“Me ’ike it,” he answered, with a laugh. “I hab ’ots ob fun!”
Back he climbed to jump off again, but Ted would not let him leap from so great a height.
“If we hadn’t been here you might have been buried in the sawdust all night,” warned Teddy.
“It be nice an’ warm in there—nice as my bed!” declared Trouble. And that is all concerning the danger they could impress on him.
The sawdust pile continued to be a place of much fun for the Curlytops. Sometimes they would start at the top and slide to the bottom of the big heap, getting their curly hair full of the dust, to the despair of their mother and Lucy.
“But chilluns suah hab got to play!” chuckled the black maid, as she used the brush.
And play the Curlytops did!
Mr. Martin did not want to spend too much time in the woods, as his own store, back at Cresco, needed attention. But there was so much to do at Mount Major in order to get the lumber store well started and the men who were to be left in charge needed so much advice that the father of the Curlytops had to remain longer than at first he had intended.
However, Ted, Janet and Trouble did not mind, as they thought there was no finer place in all the world than the woods where they were camping. And as the children liked it and as it was doing them good to be out in the woods and the fresh air, Mrs. Martin was willing to stay.
Mr. Martin had nothing to do with the cutting of the trees and the floating of them to the mill to be cut up into lumber. But he owned some shares in the company, which is the reason he took such an interest in the store. He wanted to see it do well.