The Curlytops were quite strong for their age, having played out of doors so much, and Trouble was not very heavy. The rope slipped easily over the wooden wheel, or pulley, and so it was that Ted and Jan could very easily raise and lower their little brother. They had tied the rope around his waist. Ted was pretty good at tying knots, for Uncle Ben had showed him how.
“Children! Children! What are you doing?” cried Mrs. Martin, as, with her husband and Uncle Ben, she came in front of the ice-house.
“Theodore, Janet, stop it at once!” cried their father.
“Lower him easy now! Don’t let him come down too hard!” was what Uncle Ben said. And he said it just in time, too. For Ted and Jan were so surprised at being called to in this sudden way that they might have let go of the rope while Trouble was hoisted in the air, and then the little chap would have had a hard fall.
But Uncle Ben knew what he was doing, and no sooner had he called out than he ran beneath the dangling little boy and caught him in his arms as Ted and Jan lowered him.
“There you are!” cried Uncle Ben, as he loosed the loop of rope from around Trouble’s little stomach and set Baby William on the ground.
“Oh, Ted! Jan! What were you doing?” asked their mother. “What were you thinking of?”
“We were just playing Trouble was a cake of ice,” said Janet, as she let go her hold of the rope.
“And we gave him a ride up and down in the air,” added Teddy.
“Me ’iked it!” declared Trouble himself, as he laughed and clapped his hands. “Me went up and me went down!”