"Please, Mother," begged Ted, "may we ride over to the Home and get
Hal?"
"We promised to take him for a ride," added Jan.
"Yes, I suppose you may go," said Mother Martin. "But you must be careful, and be home in time for supper."
"We will," promised Ted. "We'll go by the wood-road, and then we won't get run over by any automobiles. They don't come on that road."
"All right. Now remember—don't stay too late."
"No, we won't!" chorused the two children, and down the garden path and along the lane they went to a road that led through Grandpa Martin's wood-lot and so on to the Home for Crippled Children, which was about a mile from Cherry Farm.
Among others at the Home was a lame boy named Hal Chester. That is, he had been lame when the Curlytops first met him early in the summer, but he was almost cured now, and walked with only a little limp. The Home had been built to cure lame children, and had helped many of them.
Half-way to the big red building, which was like a hospital, the
Curlytops met Hal, the very boy whom they had started out to see.
"Hello, Hal!" cried Ted. "Get in and have a ride."
"Thanks, I will. I was just coming over to see you, anyway. What are you two going to do?"