The Curlytops and Their Playmates Part 7

"Sure! Look at Skyrocket!" answered Ted.

The dog had walked out on the thin ice which held him up. But the boys did not stop to think that Skyrocket was not as heavy as either of them.

Also Skyrocket was on four feet, and his weight was more scattered, being distributed over a larger surface than theirs would be. But Tom and Ted never thought of this. Ice that would hold Skyrocket would hold them, they thought.

In another instant they had walked out on it and were just going to run and take a little slide when there was a cracking sound, and, before they knew it, both lads had plunged into the brook at one of the deep parts.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Tom and Ted together, for they were quite frightened.

Skyrocket barked and capered about. He did not know whether this was a game the boys were playing, or whether their cries meant danger. To tell the truth there was not really much danger, as the brook was not up to the knees of the boys at this point.

They remained upright, floundering about and struggling in the cold water amid chunks of thin ice. For the ice was really too thin to hold them.

"Oh, what are we going to do?" cried Tom.

"I'm nearer sh.o.r.e than you are!" panted Ted. "Grab hold of my hand and I'll help you out!"

But as the boys were struggling together they heard a voice shouting at them from the far side of the meadow. They looked and saw a man running toward them. He reached them before they had gotten to the bank where Skyrocket was wildly barking, and, reaching his hands out to them, the man pulled Tom and Ted to safety.

"What in the world are you lads up to?" the man asked.

Something in the voice caused Ted to look up, and he cried.

"Uncle Toby!"

"Yes, Uncle Toby!" admitted the man, with a laugh. "It's a good thing I happened to take the short cut across lots from the railroad. Now tell me why you chaps went in swimming on a day like this?" and he looked first at Ted and then at Tom.

CHAPTER V

OFF TO THE COUNTRY

Skyrocket ran up to Uncle Toby, barking and sniffing around the legs of the jolly man who had pulled the two boys from the ice-cold brook.

"So you remember me, don't you?" chuckled Uncle Toby, as he watched the wagging tail of the dog.

"I do, too!" said Tom. "Have you got all your pets still?"

"Most of 'em!" answered Uncle Toby. "But we mustn't stand here talking, with you boys wet through. Come on to the house. Run! That's the best way to keep from taking a cold! Run!"

"We--we got--all wet--last night, too," Ted informed Uncle Toby, the words being jerked out of him because of the jolting effect of the run.

"Were you in swimming last night?" Uncle Toby wanted to know.

"We were making a toboggan slide like those you told about seeing in Canada," explained Ted.

"And we weren't in swimming now. We were sliding and the ice broke,"

explained Tom.

"Well, never mind about that now," said Uncle Toby. "Come on--run!" And he ran so fast, half holding up the boys who trotted along on either side of him, with Skyrocket leaping along behind, that by the time the house was reached Ted and Tom each felt quite warm in spite of their icy bath.

"Oh, my goodness! What'll your ma say?" cried Nora, as Uncle Toby rushed the boys into the cozy kitchen.

"Get upstairs and bring them down some dry clothes. Let them undress and dress here by the fire. The water won't hurt the kitchen floor," said Uncle Toby.

In a little while Tom was again attired in his own suit, which was now dry, and Ted had on an extra one of his own, while the wet garments were taken down cellar to be hung near the furnace.

"I guess you boys had better stay in the house the rest of the day,"

said Mrs. Martin, when she had greeted Uncle Toby and had heard what had happened.

"I have to go home," said Tom. "Thank you for drying my clothes, and I'm sorry I got Ted's wet," he added.

"Well, be careful," cautioned Mrs. Martin, as Ted's playmate left, promising to run all the way so he would not get a chill. But the day was quite warm now, all the ice having been melted from the toboggan slide, and even the water on it drying up.

"Well, what kindly fortune brings you here, Uncle Toby?" asked Mrs.

Martin, as soon as she could sit down for a chat.

"Oh, I came to ask a favor," went on the old gentleman, who had traveled in many parts of the world and who had collected quite a few strange pets, some of which he still kept at his home in Pocono. "But you look worried, Ruth," he went on. "Has anything happened? Don't worry about those boys. They won't take cold from a little dipping, even if the weather is getting a bit frosty."

"I wasn't worrying about them," said Mother Martin, with a smile. "But we have had some other troubles. d.i.c.k has had word that he is likely to lose a lot of money, and he and I will have to take a trip to see about some property. We'll have to go right away, or within a day or so, and what to do about the children I don't know. We can't very well take them with us. I was just thinking we might get some of our relations to come and stay here while we're gone. Then you drop in. Have you come to tell me that you are coming to pay a visit? I'd leave my Curlytops and William with you and know they were safe."

"And I'd ask nothing better than to look after them," said Uncle Toby, with a smile. "But I didn't come to tell you I was coming here. Instead I came to invite you to my place in the country. I have a large cottage, or camp, as you know, at Crystal Lake, just outside Pocono. I'm going to have a sort of holiday party out there this winter, and I want you and the Curlytops to come and spend some time with me. In fact I'll take some of their playmates, if their folks will spare them. That's what I came for--to invite you all out to my place to have jolly times through the holidays."

"Oh, how lovely!" cried Janet, who heard what was being said.

"Could we have a toboggan slide there?" Ted wanted to know.

"Me tum?" lisped Trouble.

"Sure you'll come!" cried Uncle Toby, catching baby William up in his arms and hugging and kissing him. "There wouldn't be any fun if we left you behind. When can you get ready to come?" he asked Mrs. Martin.

"Why," answered the mother of the Curlytops slowly, "I don't see that d.i.c.k and I can come at all. We must take this business trip or daddy will lose a lot of money," she explained to the children. "But your coming at this time is most fortunate, Uncle Toby. As long as you are going to have a party out at your country cabin on Crystal Lake, it will be just the thing for the children. They can go and stay with you while d.i.c.k and I are away."

"Of course!" cried Uncle Toby. "Aunt Sallie--you remember her I guess?"

he went on--"she'll be there to cook for us and see that the children don't get their feet wet."

"Aunt Sallie," remarked Mrs. Martin. "I don't seem to remember--"

"She's Mrs. Watson, the old lady who went away from my house the time I started for South America, and left you my pets to look after," Uncle Toby explained. "She's a distant relative of mine, and I call her Aunt Sallie, though she isn't really my aunt. But she's come back to keep house for me, and she'll go out to the camp with us. It will be just the place for the older children, and they can go to school there. We've got a good little country school not far from the lake. In fact they can skate to school when the lake gets frozen over, and that will be soon if this weather keeps up."

"Oh, what fun!" cried Ted.

"It will be just the thing for us," said Mrs. Martin. "It will take away all our worries over what we were going to do about the children while we were away."

"And did you say we could have some playmates out there?" asked Janet.

"Yes, bring along some boy or girl chum--one for each of you," replied Uncle Toby.