“If it’s Jiggily Jig, or the pieman, or Simple Simon, let them come,”
added Johnny.
“Especially if it’s the pieman,” spoke Tommy, “for I would love a pie
now.”
“It isn’t any of them,” said the camel, as he stopped and looked at the
person who had called to him. “It’s the old fisherman. Do you want him
to come up?”
“Oh, yes,” cried all the children at once, “and perhaps he can fish up
something for us to eat,” added Tommy, who was getting hungrier and
hungrier.
“Very well,” answered the camel, “come on up, Mr. Fisherman.”
“My! how nice and cosy it is here!” cried the old fisherman. “And how
glad I am to see you all! Isn’t it fine to ride on a camel?”
“It is,” agreed Johnny.
“And it would be nicer if we had something to eat,” put in Tommy.
“Well, we will soon be at your house,” spoke the camel, “but if you
can’t wait, why, perhaps the old fisherman can catch something for you.
He catches such odd things when he fishes.”
“Will you please try?” asked Mary, of the old fisherman.
“To be sure I will,” he said, kindly. So he took a piece of
clothes-line, and his hammock-hook, which wasn’t sharp enough to hurt
any one, and he dangled it out of the little house, over the side of
the camel. And then, all of a sudden, he pulled it up, and there, fast
to the hook, were a lot of nice pies.
“Here you are!” cried the old fisherman, as he passed the pies around.
“Oh, dear! Who took my pies? Who took my pies?” suddenly cried a voice
down on the ground.
“It’s the pieman, and Simple Simon is with him,” spoke the camel. “Your
hook went right into his basket of pies, old fisherman, and you hooked
up some.”
“Who took my pies? Who took my pies?” cried the pieman, once more.
“I did, for the Trippertrot children,” answered the old fisherman,
sticking his head out between the curtains of the little house. “Is
that all right?”
“Oh, yes, surely,” answered the pieman. “The Trippertrots can have all
my pies they want for nothing. Good-by, I have to go home to bake some
more. Good-by.”
So he and Simple Simon hurried away, and the Trippertrots and the jolly
sailor and the old fisherman in the little house on the camel’s back
ate the pies, and the camel ate some, too, and then he ran as fast as
anything, and in a little while he was at the Trippertrot house, and
the runaway children were safely home at last. And, oh! how glad their
papa and mamma and Suzette were to see them. And they thanked the old
fisherman, and the jolly sailor, and the camel, for taking such good
care of the little ones.
Then the two-humped camel went back to see the elephant do tricks in
the theatre.
And now I think I have told you enough stories of the three little
Trippertrots for this book, but if you should happen to want any more
I believe I can write them for you. Mind, I’m not saying for sure, but
I might, and if I do, they will be in the third book, which will be
called “Three Little Trippertrots and Their Winter Fun.” And I will
tell how they built a snow fort, how they went sliding down hill, how
they chased after an airship, and did many other queer things.
But, for a while, we will bid them good-by, for they are very tired
from their many Christmas adventures and must go to bed.
THE END
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.