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.