NICKNACK AND TROUBLE
"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.