“OH, JANET! WHY DID YOU HIDE IN THE TRUNK?” ASKED
MRS. MARTIN.
“The Curlytops in the Woods.” Page [101]

THE CURLYTOPS
IN THE WOODS

OR
Fun at the Lumber Camp

BY
HOWARD R. GARIS
Author of “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,”
“The Curlytops and Their Playmates,”
“Uncle Wiggily Stories,” Etc.

Illustrations by
JULIA GREENE

NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

THE CURLYTOPS SERIES

By HOWARD R. GARIS

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.

THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM
Or, Vacation Days in the Country
THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND
Or, Camping Out With Grandpa
THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN
Or, Grand Fun With Skates and Sleds
THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK’S RANCH
Or, Little Folks on Ponyback
THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE
Or, On the Water With Uncle Ben
THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS
Or, Uncle Toby’s Strange Collection
THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES
Or, Jolly Times Through the Holidays
THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS
Or, Fun at the Lumber Camp

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York

Copyright, 1923, by
Cupples & Leon Company
The Curlytops in the Woods

Printed in U. S. A.

CONTENTS

THE CURLYTOPS
IN THE WOODS

CHAPTER I
PLAYING HOUSE

“Trouble! Trouble! Look out! You’re knocking over the piano!” Janet Martin called this to her little brother William, who, because of the mischief he so often got in, was nicknamed “Trouble.”

“Where’s piano I knock over?” asked Trouble, who was still small enough not to be expected to talk quite properly. “I didn’t was knock over any piano,” he added.

“There! You’ve knocked it over now!” cried Janet, with a wail of despair, as a small box, which Trouble kicked with his chubby foot, fell down the steps of the back porch. “You knocked over the piano.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Trouble soberly, as he watched his brother Ted bringing other boxes to pile on the porch where the children were playing house that pleasant summer afternoon. “Oh, my! I knock over piano,” went on William, still very grave and serious. “Zat’s funny piano,” he added. “It’s only a box!”

“Well, we’re pretending it’s a piano,” remarked Janet, as she picked the box up from the ground where it had tumbled after Trouble accidentally kicked it. “You have to pretend when you’re playing house,” she added.

“What’s Trouble done now?” asked Ted, as he put one of his boxes on the porch and the other down on the ground near the steps. “That’s the garage for our automobile,” he said, pointing to the box on the ground.

“Oh, that’ll be nice!” exclaimed Janet. “I didn’t know we were going to have an auto. This is a lovely playhouse!” she said, laughing.

Ted and Janet often played house in this way, setting up a sort of one-floor apartment on the back porch, with different rooms marked off by sticks laid on the floor of the porch. In each of these “rooms” were put different pieces of furniture. Most of the furniture was just boxes, or perhaps an old broken chair or two, or even some sticks and boards. But to the Curlytops the playhouse was very real. Only Trouble could not “pretend” as well as could his older brother and sister. Ted liked to play house with Janet, even if he was a boy.

“What’s that other box for?” asked Janet of Ted, when she had made Trouble sit down on a small, broken doll’s chair in what was the “kitchen” of the playhouse.

“That’s going to be the cupboard,” answered Ted. “And we can——”

“Old Mother Hubbard went to her dog’s cupboard!” sang Trouble.

“It wasn’t her dog’s cupboard, it was her own,” corrected Janet.

“Yes it was dog’s cupboard,” insisted Trouble. “’Cause she went there to get him a bone, but it was bare. Does it mean the bone didn’t have any clothes on?” asked Trouble of his brother.

“Of course not!” laughed Ted. “Bones don’t wear clothes. It means the cupboard was bare—it didn’t have even a bone in it for the dog.”

“Well, it was dog’s cupboard all right!” still insisted the little boy. “You goin’ have Mother Hubbard’s cupboard here?” he asked.

“No, this is going to be our own cupboard,” answered Ted, as he set up the other box he had carried out from the barn. “And we’ll have real things to eat to put in our cupboard, too,” he added.

“No! Not really?” cried Janet, with shining eyes.

“Really and truly,” insisted Teddy. “Look, mother said I could take these cookies,” and he pulled half a dozen or more from his pocket.

“Oh, we’ll have a lovely playhouse!” exclaimed Janet. “I’ll make believe I’m the cook, and you must go to work, Ted, and come home and I’ll have your supper ready and I’ll dress up as mother does when daddy comes home to supper.”

“All right,” agreed Ted. “Do you know where I work, Jan?”

“No,” she answered.

“I’m conductor on an airship!” laughed Teddy. “I’ll climb up in a tree and make believe that’s an airship.”

“This is more fun than we ever had before!” cried Janet. “Oh, Trouble, you mustn’t go in there!” she added, as she saw her small brother picking his way over the sticks that were laid down in squares to mark off the different rooms.

“Not go here?” questioned Trouble, pausing with one foot in one room, and the other in another apartment.

“No, you mustn’t go in there!” insisted Janet. “That’s the parlor and your feet are all dirty. You can’t go in the parlor with dirty shoes!”

“All right,” agreed Trouble. “Could I have cookie from pantry?” he asked, watching Ted set up the box and put in it some of the good things from the real kitchen.

“Yes, you can have a cookie when I get Ted’s dinner,” agreed Janet. “Now you go out and play in the yard, and when you hear the whistle blow that will mean Daddy Ted is coming home, and you must come in and eat with us.”

“Can I eat real—have some cookie?” asked Trouble.

“Yes, we’ll let you eat real,” laughed Janet. “But don’t knock over the piano again,” she begged, as she again set up the box that Trouble had sent toppling down the steps.

“I not knock over no more,” he promised.

“Here, you make believe you’re a miner digging for gold,” suggested Ted, giving his small brother a shovel and pointing to a soft place in the dirt of the yard. “And when I go ‘Toot! Toot!’ that means it’s the twelve o’clock whistle and you stop work.”

“An’ then we eat!” cried Trouble.

“Yes, then we eat,” agreed Ted. “Now I’m going to be a conductor in my airship,” he added, as he climbed into the branches of a tree near the back porch. Trouble began digging with his shovel in the soft dirt, and Janet arranged the different rooms of the playhouse to suit her own ideas, placing a bunch of leaves on the “piano” as an ornament.

“Janet! Janet! Oh, Jan!” suddenly cried Trouble, after a few minutes of digging.

“What’s the matter now?” asked his sister, as her small brother looked up from his digging. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, but I is not goin’ to be miner an’ dig for gold,” he declared.

“What are you going to be then?” Ted wanted to know.

“I be fisherman diggin’ for worms,” decided Trouble. “’At’s most fun ’cause I got a worm right now.”

“All right, be a fisherman and dig for worms,” agreed Janet. “Don’t let him spoil anything in the playhouse,” she called to Teddy up in the tree. “I’m going to ask mother something.”

“All right,” replied Ted. “Are you going after more cookies?”

“No, I’m going to see if mother will let me take her little diamond locket,” answered Janet. “I mean the one with the teeny little diamond in. I want to wear it when I dress up and make believe I’m a lady getting my husband’s supper.”

“Oh, all right,” laughed Ted. “But I don’t believe mother will let you take her diamond locket.”

“I guess she will if I promise to be careful of it,” said Janet.

She went into the house, while Ted continued to play that he was a conductor on an airship, taking up tickets from the make-believe passengers. Trouble kept on digging worms, carefully putting them in a tin can.

Janet found her mother out in the front yard, talking to Mrs. Jenk, a neighbor, and both ladies were laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Janet, before she asked to be allowed to wear the diamond ornament.

“It’s Mr. Jenk’s tame crow,” answered Mrs. Martin. “He really is so funny! He ought to be in a show. Look at him!”

She pointed to the open window of Mrs. Jenk’s house, where, on the sill, was perched a black crow. This crow had been caught by Mr. Jenk in the woods some years before. He had tamed the bird, which was lame from having been injured in a trap, and now it could do quite a number of tricks, besides saying a few words, or what sounded like words. The lame, tame crow could also whistle, often fooling Skyrocket, the Curlytops’ dog.

Just now the crow was marching up and down on the window sill, going limpity-limp, for one leg was shorter than the other. Suddenly Mrs. Jenk tapped on the fence with a stick, and, at the same time, she snapped her fingers.

Instantly the lame, tame crow stood on his good leg, cocked his head to one side and stuck his short, lame leg out to one side, standing in this funny position as stiff and motionless as a stuffed bird. Then, suddenly, he made several popping sounds like corks being pulled from bottles.

“Oh, isn’t he funny!” laughed Janet. “He ought to be in a show!”

“Yes, Mr. Jenk had an offer from a theatrical man who wanted to put Jim in a show,” said Mrs. Jenk. “This man said our crow was quite valuable, but Mr. Jenk didn’t want to let him go. He says he is going to teach Jim more tricks.”

“Oh, I hope he does!” cried Janet. The crow stood on two legs again, and once more marched up and down the window sill. “Do you think I could make him stand that funny way and pop?” asked Janet.

“Try it,” suggested Mrs. Jenk.

The little girl tapped on the fence and snapped her fingers.

Instantly Jim stiffened, cocked his head on one side, stuck out his lame leg and stood on the other, stiff and motionless. Then he went:

“Pop! Pop! Pop!”

“Oh, I did it! I did it!” laughed Janet, as Mrs. Jenk went in the house. “I’m going to do it again.”

But this time the crow did no tricks. Perhaps he was tired of showing off. At any rate he flew into a tree over in the yard back of the home of the Curlytops. Jim was allowed to fly about as he pleased, and was well known in the neighborhood. He always flew home at night, though, and slept in the kitchen.

“Oh, Mother!” called Janet, as she saw Mrs. Martin turning to go in the house. “Could I take your little diamond locket? Not the big one, just the little teeny one.”

Mrs. Martin had two diamond lockets, one a very expensive one, and the other not so valuable. This small one had been given to her by her husband when the Martins did not have as much money as they had now. And for this reason Janet’s mother thought more of her small ornament than she did of her more costly one.

“I just want to wear it playing house on the back porch,” Janet went on.

“Will you be very careful of it and bring it back to me as soon as you have finished playing?” asked Mrs. Martin.

“Oh, yes,” promised the little girl. “I’ll be ever so careful, and I won’t let Trouble or Ted have it.”

“Well, Ted would be all right,” said Mrs. Martin. “But Trouble might drop it and step on it. I’ll let you take it for a half hour or so.”

She took the locket, with its tiny diamond, from her jewelry box, and gave it into the eager hands of Janet. The little girl’s eyes sparkled like twin diamonds as she clasped the ornament about her neck.

“Now be careful of it!” cautioned her mother, as Janet went back to play house with Ted and Trouble.

“I will!” the little girl promised.

Ted was getting down out of the tree when Janet reached the porch, and Trouble was digging in a new place for worms.

“You were gone a long time,” said Ted. “I blew the whistle three times. I got to have my dinner,” he went on, “’cause the ship’s got to sail to China right away soon.”

“Oh, all right, I’ll get your dinner quick,” offered Janet, pretending to be serious. “I just stopped a minute to look at the tame crow,” she said. “He stood on one leg for me.”

“He’s done it for me, too,” said Ted.

“And he could be in a show if he wanted to, only Mr. Jenk won’t sell him,” added Janet.

“Maybe we could get up a circus and have him in one of the acts,” suggested Ted. “Oh, mother let you take the diamond, didn’t she?” he asked, as he saw the sparkle on Janet’s neck.

“Yes, I can wear it while we play house,” she answered. “Now I’ll get dinner. Did you blow the whistle for Trouble to come?” she asked.

“Yes, I did. But he says he’s a fisherman, and fishermen only come when a horn blows, so I got to blow a horn,” laughed Ted.

“Honk! Honk,” he went, pretending to be a horn. Then Trouble dropped his shovel and hurried to the “house” to get some of the cookies before his brother and sister might eat them all.

The children sat on some little chairs that had once been a doll’s furniture set belonging to Janet, and they ate bits of cookies off a box that formed the “dining-room table.”

“We’re having lots of fun!” said Janet.

“Piles of it!” agreed Ted.

“I likes it lots,” declared Trouble. “What you takin’ off ma’s diamond for?” he asked Janet, for she was unclasping the locket from her neck.

“I have to wash the dishes,” she answered, “and you never wash dishes with a diamond locket on.”

“Let me see locket!” begged Trouble, as Janet was about to lay it on the box that served as the cupboard.

“Be very careful of it!” cautioned Janet. She let her small brother take the sparkling ornament in his hand and admire it for a few moments. Then Janet took it again and put it on the box. She was preparing to “wash the dishes,” which was only make-believe, of course; Trouble was again digging in his hole; Ted was up in the tree, pretending to be an airship conductor; when suddenly there sounded a loud crash in front of the house.

“Something’s happened!” exclaimed Janet.

“I go see!” offered Trouble, dropping his shovel.

“It’s an automobile smash-up!” shouted Ted. “I can see it from here!” and he began to scramble down from the tree. “Two cars are smashed up!” he went on.

The two Curlytops and Trouble hurried to the front gate, anxious to see what had happened.

CHAPTER II
THE MISSING DIAMOND

Three or four men, half a dozen boys and a policeman were running toward the two automobiles that, as Ted had said, were in a “smash-up.” The accident had happened directly in front of the home of the Curlytops, and they were anxious to know if anyone had been hurt. They also wanted to know how it had happened.

“My, that one car is all smashed!” cried Janet.

“They’re both smashed!” said Ted.

“It’s like when my toy train ran into the stove!” said Trouble, trying to wiggle his way between his brother and sister so that he might first get out of the front gate and nearer to the scene of the accident.

Just then Skyrocket, the Curlytops’ dog, came rushing, barking, out of the house. He, too, had heard the excitement.

“Look out, Trouble! Look out!” cried Janet, as she saw what was about to happen. But it was too late. Skyrocket tried to dash between the legs of little William, but the opening was not wide enough, and Trouble stumbled and fell in a heap on the dog.

Dog and boy howled together, though neither of them was much hurt. At the same time Janet saw the policeman lift a man from one of the wrecked cars.

“Oh, I guess they’ll have to take him to the hospital!” she exclaimed.

“Maybe,” agreed Ted, as he stopped to pick Trouble up, finding that his small brother was more frightened than hurt.

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.”

“You ought always to put your hand out when you’re going to turn a corner,” said Ted.

“Sure you ought,” agreed Harry. “I guess he’ll do it after this.”

“Here comes the ambulance!” cried Janet, as a loudly clanging bell was heard down the street. Up dashed the vehicle and soon the doctor was attending to the two men, who had been laid on the grass near the curb.

After putting some bandages on the injured men the doctor had some bystanders help him lift them into the ambulance and away they were taken, leaving the two smashed cars for the crowd to stare at.

The Curlytops met many of their friends at the accident, for boys and girls, hearing of it, came from the near-by houses. And Ted, Janet and Trouble knew most of the girls and boys for several blocks around.

The excitement of the accident drove all thoughts of playing house from the minds of the Curlytops and they remained out in front of their house so long, talking with their playmates, that it was time for Mr. Martin to come home from the store for supper before Ted and Janet thought of what they had been doing. Mrs. Martin had also come out to look at the wrecked automobiles, but had gone inside again, to tell the cook about the meal.

“Well, Curlytops, did you do this?” asked Daddy Martin, with a laugh, as he stopped in front of his house to watch men from a garage starting to take away the wrecked cars. “I suppose Trouble did the most of it,” added Mr. Martin.

“I not mash those autos!” cried Trouble, evidently thinking his father was in earnest. “They did mash up theirselves!”

“And a pretty good piece of work they made of it,” said Mr. Martin. “Anyone hurt, Curlytops?” he asked.

“The two drivers,” said Ted.

There was a rustling in the tree under which the children stood talking with their father, and, looking up, Janet cried:

“It’s Jim, Mr. Jenk’s crow!”

“He’s flying home,” added Ted

“Well, what have you been doing all day, children?” asked Mr. Martin. “Don’t take that, Trouble!” he quickly cried, as the little boy pulled some papers from the side pocket of his father’s coat. “I need those. I’ll have to use them if I go to Mount Major to open a store for the lumber camp.”

“Oh, are you going away?” cried Janet.

“For a while, maybe,” her father answered, as he looked to make sure Trouble had taken none of his papers.

“When are you going?” asked Ted. “Mount Major is where they cut lumber, isn’t it, Dad?”

“Yes, they cut a great deal of lumber there,” said Mr. Martin, as he watched the lame, tame crow of his neighbor fly down into a tree in Mr. Jenk’s yard. “And they are starting work for the summer now, felling a lot of trees to get ready to saw up into lumber this fall. They want me to go up there and start a store, so the lumbermen may be able to buy things to eat without having to travel so far.”

“Are you going?” asked Janet.

“When?” inquired Ted once more.

“Oh, it’s too early to talk about that now,” laughed Mr. Martin. “But tell me what you Curlytops did all day. I suppose you studied your lessons, didn’t you?”

“Lessons? On Saturday!” cried Janet, not seeing the funny twinkle in her father’s eyes.

“He’s only joking!” declared Ted, and this was true. Mr. Martin liked to tease his children a little.

“Well, what were you doing?” he asked. “It looks as though Trouble had been digging in the garden,” he added.

“I was diggin’ worms for to go fishin’ with,” said the little boy.

“And he fell down when Skyrocket tried to run between his legs,” added Teddy.

“That was when we heard the auto crash and all ran out to see what it was,” explained Janet. “Before that we were playing house, and Trouble was going to be a miner, and Ted was a conductor on an airship up in a tree, and I was—Oh, I was——”

Janet suddenly stopped speaking, clapped her hand over her mouth and started to run around to the back porch.

“I forgot all about it!” she cried.

“What is it?” asked Mr. Martin, for he could tell by Janet’s face that it was something important. “What did she forget about?” asked Mr. Martin of Ted and Trouble.

The two boys shook their heads. Their father followed Janet around to the back door and the brothers went with him. They saw Janet eagerly searching about the playhouse, looking on and in boxes and around the chairs and pieces of wood. Just then Mrs. Martin came to the back door. She greeted her husband with a kiss and then, turning to Janet, she said:

“Please give me back my diamond locket, my dear. You have played with it long enough.”

“Oh, Mother!” gasped Janet. “Haven’t you—didn’t you come out and take it? Haven’t you your locket?”

“Why, no, Janet, I haven’t it,” was the surprised answer. “I let you take it and you said you would bring it back to me.”

“I know I did, and I meant to. I took it off my neck to wash the dishes after our play dinner, and Trouble asked me to let him look at it and—Oh, Trouble, you have mother’s locket, haven’t you? That’s right, I let you take it. What did you do with it? Where is mother’s shiny gold and diamond locket, Trouble?”

Trouble looked surprised.

“I no have got it,” he said.

“But I let you take it!” insisted Janet. “You wanted to hold it in your hand because it sparkled so nice, and I let you. Didn’t you have the locket, Trouble?”

“Yes, I did have,” gravely admitted the small boy. “An’ it was pretty. It shined like the sun. But I gived it back to you, Jan. You put it on the box in the play kitchen. Don’t you ’member? I gived it back to you out of mine own hand!”

Janet gave a start and looked at the box. She remembered now.

“Yes, that’s right, Trouble. You did give it back to me after I let you take it,” she said slowly. “You gave it back to me and I put it on the box so I wouldn’t catch anything in the chain when I unset the play table and washed the dishes. Ted, you didn’t take the locket, did you?” she asked, turning to her older brother.

“No,” he answered. “But I saw you put it on the box. It ought to be there now.”

“Well, it isn’t,” and there were tears in Janet’s eyes. “Oh, Mother,” she half-sobbed, “I can’t find your lovely diamond locket! I’m afraid it’s lost!”

Mrs. Martin looked anxious, for the locket was one she prized very highly. She did not want to lose it.

“Perhaps it may have been knocked off the box when you all ran out to see the auto accident,” suggested Mr. Martin. “Be careful where you step, and we’ll look around the porch.”

This was done, but with all the searching no diamond locket was found. Mrs. Martin helped, and after all the boxes, boards and toy furniture had been cleared from the rear porch the place was carefully swept.

“Well, I guess it’s gone,” said Mr. Martin, looking at his wife. “I shall have to buy you another.”

“I don’t want any other!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin, with tears in her eyes. “I want my own dear little diamond locket! Oh, Janet, why did you lose it?”

“I—I didn’t mean to,” and Janet began to sob.

“Oh, I know you didn’t, child,” said her mother, patting the curly head. “I shouldn’t have given in to you and let you take it. Are you sure Trouble didn’t drop it somewhere?”

“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.

“Oh, Daddy!” cried Jan, in alarm. It seemed a terrible thing to know that her father’s store was burning.

As for Mrs. Martin, after she had dropped the stocking, she sat looking at her husband, not knowing what to say.

Ted cried:

“Send for the fire engines!”

“They’re already there!” said Mr. Martin, as he ran from the room.

“I’m coming!” shouted Ted, following his father.

“No, you mustn’t go! Stay here!” commanded his mother.

“I got a little fire engine!” was what Trouble said. He did not understand that a big engine, pumping much water, was needed to put out a large fire.

“Please, Mother, I just got to go!” pleaded Ted, as he reached the door, out of which his father had hurried. “I want to help daddy!”

Mrs. Martin was too dazed and surprised to say again that Teddy should not go. She knew that he wanted to help, and he also wanted to see a fire. Any boy would.

It was early, hardly dark yet, and Mr. Martin’s store was not far away. Ted had often gone down there alone in the evening.

“Be careful!” Ted’s mother called to him, as he ran out of the front door and down the street after his father. There were other men and boys on the sidewalk now, all running toward the scene of the fire. There were even some women and a few girls. But Jan remained at home with her mother and Trouble.

Mr. Martin heard pattering behind him the sound of little feet that he knew well. Turning, he saw Ted.

“You’d better go back,” warned the boy’s father.

“Please, I want to come! I’ll help!” promised the Curlytop lad.

“I’m afraid you can’t help very much,” said Mr. Martin. “But as long as you have come this far, I’ll have to take you. Give me your hand!”

With his father’s fingers clasping his, Ted found it much easier to run along. They were nearing the store and now could hear the tooting and clanging of the engines and the shouts of men and boys, mingled with the barking of dogs. Mr. Martin, in his excitement, was running so fast that Ted could hardly keen up, but the Curlytop boy managed to skip along, never letting go his father’s hand.

Suddenly, as they turned a corner, Mr. Martin and Ted saw the crowd in the street. They saw one engine pumping water, and another, with smoke pouring from the stack, was getting ready to work. There was also a cloud of smoke coming from an outside shed of Mr. Martin’s store.

“The fire’s in the shed, Ted!” exclaimed the boy’s father, in relief. “I guess it won’t amount to very much.”

“I’m glad of that,” Ted answered. It was about all he could say, for he was quite out of breath from having run so fast with his father.

Just then there was a sudden banging and popping noise, and a shower of sparks shot out from the shed attached to the store. Then came some balls of colored fire and next a skyrocket sailed out over the fire engines and over the heads of the crowd, bursting with a pop up in the air. Then more beautifully colored sparks, stars, and balls of fire were scattered about.

“Oh, what is it, Daddy? Fourth of July?” cried Ted.

“That’s just about what it is,” answered Mr. Martin. “I wonder——”

His voice was drowned in another burst of sparks from the shed, followed by another skyrocket and then some more loud poppings. Out of the shed rushed a fireman, crying:

“There’s a lot of Roman candles and skyrockets going off in there! It isn’t a fire at all!”

As he spoke another skyrocket whizzed over his head and the crowd began to laugh.

“Fourth of July! Fourth of July!” yelled some boys, capering about. They yelled again as many colored balls from some Roman candles shot into the air.

“You’re celebrating Independence Day a little out of season, aren’t you, Mr. Martin?” asked a man in the crowd.

“It begins to look that way,” laughed Mr. Martin. “I see what happened. I had some fireworks stored in the shed. In some way the box must have caught fire.”

Another rocket shot up, then some fire-crackers exploded and next came a glare of red fire.

“Hurray! Hurray!” shouted the boys in the crowd, and Ted could not help joining in, for this was the jolliest fire he had ever seen.

With the burst of red fire the display came to an end, the glare died away, there was no longer any popping from the fire-crackers, and all that could be seen was a lot of smoke pouring from the shed.

“I guess the worst is over,” said the fire chief, as he told the fireman, who had run from the shed when the explosions began, to put on a smoke-helmet and go back again to wet what sparks he might find. Other firemen, also wearing smoke-helmets, went with him.

“Fire’s out, Chief!” the men reported a little later. “Not much damage done.”

“That’s good,” remarked Mr. Martin.

“But there’s nothing left of that box of fireworks,” said another fireman, with a grin, as he took off his smoke-helmet.

“No, I didn’t suppose there would be,” replied the store owner. “I never should have left it there.”

“Who set off the skyrockets, Daddy?” asked Ted.

“They set themselves off after the box caught fire,” his father told him. “But how the box caught I don’t know.” And the cause of the little fire was never found out.

Really it was not much of a fire, for the only things that burned were the fireworks and the box in which they had been stored. But there was a great deal of smoke, as Ted discovered when he and his father went into the store a little later. Some firemen and police officers also went in, but the crowd was kept out. Ted felt proud that he could get in ahead of the other boys. But then, of course, it was his father’s store.

“Nothing at all burned up here,” said the fire chief, looking around. “It didn’t even scorch the back wall.”

“That’s because you and your men got here so quickly with the engines,” remarked Mr. Martin. “I’m much obliged to you.”

“There’s a lot of smoke, though,” said a policeman. “Must have come from that window into the shed. It was partly open.”

“We’ll open some windows and let the smoke out,” said a fireman. “You’ll have more damage by smoke than you will by fire or water, Mr. Martin.”

“Well, smoke isn’t any too good for groceries,” said Ted’s father. “About the only things I know of that are made better by smoke are hams and herring. However, this might have been much worse. Who turned in the alarm?”

“Mr. Blake,” said the chief, naming a man Mr. Martin knew. “He was passing and saw smoke coming from the shed door. Then he telephoned to fire headquarters.”

“I must thank him,” said Mr. Martin. “If the fire hadn’t been discovered in time, my whole store might have burned. I’ll just let my wife know the danger is past,” he added, going to the telephone in the store office near the big safe.

Mrs. Martin soon heard the good news that what little fire there had been was put out. There was nothing more to be done, and a policeman said he would remain on guard in the store while the windows and doors were kept open to let the smoke blow out during the night.

Then Ted and his father walked back home. The engines had gone back to their quarters, the dogs had stopped barking, and the crowd had vanished, for there was nothing more to be seen.

“Oh, Mother! It was just like Fourth of July!” cried Teddy as he entered the house. “Skyrockets, an’ Roman candles an’ everything!”

“I wish I’d been there!” exclaimed Janet. “Didn’t the store burn at all, Daddy?”

“No, only the box of fireworks in the shed.”

“But there will be some loss, won’t there?” asked Mrs. Martin.

“Well, yes, some,” her husband answered. “A few things will have to be thrown away, because food does not taste good after it has been smoked, and some other things may be blackened. But the insurance company will pay me. And now, Curlytops, off to bed with you!” he cried. “It’s getting late. Trouble is in Dreamland long ago, I’m sure.”

“Yes, I tucked him in,” said his mother. And when Ted and Janet had gone up to bed their mother sighed a little and said: “My, but this has been an exciting day!”

“You didn’t find your diamond locket, I suppose?” asked Mr. Martin.

“No. And I’m afraid I never shall,” answered his wife. “I shouldn’t have allowed Janet to take it, but she begged so hard and they were having such fun playing house that I gave in to her. I thought the necklace would be safe on the porch.”

“Yes, you’d imagine it would,” agreed her husband. “I rather think Trouble had a hand in the loss of your diamond,” he went on. “He must have picked it up because it was bright and shiny, and then have dropped it.”

“No, I think Trouble isn’t to blame this time,” replied Mrs. Martin. “He does mischief enough, but this time he seems to know what he is talking about. He had the locket in his hand, but gave it back to Janet. And she isn’t sure what happened to it after the auto crash.”

“Well, it’s gone, at any rate, and there’s no use worrying about it,” said Mr. Martin. “Now I must think what I am going to do to-morrow. I can’t open the store until after the insurance people have figured out how much they will pay me for my loss.”

“Will this spoil your plans?” asked his wife. “I mean can you get off to Mount Major to start the store for the lumber camp?”

“Yes, I think so,” answered the father of the Curlytops. “In fact I think this little fire will make it easier. I can’t do any business here because my store will be closed until the loss is settled. And while I’m waiting for that I can go to Mount Major. I’ll leave somebody in charge. How would you like to go along?” he asked.

“You mean all of us?” she questioned. “I couldn’t very well go and leave the children here.”

“Yes, I mean for all of us to go,” was the reply. “I shall have to remain several weeks to get the lumber-camp store well started, and as this is practically the beginning of the summer vacation in the school the children can just as well go as not.”

“Where could we stay in the woods?” asked Mrs. Martin.

“There is a bungalow there—a very good one, I believe. I intended to live in it myself, but there is room for us all.”

“The children will be delighted!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “To think of spending a summer in the woods!”

“Yes, the Curlytops will like the woods all right, I think,” chuckled Mr. Martin. “And so will Trouble. We’ll tell them about it in the morning.”

Mr. Martin made an early trip to his store, to look over the damage by daylight. When he came back the Curlytops and Trouble were having their breakfasts.

“Is store all burned?” asked Trouble, pausing in his eating of oatmeal and milk.

“Oh, no, not quite all burned,” laughed his father. “Why didn’t you come down with your fire engine and help put the blaze out, Trouble?” he asked, teasingly.

“Mother—she now—she wouldn’t let me,” stammered the little fellow, getting ready to take a spoonful of oatmeal and milk. But somehow or other, he missed his aim and part of the spoon’s contents spilled on the table.

“Oh, look what you did!” cried Janet. “Look, Trouble!”

Trouble looked. He often soiled the tablecloth and more than once he had been scolded for it, as his mother did not want him to fall into careless table manners.

“Now you did it!” cried Janet.

“Yep—yep—I did spill some milk,” admitted Trouble. “But—but you—you—now—you now—lost mother’s diamond locket!” accused the little fellow.

“Never mind, Trouble! It couldn’t be helped,” said his father, as he took up the spilled milk.

“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet. “I’m so sorry, Mother, and I——”

“Never mind, my dear!” soothed Mrs. Martin. “We may find the locket yet.”

But there were tears in the little girl’s eyes, and Ted, too, felt a bit sad, for he thought that in moving about the boxes in the playhouse he might have knocked the locket down into some hole or crack where it could never be found.

“Don’t worry about it,” went on Mrs. Martin. “Tell them the good news, Daddy, and cheer them up.”

“What good news?” asked Ted.

“Is it about the fire?” asked Janet. “Wasn’t it your place after all, Daddy?”

“Oh, there was a fire in my store all right,” her father told her. “But it didn’t really amount to much. However, the fire will not prevent my going to the Mount Major lumber camp, to start a supply store there for the men. And your mother and I have decided that we shall all go there and spend the summer vacation.”

“Up to Mount Major?” cried Ted.

“Yes,” his father said.

“In the woods?” exclaimed Janet, clapping her hands.

“Yes.”

“Oh, what fun!” cried the Curlytops together, and Trouble, finishing his oatmeal, added:

“I likes to have fun!”

“We know that!” chuckled Ted.

And then followed such a lot of talk and so much laughter over the happy days to come that it is a wonder anyone ate any breakfast. And when the meal was nearly over there came a ring at the door, and Mr. Jenk, the neighbor in the adjoining house, came in.

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Martin,” said Mr. Jenk, “especially after your fire trouble.”

“You’re not disturbing us,” said Mr. Martin pleasantly. “As for the fire, it didn’t amount to as much as we feared. It was really only some fireworks.”

“What I came over for,” said Mr. Jenk, as he took his seat in a chair, “is to ask you if you have seen Jim this morning.”

“Your tame crow?” asked Mr. Martin.

“Yes, Jim,” went on Mr. Jenk. “My crow is missing, and I wouldn’t lose him for a good deal. He’s worth more than a hundred dollars and he gets cuter and smarter every day.”

“Oh, is Jim gone?” exclaimed Ted. “How did it happen?”

“That’s what I don’t know,” answered Mr. Jenk. “He came in last night, as he always does, just before dark, and he went to sleep on his perch in the kitchen. But this morning he was gone. I know he used to come over here quite often, and I thought perhaps some of you might have seen him.”

“We saw him yesterday afternoon,” replied Janet, and Ted nodded his head at this. “But we haven’t seen him this morning.”

“It’s too bad,” said Mr. Jenk, as he arose to leave. “I’d give a good deal to get my crow back. That theater man said he was one of the best trick birds he’d ever seen.”

“He looked so funny when he stood on one leg and stuck the other out,” added Janet.

“Yes, that was one of the first tricks I taught him,” remarked Mr. Jenk.

“Yes, and he could make a noise like popping corks as real as anything!” said Teddy. “Come on, Janet,” he added. “Let’s go look for Jim. Maybe he’s out in a tree.”

As the children were about to leave the table, Mrs. Martin suddenly raised her hand for silence and called:

“Hark!”

Out in the kitchen sounded a loud “pop!”

“There’s Jim now!” cried Ted, making a rush for the kitchen.

CHAPTER IV
TROUBLE’S SQUIRREL

Ted Martin was not alone in his rush for the kitchen. He was followed by Janet and Trouble. Only Trouble did not get very far. For Skyrocket, the dog, who had been asleep in a corner, roused up suddenly at the sound of Ted’s hurrying steps and managed to get in Trouble’s way.