TROUBLE IS LOST
"What sort of house are you going to build, Uncle Frank?" asked Ted, as
he and his sister watched their uncle and their aunt out in the big yard
back of the house.
"Well, I call it a shack, though your aunt calls it a bungalow," was the
answer. "Between us I guess we'll manage to make something in which you
Curlytops can have fun. I've made 'em like this on the prairies--those
are the big, wide plains, you know, out West, where there are very few
trees, and not much lumber," he went on. "We have to use old boards,
tree limbs, when we can find them, and anything else we come across.
"It used to be that way, though there is more lumber now. But I've often
taken a few sticks and boards and made a sort of shelter and then
covered it with snow. It will stand up almost all winter, if you don't
let a goat knock it down," he added with a laugh.
"We won't let Nicknack knock this snow bungalow down," said Janet.
"No, we'll coax him to be good," added Aunt Jo.
It had stopped snowing, though heavy clouds overhead seemed to hold more
that might fall down later, and the Curlytops had not given up hope of
being snowed in, though really they did not know all the trouble that
might be caused by such a thing.
There were plenty of boards and sticks in the Martin barn and around it,
and Aunt Jo and Uncle Frank had soon made a framework for the bungalow.
It was larger than the first snow house the children had made, and it
was to have a wooden door to it so the cold could be kept out better
than with a blanket.
"What are you doing?" asked Tom Taylor on Thanksgiving day morning, when
he came over to play with Jan and Ted.
"Making a snow bungalow," Ted answered. "Want to help?"
"My, yes!" answered Tom. "Say, it's going to be a dandy!" he exclaimed
when he had been introduced to Aunt Jo and Uncle Frank, and was told
what they were doing to give the Curlytops a good time.
When the dinner-bell rang the wooden part of the bungalow was nearly
finished and there were two windows in it of real glass, some old sashes
having been found in the barn. These had once been in a chicken coop.
"Well, we're glad to have Uncle Frank and Aunt Jo with us for the
Thanksgiving dinner," said Daddy Martin, as they all sat at the table.
"And I'm going to be right next to my dear little Trouble!" cried Aunt
Jo, reaching over to hug Baby William.
"Look out he doesn't eat everything off your plate," warned Mother
Martin with a laugh. "He says he's very hungry."
"Well, that's what everybody ought to be on Thanksgiving day," said
Uncle Frank. "We ought to be hungry enough to like a good dinner, and be
thankful we have it, and wish everybody else had the same."
"That's right!" cried Daddy Martin, and then he began to carve the big,
roasted turkey, while Mother Martin dished out the red cranberry sauce.
I will not tell you all the good things there were to eat at the
Martins' that Thanksgiving, for fear I might spoil your appetite for
what you are going to have to-day--whatever day it happens to be. Not
that you might not have just as nice a dinner, but it will be different,
I know.
Such a brown, roasted turkey, such red cranberry sauce, such crisp,
white celery and such a sweet pumpkin pie--never were they seen
before--at least as far as I know.
There was eating and talking and laughter and more eating and more
talking and more laughter and then they began all over again.
At last even Uncle Frank, who was a bigger man than Daddy Martin, said
he had had enough to eat. So the chairs were pushed back, after Nora had
brought in some snow cream, which was something like ice cream only made
with snow instead of ice, and Uncle Frank told about a prairie fire.
Then Aunt Jo told one about having been on a ship that struck a rock and
sank. But no one was drowned, she was glad to be able to say.
Ted and Jan liked to listen to the stories, but they kept looking out in
the back yard, and finally Uncle Frank said:
"I know what these Curlytops want!"
"What?" asked Mother Martin.
"They want to go out into the yard and finish the snow bungalow! Don't
you, Curlytops?"
"Yes!" cried Jan and Ted.
"And I want to go out, too," went on Uncle Frank, "for I'm not used to
staying in the house so much, especially after I've eaten such a big
dinner. So come on out and we'll have some fun."
"I'm coming, too!" cried Aunt Jo. "I love it in the fresh air and the
snow."
"Come on, Mother Martin!" called Mr. Martin to his wife. "We'll go out
with them. It will do us good to frolic in the snow."
"All right. Wait until I get on some rubbers."
"Me come, too!" cried Trouble, who had fallen asleep after dinner, but
who was now awake.
"Yes, bring him along," said Daddy Martin.
They were soon all out in the yard. The storm had not started in again,
but Uncle Frank said it might before night, and there would, very
likely, be much more snow.
Then they began the finishing touches on the snow bungalow. They piled
the masses of white flakes on top of and on all sides of the board
shack, or cabin, Uncle Frank and Aunt Jo had built. Soon none of the
boards, except those where the door was fastened on, could be seen. They
were covered with snow.
"There!" cried Uncle Frank, when the last shovelful had been tossed on.
"There's as fine a snow bungalow as you could want. It will be nice and
warm, too, even on a cold day."
"And Nicknack can't knock it down, either," added Ted.
"Well, he'll have harder work than he did to knock down the plain snow
house you built," said Aunt Jo. "Now let's go inside and see how much
room there is."
The bungalow would not hold them all at once, but they took turns going
in, and it was high enough for Uncle Frank to stand in, though he had to
stoop a little.
Some benches and chairs were made of the pieces of wood left over and
Uncle Frank even built a little table in the middle of the play
bungalow.
"You can eat your dinners here when it's too warm in the house," he said
with a laugh.
Then Ted, Janet, Tom Taylor and his sister Lola had fun in the new
bungalow while the older folk went in to sit and talk of the days when
they were children and played in the snow.
Daddy Martin told about the strange lame boy who had come to his store
and, later, to the house, but who had gone away without waiting to tell
what he wanted.
"Ted and Jan are anxious to see him to make sure he is not their friend
Hal," said Mr. Martin. "But I do not think it is. Hal would not take a
pocketbook."
"Then you have never found the lost money?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"No, never," her husband answered. "Still I do not want to say the lame
boy took it until I am more sure."
The Curlytops and their friends played in the yard around the snow
bungalow until it was getting dark. Trouble had been brought in some
time before by his mother, and now it was the hour for Jan and Ted to
come in.
"We'll go coasting to-morrow, Tom!" called Ted to his chum.
"All right," was the answer. "I'll call for you right after breakfast."
"We'll hitch Nicknack to the big sled and make him pull us to the hill,"
said Janet, for Mr. Martin had bought a large, second-hand sled to which
the goat could be harnessed. The sled would hold five children, with a
little squeezing, and Trouble was often taken for a ride with his
brother and sister, Tom and Lola also being invited.
"Come to supper, children!" called Mrs. Martin, as Ted and Jan came in
from having spent most of the afternoon in the snow bungalow. "I don't
suppose you are hungry after the big dinner you ate," she went on, "but
maybe you can eat a little."
"I can eat a lot!" cried Ted.
"I'm hungry, too," added Janet.
"Well, I wish you'd wash Trouble's hands and face, Jan," went on Mrs.
Martin. "I hope you didn't let him throw too many snowballs."
"Why, Trouble wasn't with us--not after you brought him in!" exclaimed
Ted.
"He wasn't?" gasped Mrs. Martin. "Hasn't he been out with you since
about an hour ago, and didn't he come in with you just now?"
"No," answered Jan.
"Why, I put on his mittens, little boots and jacket," said his mother, a
worried look coming over her face. "He said he wanted to go out and play
with you. I opened the back door for him, and just then Aunt Jo called
me. Are you sure he didn't go out to you?"
"No, he didn't," declared Jan. "We haven't seen him since you brought
him in. Oh, dear! is Trouble lost?"
Mrs. Martin set down a dish that was in her hand. Her face turned pale
and she looked around the room. No Trouble was in sight.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Martin, coming in just then.
"Why, I thought Baby William was out in the yard, playing with Jan and
Ted," said Mrs. Martin, "but they came in just now and they say he
wasn't. Oh, where could he have gone?"
"Maybe he went out in the front instead of to the back when you put on
his things," said Aunt Jo, "and he may be in one of the neighbor's
houses. We'll go and ask, Uncle Frank and I."
"I'll come, too," said Mr. Martin. "Mother, you call through the house.
He may not have gone out at all."