Читать книгу The Curlytops in a Summer Camp - Howard R Garis - Страница 4

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Teddy Martin was a bit dazed and shaken up by being bounced so hard and so suddenly from inside the auto tire in which he was taking his strange ride. But, hearing his sister’s shouts, he rolled over on the soft grass where he had fallen, sat up, and looked down the hill.

He, too, saw the still rolling auto tire. And Teddy also saw toward what it was headed.

“Stop it! Stop it! Run after that tire and stop it!” directed Jan, and, in her excitement, she began to race down the hill, forgetting all about William, his mud pies, and his soiled clothes.

“Wait! Wait for me!” wailed Trouble, but Janet paid no heed.

“Whew!” whistled Teddy as he got to his feet and raced after the bounding tire. “If it goes in there it will be terrible!”

But run as he did, and run as Janet was doing, there seemed little chance of catching the tire before it was too late.

At the foot of the hill, not far from the Martin home, was a street, and on the corner of this street was Dr. Mark Thomby’s drug store, a little, old-fashioned place where the little, old-fashioned druggist sold old-fashioned remedies. Mrs. Martin traded there when she did not want to go to the newer and larger drug store in the center of the town.

“Teddy! Teddy!” yelled Janet. “That auto tire is going to bump right into Dr. Thomby’s drug store!”

“Yes, I—I guess it is!” panted Teddy, who was doing his best to catch the runaway shoe. But it seemed a hopeless task.

“Oh! Oh!” cried Janet. “This is going to be terrible!”

But she did not stop running, not even when Trouble gave a wail and his sister, looking back, saw that the small boy had fallen down. But he had tumbled into soft grass, just like Ted. Ted, also, was running as hard as he could.

I will take just a moment, before the tire does what Janet thought it was going to do, to tell new readers something about the Curlytops.

The brother and sister were given their nickname because of their curling, golden heads of hair. Teddy and Janet Martin lived with their father and mother, not to forget small William, or “Trouble,” as he was so often called, in a large house on the edge of the town of Cresco. Mr. Martin kept a store, and Ted and Janet went to school when there was any. They were always glad when summer came, because then there was no school. They had many wonderful adventures in the summer.

In the first book of this series, entitled “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” some of these adventures are related. Other happenings were on Star Island, and once the Curlytops were snowed in. They went to Uncle Prank’s ranch and to Silver Lake, and after that some wonderful times followed with a number of pets.

The summer before this story opens, and after a vacation at Sunset Beach, the children had some strange adventures, which are related in the volume ahead of this one, entitled “The Curlytops Touring Around.”

Now it was almost summer again, and though there had been some talk about where the Curlytops were to go when the long vacation should come, nothing had been decided.

“But maybe if that auto tire smashes things up in Dr. Thomby’s drug store, daddy won’t take me on any vacation,” thought Ted, as he raced after the bounding shoe.

Faster and faster it rolled down the hill, now heading straight for the back door of the little, old-fashioned drug store. Faster and faster rolled the shoe.

“Can’t you stop it, Teddy?” called Janet, looking back to see William getting up, by which she knew he was not hurt.

“How can I stop it?” panted Ted. “It’s away ahead of me!”

“Then yell for Mr. Thomby to look out!” advised Janet.

That seemed good advice so Teddy began shouting:

“Look out! Look out! Hi, Dr. Thomby, look out! There’s an auto tire going to run into your store!”

By this time the shoe was almost at the rear of the shop.

Suddenly a little man appeared in the doorway. He gave one look up the hill, saw the oncoming tire, and then tried to shut his door. But he was too late.

Straight for the druggist the tire rolled. He had to jump up in the air to avoid being hit by it and the tire rolled right between his legs and into the shop.

“Oh!” gasped Janet.

“It’s lucky it didn’t hit him!” panted Ted.

The next instant there was a sound of crashing glass, a loud yell, and then, as Ted and Janet stopped for an instant, they saw the tire come rolling out of the front door and continue on down the street.

“I guess it didn’t do much damage,” said Teddy, as he started running again.

“It sounded as if it broke something,” remarked Janet, also keeping on down the hill.

“I want a ride! I want a ride!” wailed Trouble behind his brother and sister. “Wait for me! I want a ride!”

“I guess I won’t dare try to ride downhill in an auto shoe again!” thought Teddy.

He and Janet reached the bottom of the slope. As the tire had done, they went in the back door of the drug store. They saw the little old doctor and druggist sitting in the middle of the floor of his place, while all about him was a puddle of dark, sticky stuff. Dr. Thomby was sitting on the edge of the puddle, looking in a dazed way at a big bottle that was smashed to pieces all about him. The dark, sticky syrup had come from the broken jar.

“Oh, Dr. Thomby!” murmured Janet. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m awful sorry,” said Teddy. “You see it got away from me!”

“What was it?” asked Dr. Thomby.

“Didn’t you see it?” asked Janet.

“I saw what looked like a wild animal coming downhill straight for me,” said the druggist, trying to get up, but slipping in the syrupy stuff and suddenly sitting down again. “I jumped up in the air and it went between my legs, hit a table, knocked my jar of syrup off and then the beast—whatever it was—ran out the front door.”

“It wasn’t an animal,” said Teddy, wanting to laugh but not daring to.

“It was an auto tire,” Janet stated.

“A what?” exclaimed the druggist.

“An old auto shoe,” Teddy explained.

“An auto tire! An auto tire!” murmured the druggist. “I thought it was a wild beast! Oh, what a mess!” he sighed, looking at his floor.

“We’ll help you clean it up,” offered Janet. “Won’t we Teddy?”

“Why, of course!” he agreed. “But I guess—”

Then a loud shout of alarm caused him to run to the front door of the shop. Janet also hastened after him, just as Trouble came trotting into the back door. Trouble saw the druggist still sitting in the puddle of sticky stuff.

“Are you makin’ mud pies, too?” asked the little boy.

Before Dr. Thomby could answer there was a loud crash of breaking glass outside and he gasped:

“I guess that auto tire has gone through some show window! Oh, what a day this has been!”

Just as Janet and Ted reached the street in front of the drug store they, too, heard from around the corner the crash of glass.

“It’s broken a window—that tire!” gasped Teddy.

“Oh! Oh!” moaned his sister. “Now you’ll be arrested!”

Ted Martin was beginning to think that his prank of riding downhill in the auto tire was going to turn out to be serious. There was the broken jar of medicine in Dr. Thomby’s drug store, to say nothing of the spoiled clothing of the kind, old-fashioned gentleman who often gave the Curlytops and Trouble sticks of candy. Then there was the broken window down the street, the crash of glass still echoing in the ears of Ted and his sister.

“This is awful!” gasped Janet, as she looked down the street to where she could see a crowd of men gathered about a building that was being rebuilt into a store.

“It’s too bad!” agreed Ted. “I didn’t think that auto tire would go so fast.”

“It wasn’t exactly your fault,” went on his sister; “but I guess they’ll arrest you just the same.”

“You mean because the window got broken?” asked Ted.

“Yes. Are you going to run and hide?” Janet wanted to know, as Trouble came out of the front door of the drug store and stood between his brother and sister.

“What’s the matter?” Trouble asked.

Janet or Ted did not answer the little fellow, but Ted, looking at his sister, asked:

“Why should I run and hide?”

“So they won’t arrest you for breaking that window. I guess it was a big window, Ted, and cost a lot of money. You can get away if you run fast.”

“I’m not going to run!” and Ted raised his head, threw back his shoulders, and stood bravely there. “I’m going to let them arrest me!”

“You are?” cried Jan. “Well, maybe that’s the best way; and, anyhow, you didn’t mean to do it, and daddy will pay for the window and that will make it all right.”

“Yes, I guess so,” said Ted, with a little catch in his breath. He knew it would be a sad thing if his father had to pay out money for a large window broken by his boy’s careless play.

There was another tinkle of glass, as portions of the broken window fell to the ground. Some men and boys standing in front of it jumped hastily back as if to avoid being cut, and one of the men started to walk toward the Curlytops and Trouble.

“I guess he’s coming to arrest you!” and was a sob in Janet’s voice as she looked at Ted.

“You and Trouble run back home and tell mother,” advised Ted. “I’ll let them take me, but there’s no sense in them arresting you and Trouble. You didn’t do anything. Run home and tell mother, Jan!”

“I will, Teddy. Don’t you be afraid!”

“I won’t. It’s only a broken window, and I didn’t mean to do it. You tell mother that.”

“I will! Come along, Trouble!” Janet pulled on the hand of her small brother.

“No! No!” he cried. “I don’t want to go! I want to see the broken window and I want a ride in the auto tire. Ted said I could have a ride!”

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” answered Teddy sadly. “You can’t ride in the auto tire, Trouble. Run along home with Jan.”

“Then let me see the broken window!” persisted the little chap.

“No! No!” begged Teddy. “Run along with Jan, that’s a good boy, and I’ll bring you a lollypop. You can see the broken window later.”

“Can I?” and Trouble was willing to go now. “And will you bring me a lollypop?”

“I will if I have any money left,” Teddy answered in a low voice.

“What do you mean—money left?” asked Janet. “You have a lot of money in your bank.”

“But I’ll have to give it all to dad to help him pay for the broken window,” her brother went on. “When we fellows play ball and break a window we always chip in and pay for it.”

“Then I ought to chip in and help pay for this one,” said Janet. “ ’Cause I was with you when the auto tire ran away.”

“This is different,” stated Ted. “You aren’t in this. Now you and Trouble run home and I’ll let them arrest me. ’Tisn’t like a regular arrest,” Teddy explained, as he saw the shocked look on his sister’s face. “I haven’t really done anything bad.”

But Janet was worried as she hurried away with Trouble, who did not know what it was all about, and brave Teddy walked toward the man he thought was coming to arrest him.