“We will!” exclaimed Ted, starting for the house, followed by his sister.
“I’d go in and tell him myself,” said Mrs. Ransom, “but I must get back to my store. I left it all alone to run over and tell him about the queer man. When I saw you two Curlytops I thought I’d tell you. Hurry in, now!”
“Oh, maybe he knows something about Skyrocket!” cried Jan, with new and sudden hope.
“Huh! How could he know Skyrocket?” asked Ted. “Come on, we’ll go and see what he’s like.”
“Oh, aren’t you going to tell daddy first?” asked the little girl, as she watched Mrs. Ransom hurry across a short-cut path through the garden, and so back to her store.
“Let’s look at the man first, and see what he does funny,” suggested Teddy. “Maybe he’s a clown, anyhow, and maybe Mrs. Ransom never saw one that wasn’t in a circus. Come on!”
Janet hung back for a second or two, and then followed Ted around the corner of the house.
There, just as the storekeeper woman had said, was a strange man lying on the lawn of the Curlytops’ home. He was not doing anything funny just then. Instead, he seemed very still and quiet.
“He isn’t a bit funny!” declared Janet.
“No, I don’t think he is,” said Teddy. “Maybe he got tired of being funny. I’ll go in and tell daddy.”