Baby William felt better now, especially after Nora had brought out to him, and also to Janet and Teddy, some sugar cookies. Munching these, the children wandered around, looking here, there, everywhere for the lost Skyrocket.
Mrs. Martin went back to the kitchen to finish making the broth for the sick man.
“I wish he would wake up,” said Teddy, as he and his sister, each holding a hand of Baby William, walked about searching for the pet dog. They had looked in the room of the sick man.
“What do you want him to wake up for? To tell us a story?” asked Janet.
“Oh, maybe he can tell stories!” exclaimed Ted. “I didn’t think of that. But I want to ask him if he saw Skyrocket. He’s a tramp, and tramps see lots of dogs when they walk around.”
“He is not a tramp!” declared Jan. “I heard daddy say he wasn’t a tramp, even if he was poor.”
“Well, he’d been walkin’ a lot!” exclaimed Ted. “I looked at his shoes when daddy and Patrick carried him into the house, and his shoes had a lot of holes in ’em. Shoes get holes in ’em when you walk a lot, and if you walk a lot you’re a tramp, even if you have good clothes. So maybe he did see Skyrocket.”
“Well, maybe he did,” agreed Janet, thinking that, as Teddy was older than she, he must know more about it.
“’Et’s go in an’ p’ay buttons!” suddenly proposed Trouble, as he thought of the fun he had had the night before. “I want all de wed buttons!”
“No, dear, we aren’t going to play the button game now,” said Janet. “We must look for Skyrocket.”