OFF FOR THE WEST
The Curlytops hurried toward the house, leaving open the empty little stable in which Nicknack was usually kept. They found their father and their mother looking around in the yard, Mrs. Martin had a worried air.
"Couldn't you find him?" asked Daddy Martin.
"We didn't look—very much," answered Teddy. "Nicknack is gone, and—"
"Nicknack gone!" cried Mrs. Martin. "I wonder if that little tyke of ours has gotten into trouble with him."
"Nicknack wouldn't make any trouble," declared Jan. "He's such a nice goat—"
"Yes, I know!" said Mrs. Martin quickly. "But it looks very much as though Trouble and Nicknack had gone off together. Is the goat's harness in the stable?"
"We didn't look," answered Teddy.
"The wagon's gone," Janet said. "I looked under the shed for that and it wasn't there."
"Then I can just about guess what has happened," said Daddy Martin. "Trouble heard as talking about taking Nicknack over to Mr. Newton's house, where he would be kept while we are at Uncle Frank's ranch, and the little fellow has just about taken the goat over himself."