Ted, Janet, and Mr. and Mrs. Dent scurried about, searching behind one sand dune after another, but no little Trouble boy could they find. Then Mr. Dent began to look anxious.
“He couldn’t have gotten very far away,” he said. “There wasn’t time enough after Janet missed him. He must be around here somewhere. Do you think he is hiding on purpose to scare you?” he asked the Curlytops.
“No, I don’t believe he’d do that,” Ted answered.
Janet was walking toward a pile of dried seaweed on the beach. It had been raked into a pile by the lighthouse keeper, who intended to burn it later.
Suddenly Janet began to run toward the pile of weed. The next moment she was rapidly pulling it apart, scattering it all over the beach, and she cried:
“I’ve found him! Here he is!”
The next moment she was hurrying toward Ted and the others, leading the little fellow by the hand. William was sleepily rubbing his eyes with his chubby fists.
“He was asleep under the seaweed,” Janet explained. “Oh, Trouble, why did you hide there and scare us all so?” she asked.
“I—I was—now I was tired, an’ I made believe I was a nellifunt an’ I went to sleep on my pile of hay,” explained Trouble.
And that was what he had done. Wandering away from Janet, the little fellow had seen the pile of seaweed. It was soft and clean, and had the good smell of the salty ocean. Trouble just burrowed into it as a little dog might have done, and pulled the weed over him so that he was almost completely hidden.