“I no take it!” stoutly cried William. “I did hab locket but I gived it back to Jan and she losted it. I not lost everything!” and he was quite indignant about it, for Trouble knew that he had no very good reputation about losing things.
“Yes, Trouble gave it back to me,” declared Janet. “And I put it on the box. Maybe I picked it up again and was going to put it on my neck when the auto crash happened. I don’t exactly remember what I did with it. Oh, dear, I wish I could find it!”
“Never mind,” consoled Mrs. Martin. “If it’s gone it can’t be helped. We’ll look around the yard to-morrow.”
But before the next day came something else happened.
It was after supper in the home of the Curlytops. They had been talking over the events of the day, including the tricks of Jim, the black crow, the loss of the locket, and the auto crash, when the telephone bell jingled. Mr. Martin answered, but at almost the first words he heard over the wire he cried:
“What’s that? My store on fire? I’ll be right down!”
CHAPTER III
THE LOST CROW
You can imagine better than I can tell you how much excitement there was in the home of the Curlytops when Mr. Martin cried.
“My store is on fire!”
Mrs. Martin was so excited that she dropped one of Trouble’s stockings she was darning. Inside was a round wooden stocking-darner that fell to the floor with a crash.