Читать книгу The Curlytops in a Summer Camp - Howard R Garis - Страница 7

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Mrs. Martin was followed out of her room by her husband, who was so sleepy he hardly understood what had happened. And Teddy was no sooner in the hall than Janet came out of her room.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Trouble has tumbled downstairs!” answered Teddy.

“Oh, my goodness!” gasped Mrs. Martin when she heard this said for the second time. “Even at night poor Trouble—”

“Nothing has happened to William. There he stands now!” interrupted the little boy’s father.

He pointed to Trouble near the head of the stairs, but there was something strange about the little boy; so much so that, after one look at him, his mother exclaimed:

“Hush! Don’t awaken him! He’s walking in his sleep!”

“In his sleep?” echoed Teddy. “Why, he’s got his eyes wide open!”

And so William had. But it was very plain that he did not know what he was doing, for there was a queer look on his face and he seemed to be walking near the head of the stairs in a sort of daze.

“That’s the way persons always do who walk in their sleep,” said Mrs. Martin in a low voice. “We mustn’t awaken him suddenly or he might give a jump and tumble downstairs. He is very near the top now. Get him, Dick!” she whispered to her husband.

“But somebody fell downstairs!” insisted Teddy in a low voice. He did not want to awaken his brother too suddenly.

Janet leaned over the banister railing just as Mr. Martin turned higher the low-burning electric light in the hall. And by the brighter gleam the little girl saw, at the bottom of the stairs, that which caused her to exclaim:

“It was Trouble’s rocking horse that fell down! Look!”

They all looked over and saw the toy, one leg broken, resting partly on the floor of the hall and partly on the last step of the stairs.

“So that’s what made the racket!” murmured Teddy. “I’m glad it wasn’t Trouble!”

“So am I,” agreed his mother. By this time Mr. Martin had reached the side of the sleep-walking little fellow, so there was no danger of his toppling down.

“Hey! What’s the matter?” exclaimed Trouble, as he felt himself being lifted in his father’s arms. “Why you got me out here?” he asked. “I want to go to bed. We’re going to summer camp to-morrow!”

“Don’t you know what happened, my dear?” asked his mother, pushing the hair back out of his eyes as she leaned over and kissed him. “Don’t you know what you did?”

“I—I just went to bed,” Trouble answered, rubbing his eyes. “And I—I guess I cried,” he added, as remembrance returned to him. “I cried about—about my rocking horse, I did!”

He was almost ready to sob again as he recalled the fact that he was going to be kept from taking that toy with him when Janet suddenly exclaimed:

“Look where your horse is now!”

She pointed to the foot of the stairs. Trouble looked down, and when he saw the broken leg his lips quivered and he would have set up a loud howling had not his mother laughed gayly as she said:

“Just think of it, Trouble! You got out of bed, you walked in your sleep, and I think you pushed your rocking horse out into the hall to put him in the empty trunk. And your horse fell downstairs!”

“He broke his leg, too,” murmured Trouble. “Oh, my nice horse has broken his leg!” He was again ready to cry when Teddy said:

“Never mind. I’ll play doctor to-morrow and make a new leg for him, and then he’ll go faster than ever!”

“Will he?” asked the little boy.

“And I’ll make a pair of red reins for you,” offered Janet, for she wanted to do her share in making her little brother forget about his woes.

“Will you?” he asked, now smiling.

“Truly,” said Janet, and she meant it. Only when to-morrow came they were all so busy that even Trouble forgot about his injured rocking horse.

“And did I really walk in my sleep?” Trouble asked his mother, hardly able to believe it.

“That’s what you must have done,” answered Mr. Martin, as he carried the little fellow back to bed.

“Wasn’t that funny!” laughed the little lad. “I never walked in my sleep before, did I?”

“And I hope you won’t again, especially when we get to our summer camp,” said his mother. “Now go to sleep and forget about everything,” and this William did.

Mr. Martin removed the broken rocking horse from the bottom of the stairs and the house was soon quiet again.

“He must have been thinking so much about his toys,” said Mrs. Martin to her husband, when they were once more in their room, “that he dreamed about them, got out of bed and pushed his horse into the hall. He knew the empty trunk was there, and he must have thought it would be just right for his horse. My, what a racket it made!”

“It surely did!” chuckled Mr. Martin. “It’s lucky it wasn’t Trouble himself.”

The next morning there was so much to do to get ready to go to Tuckville that Trouble never thought about what had happened in the night. He never even remembered about his rocking horse, not seeing it, and Mrs. Martin warned Teddy and Janet not to mention it, an order they carefully obeyed.

As Ted was going to take his new fishing pole that Mr. Munson had given him, and as Janet was to have with her in the summer camp some of her playthings, Mrs. Martin decided to allow Trouble to take a few of his toys. This so delighted the little fellow that he did not tease for his drum, a swing, and several larger toys that it would have been very hard to pack.

The Curlytops and their brother, with their father and mother and Nora, the maid and cook, were to go to Lake Rimon in Mr. Martin’s auto. Later on Patrick would perhaps come up if there was enough work for him to do.

“Is daddy going to stay in camp with us all summer?” asked Janet, when they were about ready to start.

“I’ll stay as long as I can,” her father promised. “I may have to run back to Cresco two or three times during the summer to attend to business in the store, but I’ll come back to camp as soon again as I can, for I like it in the woods.”

“I’ll catch a lot of fish for you,” promised Teddy.

“And maybe I can shoot a bear with my pop-gun,” added William, for he had been allowed to bring that with him.

“Be careful you don’t shoot any automobile tires!” laughed Janet, as she hugged him.

It was an all-day’s ride in the auto from Cresco to Lake Rimon, on the shore of which Mr. Martin had hired a bungalow.

At last all was in readiness. The trunks had been sent on ahead, the packed valises had been put in the auto, together with a basket of lunch. The children took their places, Teddy on the front seat with his father, Janet and William in the back with their mother and Nora.

“All aboard!” called Mr. Martin.

“All aboard!” answered Teddy, while William joined in the shouts.

Then off they started for the summer camp where they were to have delightful times and strange adventures. Out through Cresco Mr. Martin drove his auto, nodding and bowing to friends whom he passed.

All of a sudden, just as the party was leaving the town behind and heading out on a country road, there arose a cry behind them.

“Wait! Hold on! Wait a minute!” a voice shouted, and an auto horn tooted loudly.

“Oh, somebody is chasing us!” exclaimed Janet, looking back. “I guess something has happened! Wait a minute!”

“What has happened?” asked her father, putting on the brakes and driving the car over to one side of the road. “We didn’t hit a dog or anything like that, did we?”

“I don’t know,” answered Janet. “But there’s a lot of people in that auto behind us and they’re calling to us to stop!”

By this time Mr. Martin had stopped his car and, turning, he saw several hands waving to him, while a voice shouted:

“Hold on! Wait a minute!”

“I wonder what could have happened?” murmured Mrs. Martin.