"But where is Trouble?" cried Baby William's mother.
"There he is, safe and sound, tied to a tree so he can't get in the way of the dirt I'm shoveling out. I didn't want to throw sand in his eyes!" cried the lollypop man. "Trouble is all right!"
And so the little fellow was, though he had been crying, perhaps from fright, and his face was tear-streaked and dirty. But he was safe.
With a glad cry his mother loosed the rope by which Mr. Sander had carefully tied Trouble to a near-by tree and gathered him up in her arms.
Meanwhile Grandpa Martin caught up one of the shovels and began to help the lollypop man dig in the sand. The Curlytops and Hal saw what had happened. A lot of the dirt they had shoveled out had slid back into the big hole, almost filling it. And caught under this dirt was Nicknack, their goat. Only the black tip of his nose stuck out, and it is a good thing this much of him was uncovered, or he might have smothered under the sand.
"How did it happen?" asked Ted.
"There must have been a cave-in at our gold mine," said Hal.
"But how did Nicknack get here?" Ted went on.
"I guess Trouble must have untied him and brought him here." suggested
Janet.
Then they all watched while Grandpa Martin and the lollypop man dug out the goat.