IN THE CAVE
Trouble felt very bad about his playhouse of blue stones which had been
taken away. He was only a little fellow, and when he had gone to so much
work, building up what looked like a fairy castle, he surely thought he
would find it where he left it at night to have it to play with the next
morning. But it was gone.
"All goned," sobbed Trouble.
"Isn't it funny, though?" said Teddy. "Mine is all right, and so is
yours, Jan, and Hal's, too. They just spoiled Trouble's."
"Maybe it was Nicknack," suggested Jan. "He might have got loose in the
night and knocked it down. But he didn't mean to I guess, for he's a
good goat."
"It couldn't have been Nicknack," declared Hal.
"Why not?" asked Ted. "Didn't he fall down into the big hole when
Trouble led him to it?"
"Yes, but Nicknack is there in his stable. He isn't loose at all, and
he'd have to be loose to come here and knock over Trouble's playhouse.
The goat is tied fast just where he was last night."
So Nicknack was; and Grandpa Martin, who was the first one up in the
camp that morning, said the goat was lying quietly down in his stable
when he went to give him a drink of water. So it couldn't have been
Nicknack.
"Anyhow, Trouble's blue-stone castle wasn't just knocked down," went on
Hal, "it's gone--every stone is gone. Somebody took 'em!"
Jan and Ted noticed this for the first time. When Trouble had called out
that his playhouse was gone they had thought he meant it was just
knocked over. But, instead, it was gone completely. Not a blue stone was
left.
And, strangely enough, none of the other three castles was touched. Hal
had built quite a large one, but not a stone had been taken from it.
"Where my p'ayhouse?" asked Trouble, looking all about. "I want my
p'ayhouse."
"We'll find it for you," promised Jan, though she did not know how she
was going to do it. Perhaps Hal could think of a way. Hal was older than
Jan and Ted.
"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Mother Martin as she came out of
the tent. "Has anything happened? Why is Trouble crying? Did he get
hurt?"
"No, but someone took away his nice blue stone castle," explained Jan,
and she and the others took turns telling what had happened.
"It is queer," said Grandpa Martin, when he came up and heard what had
taken place. "I wonder if any of those----"
Then he stopped talking and looked at the children's mother in a queer
way. She nodded her head, glanced down at the Curlytops and Hal, and put
her finger across her lips as your teacher does in school when she wants
someone to stop whispering.
Hal saw what Mrs. Martin did, but neither Jan nor Ted noticed, for they
were running around looking for any of the blue stones that might have
been scattered from Trouble's playhouse.
"Never mind," said Mother Martin. "I'll find you something else to play
with, Trouble. You shall have a nice ride with Nicknack. You'll take
him, won't you, Jan and Ted?"
"Yes," they answered.
"I want my p'ayhouse!" sobbed Baby William, and for a time he made a
fuss about his missing blue stones.
"I guess I know what happened to them," said Hal in a whisper to Jan and
Ted when their mother had taken Trouble into the tent to find something
with which to amuse him.
"What?" asked Ted in a whisper.
"The tramps!" exclaimed Hal, looking over his shoulder to make sure no
one but his two little friends heard him. "That's what your grandfather
was going to say the time he stopped so quick. Your mother didn't want
him to speak of them. But I'm sure the tramps took the blue stones from
Trouble's castle."
"What would they do with 'em?" Ted demanded.
"There's gold in 'em!" whispered Hal, more excited than ever now.
"There's gold in those blue stones, and the tramps know it. That's what
they've been looking for, and when Trouble had 'em all in a nice pile
made into a playhouse, the tramps came along in the night and took 'em
away."
"Oh, do you s'pose it could happen that way, really?" asked Jan, her
eyes big with wonder.
"Course it could!" said Hal, growing more excited all the while. "I
remember now, gold doesn't always look yellow when you find it, the way
it does in a watch or a ring. Sometimes gold is inside stones and they
have to melt 'em in the fire to get the gold out. My nurse at the
Crippled Home read me about it. And there was gold in the blue stones.
That's why the tramps came and got 'em--I mean _them_," and he corrected
himself. "They told me not to say 'em,'" he added with a smile.
"Do you really think the blue stones had gold in 'em--them?" asked Ted.
"Yes, I do! Else why would the tramps want them? They came last night
and took Trouble's castle--every stone, and now they've hid the gold
away."
"Where?" asked Jan, as excited as the boys.
"I think it must be up in the cave," went on Hal. "If we could only go
there and look we could find it too. Let's go."
"Maybe mother wouldn't let us," suggested Ted.
"We don't have to tell her," said Jan.
"I don't mean to do anything bad, nor have you," went on Hal. "But
wouldn't it be great if we could go up to the cave, without anybody
knowing it, and get the gold? Then your mother would be glad, and your
grandpa, too."
"Maybe they would--if there was gold in the blue stones," agreed Ted.
"We could pretend there was," said Janet. "Wouldn't that be fun? But I
don't want to go into that dark cave 'cept maybe grandpa goes, too, with
a light."
"You wouldn't be afraid with us, would you?" asked Hal.
"Hal and I would be with you," added Ted.
"Well, maybe I wouldn't be afraid if you took hold of my hands. But it's
dark there--awful dark."
"I've got one of those little electric lights," Hal said. "My father
sent it to me for my birthday when I was in the Home, and I didn't use
it hardly at all, 'cause I wasn't up nights. It flashes bright. I
brought it with me when I came to visit you, and I can get it and take
it to the cave with us."
"That'll be fun!" cried Ted. "Let's go, Jan!" he pleaded.
"Well, maybe I will. But hadn't we better ask mother?"
"Maybe she'd say we couldn't," suggested her brother, speaking very
slowly. "We'll tell her when we come back."
Of course this was not just the right thing to do, especially after Ted
and his sister had been told not to go to the cave alone. But they
forgot all about that when Hal spoke about gold being in the blue
stones. Ted and Jan thought it would be wonderful if they could get some
gold for their mother and grandfather, who was not as rich as he had
been, even if he did sell a lot of cherries.
"We can't take Trouble along," said Jan, as she saw her little brother
coming out of the tent. "We've got to leave him here."
"Yes," agreed Hal. "But we don't need to go right away. We can play with
him awhile. You and Ted take care of Trouble and I'll go to get my
flashlight. I put it under my pillow last night."
"And I'll get something to eat from Nora," added Ted. "We'll
make-believe we're going on a little picnic in the woods."
"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Jan. She was not afraid to think of the dark
cave now.
"Trouble want p'ayhouse!" cried Baby William, as he toddled up to his
sister. "Want b'ue stones."
"I can't get you the blue stones--not now," said Janet. "But I guess
Teddy will let you knock down his playhouse and build up another one.
And you can knock down my playhouse, too. Come on, Trouble!"
Knocking over the playhouses of stone which his brother and sister had
built the night before seemed such great fun to the little boy, and he
had such a good time doing this and, with Jan's help, making another and
larger house of his own, that he forgot all about his blue stones.
Ted and Hal did not forget them, though, and the more they thought of
the queer way they had been taken away in the night, the more they felt
sure that the stones must have gold in them, or, at least, something
that the tramps wanted badly enough to come and take it.
And that it was the tramps, or some man, or men, who had taken the blue
stones, Hal and Ted felt certain.
"For no dog or other animal could carry away every stone," said Hal.
"Anyhow a dog wouldn't want them, nor a fox either. It was the tramps
all right."
"Maybe they wouldn't like us to go to the cave and get the stones back,"
suggested Ted.
"Well, the tramps can't have the blue stones," said Hal, shaking his
head. "We found 'em, and they're Trouble's. But he's so little he don't
want any gold, so we'll give it to your grandfather and grandmother."
"Don't you want any?" asked Ted.
"No. My father's got lots of money. I just want to find some gold for
you. I got my light from under my pillow," and Hal showed it to Ted.
They were out behind the sleeping tent talking, and Ted had his pockets
full of cookies and little cakes he had begged from Nora.
"Though what in the world the child is going to do with them all, is
more than I can guess," laughed the maid. "But I s'pose the children are
always hungry."
Ted and Hal were now ready to go to the cave. They looked around the
corner of the tent and saw Janet still playing with Trouble. He had
gotten over crying for his blue stones, and was now busy making a
playhouse of the rocks and pebbles his brother and sister had used.
"Come on, Janet! We're going!" called Ted in a loud whisper, as his
sister looked at him. He also made motions with his hands to show that
he and Hal were ready to start for the cave.
Janet saw that her little brother was too busy playing to need her to
stay with him--at least for a time. Still she could not leave him alone
without calling her mother or Nora to watch what he did.
Very quietly, while Baby William was trying to make one stone stay on
top of another in one side of the castle he was making, Janet stepped up
to the flap of the tent, inside which her mother was sitting sewing.
"I'm going with Ted and Hal into the woods," said the little girl. "Will
you watch Trouble, Mother?"
"Yes, Janet. But be careful, and don't go too far."
Janet did not answer but hurried away. Of course she did not do just
right, for she knew her mother would not want her to go to the cave, nor
would Mrs. Martin have let Ted and Hal go had she known it. But the
Curlytops and Hal were very desirous of finding the blue stones and of
seeing if there was any gold in them, and they did not stop to think of
what was right and what was wrong.
"Hurry up now!" exclaimed Hal as he went on ahead up the path that led
from behind the tents to the queer cave. "We want to get there before
anybody knows it."
"What'll we do if the tramps are there?" asked Ted.
"They won't be there," said Hal, though how he could tell that he did
not say.
"I've got a little hatchet and we can cut down some clubs," said Ted. He
had brought with him a little Boy Scout hatchet, with a covering over
the sharp blade. His grandfather had given it to Ted, but had told him
never to take it out alone. But Ted did, and this was another wrong
thing.
I'm afraid if I speak of all the wrong things the Curlytops did that day
I'd never finish with this story. But it wasn't often they did so many
acts they ought not to have done.
On they hurried through the woods, the boys hurrying ahead of Janet. She
did her best to keep up with them, but her legs were shorter than Ted's
or Hal's and it was hard work for the little girl.
"Oh, wait for me!" she called at last. "I'm awful tired."
"Hurry up!" begged Ted. "We want to get the blue stones before the
tramps take 'em away!"
"Are they going to?" asked Janet, sitting down on a stone to rest, after
she had caught up to the boys.
"Well, they might," answered Hal. "We've got to hurry."
They went on again, walking a little more slowly this time, and when
they came to a muddy puddle in the middle of the woodland path, Ted
tried to jump over it. But he slipped on the edge and one leg, from his
foot to above his knee, got very wet and muddy.
"Oh, wow!" he cried. "Now I've got to stop and clean this off."
He began to wipe off the worst of the mud on bunches of grass, while
Janet sat down on a log near by.
"I'm sorry you fell in the mud, Teddy," she said, "but I'm glad I can
rest, for I'm awful tired. You go so fast!"
[Illustration: HAL WALKED BOLDLY INTO THE DARK CAVE. _Page 224_]
"Come on, hurry up!" called Hal, as Ted still brushed away with the
bunch of grass. "Let it dry and it will come off easier."
"I guess it will," agreed Ted, looking at his muddy stocking. "It won't
come off this way."
However, the accident had given his sister a little chance to rest, and
now Janet was able to keep up with the boys. Pretty soon they were near
the hole into which Ted had fallen, and out of which the cave opened.
"Now be careful!" whispered Hal, as he got out his flashlight. "Maybe
the tramps are there!"
"I've got my hatchet!" exclaimed Ted.
"I'm not going in if the tramps are there," declared Janet.
"We'll look first, and see," offered Hal.
"But I don't want to stay here alone!" objected Janet, as her brother
and Hal slid down into the hole and looked into the black opening of the
cave.
"We won't go very far," promised Ted. "We'll be back in a minute. Don't
be afraid."
Then he and Hal went into the cave, while Jan, half wanting to cry,
waited outside.