“The lollypop man found us,” said Jan. “We’re sorry, but we didn’t mean to get lost. Oh, we had ever so many adventures!”
And she and Ted told them all, while Trouble fell asleep in his mother’s arms as grandpa came back, glad he did not have to hunt for the lost children. The lollypop man told how he happened to be taking a short cut through the woods, or he never would have passed the place where the Curlytops were lost in the woods. By a mere chance he found them.
So everything came out all right you see, and when a few days later, Jan and Ted gave the seventy-five cents to Hal to take to the Home, the lame boy brought back a letter of thanks from the manager.
“We’re going to have the fair next week,” Hal said. “And right after that Dr. Wade is going to make my foot all better.”
“Will you walk—different then?” asked Ted.
“Yes, I’ll walk just like you, I guess. But of course not at first. It’s got to get well after the doctor does something to it. Will you come to the fair?”
The Curlytops said they would, and Mother Martin promised to take them. There were busy times at Cherry Farm, for the cakes were to be baked as Grandma Martin had promised. Mother Martin made some also. And what a crowd of people came to see the lame boys and girls. They also came to buy the candy, cakes and other things the people gave for the helpless ones.
“Are you making a lot of money?” asked Mother Martin of Mrs. Burr, the woman who had charge of the fair.
“Not as much as we would like to,” she answered. “We hoped to make enough to pay for having made the Home larger, but I fear we shall not. We will need about a hundred dollars more, and I do not see where we are to get it. Everyone has given all he can.”
“Grandpa Martin would give the hundred dollars if he could,” said Jan who, with her mother, heard what was said. “But he lost lots of his money.”