“Jan in mud?” asked Trouble, looking up into Ted’s face.
“Yes, she’s away down in a deep mud hole. We’ve got to pull her out.”
Carrying the turtle in one hand, with the other Teddy led Trouble to the edge of the grassy bank, where the little fellow could look down and see his sister stuck in the mud.
“Oh! Too bad!” said Trouble, in a gentle voice, as he saw the plight of poor Janet.
“Yes, it is too bad,” agreed the little girl. “I didn’t see the mud hole when I went to get the blue flowers.”
She still held a bouquet of them in her hand.
“Now you stay here with Janet, Trouble, and I’ll go and get a grapevine for a rope,” said Teddy. “Sit right here and don’t go away.”
“I won’t,” promised Baby William. “I give turtle grass for hims to eat breakshust!”
“Yes, you can feed the turtle his breakfast,” agreed Janet. “And don’t be too long, Teddy,” she begged. “’Cause I think I’m sinking farther in all the while.”
“I’ll come right back,” he promised, as he ran toward the tangled woodland where he thought some grapevines might grow. And Teddy was lucky enough to find some, so that, in a little while, he came back with one trailing after him.