"Oh, Teddy!" screamed Janet. "Oh, Trouble!"
Teddy did not answer at once. Indeed he had hard work not to tumble down the stairs himself after his little brother. Ted clung to the banister, though, and managed to save himself.
"Oh, he'll be hurt—terrible!" cried Janet, and she tried to get past her older brother to run downstairs after Trouble.
But Mrs. Martin, who was in the dining-room talking to Nora Jones, the maid, heard the noise and ran out into the hall.
"Oh, children!" she cried. "Teddy—Janet—what's all that noise?"
"It's Trouble, Mother!" announced Teddy. "I was playing bucking bronco and—"
"Trouble fell downstairs!" screamed Janet.
While everyone was thus calling out at once, Baby William came flopping head over heels, and partly sidewise, down the padded steps, landing right at his mother's feet, sitting up as straight as though in his high-chair.
"Oh, darling!" cried Mrs. Martin, catching the little fellow up in her arms, "are you hurt?"
Trouble was too much frightened to scream or cry. He had his mouth open but no sound came from it. He was just like the picture of a sobbing baby.
"Oh, Nora!" cried Mrs. Martin, as she hurried into the dining-room with her little boy in her arms. "Trouble fell downstairs! Get ready to telephone for his father and the doctor in case he's badly hurt," and then she and the maid began looking over Baby William to find out just what was the matter with him, while Ted and Janet, much frightened and very quiet, stood around waiting.
And while Mrs. Martin is looking over Trouble it will be a good chance for me to tell those of you who meet the Curlytops for the first time in this book something about them, and what has happened to them in the other volumes of this series.
The first book is named "The Curlytops at Cherry Farm," and in that I had the pleasure of telling you about Ted and Janet and Trouble Martin and their father and mother, when they went to Grandpa Martin's place, called Cherry Farm, which was near the village of Elmburg, not far from Clover Lake.
There the children found a goat, which they named Nicknack, and they kept him as a pet. When hitched to a wagon he gave them many nice rides. There were many cherry trees on Grandpa Martin's farm, and when some of the other crops failed the cherries were a great help, especially when the Lollypop Man turned them into "Chewing Cherry Candy."
After a good time on the farm the children had more fun when, as told in the second book, named "The Curlytops on Star Island," they went camping with grandpa. On Star Island in Clover Lake they saw a strange blue light which greatly puzzled them, and it was some time before they knew what caused it.
The summer and fall passed and Ted and Janet went home to Cresco, where they lived, to spend the winter. What happened then is told in the third volume, called "The Curlytops Snowed In." The big storm was so severe that no one could get out and even Nicknack was lost wandering about in the big drifts.
The Curlytops had a good time, even if they were snowed in. Now spring had come again, and the children were ready for something else. But I must tell you a little bit about the family, as well as about what happened.
You have already met Ted, Jan and Trouble. Ted's real name was Theodore, but his mother seldom called him that unless she was quite serious about something he had done that was wrong. So he was more often spoken to as Ted or Teddy, and his sister Janet was called Jan. Though oftener still they were called the "Curlytops," or, if one was speaking to one or the other he would say "Curlytop." That was because both Teddy and Janet had such very, very curly hair.
Ted's and Jan's birthdays came on the same day, but they had been born a year apart, Teddy being about seven years old and his sister a year younger. Trouble was aged about three years.
I have spoken of the curly hair of Teddy and Janet. Unless you had seen it you would never have believed hair could be so curly! It was no wonder that even strangers called the children "Curlytops."
Sometimes, when Mother Martin was combing the hair of the children, the comb would get tangled and she would have to pull a little to get it loose. That is one reason Ted never liked to have his hair combed. Janet's was a little longer than his, but just as curly.
Trouble's real name, as I have mentioned, was William. His father sometimes called him "A bunch of trouble," and his mother spoke of him as "Dear Trouble," while Jan and Ted called him just "Trouble."
Mr. Martin, whose name was Richard, shortened to Dick by his wife (whose name was Ruth) owned a store in Cresco, which is in one of our Eastern states.
Nora Jones, a cheerful, helpful maid-of-all-work had been in the Martin family a long while, and dearly loved the children, who were very fond of her. The Martins had many relatives besides the children's grandfather and grandmother, but I will only mention two now. They were Aunt Josephine Miller, called Aunt Jo, who lived at Clayton and who had a summer bungalow at Mt. Hope, near Ruby Lake. She was a sister of Mrs. Martin's. Uncle Frank Barton owned a large ranch near Rockville, Montana. He was Mr. Martin's uncle, but Ted and Janet also called him their uncle.
Now that you have met the chief members of the family, and know a little of what has happened to them in the past you may be interested to go back to see what the matter is with Trouble.
His mother turned him over and over in her arms, feeling of him here and there. Trouble had closed his mouth by this time, having changed his mind about crying. Instead he was very still and quiet.
"Trouble, does it hurt you anywhere?" his mother asked him anxiously.
"No," he said. "Not hurt any place. I wants to wide on Teddy's back some more."
"The little tyke!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin with a sigh of relief. "I don't believe he is hurt a bit."
"The stairs are real soft since we put the new carpet on them," remarked Nora.
"They are well padded," agreed Mrs. Martin. "I guess that's what kept him from getting hurt. It was like rolling down a feather bed. But he might have got his arm or leg twisted under him and have broken a bone. How did he happen to fall?"
"We were playing Red Cross nurse," began Janet, "and Ted was a soldier in a tent and—"
"But how could William fall downstairs if you were playing that sort of game?" asked her mother.
"Oh, we weren't playing it then," put in Ted. "We'd changed to another game. I was a wild Western bronco, like those on Uncle Frank's ranch, and I was giving Trouble a ride on my back. I gave a jump when I was near the stairs, and I guess he must have slipped off."
"There isn't any guessing about it—he did slip off," said Mrs. Martin with a smile, as she put Trouble in a chair, having made sure he was not hurt, and that there was no need of telephoning for his father or the doctor. "You must be more careful, Teddy. You might have hurt your little brother."
"Yes'm," Teddy answered. "I won't do it again."
"But we want to play something," put in Janet. "It's no fun being in the house all day."
"I know it isn't. But I think the rain is going to stop pretty soon. If you get your rain-coats and rubbers you may go out for a little while."
"Me go too?" begged Trouble.
"Yes, you may go too," agreed his mother. "You'll all sleep better if you get some fresh air; and it's warm, even if it has been raining."
"Maybe we can take Nicknack and have a ride!" exclaimed Teddy.
"If it stops raining," said his mother.
Ted, Jan and Trouble ran up and down in front of the house while the rain fell softly and the big drops dripped from the trees. Then the clouds broke away, the sun came out, the rain stopped and with shouts and laughter the children ran to the barn next to which, in a little stable of his own, Nicknack, the goat, was kept.
"Come on out, Nicknack!" cried Janet. "You're going to give us a ride!"
And Nicknack did, being hitched to the goat-cart in which there was room and to spare for Janet, Ted and Trouble. Up and down the street in front of their home the Martin children drove their pet goat.
"Whee, this is fun!" cried Ted, as he made Nicknack run downhill with the wagon.
"Oh, Teddy Martin, don't go so fast!" begged Janet.
"I like to go fast!" answered her brother. "I'm going to play Wild West. This is the stage coach and pretty soon the Indians will shoot at us!"
"Teddy Martin! if you're going to do that I'm not going to play!" stormed Janet. "You'll make Trouble fall out and get hurt. Come on, Trouble! Let us get out!" she cried. Nicknack was going quite fast down the hill.
"Wait till we get to the bottom," shouted Ted. "G'lang there, pony!" he cried to the goat.
"Let me out!" screamed Janet, "I want to get out."
At the foot of the hill Teddy stopped the goat and Janet, taking Trouble with her, got out and walked back to the house.
"What's the matter now?" asked Mrs. Martin from the porch where she had come out to get a little fresh air.
"Ted's playing Wild West in the goat-wagon," explained Janet.
"Oh, Ted! Don't be so rough!" begged his mother of her little son, who drove up just then.
"Oh, I'm only playing Indians and stage coach," he said. "You've got to go fast when the Indians are after you!" and away he rode.
"He's awful mean!" declared Janet.
"I don't know what's come over Ted of late," said Mrs. Martin to her husband, who came up the side street just then from his store.
"What's he been doing?" asked Mr. Martin.
"Oh, he's been pretending he was a bucking bronco, like those Uncle Frank has on his ranch, and he tossed Trouble downstairs. But the baby didn't get hurt, fortunately. Now Ted's playing Wild West stagecoach with Nicknack and Janet got frightened and wouldn't ride."
"Hum, I see," said Ted's father slowly. "Our boy is getting older, I guess. He needs rougher play. Well, I think I've just the very thing to suit him, and perhaps Janet and all of us."
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Martin, as her husband drew a letter from his pocket.
"This is an invitation from Uncle Frank for all of us to come out to his ranch in Montana for the summer," was the answer. "We have been talking of going, you know, and now is a good chance. I can leave the store for a while, and I think it would do us all good—the children especially—to go West. So if you'd like it, well pack up and go."
"Go where?" asked Ted, driving around near the veranda in time to hear his father's last words.
"Out to Uncle Frank's ranch," said Mr. Martin.
"How would you like that?" added his mother.
"Could we have ponies to ride?" asked Ted.
"Yes, I think so."
"Oh, what fun!" cried Janet. "I love a pony!"
"You'd be afraid of them!" exclaimed Ted.
"I would not! If they didn't jump up and down the way you did with Trouble on your back I wouldn't be afraid."
"Pooh! that's the way bucking broncos always do, don't they, Daddy? I'm going to have a bronco!"
"Well, well see when we get there," said Daddy Martin. "But since you all seem to like it, we'll go out West."
"Can we take Nicknack?" asked Teddy.
"You won't need him if you have a pony," his father suggested.
"No, that's so. Hurray! What fun we'll have!"
"Are there any Indians out there?" asked Janet.
"Well, a few, I guess," her father answered. "But they're docile Indians—not wild. They won't hurt you. Now let's go in and talk about it."
The Curlytops asked all sorts of questions of their father about Uncle Frank's ranch, but though he could tell them, in a general way, what it looked like, Mr. Martin did not really know much about the place, as he had never been there.
"But you'll find lots of horses, ponies and cattle there," he said.
"And can we take Nicknack with us, to ride around the ranch?" asked Jan, in her turn.
"Oh, you won't want to do that," her father said. "You'll have ponies to ride, I think."
"What'll we do with Nicknack then?" asked Ted.
"We'll have to leave him with some neighbor until we come back," answered his father. "I was thinking of asking Mr. Newton to take care of him. Bob Newton is a kind boy and he wouldn't harm your goat."
"Yes, Bob is a good boy," agreed Teddy. "I'd like him to have Nicknack."
"Then, if it is all right with Mr. Newton, well take the goat over a few days before we leave for the West," said Mr. Martin. "Bob will have a chance to get used to Nicknack, and Nicknack to him, before we go away."
"Nicknack not come wif us?" asked Trouble, not quite understanding what the talk was about.
"No, we'll leave Nicknack here," said his father, as he cuddled the little fellow up in his lap. Trouble said nothing more just then but, afterward, Ted remembered that Baby William seemed to be thinking pretty hard about something.
A few days later, when some of the trunks had been partly packed, ready for the trip West, Mr. Martin came home early from the store and said to Jan and Ted:
"I think you'd better get your goat ready now and take him over to Bob's house. I spoke to Mr. Newton about it, and he said there was plenty of room in his stable for a goat Bob is delighted to have him."
"But hell give him back to us when we come home, won't he?" asked Janet.
"Oh, yes, of course! You won't lose your goat," said her father with a laugh.
But when they went out to the stable to harness Nicknack to the wagon, Ted and Janet rubbed their eyes and looked again.
"Why, Nicknack is gone!" exclaimed Ted.
"He is," agreed his sister. "Maybe Bob came and got him."
"No, he wouldn't do that without telling us," went on Ted. "I wonder where that goat is?"
He looked around the stable yard and in the barn. No Nicknack was in sight.
When the Curlytops were searching they heard their mother calling to them from the house, where their father was waiting for them to come up with Nicknack. He was going over to Mr. Newton's with them.
"Ho, Ted! Janet! Where are you?" called Mrs. Martin.
"Out here, Mother!" Teddy answered.
"Is Trouble there with you?"
"Trouble? No, he isn't here!"
"He isn't!" exclaimed his mother. "Where in the world can he be? Nora says she saw him going out to the barn a little while ago. Please find him!"
"Huh!" exclaimed Ted. "Trouble is gone and so is Nicknack! I s'pose they've gone together!"
"Well have to look," said Janet.
All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg