For Ted and Jan had certainly missed their pet dog very much. Skyrocket had been with them on nearly all their trips to Cherry Farm, to their uncle’s or aunt’s, and to other places, and now, since the dog had vanished in such a queer way from the woodshed, the Curlytops had sorrowed for him very much. Even Turnover, the cat, did not make up for Skyrocket. And seeing how much Ted and Janet thought about their missing dog, even when they were having fun on the water with Uncle Ben, Mrs. Martin decided to write the letter she had just finished.
She was getting up from her chair, to go inside the bungalow to see if Nora needed any help about the supper, when, suddenly, the mother of the Curlytops saw a curious sight. This was a glimpse of Baby William being raised up off the ground and swaying to and fro on the end of a rope in front of the ice-house.
For a moment Mrs. Martin could not believe that she really saw this. But when she had brushed her hand over her eyes, to make sure that she was wide awake, she felt certain that what she had seen was real.
“Oh, Trouble! William! Ted! Janet! What are you doing?” cried their mother, and, dropping her letter, she ran off the porch, calling as loudly as she could:
“Daddy! Uncle Ben! Come quick! The baby is hanging from the end of a rope!”
Mr. Martin and Uncle Ben had just finished washing, and when they heard the call they ran down the path after Mrs. Martin. They, too, saw just what she saw—Trouble dangling from the end of a rope that ran over a pulley, or wooden wheel, near the top of the ice-house. And as the two men watched they saw Baby William slowly go down, and then go up again, just as an elevator goes down and comes up.
“Somebody’s hauling Trouble up and down, just like a cake of ice!” cried Daddy Martin.
“That’s what they are!” said Uncle Ben. “I wonder who it is?”
The next moment he and Mr. Martin came in sight of the ice-house, and they saw who was doing it. There stood Teddy and Jan, first hauling up on the end of a long rope, and then letting it run through their hands again. On the other end of the rope, as it ran over the pulley wheel at the roof of the ice-house, was Baby William.
The rope was tied about his waist, and every time the Curlytops pulled on the rope their little brother was hoisted up in the air, swaying and dangling about as a spider does on the end of the web he spins. And when Ted and Jan let the rope slip through their fingers, Trouble was lowered toward the ground.