Howard Roger Garis

“ Uncle Toby put some sheets of ice in the windows, and they looked just like glass.
"Oh, this is the nicest snow house I ever saw!" cried Janet.
"It's like a fairy one!" exclaimed Mary. "I never dreamed of one so nice as this."
"It's the best one we ever made," said Ted, and the other boys agreed with him.
But the fun was only beginning. The girls had been promised, if they helped with the making of the snow house, that they could have a play party in it for themselves and, if they chose, their dolls. ”

“ All of you get in the house out of the storm!" cried Uncle Toby, for the children had gone around to the front to watch the rescue of Jack.
"Yes, yes! Come in!" cried Aunt Sallie. "You'll all get your deaths of sneezes! Talk about hot milk for a monkey! I guess these children need it more than Jack does!"
"We'll all have some hot milk!" declared Uncle Toby. "Here, Aunt Sallie, you look after the Curlytops and their friends while I put the car away, and then I'll come back and we'll have a cozy supper," went on Mr. Bardeen. "I'll put Jack by the fire to thaw him out." ”

“ Paraffine is made from crude oil, as is kerosene and gasolene.
"Now we'll have some nifty fun!" cried Tom, as, having rubbed as much of the candle on his sled runners as the steel would hold, he turned his coaster over right side up.
"We'll have races!" cried Ted.
"But we have to take turns going down," said Janet. "The toboggan slide isn't wide enough for two to go on at a time."
"We can have sorter—now—sorter races to see who can go the farthest," remarked Ted, stumbling over his words in his excitement.
"That'll be fun," agreed Lola. ”

“ On the side of Jules's toboggan were hand rails, to which the riders could hold. There was also a cushion on which to sit, and altogether it was a very fine way of coasting downhill.
"Oh, what fun we'll have on this!" cried Jan.
"Will it go fast?" asked Lola.
[185] "It'll go like an express train!" cried Ted.
"And we fellows will take turns sitting on the back and sticking our feet out to steer," added Tom, for that is how a toboggan is guided, you know.
"If it's going as fast as an express train I don't believe I want to ride," said Mary, who was rather more timid than the other children. ”

“ OFF TO CRYSTAL LAKE
This was not the first time Trouble Martin had been lost or missing. It happened more or less often at home in Cresco, and once when the Curlytops had come to Uncle Toby's. But he had never before been lost after a big snow storm—that is, as far as Janet or Teddy could remember. What Janet was afraid of was that her little brother might wander off and fall into some drift. For the snow was deep in places not very far from Uncle Toby's house.
"Oh, we'll find him!" declared Ted. "He can't be far off. We didn't want him playing around our fort for fear he'd spoil it." ”

“ As she was getting ready for Thanksgiving, there was plenty to eat in Uncle Toby's bungalow, and soon sandwiches and cake, and a tin pail full of hot chocolate were carried out to the snow house.
"It's a regular picnic in the snow!" cried Mary, in delight. "I never knew anything as nice as this."
The girls took their dolls out to the snow house, Mary having brought hers from home with her, and though it was not as well dressed or as costly as the dolls of Janet or Lola, still Mary loved her "child" just as much. ”

“ But if they had knocked at the door and asked for something to eat I'd have given it to them, and then the pudding would be safe. What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," answered Uncle Toby, as he and Aunt Sallie followed the children. "We never had any tramps in these woods. Maybe it's that queer man we saw over in Newt Baker's old shack. He may be a hungry tramp."
"Well, something ought to be done about it," declared Aunt Sallie. "I won't feel safe with such people roaming the woods."
"Maybe when I look in the snow under the window I'll see the paw marks of a bear," suggested Uncle Toby. ”

“ Had there been a blow-out the noise would have been much louder, like the bang of a gun. "As long as it's only a puncture we can easily mend it, and I'll do that while the rest of you eat."
"Oh, let me help!" begged Ted. "I often help daddy when he has tire trouble."
[146] "I want to help, too," cried Tom.
"So do I," added Harry. "We never had an auto," he went on, "so I don't know anything about them. But I'll do what I can."
"Well, you boys can hand me the tools," said Uncle Toby, "and I'll do the hard work. This is a heavy car and I don't want you getting into any danger around it. ”

“ Without a doubt there was Jack, sitting on the ridge of the roof, one hairy paw thrust through an arm of the coat, clinging to the bricks of the chimney.
"I'd like to get him down," said Uncle Toby, "for he is a valuable animal, and he may take cold and get pneumonia even if he has on a coat."
"Well, we're the boys to get him down," laughed one of the firemen. "But will he bite?" he asked anxiously. "I don't know much about monkeys, but I guess they can bite."
"Jack won't; that is, not after I speak to him," said Uncle Toby. ”

“ Wait a minute!" called Mr. Martin, but Ted did not wait. He was already at the front door. Trouble had started after his brother, but Janet remained with her mother.
"I wonder who it can be, just at lunch time," said Mrs. Martin. She glanced at the table to see if it were properly set, and began to think rapidly whether there would be enough pie for dessert.
"Will you and daddy really have to go away, Mother?" asked Janet, as the murmur of voices came from the front hall, whither Mr. Martin and Trouble had followed Ted. ”

“ The tramp and Trouble rode out to the cabin in a farmer's sled, so the little boy said.
"I can understand how that might happen," said Uncle Toby. "Some farmer would be glad to give the man and Trouble a ride out into the country. And it might have been some farmer from a distance, who didn't know that no one lived here. Such a farmer wouldn't be surprised at Trouble and the man getting out here at the lonely cabin. Well, things are coming out all right, and maybe this tramp didn't intend to do anything mean. We'll have to wait until he gets better so he can tell us what happened." ”

“ We can make snowmen, big snowballs, and everything."
"Oh, what fun it will be!" cried Lola.
"Snow in the country is much nicer than in the city where I live," said Mary. "It seems to stay clean longer out here."
Meanwhile Ted, Tom, and Harry had also discovered that there was a chance for plenty of fun out of doors. They were soon up and getting dressed, and when Aunt Sallie had seen that Trouble was washed and dressed all the children went down to breakfast.
"Where are all the pets?" asked Mary, seeing only Mr. Nip perched on his stand, cracking seeds in his strong beak. ”

“ But you can take Skyrocket out with you."
"That'll be all right," decided Ted. "But it would be a lot of fun if we could have all the pets out at the Lake."
"I'm afraid you'll be so busy having good times out of doors, and going to school, at least a little, that you wouldn't have much chance to play with the pets," chuckled Uncle Toby. "And I wouldn't want any of them to take cold. A dog is all right, romping out in the snow, but frost wasn't meant for monkeys and parrots."
"Where will you get these two new children that are going to be our playmates?" ”

“ Often trains have been stuck here for days. The engine would ram its pilot, or cowcatcher, into a drift, then snow would pile up behind the last car and the train couldn't go ahead or back up."
"Maybe that's happened now!" exclaimed Lola.
"I shouldn't be a bit surprised," said Uncle Toby.
"But what do the passengers do when the train is stuck, like this one is now?" Tom wanted to know.
"Oh, sometimes they get out and walk, as it isn't very far to the station. Or if they have something to eat, and can keep warm in the cars, they stay there until men come with shovels to dig out the train. ”

“ Get the candles, Ted, and I'll go get my sled!"
"Oh, maybe we can have some fun!" cried Janet. "Come on, Lola, let's get our sleds."
"You've got to grease your own runners," Ted warned the girls. "We aren't going to do it for you." [8]
"Oh, I guess we can do it," answered Lola. "Boys aren't so smart!"
Tom and Lola hastened back to their house to get their sleds, which they had not brought over to the newly built toboggan slide, as there seemed no use of doing this until snow came. Janet hastened after her sled, and Ted went in the house to beg some candle ends of his mother. ”

“ As the children were about to take off their skates to go back to the cabin, Aunt Sallie was seen coming down, dragging Trouble on a sled. There were patches of snow here and there so it was not hard to pull the sled along. And Trouble was not very heavy.
"Oh, Aunt Sallie, you ought to hear the ice crack!" called the children in a chorus.
"Is it dangerous?" asked Mary.
Uncle Toby came out of the bungalow and heard what was asked.
"That rumbling, cracking sound isn't anything dangerous," he said. "The ice often does that, and often big cracks come in it out in the middle of the lake. ”

“ The boys watched Uncle Toby strike into the path and then Tom exclaimed:
"I know where he's going!"
"Where?" asked Ted.
"He's either going to trail that man by his footprints—the man who took the pudding," declared Tom, "or else he's going to get a constable, or somebody like a policeman."
"Maybe he's gone to get a bloodhound if your dog isn't any good for smelling out [213] people," suggested Harry. All the boys were gleefully excited over what might happen. ”

“ What's the matter?" asked Uncle Toby, who was putting wood in the fireplace.
[162] "Oh, it's a man! A man!" cried Janet, running out from Uncle Toby's bedroom into the living apartment where they were now all gathered. "A man looked in the window at me and he tapped on the glass!"
"Who was he?" asked Uncle Toby, grasping a heavy stick of wood. Tom, Ted and Harry at once began to think they had better take some sticks, too, in case there might be a fight. "Was it Jim Nelson?" went on Uncle Toby. "Sometimes he taps on my window when he comes around by the side path." ”

“ 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'!" ”

“ Uncle Toby stopped the car in front of the lonely cabin. He got out a folding canvas pail from the tool-box, and was going toward the cabin when Ted exclaimed:
"I thought you said nobody lived here, Uncle Toby!"
"So I did," was the answer. "No one has lived here for several years." ”

“ Meanwhile, though Mary and Harry had put on their skates, they took no part in this talk and stood about on the ice as if they hardly knew what to do.
"Will you join in the race?" asked Lola of Mary. "We three girls against the boys."
[175] "I don't believe I can skate well enough to race," Mary answered, and her brother joined in with:
"You see we never had much chance to skate, and about all we can do is to move along in a straight line." He laughed good-naturedly over his own lack of skill.
"Oh, that's all right!" cried Ted, in jolly fashion. ”

“ Good thing I did," he concluded, winking at Teddy.
"You must never again go sliding on the ice until you are sure it will hold you," said Mr. Martin to his son. "Just because it held up Skyrocket doesn't prove that it will hold you. If you don't promise to be careful I can't let you go to Crystal Lake!"
"Oh, we'll be careful!" promised Ted and Janet in one breath.
"I guess this means that you've made up your mind to let them come with me, is that so?" asked Uncle Toby.
"I think it will be the best thing that could happen," answered Daddy Martin. "Ruth and I must go to see about that property. ”

“ I thought maybe that's why you were going out."
"Oh, no!" replied Uncle Toby. "I'm not a policeman. And though I wouldn't want a burglar to get into my cabin, he wouldn't find very much to take if he did get in. I guess, most likely, it's some tramp that has broken into some of the cabins. We'll not worry about that, shall we, Curlytops?" chuckled Uncle Toby. "If we find any burglars out there we'll make Skyrocket bite 'em—sha'n't we, Trouble?" and he playfully pinched William's cheek.
"We make elephant run after 'em!" laughed Trouble. ”

“ Uncle Toby replied. "He must be a stranger around here, for anybody else would ask for something [211] to eat if he were hungry. And most of the folks around here are well enough off to get their own Thanksgiving dinner. They don't have to take other folks' pudding."
"That's so," said Aunt Sallie. "I wish it hadn't happened, even though I don't mind a poor hungry man having my nice pudding."
"Is your dog a bloodhound?" asked Harry of Ted, as the boys remained looking at the footprints in the snow, after the girls had gone back into the house with Aunt Sallie. ”

“ I often do it for dad on a hill. Come on, Tom!"
The two boys scrambled from the car out into the storm. As the door was opened in came a swirl of white flakes, and Trouble tried to catch them by sticking out his red tongue.
"I guess you'll have hard work to find any stones," said Uncle Toby, looking at Tom and Ted floundering around in the snow. "But it won't be safe to take the brakes off until we get something to block the wheels." ”

“ Ted declared.
"No, it wouldn't!" asserted Tom. "They won't let us skate on the pond lessen the ice is real thick."
"I wasn't thinking of the pond," said Ted. "I have an idea! Come on over here, Tom, and we'll talk about it. I'm sorter—now—tired of coasting on a wooden hill. I'd like some snow."
"Maybe it'll snow and freeze, too," said Tom, as he and Ted walked off by themselves to talk.
That evening, after an afternoon of fun on the toboggan, the Curlytops sat in the living room reading on one side of the table, while Mr. and Mrs. Martin were talking in low voices on the other side. ”

“ I'll go with you girls up the street, and the three boys can go down the street. Ask every one you meet if they have seen Trouble."
"Only," suggested Jan, "we'd better give him his right name of William."
"That's so!" laughed Uncle Toby. "If we go along asking every one we meet if they have seen Trouble, they'll think we are trying to make fun of them. Yes, we must ask for news of a little boy named William."
So they started out, Ted, Tom and Harry going one way, and Uncle Toby and the three girls the other way. ”

“ And if in their hearts there was a little sadness because they had no father to share the joys of the holidays with them, they kept it to themselves.
"We all have lots to be thankful for," said Aunt Sallie, when the feast day came. "Yes, and you shall have something, too," she added to Skyrocket, who was sniffing hungrily at the kitchen door.
After breakfast Uncle Toby took them all to the village church in the automobile, though of course Skyrocket was left at the cabin. He did not like it very much, either, and howled dismally after the Curlytops. ”

“ We ought to have told 'em!"
"Shall we have one out at Crystal Lake, Uncle Toby?" asked Ted.
"I reckon we can rig up one," was the answer. "There is a man out there who has a real toboggan, too, one he brought from Canada."
"Oh, that'll be great!" cried Tom.
On went the big car with the Curlytops and their playmates, bearing them to the happy country where they hoped to have much fun over the Christmas holidays that would soon be at hand. The children looked out of the windows of the car. They had made an early start, soon after sunrise, but now the sun had gone under clouds. ”