TROUBLE AND SKYROCKET
You can imagine there was much excitement and some very frightened
feelings in the hearts of all the children when the clerks in the store
where the five and ten cent Christmas presents had been bought said
Trouble was not there.
"But where can he be?" asked Janet, hardly able to keep back the tears.
"Perhaps he went out and walked back to the store where Uncle Toby is
buying his things," suggested Lola. "Let's look there."
"I guess that's where he is all right," said Teddy.
But Trouble was not in the grocery store, and Uncle Toby, who had
finished his shopping, was as much surprised and alarmed as were the
children when told what had happened.
"I guess the little tyke may have walked out by himself and gotten into
the auto," said Uncle Toby.
But Trouble was not in the big closed automobile. And then a frantic
search began. People in the stores where Uncle Toby and the children had
been lent their aid, and when after fifteen minutes it was sure that the
little boy was not in the neighborhood, the constable was called on and
the search made up and down the street.
"Well, we'll find him, of course," said Uncle Toby, speaking more
hopefully than he really felt. "What happened, I suppose, is that he
wandered out of the store, to find me, maybe, and he got in the wrong
place. We'll look in every building along Main Street."
This was done, and the houses on side streets were visited, too, but
without effect. Trouble seemed to have vanished completely and
mysteriously.
By this time Janet was crying, as were the other girls, and the boys
tried not to let the tears in their eyes be seen.
"Where can he be?" asked the Curlytops over and over again, when each
store had been searched twice.
"I'll tell you what I think happened," said Uncle Toby. "Trouble
wandered away from you, while you were buying your Christmas presents.
He wandered out into the street and got confused. Maybe he started
crying in the street, and some farmer and his wife, in their sled, may
have taken him in to comfort him."
"But what would they do with him?" asked Ted.
"Some farmer and his wife picked Trouble up off the street and took him
home with them," repeated Mr. Bardeen, as if he knew this was so. And he
really believed it.
"Why would they do that?" asked Jan, with trembling lips.
"They may have thought Trouble was the child of some neighbor whom they
knew, and they planned to take him home. Depend on it--that's what
happened!"
"But how will we get Trouble back?" asked Ted.
"Why, the farmer, whoever he is, will find out his mistake, and he'll
bring the little fellow back to town again," was the answer. "That's
what will happen. But I'll get as many men as I can, and with the
constable we'll inquire of all the farmers around here. In that way
we'll get Trouble back quicker."
There were willing searchers, and soon the country around Crystal Lake
was being searched by men and women in automobiles and sleds who
inquired at each farmhouse for a little boy taken away by mistake.
But as night came and no Trouble had been found, the Curlytops and their
playmates began to feel very sad indeed.
Uncle Toby decided to take the children home and leave them with Aunt
Sallie in the cabin, while he kept on with the search.
"Trouble missing and Skyrocket gone!" thought Uncle Toby to himself, as
he drove back in the automobile. "This will be a sad Christmas, when I
meant it to be such a happy one."
But it would not be Christmas for two days, and much might happen in
that time.
It was nearly dusk when the big automobile drew near the old deserted
cabin of Newt Baker, from which the strange man had once been seen
running away. Looking from the window on his side, Ted peered at the old
shack, and as he did so he uttered a cry of surprise and wonder.
"What is it?" asked Uncle Toby, quickly bringing the machine to a stop,
for he thought some one had opened a door and fallen out.
"It's Trouble! I saw him at the window just now! In there!" and Ted
pointed to the old cabin.
"Trouble in there? It can't be!" said Uncle Toby.
But just then Janet set up a cry.
"Yes, he is, Uncle Toby! I saw him!"
Mr. Bardeen lost little time in jumping from the automobile. Followed by
the children, he ran to the door of the cabin, and as he opened it he
heard the barking of a dog mingled with the crying voice of Trouble. An
instant later Skyrocket rushed out to greet his friends, and then
Trouble came from an inner room, toddling into the arms of Janet.
"Oh, William! how did you ever get here?" cried Lola.
"And Skyrocket, too! Look! Here's our dog!" shouted Ted.
With the high voices of the children, the barking of Skyrocket, and the
crying of Trouble, there was so much noise that no one heard footsteps
coming from the room out of which the missing boy had rushed until
suddenly a strange man stood on the threshold.
"Look!" cried Tom, glancing up at this man. "There's the tramp!"
And they all saw the same stranger who had rushed away from the cottage
the time Uncle Toby went to the well to get water for the automobile
radiator.
"What are you doing here?" asked Uncle Toby in a stern voice. "And did
you try to kidnap him?" Mr. Bardeen pointed to little William, who was
sobbing in Janet's arms. And as he saw this and thought what a lot of
trouble seemed to have been caused by this man, Uncle Toby started
toward him as if in anger.
"Don't hit me!" pleaded the man. "I'm in trouble! I've had a lot of
trouble. I was in the war--and--but that was long ago--and--"
His voice was very faint, and as Uncle Toby walked toward him the man
tried to run back into the room. But his foot slipped and he fell,
striking his head heavily on the floor. Then he rolled over and lay very
quiet.
"He's fainted, I guess," said Tom.
"Looks so," agreed Uncle Toby. "Well, we've found Trouble, anyhow.
That's the big thing. I don't know how this man got him or what he
intended to do with him. But I'm going to tell the police. I guess he'd
better have a doctor, too," he added. "He's cut his head in his fall.
Ted, you and Tom go to the next house," he went on. "There's a telephone
there. Tell Mr. Hick to call up the police, let them know we have found
the missing boy and have them send out a doctor. It's a long walk to Mr.
Hick's place, but I guess you won't be afraid. Then come back here. I
don't want to leave this man alone, as I'd have to do if we all went
away in the auto."
"We'll go to the telephone," said Tom and Ted, and Harry went with them.
As soon as the boys started tramping through the gathering dusk to Mr.
Hick's house, Janet quieted Trouble and got Skyrocket to stop barking.
This last was hard because the dog was so overjoyed at being with his
friends again. There was a broken rope around his neck, showing that he
had been kept tied up since he had been taken away. But he seemed to
have been well treated and fed.
"Can Trouble tell us what happened and how this man got him?" asked
Uncle Toby of Janet, who was holding her little brother. The "tramp," as
he was called, still lay where he had fallen in a faint.
Janet understood Trouble's baby talk better than any one else, and she
soon had his story out of him. He had wandered out of the store, it
seemed, and on the sidewalk in front had been spoken to by the man who
had brought him to the lonely cabin. The tramp and Trouble rode out to
the cabin in a farmer's sled, so the little boy said.
"I can understand how that might happen," said Uncle Toby. "Some farmer
would be glad to give the man and Trouble a ride out into the country.
And it might have been some farmer from a distance, who didn't know that
no one lived here. Such a farmer wouldn't be surprised at Trouble and
the man getting out here at the lonely cabin. Well, things are coming
out all right, and maybe this tramp didn't intend to do anything mean.
We'll have to wait until he gets better so he can tell us what
happened."
The stranger was still lying very quiet on the floor of the lonely
cabin. It was a long time before the three boys came back, but soon
after them the constable and the doctor arrived. The doctor said the man
was not badly hurt, but should have good care. And as it was thought he
might have tried to kidnap Trouble he was put under arrest.
Of course the man himself did not know this, for he was still in a
faint. The doctor said the blow on his head caused this. But he was
taken away by the constable and the doctor to the doctor's own home,
where he could be well cared for until he was well enough to be put in
jail, for he was under arrest for having carried off Trouble.
Then the Curlytops and their playmates went on to Uncle Toby's cabin, a
happy jolly crowd, now that all worry was removed. They had William with
them, and also Skyrocket.
"But I wonder how that tramp got my dog?" mused Ted.
"He might have found him wandering in the woods," said Uncle Toby. But
he did not really believe this. There was something queer about that
tramp.