“Thank you,” responded Mrs. Keller, but there was no look of hope on her face.
Teddy decided to dig a long, deep tunnel before he made the hill for his sand mill, and he at once set at this play. Janet decided she would dig a well in the sand, making it so deep that water would appear in the bottom, as she had often done before.
The Curlytops were digging a little way apart, and Janet had seen the first little trickle of water in her well when she heard Ted call:
“Look at me! Look at me!”
Janet looked. All she could see of her brother was his head. He had crawled down into the sand tunnel he had dug, and it was a large tunnel slanting down into the sand.
As Janet looked, something happened. The sand began to slip and slide, and a moment later it had covered Ted from sight.
The sand tunnel had caved in on him!
CHAPTER XV
CATCHING CRABS
Janet was so frightened for a few seconds that she did nothing but stand looking at the place where she had last seen her brother. She could no longer see Ted, for he was out of sight, in the tunnel, under the sand.
Then Janet began to do things suddenly and many things at the same time. She ran toward the place where Ted had been digging, her feet fairly flying over the sand. She reached the spot and began frantically digging with her hands. At the same time she cried: