THE QUEER MAN
“Mother, he’s gone!” cried Ted, as, followed by his sister Janet, he
hurried into the house.
“Who is gone?” asked Mrs. Martin, who had begun to put away her
sewing, for she had done enough that evening.
“Skyrocket is gone!” added Jan. “He isn’t in the woodshed, and the
window is open.”
“Maybe he jumped out,” said Ted. “He could climb up on the woodpile
and jump out the window. Do you think he’ll come back, Mother?”
Mrs. Martin looked at her two Curlytops.
“Are you sure your dog Skyrocket isn’t in the shed?” she asked.
“No, he isn’t there,” answered Ted.
“We looked all over, and I felt in his bed,” added Janet. “The soft
carpet Ted put in for Skyrocket is there, but our dog is gone. Oh
dear!” and she was almost crying.
“I’d better take a look to make sure,” said Mrs. Martin. “We’ll bring
a lamp with us. He may be hiding in some dark corner,” she added as
she lighted a lamp.
“And, if he isn’t there, can we go out and look for him?” asked Ted.
“We’ll see,” answered his mother. “Maybe he’ll come back himself, if
he really is gone.”
“Oh, he’s gone,” declared Ted, sadly enough.
Out to the woodshed the two Curlytops followed their mother, who
carried the lamp. And while they are looking for the lost Skyrocket it
will be a good chance for me to let my new readers know something of
the Martin children, as told in the previous books of this series.
As I have told you, Theodore and Janet were called the “Curlytops” as
often as anything else, and the reason for this was because they had
such curly hair. Ted’s whole name was Theodore Baradale Martin, and
Jan’s was Janet, while “Trouble’s” right name was William Anthony
Martin.
Mr. Martin kept a store in Cresco, a town not a great way from New
York, and he also owned property in other places. Cresco was a pretty
village, and Ted and Jan thought it one of the nicest places in the
world. Other nice places were Grandpa Martin’s farm at Elmburg near
Clover Lake, Aunt Jo’s summer cottage at Mt. Hope on Ruby Lake and
Uncle Frank’s ranch at Rockville, in the state of Montana.
The first book that tells about Janet, Ted, and their friends, is
named “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” and in that I told you what fun
they had at Grandpa Martin’s home, and how they helped sell cherries
to the Lollypop Man.
In the next book, “The Curlytops on Star Island,” you may read of the
fun the children had when they went camping.
In the third book there is a story of “The Curlytops Snowed In.” Many
things happened to Jan, Ted and Trouble when the big snow storm came,
and they thought they never had had so much fun in all their lives.
But that was before they went out West, and in the fourth book you
have the story of “The Curlytops at Uncle Frank’s Ranch.” There the
little folks rode ponyback and had a grand time.
They came back to Cresco after many adventures, and now it was summer
again, and there was no school, for it was the long vacation. Ted and
Janet wondered where they would spend it, for nearly always they went
with their father and mother to some lake, or else up in the
mountains, or perhaps to the seashore during the hot weather of July
and August.
I have told you, in this book, how the Curlytops were playing the
button game, and how, just before they went to bed, they went out to
the woodshed to see if their dog Skyrocket was all right. Besides the
dog, they had a cat named “Turnover,” who used to roll over in a
sideways somersault when told to. The Curlytops had once had a goat
named Nicknack, but the goat had been sold a few weeks before, so that
now they had only the cat and the dog.
“But we haven’t got any dog if we can’t find Skyrocket,” said Ted, as
he and Janet went out with their mother to the shed.
“Oh, we’ll find him all right,” said Mrs. Martin. “Perhaps he heard
Turnover crying, and he jumped out of the window to see what the
matter was with her. Skyrocket takes good care of Turnover, you know.”
“But Turnover is asleep in the sitting room,” said Ted. “She didn’t
cry, so Skyrocket didn’t jump out to help her. And he never jumped out
the window before.”
“No, that’s so,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “But we’ll find him, I think,
though it is strange he isn’t in the shed where he always sleeps at
night. But wait until I look.”
She held the light high and low, all around the shed, but there was no
sign of the pet dog. She called, and so did Ted and Janet, but
Skyrocket did not answer with a whine, a bark or by a thump of his
tail.
“Was this window closed when you put Skyrocket in here after supper?”
asked Mrs. Martin of Teddy.
“Yes, I closed it,” answered the curly-headed boy. “I always shut it
’ceptin’ on hot nights, and it wasn’t so very hot to-night.”
“Well, if the window was closed, Skyrocket didn’t open it, that’s
sure,” said Mrs. Martin. “He’s a smart dog, and he can do many tricks,
but he can’t open the shed window.”
“Do you think he got out that way, Mother?” asked Jan.
“It looks so,” was the answer.
“Did somebody open the window and take Skyrocket out?” Ted wanted to
know.
“They might have taken him out, or whistled for him to jump out to
them,” said Mrs. Martin. “I’m sure I don’t see how else it could have
happened. Skyrocket could jump up on the pile of wood, and from there
jump out of the window, as long as it was open. Are you sure it was
closed, Teddy boy?”
“Sure,” was the answer. “I ’member thinking was it hot enough to leave
it open, and then I said it wasn’t. And I made the new piece of carpet
all smooth, and Skyrocket curled up on it, and I told him goodnight.
And then, when Janet and I came out to look and see if he was all
right—why—he wasn’t here!” and Teddy, seven-year-old boy though he
was, acted as if he might be going to cry.
“Well, perhaps he just jumped out of the window to have a little fun
after dark, though he never did it before,” said Mrs. Martin. “We’ll
take a look around the house and call him.”
As they came out of the shed they heard a voice calling them. The
voice said:
“Hello! Where’s everybody?”
“It’s daddy!” exclaimed Ted.
“Oh, Skyrocket is lost!” added Jan, as she ran to meet her father, who
stood in the back kitchen door.
“Skyrocket lost? No!” exclaimed Mr. Martin, in surprise. “Did he run
away?”
“It looks so,” said Mrs. Martin. “Come out here and we’ll tell you all
about it.”
This Janet and Teddy did, taking turns, with Mrs. Martin putting in a
word now and then.
“You say you shut Skyrocket up in the shed, and left the window
closed?” said Mr. Martin, to Ted.
“Yes, Daddy. And when Jan and I came out he was gone.”
“And he isn’t here now,” added Mrs. Martin. “We were just going to
look around outside, and whistle and call, when we heard your voice.
You’re late, Daddy Martin!”
“Yes, I stayed to write some letters at the store,” answered the
merchant. “I have been arranging about the place where we shall go to
spend the summer vacation. I think it’s going to be at——”
“Hark!” suddenly exclaimed Mrs. Martin, raising her hand to stop her
husband from speaking.
“What is it?” asked Ted, while Janet looked eagerly at her father. She
wanted to hear him say where it was they were going that summer.
“I thought I heard a noise back by the little barn where we used to
keep Nicknack, the goat,” said Mrs. Martin. “Perhaps it was
Skyrocket!”
“Oh! Oh!” exclaimed Teddy and Jan, and, without waiting another
moment, they hurried out, running down the path toward the little goat
stable.
It was quite dark outside by this time, and Ted and Janet, hurrying
from the woodshed where Mrs. Martin had a light, could not see very
well. You know how it is when you go into a dark moving picture place
from the bright outdoors—you can’t see very well, at first.
Well, this happened to Ted and Jan, and the first Mr. and Mrs. Martin
heard, after the Curlytops ran out, was a cry from one of them.
“Did you find Skyrocket?” asked Mr. Martin, hurrying out of the shed.
“No, but Teddy fell down,” said Jan.
“Did you hurt yourself, Teddy boy?” asked his father.
“N—no—I—I guess not,” answered Teddy slowly. “I stumbled over that
pile of grass Patrick cut to-day. I fell on that—it was nice and
soft.”
“Well, it’s a good thing to pick out something soft to fall on when
you stumble,” said Mr. Martin. “Now be careful, both of you. Better
wait for us. Mother, come and bring the lamp. Maybe Skyrocket is shut
up in the goat stable and can’t get out.”
But the little stable, empty since Nicknack had been sold, held no
little dog, either. Skyrocket was not there. And now they began a
search all around the house, whistling and calling for the pet of the
Curlytops.
But Skyrocket did not answer; he did not whine, he did not bark, and
there was no joyful thump of his tail.
“Where can he be?” asked Teddy.
“Where can he be?” echoed Janet.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin looked at each other in the light of the lamp.
Then Mr. Martin spoke.
“I think Skyrocket will be back by morning,” he said. “Sometimes dogs
run away, just for the fun of it, but they usually come back.”
“Skyrocket never ran away very far before,” said Teddy. “And he always
came back when I whistled.”
“Perhaps he has gone so far he can’t hear you this time,” said his
mother. “Come, we’ll go into the house. It’s getting late, and you
children must go to bed.”
“But we want Skyrocket!” cried Janet.
“I know, my dear. But we can’t find him, and there is no use hunting
in the dark. We’ll leave the shed door open, and if he comes back, as
I’m sure he will, he can go in to his new carpet bed. In the morning
when you wake up, he’ll be ready to play with you.”
There was nothing else to do, and so Teddy and Janet went into the
house, after one last, lingering look at the shed where Skyrocket
slept at night.
“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet. “Nothing will ever be any fun if Skyrocket
is gone!”
“Oh, but he isn’t gone, I’m sure!” said Mr. Martin, in as jolly a
voice as he could speak. “I think he’ll be here in the morning, though
it certainly is queer about the window being open. But now trot off to
bed, Curlytops! It’s long past your time!”
“Don’t feel so bad,” said Mrs. Martin. “I don’t believe Skyrocket is
lost. Haven’t you something pleasant to tell them, Daddy? What was
that you started to say about our summer vacation?”
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Mr. Martin. “I have picked out a place for us to
go. It’s a new place. I have bought some property there, and I expect
to spend part of the summer there looking after it.”
“Oh, where is it?” asked Ted, and already he and Janet were feeling
not quite so sad over the lost dog—they had something new to wonder
over.
“The place where we shall spend the summer vacation is at Silver
Lake,” said Mr. Martin. “It isn’t very far from here. We can go by
train or in an auto.”
“And live in a tent?” asked Ted.
“No, I think we’ll have a bungalow,” answered his father. “But there!
I’m not going to tell you any more about it until morning. Off to bed
with you, and dream about Silver Lake!”
He kissed the Curlytops goodnight, as did Mrs. Martin, and then Jan
and Ted went upstairs. They were smiling now, and, for the time, had
forgotten about Skyrocket, though, of course, they wanted him to come
back.
“Do you think their dog is really gone?” asked Mrs. Martin of her
husband, as they sat down to talk about spending the summer at Silver
Lake.
“I’m afraid so,” answered Mr. Martin. “He never ran away before, and
the window being open makes it look as though some one had taken him.
Skyrocket is a valuable dog, and could be taught to do tricks for a
show or circus.”
“Dear me!” said Mrs. Martin. “Ted and Janet will feel very bad at
losing him.”
Early the next morning the Curlytops ran down to the woodshed. They
peered in through the door, which was still open, and looked in the
box where Ted had so carefully put the new piece of soft carpet to
make a bed.
“He—he isn’t there,” whispered the boy softly.
“Skyrocket didn’t come back!” said Janet, and there were tears in her
eyes.
Slowly and sadly the Curlytops walked out of the shed, and just as
they turned to go into the house they saw Mrs. Ransom hurrying toward
them. Mrs. Ransom was a woman who kept a small store not far from the
Martin house, where she sold drygoods, toys and candies.
“Oh, Ted! Jan!” exclaimed Mrs. Ransom, when she saw the two children,
“where’s your father?”
“He’s in the house eating breakfast,” answered Jan, for she and Ted
had seen him at the table when they hurried downstairs to look to see
if Skyrocket had come back.
“Well, tell him to come out here, please,” said Mrs. Ransom.
“Did you find Skyrocket?” asked Ted eagerly.
“Skyrocket? No. I hadn’t heard that he was lost,” answered Mrs.
Ransom. “But there’s a man acting very oddly in your front yard, and I
thought your father ought to know about it. I saw the queer man from
my store window, and I hurried over to tell you about him. Go in and
have your father come out. He ought to do something about the funny
man!”