Part 32 (1/2)

”It--it's so--s'ippery in de woods!” said the little fellow.

”So it is--on the pine needles,” laughed Grandpa Martin, who was going to the mainland in the boat. But this time he did not want to take the children with him. ”It is slippery in the woods, Trouble, my boy. But keep tight hold of Jan's hand, and maybe you won't fall down.”

”Me will,” said Trouble, but he did not mean that he would fall down. He meant he would keep tight hold of Jan's hand. Then he started off by her side, with Ted walking on ahead, ready for anything he might see that would make fun for him and his sister.

Through the woods they wandered, now and then stopping to gather some pretty flowers, on graceful, green ferns, and again waiting to listen to the song of some wild bird, which flitted about from branch to branch, but which seemed always to keep out of sight amid the leaves of the forest trees.

”Oh, isn't it just lovely here!” said Janet, as they came to a little gra.s.sy dell, around which the trees grew in a sort of circle, or magic, fairy ring. ”It's just like in a picture book, Teddy!”

”Yes, it is,” agreed her brother.

”I don't see any p.i.s.shures,” complained Trouble.

”No, there aren't _real_ pictures here,” explained Janet; ”only make-believe ones. But you can sit down on the gra.s.s and roll, Trouble.

The gra.s.s is so clean I guess it won't make your ap.r.o.n dirty. Roll on the gra.s.s.”

Trouble liked nothing better than this, and he was soon sitting on the soft, green gra.s.s, pulling bits and tossing them in the air like a shower. The gra.s.s was soft and thick, and did not soil his clean clothes at all.

”Exceptin' maybe a little stain,” explained Janet to Teddy; ”and Nora can get that out in the wash.”

After they had sat in the shade for a while, in the green, gra.s.sy place, Ted and Janet wandered off among the trees, leaving Trouble by himself.

But they were not going far.

”He'll be all right for a little while,” said Teddy, ”and maybe we can find some sa.s.safras or wintergreen.”

”But we mustn't eat anything we find in the woods, lessen we show it to grandpa or mother,” returned Janet.

”No, that's so,” agreed her brother. They had been told, as all children should be who live near the woods or fields, never to eat any strange berries or plants unless some older person tells them it is all right to do so.

But Teddy and Janet could easily tell sa.s.safras and wintergreen by the pleasant smell of the leaves. They did not find any, however. They found a bird's empty nest, though, with broken egg sh.e.l.ls in it, showing that the little birds had been hatched out and had flown away.

All at once, as the Curlytops were wondering what else they could do, they heard Trouble calling, and his voice sounded very strange.

”Oh, what has happened to him now?” cried Janet.

”We'd better go to see!” exclaimed Teddy.

They ran back to where they had left their little brother. All they could see of him was his back and legs. He did not seem to have any head.

”Oh! Oh!” gasped Janet. ”Where is Trouble's head?”

Ted did not know, and said so, and then the little fellow cried:

”Tum an' det me out! Tum an' det me out!”

Then Janet saw what had happened. Trouble had thrust his head between the crotch, or the Y-shaped part, of a tree, and had become so tightly wedged that he could not get out.

”Oh, what shall we do?” cried Janet.