The Curlytops and Their Playmates Part 24

"Oh, aren't the boys up yet?" asked Jan, with a laugh.

"Don't tell me we've beaten!" added Lola, with a giggle.

"They said they were going to get up and see the sun rise," remarked Mary.

"I guess they forgot it, or else they thought they could see the sun some other morning," laughed Aunt Sallie. "For they aren't down yet, though it's almost time to call them, for I'm going to start to bake the pancakes soon."

"Oh, are you going to have pancakes?" cried Jan.

"Yes, and with maple syrup," Aunt Sallie answered.

"Oh, I love them!" exclaimed Lola. "Don't you, Mary?"

"I--I don't know," was the hesitating answer. "I--I guess I never had any."

"Oh my, just--" but Lola stopped. She was going to say "just fancy a girl never having eaten pancakes with maple syrup!" But she thought it would not be polite to say that, so she changed it to:

"Just you wait until you try them! You'll love them!"

"I know Ted does, so I'm going to call him!" exclaimed Janet. "He wouldn't want to keep on sleeping and miss the cakes."

"Tom wouldn't, either," declared Lola.

So they called the boys, who soon rushed downstairs, as hungry as ever any boys were. And the girls were quite as hungry. As for Trouble, he always thought he was hungry whether he was or not.

Uncle Toby came in, having been out to do the ch.o.r.es, he said. He had also been over to Jim Nelson's cabin to talk about the man who had tapped on the window, scaring Janet. But Uncle Toby said nothing about this. Instead he said:

"Getting colder, boys and girls. Hope you brought your skates."

"Why," asked Ted, "is there skating?"

"No; but there will be. Shouldn't wonder but what part of the lake would freeze over by to-morrow. But don't any of you go on until I try the ice to see if it's safe."

"Guess there isn't any danger of me going on," remarked Harry Benton.

"Why not?" asked Ted. "Don't you like to skate?"

"Sure I do!" Harry answered. "But I haven't any skates."

"I brought some extra pairs along," remarked Uncle Toby. "I think I have some that will fit you and Mary."

"Oh, goodie!" cried Mary, for she felt she could now have fun like the other girls.

"But it hasn't frozen yet, though it soon will be," said Uncle Toby.

"Well, I'm going to leave you youngsters to amuse yourselves for a while, as I have some things to look after."

Uncle Toby paused for a moment and then went on.

"Now about school."

"Yes," said Ted, in a low voice. "I s'pose we'll have to go," he added, with a sigh.

"No!" exclaimed Uncle Toby. "That's the queer part of it. You can't go.

I told your folks you could, but you can't."

"Why not?" asked Jan, and neither she nor any of the others seemed disappointed.

"The teacher they had here was taken sick, I've just heard, and they can't get another until after the holidays. So it doesn't look as though you could go to school. I'm sorry--"

"Oh, ho!" cried the Curlytops and their playmates. "No school! Hurray!"

"Now we'll go out and have some fun!" shouted Ted, as Uncle Toby left the cabin.

"Me come!" cried Trouble.

"Yes, we'll take you," answered Lola.

"Take good care of Trouble!" called Aunt Sallie to the boys and girls as they started from the cabin. They were warmly dressed, as it was getting colder, just as Uncle Toby had declared.

"We'll watch him!" called back Jan.

Off through the trees, under which, here and there, were patches of snow, wandered the Curlytops and their playmates. They laughed and shouted, running here and there until they were nearly as warm as on a summer's day. It was sheltered under the trees, but out in the open was getting colder, and in places thin ice was forming on Crystal Lake.

They walked along, sometimes all together and again with the boys running ahead of the girls, until they came to a little hill, covered with pine trees. The wind had swept the ground bare of snow here, or else it had melted, and in places were patches of the long, smooth and slippery pine needles.

Tom, Ted, and Harry had run off to one side, for Skyrocket had scared up a rabbit and the boys wanted to see the bunny, though they would not have let the dog harm it. Trouble started to follow his brother and the other two lads, but as he reached the top of the pine-needle-covered hill Janet called him back.

"Trouble, come here!" she exclaimed.

"No!" he answered. "I go see bunny rabbit!"

"No, you must stay with me," said Janet, starting after him. Trouble gathered himself to spring away on a run, but suddenly there was a queer screeching call in a tree over his head, and a moment later the little fellow went sliding and slipping down the hill and out of sight.

"Oh, dear!" cried Janet

"Was it an eagle that screamed?" asked Lola, who did not know much about birds.

"Maybe the eagle carried him off," suggested Mary, who knew even less about the creatures of the woods.

"There aren't any eagles around here, I hope," said Janet. "But something happened to Trouble! I hope he isn't hurt!"

Again came that shrill, harsh call. It sounded like:

"Hay! Hay! Hay!"

"Somebody is laughing because Trouble fell downhill," said Lola. "I wonder if it's that horrid old man?"

A moment later there was a rustling in the bushes, and a large bird with bright blue feathers marked with patches of white flew up into a tree harshly crying: