TROUBLE IS MISSING
Harry came into the kitchen to join his chums, and when he heard that
Skyrocket was gone he and the other two boys made such a noise calling
and whistling for the missing dog that Uncle Toby asked:
"What's the matter out there?"
"Skyrocket's gone!" explained Ted.
"Well, that's all right," said Uncle Toby. "I suppose he went out early
to get up an appetite for breakfast."
"But how could he get out, Uncle Toby?" asked Ted, as Mr. Bardeen came
into the kitchen where the dog had been put for the night. "How could he
get out? There isn't a door or window open, and he hasn't jumped through
any of the window glass, as he did once to get to me when he was shut up
by mistake."
"Hum!" murmured Uncle Toby, thoughtfully. "Are you sure he's gone, Ted?"
"Well, he isn't around and he doesn't come when I call him," the boy
answered. "He must be gone."
Jan and the other girls now came into the kitchen, and soon Aunt Sallie
had Trouble dressed, so the whole family was up. That is all but
Skyrocket, and he surely was one of the family.
"What's the matter?" asked Jan, for she knew that there was something
wrong. And when Ted told her about Skyrocket being gone, tears came into
Jan's eyes. Seeing this, Uncle Toby knew what he had to do to keep the
children contented and happy while on their holiday stay with him at
Crystal Lake.
"Look here, boys and girls," he said, "Skyrocket isn't lost. He has just
run out somewhere. He'll be back soon. Don't feel too bad about him. It
isn't the first time he has run away, is it, Ted?"
"No, Uncle Toby. But how did he get out to run away? That's what I want
to know. There isn't a door or window open. The cabin was shut tight
last night after Skyrocket was in."
"That's what we think," said Uncle Toby. "But some door or window may
have been left open by mistake, and Skyrocket may have got out that way
and be roaming in the woods, having a good time. Don't you often find,
Aunt Sallie," asked Uncle Toby, "that you forget to shut a door or
window, and later in the night get up to close it?"
As Mr. Bardeen asked this question of his housekeeper he winked one eye
at her--an eye the children could not see. Uncle Toby wanted Aunt Sallie
to say "yes" to his question, and she, knowing the little trick he was
trying to play, did as he wanted her to.
"There, you are!" exclaimed Uncle Toby to the children. "Aunt Sallie or
I may have left a door or window open, after you young folks went to
bed, and Sky may have gotten out that way. Then we might have closed it,
locking him out."
"Oh, do you think it could have happened that way?" asked Ted.
"Of course it could!" replied Uncle Toby, but he did not really say that
it had happened like that. In fact Uncle Toby knew it had not happened
this way. He felt pretty sure that some one had come in the night and
stolen Skyrocket away, but he did not want to tell the Curlytops this
for fear of making them afraid.
"Well, if Skyrocket has just run away he'll run back again," said Ted.
"Yes, he will, for he's done it before," added Janet.
Then the children felt better, and sat down to breakfast. But when Uncle
Toby had a chance to speak quietly to Aunt Sallie he said:
"Don't say anything to the children, but I think some tramp--maybe the
same one who took your plum pudding--came in the night and stole
Skyrocket."
"But why would a tramp want Skyrocket?" asked Aunt Sallie.
"Perhaps he thought we would pay money to get the dog back--as I will do
if he doesn't come back himself," said Uncle Toby. "You can't tell what
a tramp would do. Anyhow, I know we didn't leave any doors or windows
open. I just said that to quiet the children. I feel sure Skyrocket has
been stolen by a tramp."
"What are you going to do about it, Uncle Toby?"
"I'm going to get Jim Nelson and some of the lumbermen around here and
have a look around. For one place, we'll go to that old cabin of Newt
Baker's, which we saw the man running away from that day. Maybe he's
the tramp who took Skyrocket and also your plum pudding."
"Dear me!" exclaimed Aunt Sallie, with a frightened look over her
shoulder.
"Don't be afraid!" laughed Uncle Toby. "Nothing will happen. But I don't
want the children's fun spoiled. So let them think Skyrocket just
wandered away and will come back again."
But Skyrocket did not come back that day nor the next nor the next. Back
home in Cresco he had often stayed away a week at a time, Jan said, so
after she and her brother had gotten used to the idea that the dog was
off on one of his wandering trips, they no longer worried.
Uncle Toby got some of the lumbermen and went to the cabin, but though
they found the footprints of men and dogs in the snow, no one was now in
the old shack, and there was no way of telling whether the dog's
footprints were those of Skyrocket.
"Well, I guess that tramp cleared out," said Uncle Toby to Aunt Sallie.
"And he may have taken Skyrocket with him. But don't say anything to the
Curlytops. Christmas is coming, and we want them to have a good time.
And Skyrocket may come back."
But the dog did not. Two weeks went by and he had not returned. By this
time Ted and Janet had rather gotten accustomed to missing him, and
though they felt very sorry, they were having so much fun that they
thought of little else. For surely there were good times at Uncle
Toby's!
The plan of the boys to put up a little carpet house on the big toboggan
coaster did not work. They tried it, without telling Uncle Toby anything
about it, and this is what happened.
First Tom, Ted, and Harry fastened some beanpoles upright on the
toboggan. They tied them tightly with cords so they were fairly solid.
In the barn they found some pieces of carpet and a few old feed bags,
left from the time that Uncle Toby kept a horse out at Crystal Lake, and
by tying these bags together, after ripping them open, they made a large
piece of cloth, big enough for a tent. This they fastened on the
beanpoles that were tied to the toboggan, also using some carpet strips.
"Now we've got a regular little house on it, and we can sit inside and
coast downhill and be nice and warm!" exclaimed Ted.
That was his idea and that of the other boys. Three of them could get
inside the toboggan-tent at a time, and the rear lad could stick his
foot out through a hole in the bag covering a steer.
Without telling Uncle Toby anything about it, and saying nothing to the
girls, the boys drew this new invention of theirs out on the coasting
hill one morning. Tom and Harry took their places toward the front of
the toboggan, inside the tent. There was a hole in the bagging so they
could look out. Ted sat behind to steer.
"All ready?" he asked his chums.
"Let her go!" cried Tom.
Ted pushed off, and for a little way the toboggan went down the hill all
right. The boys were laughing and shouting, for it was fun to coast
inside a tent that kept off the cold wind.
"It's like riding in a closed auto!" yelled Tom.
But just then something happened. The toboggan struck a lump of ice on
the hill, slued around, though Ted did his best to steer it, and began
going sideways.
Just then the three girls, with Trouble, came out to see what the boys
were doing, and seeing the strange tent-covered toboggan going downhill
sideways Janet, Lola, and Mary, all three, screamed, while Trouble
yelled in delight, as he always did at anything new or strange.
Ted declared afterward that the girls' screams made him steer crooked,
but in the girls' opinion the toboggan would have upset anyhow. And
that's what it did.
Over it turned, when half way down the hill. The bean poles snapped and
broke, and a moment later the boys were tangled up in the pieces of
carpet and bagging, rolling off the toboggan which coasted the rest of
the way downhill by itself, and probably it was very glad to be rid of
the tent-house.
"Oh, are you hurt?" cried Jan, as she saw the tangled mass of boys.
"I'll call Uncle Toby!" exclaimed Lola.
"Oh, what a dreadful accident!" wailed Mary.
But an instant later the boys jumped up, laughing, not in the least
hurt, though they were disappointed because their invention did not
work.
"Don't try any more tricks like that," said Uncle Toby, when he heard
what had happened. "The next time some of you may be hurt."
The boys promised to obey, and they didn't do any thing just like that
again, but they did other things almost as risky. However, no one was
hurt, and they certainly had lots of fun at Uncle Toby's.
There was so much to do that they almost forgot about the lost
Skyrocket, though every now and then Ted and his chums would go off in
the woods, whistling and calling. But the dog did not come back.
As the snow did not melt away, Uncle Toby, with the help of some of his
men friends at the camp, cleared a place on the frozen lake where the
children could skate. And with this fun, with coasting, making snowmen,
another snow house, having snowball battles, the children passed many
days most happily.
Christmas was coming. The Curlytops and their playmates now began
counting the days until this grand holiday should arrive. Trouble, with
the help of Janet, had written his letter to Santa Claus, and the other
children had told each other (so Aunt Sallie and Uncle Toby could hear)
the things they wished St. Nicholas to bring them.
One morning Uncle Toby brought the big automobile around to the door of
the cabin. It was two days before Christmas, and everything had been
prepared for a jolly good time at the cabin. A big green tree had been
cut in the woods, and set up in one of the rooms. There it was to be
trimmed and made ready for the presents to be put under it.
"Come, children, we're going to the village to get the mail and some
other things," called Uncle Toby to the Curlytops and their friends.
"Pile in, and we'll all go to the village. I wouldn't be surprised but
what there would be some letters for all of you," he said, with a
twinkle in his eyes, as if he knew what was going to happen.
"Oh, maybe daddy and mother will be here for Christmas!" cried Ted and
Janet.
"And maybe my father and mother will come," added Lola, though she did
not have much hope of this.
"If I could get a letter that my mother was all well again, that would
be the best Christmas present I could have," sighed Mary.
"Maybe you will get such a letter," said Uncle Toby.
Perhaps he knew what was going to happen.
Aunt Sallie said she would not make the trip to the village in the
automobile, as she had work to do at the bungalow. So Uncle Toby,
the Curlytops and their playmates--alas, not with Skyrocket this
time--started off. The snow seemed to be coming down thicker and
faster, but this only made the children more joyful, for they loved
snow at Christmas, as what youngster does not?
The post-office was reached, and Uncle Toby went in for the mail. He
came out with both hands full. There was a letter for Mary and Harry,
one for Ted and Janet and one for Tom and Lola, and then there were
separate letters for each boy and girl from some of the friends they
had left behind. There was even a postal for Trouble.
"Oh, such good news!" cried Ted, when he and Janet had read their
letter. "Daddy and Mother are coming here to spend Christmas with us!"
"Did your father say anything about the money he was afraid of losing?"
asked Uncle Toby.
"No," answered Ted. "But I hope he doesn't lose it."
"We have good news, like yours!" Lola said to Janet. "Our daddy and
mother are coming here also for Christmas. You invited them, didn't you,
Uncle Toby?" she asked.
"Why, yes, I believe I did," chuckled the jolly old gentleman. "But have
you good news, too?" he asked Harry and Mary.
"Yes," they answered with happy tears in their eyes. "Our mother is well
again, and she is coming up here for Christmas. Oh, how happy we are!"
"Everybody's happy!" sang Trouble. "Everybody's happy, an' Santa C'aus
is comin'!"
"That's right!" laughed Janet, hugging him.
They little knew how close unhappiness was following happiness.
After the letters had been read again Uncle Toby drove the automobile
down the village street to the store to get some things Aunt Sallie
wanted for the Christmas dinner. As the children each had some spending
money they were allowed to get out and wander through a general store
next to the grocery. There was a "five and ten cent" department in the
variety "Emporium" as it was called, and the children had fun there,
picking out inexpensive presents as surprises one for the other.
It was not until, bubbling over with joy and happiness, they had again
gotten back in the automobile that Trouble was missed.
"Oh, where is your little brother?" exclaimed Lola.
"Why, I thought you had him!" said Janet.
"And I thought you did. We must have left him back in the store. Let's
look!"
But Trouble was not there! He was missing!