so there was -plenty of room for Janet to stand up in it -and walk about.</p> - -<p>“It would make a nice play-house,” she -thought to herself.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>But she did not feel at all like playing -now. All she wanted to do was to get out -of this box trap prison. So well had it been -concealed in the bushes back of the clump of -ferns that Jan had not noticed it at all until -she had entered.</p> - -<p>“I guess a wild animal would do the same -thing,” thought Janet. “He’d run right in -here and be caught. I must have jiggled -something that made the door slide down. -And I guess there’s been a wild animal in -here not long ago. It smells so.”</p> - -<p>On the floor of the trap were dried leaves -and grass; and the whole place smelled like -the inside of the animal tent at a circus, a -queer, wild smell which most of you know, -I am sure.</p> - -<p>“But if there was a wild animal in here, -how did he get out?” thought the little girl, -who, now that her eyes were accustomed to -the semi-darkness, could see about her quite -plainly. “If he got out, maybe I can.”</p> - -<p>She pushed against the sides of the box -as hard as she could and she pounded with -her little fists, but the box seemed very solid. -Then she tried to raise the sliding door that -had dropped shut behind her as soon as she -entered the trap. But though this door rattled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -and moved a little in the grooves in -which it slid up and down, Jan could not -raise it. It seemed to be fastened in place.</p> - -<p>“Maybe the wild animal that was caught -here didn’t get out,” thought the little -Curlytop girl. “Maybe Mr. Dawson had -to come and let it out; or maybe some of the -movie people. I guess that was it—they -caught a moving picture animal in this trap, -and now they’ve caught me and I can’t get -out!”</p> - -<p>Janet cried a little as she thought of this. -It would soon be dark, she feared, and she -did not want to stay in the trap all night.</p> - -<p>“I know what I’ll do,” thought Janet, as -she dried her tears, for she knew crying did -no good. “I’ll yell as loud as I can. I’ll -call and shout and somebody will hear me -and come and let me out. Maybe Ted will -come, or that funny flip-flop man.”</p> - -<p>Having thus made up her mind, Janet -began to shout and call. Her voice sounded -strange and hollow in the box trap. She -wondered how far it would carry. She -hoped they might hear her down at the -farmhouse, but she hardly thought this possible.</p> - -<p>Then a new terror came to poor Janet.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -She began to think of the wild animal that -had been in the trap.</p> - -<p>“Maybe it was a bear,” she whispered to -herself. “And maybe he might hear me yelling -and come to see me. I wouldn’t like -that. But, anyhow, he couldn’t get in, since -I can’t get out.”</p> - -<p>For the first time Janet was glad the trap -was firmly closed. True, she couldn’t get -out, but then, no wild animal could get in.</p> - -<p>After Janet had called as loudly as she -could for some time and no one had answered, -she began to feel tired. So she sat -down in a corner of the box trap, on the soft -dried grass and leaves.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear! I wish some one would come -and get me out!” she sighed.</p> - -<p>It was about this time that Mrs. Martin -began to inquire for Janet. The little girl -had told her mother about going to the -“wood lot,” as Mr. Dawson called it, to pick -flowers.</p> - -<p>“But it’s time she was back,” Mrs. Martin -said to her husband. “It will soon be evening.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go after her!” offered Ted, who had -just come back from a distant pasture, having -been there with one of the hired men to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -salt the sheep. Every so often lumps of -coarse, rock salt were put in boxes in the -fields where the sheep roamed. Sheep, and -most other animals, like a bit of salt now -and then. It keeps them healthy.</p> - -<p>“All right, Teddy,” said his mother. “I -wish you would go after Janet. She’s probably -all right, but she has forgotten it is -getting late. Very likely she has found -more flowers than she expected and she -wants to get a big bouquet.”</p> - -<p>“I come, too!” offered Trouble, as he saw -his brother starting away.</p> - -<p>“No, you stay here,” objected Mrs. Martin, -with a laugh. “We don’t want you getting -lost.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll soon be back,” Ted called to William.</p> - -<p>The Curlytop lad well knew the path to -the wood lot, for he and his sister had trod -it many times since coming to Dawson’s -Farm. And now running and now walking -fast, Ted was soon on the edge of the clump -of trees. He looked about, but did not see -any signs of his sister.</p> - -<p>“Maybe she started back another way,” -he told himself.</p> - -<p>But he decided to give a good look around -in the woods, and when he had done so and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -had not yet caught a glimpse of Janet picking -flowers, Ted began to feel worried.</p> - -<p>“Guess I’ll give a yell and see if she answers,” -he said to himself. So he called: -“Janet! Janet! Oh, Jan! where are you?”</p> - -<p>Ted paused for a reply, but none came.</p> - -<p>Then he called again, and listened. About -him he heard only the rustle of the wind in -the trees, the whisperings of the bushes, the -tinkle of a distant waterfall and the songs -of birds.</p> - -<p>“I wonder where she is?” thought the boy.</p> - -<p>Taking a long breath, he gave the loudest -shout of which he was capable. It made him -red in the face. Then he listened.</p> - -<p>At last he heard an answer.</p> - -<p>“Ted! Oh, Ted! Come and get me out! -I’m in a trap!”</p> - -<p>It was Janet’s voice, beyond a doubt, but -such a strange voice—and faint and far -away. Ted remembered once when his sister -had been shut in the preserve closet down -the cellar at home in Cresco. Her voice -then had sounded just as it did now.</p> - -<p>“But there isn’t any cellar here,” thought -Ted. Once more he called: “Where are -you? I can’t see you!”</p> - -<p>“I’m shut up in a box trap!” answered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -Janet. “It’s by a big clump of ferns down -in a little hollow.”</p> - -<p>Ted at that moment was standing on the -edge of the gully into which Janet had run -to get the red flowers. And, looking down, -Ted saw where the ferns had been broken -and bent to one side as his sister pushed -through them. He also saw the top of the -box hidden among the bushes.</p> - -<p>“All right! I’m coming, Jan!” cried -Ted, as he scrambled down the steep sides.</p> - -<p>Janet had been roused from a half slumber -by the call of her brother’s voice and -had answered him. Thus he had found her.</p> - -<p>But when he stood in front of the box -trap, Ted was a bit puzzled as to how Janet -had gotten in and how he was going to get -her out.</p> - -<p>“How does this thing work?” he called to -his sister, through the wooden sides. -“How’d you get in?”</p> - -<p>“I ran in when the door was open. I ran -in before I knew what it was,” answered -Janet. “Then the door dropped shut. I -guess I must have jiggled something.”</p> - -<p>“I guess you did,” answered Ted. “Now -I wonder if I can get this door open! I’ve<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -got to pry it up with a long stick if I can -find one.”</p> - -<p>Luckily, the Curlytop lad discovered just -what was needed—a long tree branch, sharp -on one end, like a wedge. This wedge he put -under the edge of the sliding door and pried -it up. As the door raised a little, Ted, -holding it in that position with one hand on -the long stick, while Janet helped from the -inside, thrust a stone beneath the door. -There was a crack wide enough for Janet -to thrust out her hand.</p> - -<p>“But I can’t crawl out through that -crack,” she said.</p> - -<p>“I know it,” answered her brother. “I’ll -lift it up higher.”</p> - -<p>This he did, a foot or so at a time, putting -more stones and finally upright sticks beneath -the wooden slide, until it was raised -high enough for Janet to crawl out.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m so glad you came!” she cried to -her brother.</p> - -<p>“So’m I,” he said. “But what made you -go in there?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know it was a trap,” explained -the little girl. “I saw some red flowers and -I ran to pick them and before I knew it -I was in the box, and I must have jiggled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -something for the door fell shut behind me -and I couldn’t get out.”</p> - -<p>“I guess it’s a wild animal trap, all right,” -Ted remarked. “It smells so,” and he -sniffed the air.</p> - -<p>“Do you think they catch bears here?” -asked Janet.</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” assented Ted.</p> - -<p>“Then let’s run home,” suggested his sister, -for it was now getting dusk in the woods, -though it was lighter out in the open.</p> - -<p>Ted took out the sticks and stones from -beneath the door, letting it drop into place -again.</p> - -<p>“So nobody else will be caught,” he explained.</p> - -<p>Then he and his sister hurried back to the -farmhouse.</p> - -<p>“Say, now, that’s too bad!” exclaimed -Mr. Birch, the movie director, when he -heard what had happened. “We did have -some wild animals in that box, but they were -foxes, not bears. And we didn’t trap the -foxes—we just held them in that box so we -could let them run out when we wanted to -take moving pictures of them.</p> - -<p>“We hid the box in the bushes so it -wouldn’t show in the picture, and the door<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -was pulled up by a long rope. After we -filmed the foxes some of the men must have -left the door open, taking off the ropes. So -it was turned into a regular trap, though we -didn’t intend it as such.</p> - -<p>“The door thus left propped up, when -Janet went in she must have ‘jiggled’ it, as -she says, so it dropped into place. I’m -mighty sorry about it, little girl!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t mind, as long as I got out -before dark,” laughed Jan. “But I was -scared for a little while.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll see that it doesn’t happen again,” -declared the director. “We have no further -use for the box, since we have made the -fox films, so I’ll have it taken away.”</p> - -<p>A few days later most of the pictures intended -to be filmed at Dawson’s Farm had -been taken, and the company prepared to -move on to the next location. Already some -of the cowboys and other men and women -connected with the company had left.</p> - -<p>One last scene taken was where Mr. -Tizzy, the funny flip-flop man, pretended to -be a cowboy, riding a horse to lasso a pig. -It was a lively affair. The animal used was -not the savage boar that had nearly hurt -Trouble, but a more gentle pig.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>The Curlytops and their father and -mother, as well as the Dawson household, -laughed until the tears ran out of their eyes -at the funny antics of Mr. Tizzy and the no -less funny actions of the pig.</p> - -<p>At last the flip-flop man lassoed the squealing -pig, which, however, dragged the man off -his horse and pulled him around the lot. -And of all this the clicking cameras took -many pictures which, later, made thousands -of persons laugh.</p> - -<p>It was this same afternoon that an express -package came for Mr. Martin. It was -a wooden box well wrapped in paper.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Daddy? Oh, what is it?” -cried Janet, dancing up and down in excitement.</p> - -<p>“Oh, let him look first, Jan,” admonished -Teddy.</p> - -<p>“Ah, the album box has come back!” said -the father of the Curlytops. “Now I won’t -have to tell Mr. Cardwell it is missing. We -can take it on the tour with us.”</p> - -<p>He tore open one end of the paper wrapping, -disclosing the red, shining wooden box.</p> - -<p>“No need to take off all the paper,” he -said. “It is well packed and I’ll leave it so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -and put it in the car. We’ll travel on again -to-morrow, Curlytops!”</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet were glad of this, though -they liked it at the farm. But children are -always glad of a change, I suppose.</p> - -<p>So Mr. Martin put the wrapped box in his -car. If he had only taken off all the paper -and had looked more closely inside, there -would have been a different ending to this -story.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVI<br /> - -<small>ON AGAIN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> Mrs. Martin called Janet the next -morning, to tell the Curlytop girl to get up, -dress and have breakfast, ready to start -touring again, Janet, with her eyes still -closed, began to call:</p> - -<p>“Let me out! Let me out! Oh, don’t let -the bears come in!”</p> - -<p>This awakened Trouble, and he wanted to -know what the matter was.</p> - -<p>“I guess Janet thinks she is back in the -box trap again,” said Mrs. Martin, with a -smile. “Wake up, my dear! Wake up,” -she went on, giving her daughter a gentle -shake. “You’re all right, Janet.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Oh!” gasped the little girl, as she -opened her eyes. She was plainly surprised -to find herself safe in bed in the room with -her mother and Trouble. “I—I thought I -was in the box trap and a bear was trying to -come in with me,” she said.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>“I thought that was it,” replied her -mother. “It was quite an adventure for -you, but don’t think any more about it.”</p> - -<p>And Janet tried not to.</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry to see you folks go,” Mr. Dawson -said to Mr. Martin, when the Curlytop -family was at breakfast. “The old farm -will be a lonesome place with you and the -movie people leaving. The last of them will -go to-day, too.”</p> - -<p>“We have enjoyed it here,” said Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“We’ll come back again,” promised -Trouble, as he finished the last of his boiled -egg and drank the glass of milk. “I like -it here a lot.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad you do, my dear,” said motherly -Mrs. Dawson.</p> - -<p>The big touring car was brought around -to the side porch, and into it the Martin family -baggage was piled. Mr. Martin made -sure that the box Mr. Portnay had sent -from New York was in a safe place.</p> - -<p>“I hope nothing more happens to that box -before I deliver it to Mr. Cardwell in Bentville,” -said Ted’s father, with a sigh of relief -as he put the small chest under some -robes. “If I had known all the anxiety it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -was going to give us, I’d never have promised -to deliver it for my neighbor,” he told -Mr. Dawson.</p> - -<p>“Well, when you have a lot of worry it’s -best to get it over with,” said the farmer. -“Be sure and stop off to see us when you -come this way again.”</p> - -<p>“We will,” promised Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>Then the Curlytops were off again on their -summer touring trip. More adventures lay -ahead of them.</p> - -<p>“Where are we going now, Daddy?” -asked Janet, as they rode along a pleasant -country highway.</p> - -<p>“The next big place at which we expect to -stop is called Evenham,” was the answer. -“But we won’t be there before to-morrow or -next day.”</p> - -<p>“Where do you expect to stop to-night?” -asked Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“What would you say to camping out?” -her husband wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“In the tent?” cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what fun!” echoed Jan.</p> - -<p>“I goin’ to make a campfire!” declared -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“We’ll see about that,” his father answered. -“Yes, if your mother thinks well of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -it, we can stop in some good place, rig the -tent up to the side of the car, and stay there -all night,” Mr. Martin went on to Ted and -Janet. “It’s going to be a warm, pleasant -night.”</p> - -<p>“And can we cook a meal?” Ted wanted -to know. “It isn’t like camping out if you -don’t cook your own meal.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we can do that, too,” said Mrs. -Martin, who liked camp life and roughing it -almost as much as did the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>So it was decided, and in the next town -they stopped to purchase some bacon, coffee -and other things they could cook over their -alcohol stoves. They carried two small -stoves.</p> - -<p>About noon the auto was rolling along a -quiet country road, and, finding a lane which -did not seem to be much traveled, Mr. Martin -turned off on that to be out of the way -of traffic while lunch was being got ready.</p> - -<p>Then such a good time as the Curlytops -had, and Trouble also!</p> - -<p>For they prepared a meal out in the open, -and the table that was set was the running-board -of the car, papers being spread on it -for a cloth.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I just love it here! Don’t you,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -Ted?” murmured Janet, her mouth half -filled with part of a peanut butter sandwich.</p> - -<p>“It’s dandy!” Ted exclaimed, as he -reached for another slice of bacon, for Mrs. -Martin had fried some in a little pan over -the stove which burned solid chunks of alcohol. -And such a wonderful odor as that -bacon gave off in the woods! It was worth -going miles just to get a whiff of it.</p> - -<p>After the meal Mr. and Mrs. Martin -strolled about in the woods while the children -played near by. The radiator of the -car was filled with fresh water from a clear, -bubbling spring, and then the touring party -started on again.</p> - -<p>“We must be looking for a good place to -make our night camp,” Mrs. Martin said, -later in the afternoon. “We don’t have to -go on to any certain place, so if we find a -good spot we might as well stop there and -begin to put up the tent. We want to get -everything in readiness before dark.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” agreed her husband. “So -keep your eyes open, children.”</p> - -<p>Ted and Janet did, with the result that -they pointed out several more or less good -spots for a night camp. There were objections -to most of these, however. But at last<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> -Mrs. Martin spied what seemed to all of -them to be a delightful place. It was in a -meadow, on the edge of a clump of woods, -and there was a spring of water near by. -It is always wise to camp near water.</p> - -<p>“This seems all right,” agreed Mr. Martin, -as he drove the auto into the glade. -“And there aren’t any neighbors.”</p> - -<p>He spoke truly, for there was not a house -in sight. It was a beautiful spot, very quiet -and restful.</p> - -<p>“Not even a cow,” said Janet.</p> - -<p>Ted helped his father get the portable tent -out and attach it to the sides of the car while -Mrs. Martin prepared the evening meal. -There were folding cots which, when spread -out, made comfortable little beds.</p> - -<p>It was arranged that Trouble and Janet -would sleep on the seats of the auto, with -the side curtains put up so they would be -snug and comfortable. And on cots, under -the extended tent, Ted, his mother and his -father would pass the night.</p> - -<p>Supper was eaten with keen appetites, -and then the Martin family sat about in the -beautiful evening glow, singing songs and -telling stories. They saw no signs of life, -no near-by farmers happened along, and not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> -so much as one car passed up or down the -road.</p> - -<p>The frogs in a distant pond began to croak -as night fell, and pretty soon Mrs. Martin -noticed that Trouble’s eyes were closing.</p> - -<p>“Bedtime!” she announced, and though -Ted and Janet declared they weren’t a bit -sleepy, their parents said they had better -“turn in.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll get an early start in the morning,” -said Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>Trouble was asleep almost as soon as he -had been tucked in on the comfortable auto -seat, and Janet was not far behind him in -journeying to slumberland.</p> - -<p>But to Ted, out in the tent with his father -and his mother, sleep did not come so -quickly. The little boy pretended he was a -cowboy, sleeping out on the plains, with a -big herd of cattle near by.</p> - -<p>Perhaps his lively thoughts kept Ted -awake. At any rate, something did; but at -last he, too, closed his eyes and was soon -fast asleep.</p> - -<p>Just how long it was afterward he did not -know. But he was suddenly awakened by -feeling something touch him on the side. It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -was as though some one had “punched him -in the ribs,” Ted said afterward.</p> - -<p>The little fellow opened his eyes and murmured:</p> - -<p>“Is it morning, Mother?”</p> - -<p>He imagined it was his mother rousing -him by shaking him, as she sometimes did.</p> - -<p>His mother did not answer. Then Teddy -saw that the tent was dark. The sun was not -streaming in. But through a crack the lad -caught sight of a distant star. He knew it -was still night.</p> - -<p>But something had awakened him by -touching him on the side. He raised himself -on his elbow and listened. He could -tell, by the deep, regular breathing of his -father and mother that they were sleeping -soundly on their cots.</p> - -<p>Then from the outside of the tent something -reached in and gave Teddy such a blow -that he was knocked back on his cot.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVII<br /> - -<small>ALONG THE RIVER</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">For</span> a 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Daddy! Mother!” yelled Teddy. -“There’s a big animal with horns coming -into the tent. Look!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 kept<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> -near him at night, and it was useful in more -ways than one.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“Where are you, Ted?”</p> - -<p>“Here I am,” came the answer, and -Janet’s brother arose from the ground -where he had thrown himself.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“No, I wasn’t walking in my sleep,” replied -Teddy. “But I gave a jump and I -fell out of bed.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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:</p> - -<p>“Oh, a cow! A cow! Is it morning an’ -did the cow come to bring us milk?”</p> - -<p>“Well, not exactly; though it looks that -way,” said Mr. Martin, with another laugh. -“Was it this cow that frightened you, -Teddy?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>“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.</p> - -<p>“It might have been a bear,” said Janet. -“I’m glad it wasn’t.”</p> - -<p>“So am I,” added Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Would a bear eat peanuts like a nellifunt?” -Trouble wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I will,” answered Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>The cow was very gentle and tame. She -probably did not intend to frighten Teddy -by thrusting her horns against the tent, poking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -him in the ribs and afterward thrusting -her head inside. It was all an accident.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Oh, we’re just touring around,” Teddy -answered. “I guess we’ll go up the river -to-day.”</p> - -<p>He had heard his father say they might -do that, for they were near a large stream -alongside of which wound a good road leading<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -into a pleasant country with great -stretches of woodland.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“This will take us many miles on our -way,” he said.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The “lumber dog,” as Trouble called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -him, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The dog gave one look at what, to him, -must have been a strange object, and then -he growled and barked at it.</p> - -<p>“Look out! Don’t touch that!” cried -Mr. Martin, with a laugh.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Heels over head that dog went toppling -back, howling in dismay.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVIII<br /> - -<small>TWO BEARS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Several</span> of the lumbermen in charge of -the raft of logs came rushing out of the slab -cabin at the sound of the shot—or what they -thought was a shot from a gun.</p> - -<p>One of the men, seeing the dog, rushed -to the edge of the raft and cried:</p> - -<p>“Who shot Spot?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody shot him!” laughed the steersman, -who was chuckling so with mirth that -he let go of the long sweep that was used to -guide the raft. “Leastways, if he’s shot he -shot himself! Ho! Ho!”</p> - -<p>“Shot himself! What do you mean?” -asked one of the lumbermen.</p> - -<p>The Curlytops, also, did not understand -what had happened. But Mr. Martin, looking -at the inner tube of his tire which was -now quite flat, knew what had taken place.</p> - -<p>“Yep, Spot shot himself!” laughed the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> -steersman. “He bit into that blown-up auto -tire on the shore and made a hole in it. He -punctured it, and the air popped out like a -gun, right in his face. I guess Spot thought -he was shot, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“It did sound like a gun,” remarked one -of the men. “Hi, Spot!” he called.</p> - -<p>With a bark, the dog, his tail between -his legs in fright, raced along the shore -and gave a leap which carried him across the -water between the raft and the bank and -landed him on the logs. Then he ran inside -the cabin and hid himself.</p> - -<p>The steersman guided the log raft against -the bank, thus bringing it to a stop, and he -jumped ashore.</p> - -<p>“I’m right sorry, sir, that our dog punctured -your tire,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s all right,” replied Mr. Martin, -with a smile. “It’s easily mended -again. We aren’t fussy about dogs—we -have one at home.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good,” murmured the lumberman. -“Some folks don’t like dogs, but -they’re a heap of company, I say. I reckon -Spot must have thought your auto tire was -a big, red bologna sausage, all ready for him<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> -to eat, and he wanted to take a bite out -of it.”</p> - -<p>“He might have thought that,” said Mr. -Martin. “His sharp teeth didn’t take long -to put a hole in the tube. And it certainly -shot off like a gun.”</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t know much about auto tires—this -dog of ours,” said the steersman. “I -reckon he never saw a red blowed-up tire on -the ground before.”</p> - -<p>“And he’ll never want to see another, I -reckon!” added a big lumberman in high -boots. “He sure was a scared dog.”</p> - -<p>“Won’t he come out again and play with -us?” Trouble wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“Maybe I can coax him out,” said one of -the men.</p> - -<p>After some urging, Spot was induced to -leave the cabin, where he had been cowering -under a bunk. He whined and seemed still -afraid, but when the Curlytops had coaxed -him ashore and romped about with him, he -regained his spirits and began to bark and -leap about.</p> - -<p>“Don’t put that tube on the ground again -after you get it mended,” said Mrs. Martin -to her husband, with a laugh, as she saw him -at work, cementing another patch on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> -place where Spot’s sharp teeth had gone -through the rubber.</p> - -<p>“No, indeed!” he agreed.</p> - -<p>And when the tube had been mended again -Mr. Martin hung it over the rear of the car -to dry. It held the air when he tested it, -and, slipping it inside the shoe, he pumped -it up fully and soon had the rim and tire -back on the car.</p> - -<p>By this time the raft had been worked out -from shore and was ready to go on again.</p> - -<p>“Here, Spot!” called the steersman.</p> - -<p>The dog seemed to want to remain on -shore and have fun with the Curlytops, but -he knew his master’s voice and, with a little -whine and bark of farewell, he jumped on -the moving raft and went on down the river.</p> - -<p>“Good-by!” called Trouble, waving his -hand to the dog. And Spot waved his tail -in answer.</p> - -<p>“Where did the raft come from?” asked -Ted, for he had seen his father talking to the -men while waiting for the second tire patch -to dry.</p> - -<p>“The trees were cut in the woods, quite a -distance up the river,” explained Mr. Martin. -“They were floated down from the -lumber camp, a few miles up.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>“Could we go to the lumber camp?” -asked Ted. “I’d like to see it.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to see it, too,” added Janet. -“We had fun in a lumber camp once.”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t much going on in a lumber -camp in the summer time,” explained their -father. “Winter is the busy season there, -for the logs are cut and hauled through the -woods to the edge of the water that is to -float them to the mill.”</p> - -<p>“How can the water float them to the mill -in winter when the rivers and lakes are -frozen?” asked Ted.</p> - -<p>“That’s just it—they don’t float the logs -down in the winter,” his father explained. -“They pile them up near the river and wait -for spring to come when the snow and ice -melts and makes the water very high—higher -than at any other time of the year. -It is on this high water that the logs are -floated down.</p> - -<p>“However, there is some little work being -done in this lumber camp now, the men said. -They are cleaning up the logs left over from -the spring freshet run, and this raft was one -of that sort. I suppose we might stop off at -this lumber camp, if your mother thinks it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -would be all right,” said Mr. Martin, looking -at his wife.</p> - -<p>“Do whatever you like,” she said, with a -smile. “We are touring around to give the -Curlytops a good time, and we might as well -stop at the lumber camp as anywhere else.”</p> - -<p>So it was decided, and after making sure -nothing had been left behind, the auto party -went on again.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin expected to reach the lumber -camp that evening, and he knew he would be -welcome there with his family, to spend the -night, for the men on the raft had told him -so. They could sleep in one of the log -cabins, the steersman said, since only a few -of the wood-choppers were in the camp now.</p> - -<p>But the river road, which had been very -good at first, soon became so rough that the -auto had to be driven slowly, and not as -good time could be made. Also the distance -was farther than Mr. Martin thought, or at -least farther than the men on the raft had -told him.</p> - -<p>When the evening shadows began to fall -they were still traveling along, with no -signs of the lumber camp in sight.</p> - -<p>“I guess we shall have to camp out again -to-night alongside the road,” remarked Mr.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> -Martin, as he scanned the highway ahead of -him and saw no sign of a house.</p> - -<p>“That’ll be fun!” declared Ted.</p> - -<p>“Maybe a horse will visit you to-night instead -of a cow,” his sister said.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want either one,” declared the -lad.</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin drove the auto on for another -mile or two and then, coming to a place he -thought would make a good camp—an open -space near a spring—he stopped and the -work of making camp for the night was -begun.</p> - -<p>The tent was stretched out from the side -of the auto and the folding cots put beneath -the shelter. As before, Janet and Trouble -would sleep in the auto itself.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Martin got the supper over the alcohol -stoves, which, though small, gave good -heat. Ted and Janet gathered wood, for -their father had said they might make a -campfire and sit about it before going to -bed.</p> - -<p>When the meal was finished Ted was -allowed to light the fire. The children sat -about it on smooth stumps, pretending they -were early settlers living in the wilderness.</p> - -<p>“It’s just like the Pilgrims,” said Janet,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> -who was fond of history. “Only there -aren’t any wild Indians or wild animals to -come after us,” she added.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s the only difference,” agreed -Ted.</p> - -<p>“They is some wild animals,” said -Trouble, who was sitting near his mother. -He suddenly arose and looked off toward -the forest. “They is some wild animals -here.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, there aren’t, Trouble!” declared -Ted.</p> - -<p>“Yes, they is!” insisted his little brother. -“They is two bears! I see them! Here -they come!”</p> - -<p>He pointed across the open glade, and the -Curlytops, looking, saw, to their great astonishment, -two bears shuffling their way -toward them!</p> - -<p>“Oh! Oh!” screamed Janet. “Oh, look -at the bears!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIX<br /> - -<small>THE LUMBER CAMP</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Martin</span>, who had been busy making -sure that everything about the camp was -snug and secure for the night, did not at -first glimpse the bears. But he heard what -Janet exclaimed and called to her:</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t pretend so hard if I were -you, Jan, especially about bears at night. -You might scare Trouble.”</p> - -<p>“But, Daddy!” cried Janet, as she ran -toward him, “there <i>are</i> bears! <i>Real</i> ones! -And Trouble saw them first.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, -emerging from behind the auto, where he -was making sure the tent flaps were fast.</p> - -<p>“Yes, here are two bears, Dick!” said his -wife. “And they’re coming right for us! -We’d certainly better do something!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do something!” cried Ted, picking -up a blazing brand. “I’ll scare ’em with -this!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>“No! No! You mustn’t!” objected his -mother.</p> - -<p>“Bears are afraid of fire!” stated Ted.</p> - -<p>“These don’t seem to be,” observed Janet. -“They’re coming right for us!”</p> - -<p>She had turned, on her way to join her -father, and she saw the shaggy creatures -still shuffling along. By this time Mr. Martin -had reached the open place and he had -a sight of the bears.</p> - -<p>“Bless my stars!” cried the father of the -Curlytops. “Who would have thought to -find bears here? But they must be tame -bears!”</p> - -<p>“I certainly hope so!” exclaimed his wife.</p> - -<p>“They must be!” said her husband again. -“Wild bears would run at the sight of us—not -come nearer. Some lumberman must -have caught these two when they were small, -and he’s tamed them. They aren’t much -more yet than two-year-old cubs. I believe -they’re coming to see if they can find something -to eat.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if they’re tame bears maybe they’ll -do tricks!” cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“Maybe they’ll eat peanuts like nellifunts!” -added Trouble.</p> - -<p>“Well, you aren’t going to feed these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> -bears peanuts!” decided his mother, catching -the little fellow up in her arms and stepping -back toward the auto with him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look! They’re eating!” suddenly -cried Ted, pointing.</p> - -<p>Surely enough, the two bears that had been -shuffling along in the peculiar way bears -have, had now come to a stop some little distance -away from the campfire and began -sniffing along the ground.</p> - -<p>Suddenly one of them seemed to find some -dainty, for he picked it up. And an instant -later the other, with a sort of squealing -growl, tried to knock whatever it was from -the mouth of the first bear.</p> - -<p>“They’re quarreling, just like two boys! -Oh, they must be tame bears!” decided Mrs. -Martin, for the shaggy chaps seemed to have -no interest except in each other or in what -they could find on the ground.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Daddy, they’re fighting -about?” asked Janet, for now the two bears -were wrestling, standing up on their hind -legs, and each trying to throw the other. -Whatever the first bear had found had been -knocked from him by the second bear and -had fallen to the ground. Now they were -struggling to see which should have it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>“It’s my snandwich that I dropped,” explained -Trouble. “I was over by there and -I dropped a snandwich (he always called -them that) and the bears are eating my -snandwich.”</p> - -<p>“I guess that’s right!” agreed Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>As the two bears wrestled, more in fun -than in anger it seemed, the one who had -knocked the sandwich from the one that first -found it, dealt his companion such a blow -as to send him staggering off against a tree. -Then the second bear pounced on Trouble’s -lost sandwich and soon ate it.</p> - -<p>The first bear seemed to take it all good-naturedly -and went sniffing for more tidbits -that might have been tossed away or -dropped by the campers.</p> - -<p>“Oh, aren’t they cute!” exclaimed Jan, -for by this time it was evident that the bears -would do no harm. They came to eat—not -to run the Curlytops off.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to know whose they are,” said -Teddy.</p> - -<p>“And I hope they don’t stay here all -night,” added Mrs. Martin. “I don’t want -to go to sleep, knowing a bear—no matter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -how friendly he is—may poke his head in -on me at any moment.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll see if I can drive them away,” -offered Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“No, don’t do that!” begged his wife, -clutching him by the arm. “They might -turn on you and scratch you.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe they will,” said her husband. -“As you say, we don’t want to go to -sleep with bears roaming around loose, even -if they are tame bears.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe they’ll go away themselves if we -give them enough to eat,” suggested Janet.</p> - -<p>“Huh, that’s just the way to make ’em -stay around here!” declared Ted. “They’ll -stay as long as you feed ’em—like a stray -dog.”</p> - -<p>It was evident that something must be -done, for the two bears, having picked up -all the scraps they could find outside the -camp, were now approaching closer. They -stood up and sniffed hungrily, moving their -snouts about in a peculiar way. Nor did -they appear to be afraid of the fire, on which -Ted piled more wood.</p> - -<p>“I wish their keeper would come and take -them away,” said Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>Then, as if in answer to her wish, a man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> -came running out of the forest—a lumberman, -he seemed, with big boots on—and in -his hands he carried chains that rattled and -clanked. At the sound of the rattling chains -the bears turned, like boys caught in a jam -closet, and, dropping to all fours, would have -run into the woods, except that the man -shouted:</p> - -<p>“No, you don’t, Jim! Come back here, -Jack, you little rascal! Come here, I say!”</p> - -<p>The bears paused, and then, as the man -ran toward them and again shouted, they -turned about and walked slowly back to him. -In an instant he had snapped one end of the -chains he carried into collars they wore -about their necks.</p> - -<p>“Hope my pets didn’t scare you folks,” -said the man, as he playfully pulled the little -short ears of his shaggy charges. “Jim and -Jack are as gentle as lambs, but you’ve got -to know how to treat ’em. Hope they didn’t -frighten you.”</p> - -<p>“They didn’t—exactly,” said Mr. Martin. -“We were a bit surprised, at first, but the -bears seemed to be content to pick up scraps -about the place.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what they love—picking up -scraps of food,” said the lumberman.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>“Are they your pets?” asked Janet.</p> - -<p>“Yes, little girl. I’ve had ’em ever since -they were little bits of cubs. Some one shot -the old bear and I found these two, like puppies, -whimpering on their dead mother. I -brought them to my camp, raised them on a -bottle until they were old enough to eat, and -I’ve kept ’em ever since. This evening they -got away, as they often do, and wandered -off, so I had to take after ’em.”</p> - -<p>“Are you camping around here?” asked -Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Yes, in a way,” was the answer. “I’m -not camping for fun, as you folks are. It’s -business with me. I’m manager of a lumber -camp over in the woods.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yours is the camp we have been looking -for!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“You’ve been looking for me?” echoed -the man, who gave his name as Pat Teeter.</p> - -<p>“We met some lumbermen on a raft going -down the river,” explained Mr. Martin, telling -about the dog who bit the auto tire. -“They said you might let us inspect your -camp.”</p> - -<p>“Sure, I will. We’ll be glad to have you -visit us!” declared Mr. Teeter. “There -aren’t many men in camp now, and they’ll<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> -be glad of company. We’re over in the -woods about three miles from here.”</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid that’s rather too far to go -to-night,” objected Mrs. Martin. “And we -have things all ready here.”</p> - -<p>“Then come over the first thing in the -morning,” urged Mr. Teeter. “I’ll go back -now, with my runaway bears. We’ll expect -you in the morning.”</p> - -<p>“Will your bears do tricks?” asked Ted, -as the shaggy creatures on the ends of the -chains prepared to follow their keeper.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes. I’ll show you to-morrow,” was -the answer. “Come over to breakfast, if -you like.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, but I think it will be best to -come over directly after breakfast,” answered -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>Mr. Teeter disappeared in the woods with -his two tame bears, and the Curlytops were -quite delighted, talking of the fun they -would have in the lumber camp the next day.</p> - -<p>“I only hope those bears don’t get loose -again in the night and poke their noses in -our tent as Ted’s cow did,” said Mrs. Martin, -as they made ready for bed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe they will,” said her husband.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> -“Mr. Teeter will be sure to chain -them up well.”</p> - -<p>“If a bear comes I would like to ride on -his back!” stated Trouble. “Once I did ride -on a nellifunt’s back. But I would like a -bear ride, too.”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe you’ll get it!” laughed -Janet, as she cuddled him in her arms.</p> - -<p>In spite of what her husband had said -about the bears being well secured, Mrs. -Martin, several times in the night, awakened, -thinking she heard the shaggy cubs shuffling -along through the forest.</p> - -<p>But nothing like this occurred, and morning -came without anything having happened -in the night. Breakfast was served and -eaten, the things straightened up and put -back in place, and off to the lumber camp -started the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>“There it is!” cried Ted, a little later, as -they drove along the river road. He pointed -to a cluster of log cabins in the woods, cabins -set down in the midst of a clearing.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess this is the lumber camp all -right,” assented his father.</p> - -<p>“I see the two bears!” added Janet, pointing -to the cubs, chained at the rear of one of -the log cabins.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>“Well, this will give us a new set of adventures—stopping -in a lumber camp,” said -Mr. Martin, as he guided the car over the -not very smooth road that led up to the cluster -of cabins.</p> - -<p>At that moment, from down the road in -the other direction, came some strange yells, -shouts and cries:</p> - -<p>“Yip! Yip! Yippie!” was yelled, and -then followed more strange noises.</p> - -<p>“What do you imagine that can be?” -asked Mrs. Martin, wonderingly, of her husband, -while several dogs in the lumber camp -began to bark excitedly.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XX<br /> - -<small>A SMASH</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Martin</span> for a time thought there must -be some sort of fight or other kind of trouble -among the lumbermen to cause all this noise. -The lumbermen, he knew, were, some of -them, rough characters, and he did not wish -the Curlytops and Trouble to see any fighting -or quarreling among them.</p> - -<p>The children, however, were excited and -curious. They looked toward the bend in -the road whence the noise came, and a moment -later Janet cried out in delight:</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s the movie actors! See, there’s -Mr. Weldon!”</p> - -<p>“That’s right—the cowboys!” added her -brother. “I wonder what they are doing -here!”</p> - -<p>“They probably came to take some pictures -in the lumber camp,” said Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>But taking pictures seemed very far from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> -the thoughts of the movie actors—at least, -for the time being. They were intent on -having a good time, for they were laughing -among themselves and many of the men were -giving voice to that “yi-yippy” yell which -sounded so wild.</p> - -<p>“I guess they’ve just finished some hard -work,” said Mrs. Martin, as she laughed at -some of the antics of the riders. “They’re -like boys out of school.”</p> - -<p>So it proved, for when Ned Weldon and -some others of the men who had been -friendly with the Martin family while at -Dawson’s Farm, saw the family, they rode -up and renewed their friendship, and also -told why they had come here.</p> - -<p>“We had to have a lumber camp location -for this part of the film,” explained Mr. -Birch, the director. “So we came here.”</p> - -<p>“But we didn’t expect to find you here,” -added Mr. Weldon, as he made his horse -prance on its hind legs, much to the amusement -of Trouble.</p> - -<p>“We didn’t expect to come here,” stated -Mr. Martin. “But when Mr. Teeter invited -us we thought it would give the children -something new to see for their vacation -tour.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>“And they’s bears, too!” exclaimed -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“I guess you mean elephants, don’t you?” -asked Mr. Weldon, who had more than once -laughed at the little fellow’s pronunciation -of the name.</p> - -<p>“No, not nellifunts—bears,” insisted -Trouble. “They’s over there,” and he -pointed to the two tame bruins, chained to -a tree. The movie actors had not yet seen -the bears, it appeared.</p> - -<p>But Mr. Birch had no sooner looked toward -the cubs than he gave a cry of delight -and said:</p> - -<p>“Just what we want! You remember that -scene, Weldon, where you go into the old -cabin?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I remember that,” answered the -cowboy actor.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve been trying to think of something -funny that could happen there. The -bears will be the very thing! We’ll put them -in the cabin, and you go in. Then the bears -chase you out. It will be very funny.”</p> - -<p>“Funny for the bears, maybe, but not for -me!” exclaimed Mr. Weldon. “Do you -think I’m going into a cabin with a couple -of bears?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>“Why, sure you are,” replied the director.</p> - -<p>“Well, sure I am not!” cried the cowboy. -“I won’t do such a thing! Do you think I -want to be clawed by a bear and have my -clothes torn?” and he made such a funny -face that the Curlytops laughed.</p> - -<p>But Trouble solved the problem by saying:</p> - -<p>“They is tame bears. They won’t hurt -you, Mr. Weldon, and they eats peanuts like -nellifunts.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if they’re tame bears, that’s another -thing,” said the movie actor. “But I want -to be sure they are tame.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, they are,” said Mr. Martin. “The -bears came to our camp last night. We -thought they were wild, but they soon proved -to be tame. Mr. Teeter has raised them -from little cubs.”</p> - -<p>“Just the thing for us, then,” said Mr. -Birch. “We’ll have those bears filmed to-morrow. -It will make a funny scene, Weldon, -with you climbing out of a cabin window -chased by bears.”</p> - -<p>“All right—I’ll go through with it,” said -the cowboy with a sigh and another funny -face which made the Curlytops laugh. “But<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -if they tear my clothes you’ll have to buy me -a new suit.”</p> - -<p>“I will,” promised the movie director.</p> - -<p>By this time the moving picture actors -and actresses had quieted down and were -getting ready to take their parts in the film. -They were to remain in the lumber camp -several days, and the Curlytops were glad of -this, for they liked to see the work being -done.</p> - -<p>Mr. Birch hurried off to arrange with the -tamer of the bears about using the animals -in a scene with Mr. Weldon. The latter remained -to talk to the Martins.</p> - -<p>“Is Mr. Portnay here?” asked Mr. Martin. -“I don’t see anything of him.”</p> - -<p>“No, he doesn’t take any part in this section -of the film,” answered the cowboy. -“But we expect him to join us in a few -days. Did you get back your box of albums -that his man took by mistake?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I have the box here in the car,” -answered the father of the Curlytops. “We -expect to reach Bentville soon, and then I -will turn the old books and pictures over to -Mr. Cardwell. I shall be glad to get rid of -them, for I am always afraid something is -going to happen to them.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>One of the lumbermen came along then to -say that Mr. Martin and his family could -occupy one of the cabins in the woods while -they were in the camp.</p> - -<p>“It’s only a rough shack,” he said; “but -it’s the best we have.”</p> - -<p>“This will do very nicely,” said Mrs. -Martin, when they had driven over to it. -“Cows can’t poke their horns in, at any -rate.”</p> - -<p>“No, ma’am, we haven’t any cows here,” -said the lumberman, with such a puzzled -look on his face that Mrs. Martin laughed -and explained about the cow that tried to -enter the tent while Ted was asleep.</p> - -<p>The movie folk were distributed around -the camp in the different cabins, and soon -the place quieted down. This, as I have said, -was not the busy season at the lumber camp -in the woods, and only a few of the men were -there. Because of this, many of the cabins -were vacant, which gave the movie people -and the Curlytops plenty of room.</p> - -<p>The remainder of the day Ted and his -sister, taking Trouble with them, watched -the movie actors at work. Many short -scenes were filmed, but the children were -more interested in watching Mr. Weldon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> -practice, or go through, his part with the -tame bears.</p> - -<p>At first the actor was a bit timid when -with the shaggy creatures. But after he had -seen Ted and Janet feed them lumps of -sugar, Mr. Weldon got courage enough to -let them eat from his hand. After that it -was easy, and he and the two cubs were soon -on friendly terms.</p> - -<p>“Now we’ll try how it goes when they -chase you out of the cabin,” suggested the -director.</p> - -<p>“But they’re so friendly they won’t chase -me,” said Mr. Weldon.</p> - -<p>“If you have some bread and molasses -with you they will,” said Mr. Teeter. -“They’ll go anywhere to get bread and molasses. -Just have some of that with you -when you play your part. Hold it out to the -bears and then pull it away. They’ll chase -you from here to the end of Crystal Lake to -get the sweet stuff.”</p> - -<p>So that was tried. One of the cabins in -the open part of the woods was picked out -as the scene in the picture.</p> - -<p>The bears were put inside, and then Mr. -Weldon got ready to go through his part. -In his pocket he had some slices of bread<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> -covered with molasses, which the lumber -camp cook had given him. The bread was -wrapped in waxed paper so it would not -make the actor’s pocket sticky.</p> - -<p>The idea in this part of the film story was -that Mr. Weldon was to enter the cabin, -thinking it held a man whom he wanted to -catch. So he approached the place on tiptoe. -But no sooner had he entered, than the bears, -who had been anxious to come out, rushed -at him. They smelled the bread and molasses -in Mr. Weldon’s pocket. There was -no need to hold it out to them.</p> - -<p>“Now run!” cried Mr. Birch, while the -cameras clicked.</p> - -<p>There was no need to tell Mr. Weldon to -do this. He took one look at the bears, hungry -for bread and molasses, and away he -rushed. After him lumbered the cubs—not -angry, just keen to get the sweets.</p> - -<p>“That’s good! Fine! Couldn’t be better!” -cried Mr. Birch.</p> - -<p>Finally the bears chased Mr. Weldon so -closely that, tame as they were, he feared -they might claw him in their eagerness. So -he climbed a tree and dropped the bread and -molasses down to the shaggy fellows.</p> - -<p>This was all they wanted, and they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> -stopped to lick up the molasses, thus ending -the scene.</p> - -<p>“That was great!” cried the director.</p> - -<p>“Glad of it,” said Mr. Weldon, as he came -down from the tree after the bears had been -led away. “If it had been spoiled I wouldn’t -have done it over again. It was too exciting.”</p> - -<p>But there was no need to take the bear -scene over again, as sometimes happens -when movies are being filmed. It was all -right from the first click of the cameras.</p> - -<p>Other scenes were taken the next day in -the lumber camp, and in some the Curlytops -had small parts, much to their delight. They -liked it in the woods, and Mrs. Martin was -glad to remain a few days in one spot and -have the shelter of a cabin in which to sleep.</p> - -<p>Mr. Birch decided that as long as he was -in a lumber camp he had better take some -scenes of chopping down trees, and this was -arranged for. Then, as his company was -one producing comedies, he wanted something -funny and decided to have a man up -in a tree that was being chopped down.</p> - -<p>One of the lumbermen volunteered to take -this part, as he said it had really happened -to him once. He jumped out of the falling<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -tree into another standing near by, and so -was not hurt.</p> - -<p>“I can do the same thing again,” he said.</p> - -<p>This scene took place on the edge of the -clearing in the lumber camp, where the light -was good. As the company carried no powerful -electric lights with them, they had to -depend on the sun, and in the depths of the -woods there was not light enough for taking -good pictures.</p> - -<p>After some funny antics, the lumberman -climbed the tree. Then another man began -to chop it down. It did not take long, for -the lumbermen know how to fell a tree in a -few minutes. And as the big pine began to -sway toward the earth, the trunk being -almost cut through, Mr. Birch cried:</p> - -<p>“Jump now!”</p> - -<p>The man jumped, a camera filming him as -he leaped from the falling tree to one standing -near it. Then down to the earth crashed -the tall pine.</p> - -<p>There was a shout of dismay from some -of the movie people standing off to one side.</p> - -<p>“I hope no one was hurt,” said Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>Mr. Teeter came running up through the -cloud of dust caused by the fall of the tree.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>“There’s been a smash,” he said.</p> - -<p>“A smash?” repeated Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Yes. That tree didn’t fall just the way -it should, and it smashed down on your -auto.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, is our car smashed?” cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“Not all of it, but one wheel is,” said a -lumberman. “I’m afraid you Curlytops -can’t continue your tour. I’m very sorry.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXI<br /> - -<small>ABOARD THE MOTOR BOAT</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Nothing</span> could, have been more of a disappointment -to the Curlytops just then than -to hear they could not keep on touring -around. They were having such fun they -did not want it to stop. But if they had no -auto to go in, they would have to return -home—and the trip wasn’t half finished!</p> - -<p>“And how are we going to take those -albums to Mr. Cardwell?” said Teddy.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go and see how badly the car is -damaged,” suggested Mr. Martin. “Perhaps -it can be repaired so we can go on.”</p> - -<p>“It will need a new wheel,” answered the -lumberman. “I think one can be sent on -from the factory, or the nearest supply -house, but it will take several days. It’s too -bad!”</p> - -<p>“It couldn’t have been helped, I suppose,” -said Mr. Martin, as, with his wife and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> -children, he walked toward his car. “I -shouldn’t have left it there.”</p> - -<p>“The tree was taller than any of us -thought,” said the lumberman. “The end -of it stuck out farther than we calculated, -and it was just the tip of it that hit your -front wheel.”</p> - -<p>It did not take more than a glance from -Mr. Martin to tell him that he could not continue -touring in his auto—at least, until a -new wheel was secured.</p> - -<p>“If only the tire or the rim had been -broken, we could have managed,” he said. -“For we carry a spare tire and rim. But I -haven’t an extra wheel.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll get you one,” offered Mr. Birch. -“It was the fault of our company that your -wheel was broken, and we’ll pay for a new -one. I’ll telegraph and have one sent on -from Blissville at once. There is a branch -agency there that keeps parts for your car.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry about it,” said Mr. Martin. -“It can’t be helped now. I am glad no one -was hurt. There is no great hurry about our -tour—a few days’ wait will not matter.”</p> - -<p>But it would take more than a few days -to supply a new wheel for the one broken -on the auto, it was found out. The agency<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> -was out of wheels for the kind of car Mr. -Martin owned, and it would be necessary to -send to Michigan for one. This would take -about two weeks, stated the telegram that -came in reply to the one Mr. Birch had sent.</p> - -<p>“Do you think we want to stay in this -lumber camp two weeks more?” asked Mrs. -Martin of her husband.</p> - -<p>“Hardly,” he answered. “And yet I -don’t see how we can continue our tour without -a car.”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t we go on horseback?” asked -Ted. “When we were at Uncle Frank’s -ranch we rode on ponies.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like a pony,” Janet said.</p> - -<p>“The ponies might be all right for you -two Curlytops and for me,” said their -father. “But I hardly think your mother -and Trouble could manage it. No, we had -best either go back home or wait here for a -new wheel.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Birch was saying how sorry he was -that the plans of the family had thus been -spoiled when Mr. Teeter suddenly asked:</p> - -<p>“How about a motor boat?”</p> - -<p>“A motor boat?” asked Mr. Martin. -“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“I mean,” explained the lumberman,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> -“how would you like to keep on touring in -a motor craft? I suppose cruising would -be a better word than touring, when you -speak of a boat. But how about it?”</p> - -<p>“A boat would be dandy fun!” exclaimed -Ted.</p> - -<p>“I think so, too,” added his sister.</p> - -<p>“But it would take us as long to arrange -to hire a boat as it would to wait for a new -wheel,” objected Mr. Martin. “Besides, -how could we get to Bentville by boat?”</p> - -<p>“Very easily,” answered Mr. Teeter. -“Rockaway River, which is the stream we -float our logs down, flows from Crystal -Lake, about fifty miles up country. You -could cruise along the river, and so get to -the lake. Then you cross the lake and you’re -right at Bentville.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I suppose we could do that,” admitted -Mr. Martin, after thinking it over. -“But what about a boat? Where could we -get one?”</p> - -<p>“Take mine,” offered the lumberman. -“I have a very good little cabin motor boat -down in the river. You can put your things -from the auto into the boat and keep on -going.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Daddy, let’s do it!” cried Ted.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>“Please!” added Janet.</p> - -<p>“I like a boat on the water,” crooned -Trouble. “Nellifunts, they squirt water -out of they trunks.”</p> - -<p>“What do you say, Ruth?” asked Mr. -Martin of his wife.</p> - -<p>“It sounds very nice,” she answered, with -a smile. “But I should like to see the boat. -Is there room on it for all of us?”</p> - -<p>“Plenty,” said Mr. Teeter. “Come on, -I’ll show you.”</p> - -<p>It wasn’t far from the lumber camp to the -Rockaway River, and at a small dock was -tied the gasoline motor boat, <i>Pine Tree</i>. -This was a very good name, the Curlytops -thought, for a boat owned by a lumberman.</p> - -<p>“Say, she’s a dandy!” exclaimed Ted, as -he went on board.</p> - -<p>“I like this better than an auto,” said -Janet. “There’s more room to move about.”</p> - -<p>This was true. Though the <i>Pine Tree</i> -was not an especially large motor boat, -there was much more room on her than in -even the largest touring car. There was a -cabin in which they could eat, and at night -the table folded up out of the way and bunks, -like those in sleeping cars, could be let down. -A sliding partition made the large cabin into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> -two small ones. One could be used by Ted -and his father, while the other would do for -Mrs. Martin, Janet and William.</p> - -<p>“Well, do you think you want to go cruising -for a while instead of autoing?” asked -the lumberman.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed, thank you,” said Mrs. -Martin. “I’m almost glad, now, that the -wheel was broken. This is a lovely little -boat.”</p> - -<p>So it was arranged. The baggage from -the Martin car was put aboard the <i>Pine -Tree</i>, and the lockers and pantry were -stocked with food. Things could be cooked -on a gasoline stove in the little galley, or -kitchen.</p> - -<p>“Don’t forget the albums,” said Mrs. -Martin to her husband, when the boat was -being made ready. “We don’t want to leave -them behind.”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” he answered. “I have them -here.”</p> - -<p>He stowed away, on board the <i>Pine Tree</i>, -the box of old albums which had been intrusted -to him. They were still wrapped up -as they had come by express from Mr. Portnay -in New York. The movie actor, it was -said by Mr. Birch, had been ill and would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -not resume work for a time. Then he expected -to go West to complete the film, part -of which the Curlytops had seen made.</p> - -<p>“All aboard!” called Mr. Martin, on the -morning when a fresh start was to be made -in the touring plans of the Curlytops. “All -aboard!”</p> - -<p>The lumbermen and the movie people had -said good-by, wishing the Curlytops and -their family all sorts of good luck. Mr. -Teeter arranged for the Martins to come -back in the boat and leave it at the camp -when they had cruised as much as they -wished.</p> - -<p>“By that time I’ll have a new wheel on -your auto,” he told Mr. Martin, “and you -can drive home in the car.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a good idea,” said the father of -the Curlytops.</p> - -<p>You can imagine how delighted Ted, -Janet and Trouble were as they sat on the -little deck of the <i>Pine Tree</i> and looked at -the scenery along the Rockaway River, up -which they were puffing their way to reach -Crystal Lake. Mr. Martin knew how to run -and steer a motor boat. In quiet stretches -of the river he allowed Ted and Janet to hold -the wheel for a time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>“It’s just lovely here,” said Mrs. Martin -with a happy sigh as she leaned back against -a cushion. “It’s much nicer than the auto.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin thought so, too, and while -of course he did not like to have wheels -smashed, still some good came out of it. Up -the winding river went the <i>Pine Tree</i>, new -scenes presenting themselves every minute.</p> - -<p>They did not have to go ashore to spend -the night, nor even stop for meals, which -were cooked on board. Mrs. Martin took -charge in the galley, and Ted and Janet gave -whoops of delight when she blew a whistle -which meant that the first lunch was ready.</p> - -<p>They did not speed along, for, as before, -Mr. Martin was in no hurry, but they took -their time, and that afternoon, as they were -passing a large town, they tied up at a wharf -and went ashore, as Mrs. Martin wanted to -buy some food which they had not been able -to put on board at the lumber camp.</p> - -<p>“We aren’t going to travel in the night, -are we?” asked Ted of his father, as they -puffed along late that afternoon, the cupboard -having been well stocked at the last -stopping place.</p> - -<p>“No, I hardly think so,” he answered. -“I don’t know this river well enough to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -navigate it after dark. When it gets a little -later we’ll anchor for the night, and go on -in the morning.”</p> - -<p>“Are we going to sleep on this boat?” -Trouble wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” answered Ted. “Do you -think you’re going to sleep in the water?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see any beds,” remarked the little -fellow, looking about.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t wonder at that,” laughed -his mother. “The beds are folded up, my -dear. They come down like this.”</p> - -<p>As I have told you, the berths in the <i>Pine -Tree</i> were made to fold up during the day -like those in a sleeping car. A turn of a -handle and a pull brought down the beds out -of recesses in the cabin walls. There were -blankets, sheets and pillows stored in each -berth, just as on a sleeper.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I like these little beds!” cried Trouble, -as he saw them come down.</p> - -<p>“It’s a dandy boat,” declared Ted.</p> - -<p>When it was dark Mr. Martin ran the boat -near shore and dropped the anchor. Then, -after a while, they all “turned in,” as a -sailor would say—that is, they went to bed.</p> - -<p>Janet suddenly awakened in the night—how -late it was she didn’t know—but something<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> -disturbed her. A low light, operated -by a storage battery, gleamed in the tiny -cabin, and Janet looked across to the bunk -where her mother was sleeping, with Trouble -on the berth below her.</p> - -<p>“Mother! Mother!” called Jan, in a low -voice, so as not to awaken her small brother.</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear, what is it?” asked Mrs. Martin. -She was a light sleeper, accustomed to -being awakened many times in the night by -her children.</p> - -<p>“I think,” said Janet in a whisper, “somebody -is running away with the <i>Pine Tree</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Running away with the <i>Pine Tree</i>! Do -you mean with this boat?” asked Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mother! We’re moving! Don’t -you feel it?”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXII<br /> - -<small>ON THE LAKE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Martin</span> sat up in her berth and -listened. She could hear no sound except -the gentle lapping of the water against the -sides of the <i>Pine Tree</i>. There had been no -motion when she went to sleep, for the river -did not flow swiftly at this point. But something -had awakened Janet.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you feel it, Mother?” asked the -little Curlytop girl. “Don’t you feel us -moving?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I certainly do,” Mrs. Martin said, -after sitting still for a few seconds. “We are -certainly moving. I’ll call your father.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think anything is going to happen?” -asked Janet, greatly excited by this -time.</p> - -<p>“No, I think we are dragging our anchor—that’s -all,” answered her mother. “It -must be seen to.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>Putting on her dressing gown and slippers, -Mrs. Martin went to the other cabin -where her husband was sleeping with Ted. -A touch on his shoulder awakened Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he asked sleepily. “Have -we reached Pittsburgh yet, porter?”</p> - -<p>“You aren’t in a sleeping car, traveling -to Pittsburgh,” laughed his wife. In his -earlier days Mr. Martin had been a traveling -salesman and covered many thousands of -miles in sleeping cars.</p> - -<p>“What is it, then?” he asked, sitting up. -By the gleam of the little light he saw his -wife standing near his berth.</p> - -<p>“The boat is moving,” she told him.</p> - -<p>“Moving?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Don’t you feel it? Janet felt it -first and called me. I think we are dragging -our anchor.”</p> - -<p>“So we are!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, as -he felt the sensation of the boat moving. -“But it isn’t anything serious. I’ll drop it -in a new place where it will hold better.”</p> - -<p>As he was putting on a coat and trousers -to go out on the little forward deck, where -the anchor rope was caught around a cleat, -Ted awakened.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>“What’s the matter?” he wanted to know. -“I’ll go up and help you, Daddy,” he offered, -when told of the trouble.</p> - -<p>“All right—come along,” agreed his -father. “You had better go back to bed,” -Mr. Martin suggested to his wife.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ll stay with Trouble and Janet,” -she agreed.</p> - -<p>It was dark up on deck, for the <i>Pine Tree</i> -was anchored in the river away from any -town or city. The stars alone dispelled the -blackness of the night.</p> - -<p>But Mr. Martin had a powerful flashlight -with him, and, switching this on, he held it -over the side, focusing the electric rays on -the water. Then he noticed something that -made him exclaim in wonder.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked Ted.</p> - -<p>“Why, we’re going upstream instead of -down,” was the answer. “If we were dragging -our anchor we would float down the -river with the current. We wouldn’t go up -as we do when the motor is running.”</p> - -<p>“The motor isn’t running now,” said Ted, -and it was not—the engine having been shut -off when they anchored for the night. “But -what makes us move, Daddy?”</p> - -<p>“Something has hold of our anchor rope<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -and is pulling us upstream by it,” said Mr. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“You mean an alligator?” asked Ted. -“Oh, I wish it was daylight! I’d like to see -an alligator!”</p> - -<p>“No, not an alligator,” said Mr. Martin, -with a smile. “There are none of those -creatures in these waters. But something -is towing us all right.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe it’s river pirates,” suggested the -Curlytop boy. “You know Mr. Teeter said -river pirates once took this boat.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t pirates,” declared Mr. Martin. -“They would have to use a boat to tow us -away and there isn’t a boat in sight. No, -something has hold of our anchor rope beneath -the water. See?”</p> - -<p>He held the flashlight on the hemp cable. -Ted could see where it went down into the -water, and just ahead of it were little ripples -such as are caused when a stick or a -rope is dragged through the water.</p> - -<p>“What do you suppose it is, Daddy?” -asked the lad.</p> - -<p>“Some sort of fish, or other water creature, -has got caught in our anchor,” decided -Mr. Martin. “It’s towing us.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span>“Maybe it’s a big turtle,” said Teddy. -“A big mud or snapping turtle.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe,” agreed his father. “I’m going -to see. Here, Ted, you hold the flashlight -and I’ll haul up on the anchor rope.”</p> - -<p>The Curlytop boy focused the rays of the -powerful little electric torch on the rope extending -into the water and Mr. Martin, -taking hold of the cable, near the deck cleat -around which it was wound, began to pull -up. It was hard work, but finally he managed -to get some slack, and then Ted cried:</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see! It’s a big turtle!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, so it is,” agreed his father. For -he had pulled up enough of the anchor and -rope to show a great snapping turtle with -one of his flippers caught on the rope, just -where it was fastened to the “mud hook,” -as sailors sometimes call an anchor.</p> - -<p>“Can you pull him on board, Daddy?” -asked Teddy.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know that I want to,” was his -father’s answer. “He looks like a pretty -ugly customer.”</p> - -<p>A moment later the turtle gave a wriggle -and dropped off into the water with a splash. -Pulling him up had loosened his hold on the -anchor rope. Then Mr. Martin let go the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -rope, the anchor dropped back to the bottom -of the river and held in the mud, bringing -the boat to a stop.</p> - -<p>“Now I guess we’re all right,” said Mr. -Martin, as he went down with Ted, who -looked to see the turtle rise again, but it did -not.</p> - -<p>“What was it?” Mrs. Martin wanted to -know.</p> - -<p>“A big snapping turtle, crawling along on -the bottom of the river, got caught in our -anchor and rope,” explained her husband. -“He kept right on crawling, pulled up our -anchor from the mud, and swam away.</p> - -<p>“He was so powerful that he was able to -tow our boat,” went on Mr. Martin. “It -wasn’t hard to do, once he got it started, and -being on the bottom he could get a good hold -for his feet, which have claws on them. -When I pulled up the rope I loosened his -hold.”</p> - -<p>“If we could keep that turtle, and train -him, he would pull the boat for us, and we -wouldn’t have to use gasoline,” said Teddy.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid we’d be several years getting -where we want to go,” laughed his father. -“A turtle is pretty slow.”</p> - -<p>They went back to bed and were not disturbed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> -again that night. In the morning the -Curlytops looked for a sign of the turtle, -and even tossed bits of meat into the river, -hoping to tempt him to rise, but he did not, -probably being asleep in the mud.</p> - -<p>They traveled on all that day, having a -good time aboard the <i>Pine Tree</i> and late that -afternoon they reached the place where the -river flowed out of Crystal Lake.</p> - -<p>“To-morrow we’ll cruise across the lake -and reach Bentville,” said Mr. Martin. -“Then I’ll deliver the albums and after we -spend some time here, motoring about, we’ll -cruise back to the lumber camp and get our -auto, which ought to have a new wheel on -by then.”</p> - -<p>“This is a big lake,” said Mrs. Martin, -looking across it as evening settled down. -“I hope no storms come when we are in the -middle.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIII<br /> - -<small>THE WRONG BOX</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Martin</span> decided to anchor the <i>Pine -Tree</i> for the night, rather than to try to -cruise across the large body of water in the -darkness. He had never been on the lake -before, though he had directions for reaching -Bentville.</p> - -<p>“But this is a good place to stay,” he told -his wife, when they had reached the point -where the river flowed out of the lake. -“We’ll camp here.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean go ashore and camp?” -asked Teddy.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no; we’ll stay on the boat,” his father -answered. “It will be better, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe a big turtle will give us a ride -again,” suggested Trouble. He had been -told how the queer creature of the mud had -towed the motor boat, and his great regret -was that he had not been awakened to see it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>“No, I hardly think a thing like that will -happen the second time,” said Mr. Martin, -with a laugh. “It was only by accident that -the turtle got tangled in our anchor rope.”</p> - -<p>Then they made ready to spend the night -on board the <i>Pine Tree</i>. The anchor was let -down but a short distance from shore, the -boat being close to the bank so they could all -reach dry land by crossing a small gangplank -which Mr. Martin ran out.</p> - -<p>When the boat had been made fast, the -Curlytops and Trouble went ashore, leaving -their mother and father to get supper, for -Mr. Martin was helping his wife.</p> - -<p>“Don’t go too far, children,” called Mrs. -Martin to the three who were wandering -along the shore of Crystal Lake.</p> - -<p>“We’ll soon be back,” promised Janet.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to see if I can find any apples,” -said Teddy.</p> - -<p>“You’ll hardly find any apple orchards -around here,” said his father.</p> - -<p>But the Curlytop boy did. He was walking -along ahead of his sister and small -brother when he suddenly saw a group of -trees in a green field, and a second look told -Ted they were apple trees.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>“Come on,” he cried. “Let’s see if any -of the apples are ripe.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe we’d better not,” said Janet. -“Whoever owns these apples wouldn’t like -us to take any.”</p> - -<p>“Nobody owns ’em,” said her brother. -“There’s no house around here. I guess -they’re just wild apples and anybody that -wants can pick ’em.”</p> - -<p>Ted had rather queer ideas, but he meant -no wrong, and soon the three children were -under the trees, gathering the fruit. It was -just getting ripe.</p> - -<p>Presently Trouble, who seemed to care -more about running around than he did -about picking up apples, gave a cry and -pointed at something in a distant field.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked Janet.</p> - -<p>“It’s a man. He’s coming here,” announced -the little fellow. “I see a tramp -man.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Ted!” gasped Janet, “what’ll we -do?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if it’s a tramp we’ll just go back -to our boat,” decided the Curlytop lad. “He -won’t dare say a word when he sees father -and mother.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>“Yes, but s’posin’ it’s the man that owns -these apples?” went on Jan.</p> - -<p>“Well,” and Teddy thought about that a -moment, “we can say daddy will pay him for -’em, and he will. We only took some because -we didn’t think anybody wanted ’em. -I’m not afraid.”</p> - -<p>“Where’s the man, Trouble? Show me,” -Jan told her small brother. “I don’t see -any one.”</p> - -<p>“There he is,” and Trouble led Janet to -a corner of the fence. It was from here that -he had looked before, coming back to tell the -news.</p> - -<p>“He’s taking his time getting here,” -thought Teddy, munching an apple and following -his sister and brother. Ted decided -that if there was to be a fuss about the apples -he might as well have one to eat, anyhow.</p> - -<p>“There’s the man,” Trouble said, pointing -the individual in question out to his sister -and brother.</p> - -<p>Jan noted the ragged flapping coat and the -ragged hat set on one side of the head. Then -Ted saw it and gave a howl of laughter.</p> - -<p>“Don’t make fun of him!” his sister<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> -begged. “The farmer won’t like it, and -he’ll scold us for taking his apples.”</p> - -<p>“Farmer!” chuckled Ted. “That isn’t a -farmer.”</p> - -<p>“Well, tramp then,” went on Janet. “He -does look like a tramp.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t a tramp, either,” laughed Ted.</p> - -<p>“What is it then?” Janet wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“It’s a scarecrow. That must be a field of -corn, or something, over there, and the -farmer that owns it has put up a stuffed man -to keep the crows away. Ho! Ho! It’s a -scarecrow!”</p> - -<p>“How can you tell?” asked Janet.</p> - -<p>“’Cause it hasn’t moved since we’ve been -looking at it. Here, I’ll show you!”</p> - -<p>Ted caught up a stone and threw it at the -ragged figure, the rock striking it full in the -back. There was a sound as when a stone -hits a board fence, and the ragged figure -never moved.</p> - -<p>“See! I told you!” cried Ted.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess it is a scarecrow,” admitted -Janet. “I’m glad of it. Now we can take -all the apples we like.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it isn’t an apple-scarer,” laughed -Teddy.</p> - -<p>“But it looks terribly natural,” said Jan,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> -as they turned back to the orchard. “No -wonder Trouble thought it was a man.”</p> - -<p>The scarecrow was very well made, and in -the dusk of the evening would have misled -almost any one who did not know about it.</p> - -<p>“My, you have enough apples for a pie -and some sauce,” said Mrs. Martin when the -children reached the boat and had told about -the ragged figure. “I don’t suppose whoever -owns the trees will mind our taking a -few apples,” she said to her husband.</p> - -<p>“I think not. But to be on the safe side -and to be honest I’ll put twenty-five cents -in an envelope and hang it on one of the -branches,” said Mr. Martin, and he did this.</p> - -<p>Very likely the farmer who owned the apples -was surprised on visiting his orchard -some time later to find the money and the -note with it. He had made a sale where he -had not expected to.</p> - -<p>The night passed quietly, but toward -morning Mrs. Martin was awakened by the -pitching and tossing of the boat. She looked -out to find that the wind was blowing, making -the lake very rough.</p> - -<p>“Do you think it will be best to start with -the wind blowing like this?” asked Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> -Martin after breakfast, when the boat was -still tossing some.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” her husband answered. “I -think the breeze will go down. I am anxious -to get to Bentville and deliver the albums -to Mr. Cardwell. Then we can go about as -we please.”</p> - -<p>“I think there’s going to be a bad storm,” -went on his wife.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I guess we’ll get to the other side -of the lake before it comes,” Mr. Martin -said.</p> - -<p>But they did not. Though the wind went -down for a time just as the anchor was -pulled up and a start made, the breeze began -to rise again when they were out in the wide -water. The waves began to toss, and the -<i>Pine Tree</i>, though a staunch, stout craft, began -to pitch about.</p> - -<p>“I wish we hadn’t started,” sighed Mrs. -Martin.</p> - -<p>“Well, now that we have, we might as well -keep on,” her husband said. “In fact, it is -safer to go on, heading into the wind as we -are, than it would be to put back.”</p> - -<p>“I like it rough,” cried Teddy, holding -fast to prevent himself being bumped about.</p> - -<p>“It’s like being on a nellifunt’s back,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -declared Trouble. “It goes up and down -and jiggles.”</p> - -<p>“It jiggles all right,” said his mother. -“It jiggles too much for me. What’s that, -do you suppose?” she said, as a crash -sounded in the cabin. They were all out on -deck at the time.</p> - -<p>“Something fell,” replied Mr. Martin. -“Perhaps you had better go see what it is. -I can’t leave the wheel.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Martin went down, followed by the -children. In the cabin they saw that a pile -of valises, which had been stowed in one corner, -had toppled over. With the valises had -been placed the box sent back from New -York by Mr. Portnay.</p> - -<p>In falling this box had come out of the -paper wrapping, and had opened. And -when Mrs. Martin looked at the contents she -exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“The wrong box! It’s the wrong box!”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean—wrong box?” called -her husband.</p> - -<p>“I mean Mr. Portnay sent you back his -make-up box by mistake, and he has kept the -box of albums! Look, here are his false wigs -and paints. This is the wrong box!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIV<br /> - -<small>TROUBLE’S PUSSY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Martin</span>, hearing what his wife said, -gave a quick look ahead across the stormy -lake. Then, seeing no other boats in his -course, he fastened the steering wheel, so the -<i>Pine Tree</i> would keep on in a straight line, -and down into the cabin he hurried. He saw -just what the others had seen—the pile of -valises and also the wooden box with the -cover opened.</p> - -<p>“It surely is the wrong box!” said the -father of the Curlytops. He noticed a collection -of wigs, false beards and mustaches, -together with a number of tubes of colored -paint such as actors use whether in the -movies or on the stage.</p> - -<p>“Where are Mr. Cardwell’s albums?” -Ted asked.</p> - -<p>“I suppose they are back in New York -in Mr. Portnay’s studio,” said his father.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>“Unless he has discovered his mistake by -this time,” suggested Mrs. Martin, “and has -sent the right box on to us at the lumber -camp.”</p> - -<p>“He wouldn’t know we were at the lumber -camp,” said her husband. “We only -stopped there by accident.”</p> - -<p>“But Mr. Portnay knows that his company -was there, making films,” went on -Mrs. Martin. “And he might think that -they could tell where we were. I say, let’s -go back to the lumber camp and see if the -right box isn’t there.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin thought this over a moment or -two, while the Curlytops and Trouble looked -out of small windows, or portholes, in the -cabin, noting how rough the lake was growing. -The storm was getting worse, and the -wind was howling loudly.</p> - -<p>“There has been a mix-up and mistake -about this box of albums from the start,” -said Mr. Martin. “I don’t see how Mr. -Portnay could make a mistake a second time -and send us his paints and false wigs in place -of the old books.”</p> - -<p>“The boxes look exactly alike,” said Mrs. -Martin. “I guess these movie people are so -busy thinking about the parts they are going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -to play that they don’t pay any attention to -much else. Or perhaps Mr. Portnay’s man -may have caused the mix-up.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s a mix-up all right,” her husband -said. “And I think your advice, to go -back to the lumber camp, is the best thing -we can do. As you say, that movie man may -come there or send the box there. We’ll go -back.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to be out of this storm,” went -on Mrs. Martin. “It is getting much -worse.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” agreed her husband, “it is. I -think I can turn back, though, with safety -if I use care.”</p> - -<p>“But if we have the movie man’s things -that he puts on his face to make him look -different in pictures, how can he act?” asked -Ted.</p> - -<p>“I guess he can easily get another make-up -box,” replied his father. “But it is impossible -for us to get other Cardwell albums, -and the pictures of the twins, now dead, and -the young boy lost at sea. We simply must -get back the right box. So I’ll go up and -turn the boat around. Better hold fast, -everybody, for it will be rougher going the -other way.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>“I’ll come up on deck and help you steer,” -offered Ted.</p> - -<p>“No, Son, you’d better stay below with -your mother, and help straighten up the -cabin,” suggested his father. “Pick up the -valises and wrap up that wrong box. Mr. -Portnay will want it back, I think.”</p> - -<p>The Curlytops helped their mother set -things to rights, and then, indeed, they had -to hold on, for the <i>Pine Tree</i> pitched and -tossed in the storm, much as might her -namesake in a forest with a big wind blowing.</p> - -<p>Once it almost seemed that the boat was -going to turn over, so far did she tilt to one -side. It began to rain, too, and Mr. Martin, -up on deck, had to put on his rubber coat. -But he was a good sailor, and knew how to -manage the boat.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon, following a hasty meal -on cold victuals, for Mrs. Martin did not -want to light the stove in the storm, the boat -seemed to ride easier.</p> - -<p>“I guess it’s going to clear off,” said -Janet.</p> - -<p>But it was not that. Mr. Martin was near -shore now, and under the lee of a big hill, -which kept off some of the wind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>When evening came the touring Curlytops -and their family were back where they -had started from—the place where the river -ran out of the lake.</p> - -<p>“We’ll tie up here for the night, and when -morning comes we’ll navigate down the -river,” said Mr. Martin. “We’ll get to the -lumber camp more quickly than we came -away from it, for we shall be going downstream -instead of against the current.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose the movie people are gone—what -then?” asked Ted.</p> - -<p>“Well, the men in the lumber camp will -know where they went,” answered his father. -“We’ll find them sooner or later, and -get back the right box of albums.”</p> - -<p>It was still raining hard, but the wind did -not blow so fiercely in the sheltered place -where the <i>Pine Tree</i> was anchored. Jan -was glad of this, for she did not like rough -weather.</p> - -<p>It was in the middle of the night, when the -storm seemed to have quieted down a bit, -that Trouble awakened his mother by calling -to her. Mrs. Martin was ever on the alert -for the calls of her children in the night, and -she had formed a habit of answering them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -when but half awake herself. Usually it was -only a drink that William wanted.</p> - -<p>But this time, when Mrs. Martin became -aware that he was calling to her from his -little bunk in the sleeping cabin, she did not -hear him ask for water.</p> - -<p>“Mommie! Mommie!” murmured the -little fellow.</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear, what is it?” asked his mother -sleepily.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you let the pussy in?” asked -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“What pussy, Trouble?” she asked, not -yet quite awake. “There isn’t any pussy -here. You must be dreaming. Go to sleep -again.”</p> - -<p>“Yes they is a pussy!” insisted the little -fellow, sitting up in his berth. His mother -could see him in the dim little electric light. -“They is a pussy and she’s mewing and she -wants to come in out of the rain. Bring her -in, Mommie.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Martin thought Trouble was imagining -all this, or that it was part of a dream. -Often he had dreams and went right on with -them when he awoke.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get you a drink, and then you can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -go back to sleep again,” his mother said, as -she got up.</p> - -<p>“Pussy wants a drink, too,” declared -Trouble. “She wants a drink of milk. -There! Didn’t you hear her mew?”</p> - -<p>There came a lull in the storm and, to her -surprise, Mrs. Martin heard, through a porthole -opened for ventilation on the leeward -side of the boat, the mewing of a cat.</p> - -<p>“Why, Trouble!” she exclaimed, “there -<i>is</i> a pussy out in the rain. The poor thing!”</p> - -<p>“It’s my pussy!” declared the little fellow. -“Bring her in!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXV<br /> - -<small>THE RIGHT BOX</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Hardly</span> stopping to think why Trouble -should claim as his the pussy that was crying -in the night, Mrs. Martin started out of the -cabin. Her husband, sleeping in the other -cabin with Ted, heard her and asked:</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p>“Trouble heard a cat crying. It’s out in -the rain. He wants me to bring it in,” his -wife answered.</p> - -<p>“A cat?” questioned Mr. Martin. Then -with a little chuckle he added: “I hope it -isn’t a wildcat.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” exclaimed Ted, suddenly -awakening. “A wildcat? Have we got a -gun to shoot it?”</p> - -<p>“Now don’t get excited,” laughed his -father. “This is a tame cat, I guess. I’ll -go out and get it.”</p> - -<p>Slipping on his rubber coat, for it was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> -still raining, Mr. Martin went out on deck. -Near the porthole, which was open a little -way, but not far enough to allow the cat to -enter, was a crying, wet pussy, mewing pitifully.</p> - -<p>“You poor little thing!” exclaimed Mr. -Martin, who was as fond of animals as were -his children. “We’ll take care of you. But -I wonder how you got here?”</p> - -<p>The <i>Pine Tree</i> was anchored some distance -out from shore, and there was no plank -laid out on which the little cat might have -crossed.</p> - -<p>“I guess she fell into the lake and drifted -down until she caught hold of our anchor -rope,” said Mr. Martin, as he brought the -drenched pussy down into the cabin. “She -climbed up on the rope and so reached the -deck.”</p> - -<p>“The poor little creature,” murmured -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Let me have her—she’s my pussy!” demanded -Trouble.</p> - -<p>He wanted her in the bunk with him, but -his mother said the wet fur of the pussy -would make the sheets damp.</p> - -<p>“I’ll dry her off and give her some milk,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -and then you may have her, William,” she -said.</p> - -<p>The little cat, warm and almost dry, was -soon purring contentedly in William’s arms -and going to sleep with him, after lapping -up some warm milk, for Mrs. Martin, now -that the boat was not pitching and tossing, -had lighted the gasoline stove.</p> - -<p>Ted and Jan looked in at the sight of the -stray pussy that had come to their little -brother out of the storm.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t he cute!” murmured Jan.</p> - -<p>“Who?” asked Ted, for she was looking -at her little brother and the cat—both asleep -now.</p> - -<p>“They’re both cute,” whispered Jan.</p> - -<p>The remainder of the night passed quietly, -and when morning came the storm had -passed and the river and lake gleamed in -the sunshine.</p> - -<p>“Now for another tour,” laughed Mr. -Martin, as he and Ted hauled up the anchor. -“Back to the lumber camp!”</p> - -<p>“And I hope we get the right box,” said -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>They were going down the river the second -day, and expected to reach the lumber camp -that afternoon when, as they turned a bend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> -in the stream, Ted and his father, who were -out on deck, saw a small boat just ahead of -them. There were two little boys in the boat, -and as the <i>Pine Tree</i> came into view the -boys stood up and cried:</p> - -<p>“Help! Help!”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” called Ted.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, boys. Sit down!” ordered -Mr. Martin. “You’ll upset!”</p> - -<p>The little lads sat down, but they continued -to cry for aid, and Mrs. Martin and -Jan came out to see what the trouble was.</p> - -<p>“I guess they don’t know how to row, or -else they’ve lost their oars and don’t know -how to get back where they came from,” -said Mr. Martin, as he slowed the <i>Pine Tree</i> -and guided her close to the small, drifting -craft.</p> - -<p>His last guess proved correct. The boys -were from a summer camp on the river. -They had set out in a boat, thinking they -could manage to row, but they knew little -of how to do it. First one oar slipped overboard -and drifted away, and then the other. -The little fellows were helpless on the river, -the current of which was carrying them -away. So they shouted for help when they -saw the <i>Pine Tree</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>“I’ll tow them back to camp,” said Mr. -Martin.</p> - -<p>This he did, and received the thanks of -the parents who had begun to spread an -alarm through the camp concerning the -missing boys.</p> - -<p>This turning back made the Curlytop -family a trifle late, and it was after dark -when they reached the dock in the river -alongside the lumber camp.</p> - -<p>“Hello, what brings you back so soon?” -asked Mr. Teeter, as he came down with a -lantern to see who was tying up at his dock. -“I thought you’d be gone for a week -longer.”</p> - -<p>“We got the wrong box,” explained Mr. -Martin. “Are the movie people still here?”</p> - -<p>“No, they’ve gone,” was the answer. -“Left this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. -“How unfortunate. Shall we ever get those -albums back?”</p> - -<p>“When I say the movie people have gone, -I mean all those have gone who were here -when you were,” went on Mr. Teeter. “But -the head man is here, Harry Portnay—the -leading man I believe they call him. He’s -here with a couple of camera men. They’re<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -going to make some pictures of him alone.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, if Mr. Portnay is here, he’s the very -one I want to see,” stated Mr. Martin. “I -hope he has the right box.”</p> - -<p>“He’s right over in that cabin,” said the -lumberman who owned the tame bears. “I -guess he hasn’t gone to bed yet—there’s a -light going.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Martin, carrying the wrong box, -hastened over to the cabin of the movie -actor. Mr. Portnay greeted the visitor, -looked at the box the Curlytops’ father held -out, and exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“That’s mine!”</p> - -<p>“And I guess that’s mine!” exclaimed -Mr. Martin, pointing to a box just like it on -the table. “Has that two old photograph -albums in it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it has,” answered the movie actor. -“And has the box you have there some wigs -in?”</p> - -<p>“It has,” answered Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>“Thank goodness! Now I can go on with -my picture. I really need certain wigs and -false whiskers, because I used them earlier -in the film, and it would look strange to see -me go into a room with one sort of beard on -and come out with quite another, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> -might happen. I am glad to get my own box -back again.”</p> - -<p>“And I am glad to get back my right box, -the one with the albums in it,” said Mr. -Martin, opening the second package and -making sure the Cardwell albums were -within.</p> - -<p>Then the actor explained how, in the hurry -and bustle of getting to New York and looking -after matters there, one of his men had -packed and shipped the wrong box.</p> - -<p>“I did not find it out until yesterday when -I wanted to get ready to finish making this -picture,” said Mr. Portnay.</p> - -<p>“And I did not open the box you shipped -me by express, for of course I thought it was -the right one,” said Mr. Martin. “It was -a series of mistakes all around.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad it has ended now,” said -the actor.</p> - -<p>The Martin family spent the next few -days in the lumber camp, watching pictures -being made of Mr. Portnay in his false hair -and beard, which completely changed his -appearance. But the making of these pictures -was not as interesting as the taking -of those with the cowboys and bears in them.</p> - -<p>“Well,” announced Mr. Martin, a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> -days later, when Mr. Portnay had packed -his belongings and gone to join his moving -picture company, “I think we had better resume -our tour. The new wheel has arrived -for the auto, and we’ll go on in that.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever you do, be sure that you have -the old albums in the right box,” cautioned -Mrs. Martin.</p> - -<p>“I’ll not let them out of my sight again -until I deliver them to Mr. Cardwell,” declared -Mr. Martin.</p> - -<p>About a week later, after a jolly trip and -some adventures, the touring party reached -Bentville and called on Mr. Cardwell.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad to see you,” said Reuben, the -brother of James Cardwell, who had sent the -albums. “I had a letter from Jim, and he -told me you were bringing these. But I was -beginning to think you were lost.”</p> - -<p>“The albums nearly were—more than -once,” said Mr. Martin. “But I’m glad -you now have them.”</p> - -<p>“So am I,” said the old man. “We think -a great deal of these pictures,” and he -looked lovingly at the photographs of the -twins and of the sailor boy, lost at sea.</p> - -<p>So the summer tour of the Curlytops -came to a successful end. They remained<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> -for a time in Bentville, and then started -back home, reaching there safely after some -jolly adventures.</p> - -<p>“It was the best summer we ever had,” -declared Janet.</p> - -<p>“Corking good times!” exclaimed Ted.</p> - -<p>“But we didn’t see any nellifunts!” lamented -Trouble.</p> - -<p>“Never mind, maybe we shall next year,” -said Janet, with a laugh.</p> - -<p class="center">THE END</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2">BOOKS ARE A SYMBOL<br /> -OF LIBERTY</p> -</div> - -<p>Books have always been the priceless heritage -of a free people. When a new volume -has been added to our shelves, it simply means -that democracy and all it stands for is still at work.</p> - -<p>Take away our books, and we become -slaves, unknown and unknowing.</p> - -<p>They <span class="allsmcap">BURNED</span> the books in that dark land of -oppression and cast into the flames not only -words of beauty and knowledge, but a symbol -of liberty: Man’s right to read the books of -his choice.</p> - -<p>We must never let that happen here!</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Buy War Bonds and Stamps Now</span> so that -we and our children may continue to enjoy -the blessings of freedom, now and forever.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_205.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">CUPPLES and LEON COMPANY</span><br /> -<i>Publishers</i> <span class="gap3"> NEW YORK</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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