Part 10

“I don’t see any,” spoke Mary, as she looked inside the little chicken-coop. “But maybe she will, if we wait a little longer.”

So the three Trippertrot children sat down on the floor of the express wagon, and watched the little red hen, as she scratched around in the coop, but she didn’t seem to be laying any eggs. And all this while the expressman was driving through the rain toward the place where Tommy and Mary and Johnny lived.

And then, all of a sudden, there was a noise in another corner of the wagon, and when the children looked there they saw a dear, little white bunny-rabbit in a cage.

“Oh, if we could only have that!” exclaimed Tommy, in delight.

“Has it got a tag on it, to say that it is coming to our house?” asked Johnny eagerly.

“No,” replied his sister Mary. “It’s just like the coop of the little red hen--no tag on it.”

And then there was a queer little chattering sort of a noise in another corner of the express wagon, and when the children ran over there, they saw a squirrel, with a big, bushy tail, in a wire cage, and there was no tag on his cage to tell where he belonged.

“Oh, maybe the expressman will let us keep the three pets!” cried Mary. “It would be lovely if he would.”

And just then the express wagon stopped.

“Here you are, children!” cried the man, in a jolly voice.

“Where are we?” asked Tommy and Mary and Johnny all together, like twins.

“Right in front of your own house!” said the expressman. “I have brought you home, and the big coat, and the rocking-chair, also. Here we go!”

And with that he picked up Tommy and Johnny and Mary, and the chair, and the coat, and carried them into the house. And maybe Mr. and Mrs. Trippertrot and Suzette, the nursemaid, weren’t surprised to see their children back after such a long time away.

“Oh, you runaway darlings!” cried their mamma. “Where have you been?”

“Almost everywhere,” answered Mary. “But, mamma, dear, one minute, please. I want to ask the expressman if we can have the little red hen, and the rabbit, and the squirrel we found in his wagon, because they have no tags on the cages to show who owns them, and we might have them.”

“Have them? Of course you may!” cried the expressman. “I’ll bring them right in. You see, the tags were torn off the boxes, and I don’t know what to do with them, and I’ll be glad to have some nice children feed the animals.”

So he brought into the Trippertrot house the squirrel and the rabbit and the little red hen, and gave them to the children, who had lots of fun with them for many days after that.

And then Papa Trippertrot thanked the expressman, and all of a sudden, who should come along but the old fisherman. He got to the house just as the expressman was driving away.

“Oh, such a time as I had catching those goldfish!” the fisherman exclaimed. “They flopped all over the floor, and the monkey in the bird store nearly caught one, and the parrot almost had another. But, thank goodness, I got them all safe in the fish-globe again, and then I went to take care of you children, but I found you had gone away. So I came on here.”

“How did you know we were here?” asked Mary.

“I met Jiggily Jig, the funny boy, and he told me,” said the fisherman. “He came along just as the expressman was taking you home, and so I knew just what to do. I sent the coachman and coach back, and I came here by walking. Oh, but such a time as I’ve had! And how glad I am that you children are safe home!”

And Mary and Tommy and Johnny were also very glad to get home, and their papa and mamma were very glad to see them, and they invited the old fisherman to stay to supper. And he said he would, and the Trippertrots thought they would never trip or trot away from home again.

But, of course, that isn’t saying that they did not go away. In fact, they did, and they had many more wonderful adventures, and I will tell you about them in the next book of this series, which will be called, “Three Little Trippertrots on Their Travels.”

So Mary and Tommy and Johnny, and their papa and mamma, sat talking to the old fisherman, who told them many strange stories of the funny things he had caught.

“Oh, but it is nice to be home again,” said Mary.

“Indeed it is,” agreed Tommy and Johnny.

“And we are happy to have you home,” said their mamma and papa. And now, for a little while, we will say good-by to the Three Little Trippertrots.

THE END

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Perceived typographical errors have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.

Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.