The Curlytops and Their Playmates Part 32

"What are you going to do about it, Uncle Toby?"

"I'm going to get Jim Nelson and some of the lumbermen around here and have a look around. For one place, we'll go to that old cabin of Newt Baker's, which we saw the man running away from that day. Maybe he's the tramp who took Skyrocket and also your plum pudding."

"Dear me!" exclaimed Aunt Sallie, with a frightened look over her shoulder.

"Don't be afraid!" laughed Uncle Toby. "Nothing will happen. But I don't want the children's fun spoiled. So let them think Skyrocket just wandered away and will come back again."

But Skyrocket did not come back that day nor the next nor the next. Back home in Cresco he had often stayed away a week at a time, Jan said, so after she and her brother had gotten used to the idea that the dog was off on one of his wandering trips, they no longer worried.

Uncle Toby got some of the lumbermen and went to the cabin, but though they found the footprints of men and dogs in the snow, no one was now in the old shack, and there was no way of telling whether the dog's footprints were those of Skyrocket.

"Well, I guess that tramp cleared out," said Uncle Toby to Aunt Sallie.

"And he may have taken Skyrocket with him. But don't say anything to the Curlytops. Christmas is coming, and we want them to have a good time.

And Skyrocket may come back."

But the dog did not. Two weeks went by and he had not returned. By this time Ted and Janet had rather gotten accustomed to missing him, and though they felt very sorry, they were having so much fun that they thought of little else. For surely there were good times at Uncle Toby's!

The plan of the boys to put up a little carpet house on the big toboggan coaster did not work. They tried it, without telling Uncle Toby anything about it, and this is what happened.

First Tom, Ted, and Harry fastened some beanpoles upright on the toboggan. They tied them tightly with cords so they were fairly solid.

In the barn they found some pieces of carpet and a few old feed bags, left from the time that Uncle Toby kept a horse out at Crystal Lake, and by tying these bags together, after ripping them open, they made a large piece of cloth, big enough for a tent. This they fastened on the beanpoles that were tied to the toboggan, also using some carpet strips.

"Now we've got a regular little house on it, and we can sit inside and coast downhill and be nice and warm!" exclaimed Ted.

That was his idea and that of the other boys. Three of them could get inside the toboggan-tent at a time, and the rear lad could stick his foot out through a hole in the bag covering a steer.

Without telling Uncle Toby anything about it, and saying nothing to the girls, the boys drew this new invention of theirs out on the coasting hill one morning. Tom and Harry took their places toward the front of the toboggan, inside the tent. There was a hole in the bagging so they could look out. Ted sat behind to steer.

"All ready?" he asked his chums.

"Let her go!" cried Tom.

Ted pushed off, and for a little way the toboggan went down the hill all right. The boys were laughing and shouting, for it was fun to coast inside a tent that kept off the cold wind.

"It's like riding in a closed auto!" yelled Tom.

But just then something happened. The toboggan struck a lump of ice on the hill, slued around, though Ted did his best to steer it, and began going sideways.

Just then the three girls, with Trouble, came out to see what the boys were doing, and seeing the strange tent-covered toboggan going downhill sideways Janet, Lola, and Mary, all three, screamed, while Trouble yelled in delight, as he always did at anything new or strange.

Ted declared afterward that the girls' screams made him steer crooked, but in the girls' opinion the toboggan would have upset anyhow. And that's what it did.

Over it turned, when half way down the hill. The bean poles snapped and broke, and a moment later the boys were tangled up in the pieces of carpet and bagging, rolling off the toboggan which coasted the rest of the way downhill by itself, and probably it was very glad to be rid of the tent-house.

"Oh, are you hurt?" cried Jan, as she saw the tangled ma.s.s of boys.

"I'll call Uncle Toby!" exclaimed Lola.

"Oh, what a dreadful accident!" wailed Mary.

But an instant later the boys jumped up, laughing, not in the least hurt, though they were disappointed because their invention did not work.

"Don't try any more tricks like that," said Uncle Toby, when he heard what had happened. "The next time some of you may be hurt."

The boys promised to obey, and they didn't do any thing just like that again, but they did other things almost as risky. However, no one was hurt, and they certainly had lots of fun at Uncle Toby's.

There was so much to do that they almost forgot about the lost Skyrocket, though every now and then Ted and his chums would go off in the woods, whistling and calling. But the dog did not come back.

As the snow did not melt away, Uncle Toby, with the help of some of his men friends at the camp, cleared a place on the frozen lake where the children could skate. And with this fun, with coasting, making snowmen, another snow house, having s...o...b..ll battles, the children pa.s.sed many days most happily.

Christmas was coming. The Curlytops and their playmates now began counting the days until this grand holiday should arrive. Trouble, with the help of Janet, had written his letter to Santa Claus, and the other children had told each other (so Aunt Sallie and Uncle Toby could hear) the things they wished St. Nicholas to bring them.

One morning Uncle Toby brought the big automobile around to the door of the cabin. It was two days before Christmas, and everything had been prepared for a jolly good time at the cabin. A big green tree had been cut in the woods, and set up in one of the rooms. There it was to be trimmed and made ready for the presents to be put under it.

"Come, children, we're going to the village to get the mail and some other things," called Uncle Toby to the Curlytops and their friends.

"Pile in, and we'll all go to the village. I wouldn't be surprised but what there would be some letters for all of you," he said, with a twinkle in his eyes, as if he knew what was going to happen.

"Oh, maybe daddy and mother will be here for Christmas!" cried Ted and Janet.

"And maybe my father and mother will come," added Lola, though she did not have much hope of this.

"If I could get a letter that my mother was all well again, that would be the best Christmas present I could have," sighed Mary.

"Maybe you will get such a letter," said Uncle Toby.

Perhaps he knew what was going to happen.

Aunt Sallie said she would not make the trip to the village in the automobile, as she had work to do at the bungalow. So Uncle Toby, the Curlytops and their playmates--alas, not with Skyrocket this time--started off. The snow seemed to be coming down thicker and faster, but this only made the children more joyful, for they loved snow at Christmas, as what youngster does not?

The post-office was reached, and Uncle Toby went in for the mail. He came out with both hands full. There was a letter for Mary and Harry, one for Ted and Janet and one for Tom and Lola, and then there were separate letters for each boy and girl from some of the friends they had left behind. There was even a postal for Trouble.

"Oh, such good news!" cried Ted, when he and Janet had read their letter. "Daddy and Mother are coming here to spend Christmas with us!"

"Did your father say anything about the money he was afraid of losing?"

asked Uncle Toby.

"No," answered Ted. "But I hope he doesn't lose it."

"We have good news, like yours!" Lola said to Janet. "Our daddy and mother are coming here also for Christmas. You invited them, didn't you, Uncle Toby?" she asked.

"Why, yes, I believe I did," chuckled the jolly old gentleman. "But have you good news, too?" he asked Harry and Mary.

"Yes," they answered with happy tears in their eyes. "Our mother is well again, and she is coming up here for Christmas. Oh, how happy we are!"

"Everybody's happy!" sang Trouble. "Everybody's happy, an' Santa C'aus is comin'!"

"That's right!" laughed Janet, hugging him.