Then the three Martin children proceeded on out into the street to look at the accident, about which had gathered a crowd of men and boys, with a few girls and women.
And while the policeman is trying to find out how it all happened, and look after the two injured men—for there were two—this will be a chance to let my new readers know a little something about the Curlytops—who they were, where they lived, and what they had done up to this time. I will not take very long in telling it, as I think you want to keep on with the story part.
Ted, or Teddy, whose real name was Theodore, and Janet, or “Jan,” as she was called for short, were the children of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Martin, who owned a large store in Cresco, in an eastern state. Because of their ringlets of golden hair, Ted and Janet were called Curlytops, and under that name I have written several books about them. The first volume is called “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” and while there the children, including small William Anthony Martin, otherwise known as “Trouble,” had many adventures.
Following that the Curlytops went to Star Island, they were snowed in, they visited at Uncle Frank’s ranch, and spent a vacation at Silver Lake. Then they helped take care of some animal pets belonging to Uncle Toby, and just before the present story I told of the adventures of Ted, Janet and Trouble in the book named “The Curlytops and Their Playmates.”
The Curlytops—and I include Trouble with them, though his hair did not curl as did that of Ted and Janet—were always playing and having adventures, just as you have read about them starting to play house in this book.
As I have mentioned, Trouble was always in mischief of some sort or other, and often it might not be his fault—it was more of an accident, as when Skyrocket the dog tried to run between the legs of the little fellow.
For a time all was forgotten about playing house. Janet gave no more heed to being dressed like a lady to get Daddy Ted’s supper. Ted forgot all about playing conductor in the tree airship, and while Trouble was with his brother and sister looking at the auto accident, all the worms he had dug crawled out of the shallow can into which he had put them, and away they wiggled.
The accident was rather a serious one. Two cars had come together with a loud crash right in front of the Curlytops’ house, and both were badly damaged. The driver of each one was hurt and Policeman Kelly had to call the ambulance to take them both to the hospital.
“How did it happen?” asked Ted of Harry Kent, one of his chums.
“I didn’t see it,” Harry answered; “but I heard a man say one car tried to turn the corner and the man in it didn’t put his hand out.”