WHAT NICKNACK BROUGHT
Teddy and Janet were so surprised they did not know what to say. They
just stood and looked at one another in the light of the lantern their
father held after having milked the cow. Uncle Frank was in Nicknack's
little stable with another lantern.
"Are you sure he isn't there?" asked Mr. Martin, for well he knew how
sorry the Curlytops would feel if anything happened to their goat.
"There isn't a sign of him," answered Uncle Frank. "You can come and
look for yourselves."
"Maybe he's lying down asleep," suggested Teddy.
"I've looked all over," said Uncle Frank.
Teddy darted out of the barn, followed by Janet.
"Here! Come back!" cried their father. "You may get lost in the storm.
It's snowing and the wind is blowing and it's hard to see where you're
going, especially after dark."
"We want to see where Nicknack is," pleaded Teddy.
"Wait, and I'll go with you," his father remarked. "Perhaps he has
burrowed down under the hay or straw to keep warm."
But when all four of them stood in front of Nicknack's little stable,
which was too small for more than two to get in at a time, the Curlytops
saw that their pet was not there. Uncle Frank flashed the lantern up
high and down low, but no goat was to be seen.
"Where can he be?" asked Teddy, anxiously.
"Was the door fastened?" Daddy Martin inquired.
"Yes, it was shut and the catch was on. I had to take it off to get in,"
replied Uncle Frank. "Nicknack couldn't have gotten out that way."
"And there is only one door," went on Mr. Martin. "Did you look to see
if any boards were loose on the sides of the stable, Uncle Frank?"
"No, I didn't, but I will."
With his lantern Uncle Frank began looking around the goat's stable,
pushing against the boards, on the outside of which the snow was piled.
Finally Uncle Frank gave a shout.
"What is it?" cried Teddy. "Have you found Nicknack?"
"No, but I've found the place where he got out. Look!"
Holding the lantern so all could see, Uncle Frank showed where a large
board had been knocked loose. It swung to one side and showed a hole in
the snow outside.
"Is he in there?" asked Jan, as she saw the hole. It was like the tunnel
her father and Uncle Frank had dug, but smaller.
"I don't know whether he's there or not," answered Uncle Frank. "I'll
have a look, though."
He pulled the board loose. It hung by one nail only. Then, stooping down
so he could look into the hole, which seemed to have been dug in the
snow outside, and flashing his lantern into it, Uncle Frank called:
"Here, Nicknack! Are you there? Come here!"
There was no answer, the only sound being the howl of the wind and the
swish of the snowflakes in the storm.
"Isn't he there?" asked Teddy, his voice sounding as though he wanted to
cry.
"I can't see him," answered Uncle Frank. "But I think he must be in the
snow somewhere around here. We'll have to dig him out just as we dug you
out of the big drift, Teddy."
"Is Nicknack in a drift?" Janet whispered. Somehow, if Nicknack were in
a drift, it seemed better to Jan to talk in whisper.
"I can't imagine where else he would be," Uncle Frank said. "He must
have gotten tired of staying here all alone, so, with his horns and head
he just knocked this big board loose. That gave him room enough to get
out, and then he began to dig his way through the snow. There was a
little hollow place in the edge of the drift that is on this side of his
stable, and that gave him a chance to start. He didn't paw any snow
inside his stable, and that's why I didn't at first see which way he had
gone."
"But how can we get him?" asked Jan, who felt the tears coming into her
eyes.
"Oh, we can dig him out," her father said. "Don't worry. We'll soon get
Nicknack for you."
"To-night?" Teddy demanded.
"Well, maybe not to-night," his father answered. "It's pretty late now,
and getting colder. And there's no telling how far away Nicknack has dug
himself into the snow bank. He's a strong goat, Nicknack is, and once he
started to burrow through the snow, one couldn't say when he'd stop. He
might even dig his way to the house."
"Honest and truly?" asked Teddy.
"Well, he might," said Mr. Martin. "Anyhow, we'll wait until morning
before we start digging for him."
"But won't he die?" asked Janet.
"No, he can get air under the snow for quite a while, just as Teddy
could when he jumped into the drift. And if he gets hungry he can wiggle
his way back to his stable the same way he wiggled out. The way is open
and we'll leave this board off so he can get in easily. There is hay and
water here. The water didn't freeze, being warm under so much snow and
down in the hay where you put the pail, Teddy. So Nicknack will be all
right until morning I think."
"What made him go out?" asked Teddy.
"I think he got lonesome," laughed Uncle Frank. "He missed you two
Curlytops, and he wanted to come to see you."
"But where is he?" asked Janet.
"Oh, somewhere in the snow between here and the house," answered her
father. "Don't worry about Nicknack. He's able to take care of himself.
Maybe he'll be back in his stable in the morning."
Janet and Teddy were not at all sure of this, but they hoped it might
prove true. They liked their goat very much. He was a fine playfellow
for them.
"Let us call, Jan," suggested Ted. "Nicknack likes us, and maybe he'll
answer if we holler. You call first."
"All right," Jan responded. Then, at the top of her voice, she yelled:
"Nicknack, come here!"
Then Teddy shouted: "Nicknack! Oh, Nicknack!"
Then they all waited in silence, but heard nothing in reply to their
calls.
"Well, it's of no use to stay here any longer," said Daddy Martin, as
they stood looking at Nicknack's empty stable. "We'll leave everything
as it is and come here in the morning. It will be easy enough for us to
get out, now that we have the tunnel made."
"Yes, come on back to the house, and I'll tell you some stories about my
Western ranch," added Uncle Frank. "Some day I want you Curlytops to
come out there and have pony rides."
"Oh, can we?" cried Teddy.
"To be sure you can."
"And shall we get snowed in?" asked Janet.
"Well, not if I can help it. But come in the summer when there won't be
any snow. You'll like it out on my ranch in Montana."
The Curlytops were sure they would, and they were so anxious to hear
more about it and talk of getting pony rides among the cowboys that, for
the time, they forgot about Nicknack's trouble.
Back to the house they went, locking the stable door after seeing that
the horse and the cow had plenty to eat. Daddy Martin carried the pail
of milk, of which Trouble was to have his share, for he drank a great
deal of it.
"Nicknack's gone!" cried Teddy as they entered the house, after brushing
and shaking off the snow.
"Gone!" cried Mother Martin.
And then she and Aunt Jo were told what the Curlytops had discovered
when they went to the goat's stable.
"Well, maybe he'll come back," said Aunt Jo. "After supper I'll tell you
about a new bungalow I'm going to build at Ruby Lake, and I want you two
Curlytops to come to see me there."
"Oh, won't we have fun at Uncle Frank's ranch and Aunt Jo's bungalow!"
cried Teddy.
"Yes, we will!" echoed his sister.
After supper Uncle Frank began to tell a Western story of things that
had happened at his ranch. He told of Indians having taken some of his
ponies, and of how he and his cowboys chased and caught the Red-men and
took back the little horses.
"We didn't want them to steal our ponies," he said.
"Daddy didn't want that lame boy to take the pocketbook in his store,
but the lame boy did," said Janet, who was fast falling asleep.
"What made you think of that?" asked her father.
"Oh, I was just thinking," answered the little girl. "Maybe that lame
boy was hungry like Uncle Frank said the Indians were."
"Maybe," agreed her mother. "But it isn't sure he took the pocketbook.
You never found out who he was, did you?" she asked her husband.
"No, the poor fellow seemed to be too frightened to come back. I hope
nothing happened to him. I'd rather lose the money than have him hurt,
though, of course, I wouldn't want to learn that he would take what was
not his. But now, Aunt Jo, it's your turn to tell about your new
bungalow."
So Aunt Jo began her story, and by the time it was finished Teddy and
Janet were ready for bed, where Trouble had gone long before.
"Still snowing," said Uncle Frank, as he went to the back door and
looked out. "I imagine this is the biggest storm you folks in the East
ever had."
"Yes, it is," agreed Daddy Martin.
The house was soon dark and quiet, while outside the cold wind blew and
the snow piled in big drifts.
Janet and Teddy had fallen asleep, wondering what had happened to their
pet goat, and the first thing they asked, on awakening in the morning
was:
"Is Nicknack here?"
"We haven't seen him," answered their mother. "But daddy and Uncle Frank
are going to dig for him after breakfast."
When the meal had been finished it was found that the snow had stopped,
at least for a time, and that the weather was a little warmer. Janet and
Ted were allowed to play out in a cleared place in the yard.
"Part of the tunnel caved in during the night," said their father, "and
we'll have to dig it out before we can get to Nicknack's stable. But
we'll call you as soon as we find him."
It took some time to dig through the snow, and while their father and
Uncle Frank were doing this Ted and Janet made a little hill in the yard
and slid down that on their sleds.
Then they saw Uncle Frank coming toward them.
"Did you find Nicknack?" called the Curlytops.
"No. We dug through the hole he made in the snow, but it came to an end
at your bungalow, and there's no sign of the goat."
"Maybe he's in our play bungalow," said Teddy.
"The door is closed," went on his uncle. "I'm afraid your goat is snowed
under farther off. We're going to dig some more after dinner. But we'll
find him."
Janet and Teddy were worried about Nicknack.
"Please dig hard for him!" begged Janet, as the two men started out with
their shovels after dinner.
"We will," they promised.
Just as they were going out to the kitchen, to get their shovels which
they had left in the back entry, there came a pounding in that very
place as though some one were stamping snow off his boots.
"What's that?" asked Uncle Frank.
"Someone coming to see us--one of the neighbors perhaps," remarked Mr.
Martin. "This is the first any of them have broken out after having been
snowed in."
Once more the pounding noise sounded.
"Come in!" cried Uncle Frank, as he started toward the door.
"Baa-a-a-a!" came the answer.
"Nicknack!" cried Teddy and Janet joyously.
Uncle Frank threw open the door. There stood the goat, covered with
snow, and stamping to get off as much as he could. Into the kitchen he
walked as though he felt at home there, and Teddy and Janet began to hug
him.
"Hold on there! Wait a minute!" called their father.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Martin. "What's the matter, Dick?"
"There's something on that goat's neck!"
"Something on his neck?"
"Yes, a note or something. Nicknack has brought in something out of the
storm. We must see what it is!"