THE POSTMAN'S WHISTLE
"Oh, Trouble has fallen! Trouble has fallen!" screamed Jan, as she ran
around toward the back of the toboggan.
"Come on, Tom!" yelled Ted. "I guess my little brother's hurt!"
Lola followed the others, and as the four children raced to the aid of
baby William a shrill whistle was heard near the front of the house.
"Is that a policeman?" cried Tom to his chum.
"No, it's the postman," answered Ted. "He's taking a letter into our
house. Hey, Mr. Brennan!" he called, as he saw the gray-uniformed mail
carrier entering the yard. "My little brother's hurt!"
Screams coming from the mouth of William seemed to tell that he was
badly frightened, anyhow, and also hurt, very likely.
"Trouble hurt? I'm coming!" cried the postman dropping his bag of mail
and running around the side path.
Another moment and the Curlytops and their playmates had reached the
rear of the high pile of boxes from which the toboggan slide started.
They looked on the ground, expecting to see Trouble huddled there in a
crumpled heap.
But he wasn't there. His voice, however, could be heard crying lustily,
and it seemed to come from overhead. Yet the little boy was not on the
high platform, from which he had been seen to topple backward.
Where was Trouble?
This was the question the Curlytops asked themselves. And it was what
their playmates wanted to know, as did the postman.
But before we settle that question I want to answer several inquiries
that I feel sure some of my new readers are asking, and among these is
this:
"Who are the Curlytops?"
Those who have read the previous books of this series do not need to go
over this part I am writing now. They may skip it and get on with the
story. Others may wish to know something about Ted, Janet and Trouble.
"Curlytops" was not their right name. As you have noticed, it was
Martin. Theodore Baradale Martin was called Ted, or Teddy, and Janet's
name was more often shortened to Jan. William was called Trouble as I
have mentioned.
The name "Curlytops" was given the two older children because of their
curly, golden heads of hair. They lived with their father and mother,
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Martin in the city of Cresco, in one of our Eastern
states. Mr. Martin kept a store.
The Curlytops were introduced first in the book about Cherry Farm. After
that they had fun and adventures on Star Island, they were snowed in, as
the book of that name tells, and later they went to Uncle Frank's ranch
in the West. At Silver Lake they had fun on the water with Uncle Ben.
The book which was written just before this is called "The Curlytops and
their Pets," and tells how the children cared for some dogs, a cat, a
monkey, a parrot and an alligator that Uncle Toby left in their charge
when he thought he had to go to South America.
Instead of going there Uncle Toby went to Canada. And it was from some
of the stories he told of seeing toboggan slides there that the
Curlytops had made one in their yard. Then came trouble with Trouble.
"But where is your little brother?" asked the postman of Ted and Janet,
as he rushed around behind the high pile of boxes. "You say he fell off
the platform, but where is he?"
"I hear him crying!" exclaimed Lola.
"So do I," added her brother. The two Taylor children were among the
many playmates of the Curlytops.
"He didn't fall to the ground, that's sure, or else he'd be here now,"
declared the postman. "There isn't a sign of him. Maybe--"
But Mr. Brennan never finished what he started to say, for just then a
little voice, above the heads of the postman and the children, cried
out:
"Here I is!"
"Oh, look!" exclaimed Jan.
They all glanced up and saw the head of Trouble thrust out of one of the
big packing boxes which Ted and his friends had made into the highest
part of the toboggan slide.
The opening of this large packing box was toward the rear of the slide
and Trouble was in the box. How he got there could only be guessed, but
there he was, tears streaming down his little red face as he looked out.
"I--I wants to tum down!" he sobbed.
At times Trouble talked fairly well and plainly, but when he was
excited, as he was now, he said wrong words. Nobody minded that,
however.
"Don't jump, Trouble! Don't jump!" shouted the postman. "I'll get you
down all right. Is there a ladder anywhere around?" he asked the
children.
"There's a stepladder in the shed," answered Ted. "I'll get it."
"I'll help," offered Tom.
Away sped the boys, while Jan and Lola remained with Mr. Brennan looking
up at Trouble, who seemed like some little animal in a circus cage.
"How'd you get in there, William?" asked Jan. Whenever the name
"William" was used there was always more seriousness than when the
youngest Martin child had been called by his pet title.
"I--I falled in!" sobbed Trouble.
"We saw you tumble over backward," remarked Lola. "But how did you get
inside the box? Why didn't you fall all the way to the ground?"
"Suffin ketched me and I fell in here," was all Trouble could explain
about it.
"I guess part of his clothes caught on a nail, or a piece of wood that
was sticking out," said the postman, "and he was swung inside the box. A
good thing, too, for it saved him a bad fall. He didn't go far."
This was true enough, for Trouble had swung into an open packing box not
far from the top of the platform, so he had really only fallen a few
feet--not enough to harm such a fat, chubby little fellow as he was.
"Well, we'll soon have you down," said Mr. Brennan cheerfully. "Don't
cry any more, Trouble. Here come Ted and Tom with the ladder. I'll soon
get you down!"
As the boys were hastening up with the ladder toward the high part of
the toboggan slide, Mrs. Martin came running out of the back door of the
house.
"What's the matter? What has happened?" she asked.
"Nothing much, Mrs. Martin," answered the postman, with a laugh.
"Trouble is in trouble, and also in a packing box; that's all. I'll soon
have him out."
"In a packing box?" William's mother repeated.
"Yes, you can see him," and Mr. Brennan pointed to the head of William
thrust out from his "cage."
"Oh, the little tyke!" cried Mrs. Martin. "After he awakened from his
nap and went out to play, I told him to keep away from the toboggan
slide."
"Well, he went up on it when we weren't looking," explained Janet.
"And he fell off, only he didn't fall far and he swung into the box,"
added Ted.
"What a narrow escape!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "You children will either
have to take that slide down or watch William more carefully," she
added, as the postman put the ladder in place and began to climb up
after Trouble.
"Oh, we don't want to take the slide down!" cried Ted. "We haven't tried
it in the snow, yet. It'll be a lot more fun when it snows."
"We won't let Trouble get up on it again," added Janet.
By this time Mr. Brennan had climbed down with the little fellow in his
arms. William seemed to be over his fright, for he smiled and asked:
"Can I have a wide?"
"You'd better go in the house with mother," said Ted. "No rides for
you!"
"Oh, give him one ride! He's so cute!" begged Lola.
"We'll take care of him," went on Jan.
"Are you all right, darling? Are you hurt?" asked Mrs. Martin, looking
William over carefully. "It's a mercy you didn't have some bones
broken."
"I guess he would have had if he had fallen all the way," said Mr.
Brennan. "But his clothes caught on something and saved him. He just
swung into the open box like a piano being slung in a second story
window by the moving men. Well, as long as you're all right, Curlytops,
I'll be traveling on," he added, as he walked to where he had dropped
his bag of mail.
"We're ever so much obliged to you," said Mrs. Martin.
"Oh, yes! Thank you!" called Ted and Janet. They had almost forgotten
this in the excitement.
"All right!" laughed the postman, waving his hand to them, as he went
out of the gate.
"Now if I leave William with you, will you watch him carefully?" asked
Mrs. Martin, as she turned to go in the house.
"Oh, yes, Mother!" promised Ted and Janet in the same breath.
"We'll help!" offered Tom Taylor.
"I'll let him ride down on my sled," said Lola.
"I want to wide all alone!" declared Trouble.
"No, you can't do that!" his mother said.
The postman turned and came into the yard again.
"I forgot to give you this letter," he said, with a laugh. "So much
excitement made me nearly forget the mail. There you are, Mrs. Martin,"
and he handed her a letter.
The children played on the wooden toboggan slide the remainder of the
morning, having much fun, and the laughter and shouting of Trouble was
as loud as that of the Curlytops and their playmates. Trouble was not
exactly a curlytop, for his hair was not like the locks of Ted and
Janet.
"I hope it snows to-morrow," said Tom, as he and his sister went home to
dinner.
"So do I," added Ted. "It looks like it," he added, with a glance up at
the gray clouds.
"If we pack the slide with snow we'll coast lots better," declared Lola.
Ted and Janet, with Trouble, went in the house, having planned to do
more "dry" coasting after their meal.
Daddy Martin had come home to lunch from his store, and as the Curlytops
entered the dining room they saw their father and mother with serious
looks on their faces. Mr. Martin had just been reading a letter, the
same letter the postman had left after rescuing Trouble.
"Well," Mr. Martin was saying, "I think we'll both have to take that
trip, Mother, and see about this. Yes, we'll both have to go."
"Oh, are you going somewhere?" cried Ted.
"Take us!" begged Janet.
Mrs. Martin shook her head slowly. There was a worried look on her face.
"This isn't to be a pleasure trip," she said. "You children couldn't
possibly go. It's about business. Just daddy and I will go, if we have
to. But I don't want to go away with winter coming on."
"Why do you have to go?" Janet wanted to know.
"Because, unless we do, daddy may lose a lot of money," said Mrs. Martin
gravely. "We wouldn't want that to happen. If we go away we shall have
to leave you children behind, and I don't like to do that, however--"
Suddenly the bark of a dog sounded outside, and there came a ring at the
front door.
"Somebody's coming!" cried Ted, making a dash for the hall.