“Who was the old gentleman who snatched Trouble from the elephant, Richard?” asked Mrs. Martin.
“I don’t know, my dear.”
“You don’t know?” Mrs. Martin was much surprised.
“No. Just as he was trying to tell me his name and where he lived, so I could take more time to thank him, the crowd surged in and he was swept away. I’ll try to locate him later and tell him how much obliged we are.”
“I hope you can. But it will be very hard to locate him in this crowd.”
“I’m afraid so,” murmured Mr. Martin. “But I would like to find that man again.”
The Curlytops were looking with delight at the wonders of the parade. William shared their joy, not worrying much about what had so nearly happened to him.
While the procession is wending its way along I shall take just a few moments to let my new readers know something about the Curlytops and the adventures they have had in the books that come before this one.
Teddy and Janet Martin lived with their father and mother and William in the Eastern town of Cresco. Mr. Martin kept a general store and had a good business. Ted and Janet were always glad when they were allowed to go to their father’s store, for there was much to see and do there.
But they had more exciting adventures than this. In the first book of the series, called “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” I told some of the things that happened when they spent their vacation in the country. After that, as related in other books of this series, the Curlytops went to Star Island, they were snowed in, they visited Uncle Frank’s ranch, they went to Silver Lake, they had much fun with their pets—the animals Uncle Toby collected. During the holidays the Curlytops had fun with their playmates, and after that they went to visit a lumber camp in the woods.