Part 2

And then they hurried on again, and they could just see Fido’s wagging tail now, and it was going around in a circle like a merry-go-round, because, you see, he was so excited.

“There he is!” cried Mary. “Hurry up, and we’ll have him in a minute!”

“Look! Look!” cried Tommy. “The cat has run up a tree, and now Fido can’t get her, so he’ll have to stop running, and we can catch up to him.”

And would you ever believe it? That cat did run up a tree, and she sat down on a branch, and Fido, he sat down on the ground at the foot of the tree, for dogs can’t climb, you know.

“Oh, you naughty Fido!” exclaimed Mary, as she came up to him. “Why did you run away?” And Mary had to sit down on the ground, too, so she could get her breath. And then up came Tommy and Johnny, and they also had to sit down, so there they all sat, the three Trippertrots and the dog, at the foot of the tree, and the pussy cat about ten feet up the tree, sitting on a branch.

“Why did you run away?” asked Tommy, taking hold of Fido’s left ear.

“Bow! wow! wow!” answered the doggie, which meant that he didn’t know. Then he wagged his tail sideways on the ground, and he made so much dust that Mary had to sneeze.

And Johnny sneezed, and Tommy sneezed, and then Fido sneezed, to keep them company. And the pussy cat up the tree, she didn’t want to be left out, so she sneezed, also, and in that way they all sneezed.

Then the three Trippertrots laughed, and the cat heard them, and the pussy knew that anybody who laughs real jolly like will never harm any animals, so the cat thought she would come down out of the tree.

And she did. And what do you suppose Fido did? Why, he just barked politely, as if he were saying, “Pleased to meet you!” And he wagged his tail, real friendly like, and he put his cold nose on the pussy cat’s cold nose, and that’s the way they shook hands.

“Now they’re friends,” said Tommy. “I don’t see why we can’t keep them both, Mary.”

“Perhaps we can,” said his sister, “as long as they don’t quarrel. Come, Fido, we must go back to the kind policeman now. Come, Pussy. I wonder what your name is?”

“Me-ow, me-ew!” cried the pussy.

“What did she say?” asked Tommy.

“I guess she said ‘How d’ do?’ But anyhow let’s call her Ivy Vine, because she can climb a tree so well. Come, Ivy Vine.”

So Fido got up, and so did the three Trippertrots, from where they had been sitting on the ground, and Ivy Vine, the pussy, got up also, and they all started down the street together.

“Do you know which way to go to get to the policeman’s wagon?” asked Tommy.

“No. Don’t you?” asked Johnny.

Tommy shook his head.

“Then we’re lost again,” said Mary, “for I don’t know either. Oh, how many things are happening to us to-day! I wonder if we will ever get home again?”

They looked all around, but they couldn’t see any street that looked like the one they lived on, and there was no house in sight like theirs, and they didn’t know what to do. And then, all of a sudden, they heard some nice music. And it was a hand-organ playing, and it played a tune called “Always be happy and never be sad, Always be joyful and jolly and glad.”

“Oh, I hope that hand-organ man has a monkey!” cried Mary.

And just then, surely enough, around the corner came the hand-organ man, and he was playing the jolly tune, and perched up on his organ was a cute little monkey, with a red cap and a blue coat.

“Oh, isn’t this lovely!” said Tommy.

“I don’t mind being lost now,” spoke Johnny.

Then the hand-organ man came up to where the children were standing, with Fido and the pussy cat. And at first the monkey acted as if he wanted to run away from the dog, but Fido wagged his tail so very friendly like that the monkey stayed. And then the children noticed that the hand-organ man looked sick, and he could hardly grind out the music.

“What is the matter, Mr. Hand-Organ Man?” asked Mary.

“Oh, I am very tired and lonesome,” said the man. “I have walked about all day, and played all the tunes in my hand-organ, but no one gave me any pennies. Not even when Fuzzo, my monkey, climbed up to the second-story windows and took off his cap. Oh, dear, I haven’t any money to buy my supper with!”

“Oh, that’s too bad!” exclaimed Tommy. “Maybe we can help you.”

“Let’s try,” said Mary.

“Yes,” said Johnny. “We can go around with you, and sing while you grind the organ, and we’ll take Ivy Vine and Fido with us, and perhaps when the people see all the animals together they may give you pennies.”

“Oh, it would be very kind if you would do that,” said the hand-organ man. So he began to play a jolly little tune, and the children sang, and the monkey danced up on top of the organ, and Fido stood on his hind legs, and Ivy Vine, the cat, turned somersaults.

Well, you ought to have seen the crowd of people stop and look on. Everybody laughed, and thought the children were very cute, and they liked the animals, too. Then Fuzzo, the monkey, took off his red cap and held it out, and the people put a lot of pennies in it.

“Fine! Fine!” cried the hand-organ man as he heard the pennies rattling in Fuzzo’s cap. “Now I can buy some supper.” And more pennies came rattling in, until the cap could not hold them all, and Fuzzo had to put some of them in his pocket.

Well, the Trippertrot children were having a good time, and in spite of being lost they were very happy, because they were helping some one, and the organ man was playing another tune, and Mary was just getting ready to sing a song all alone, when a great big automobile dashed up to the sidewalk, and the man who was in it cried:

“Why, bless my soul! If there aren’t the Trippertrots, nearly two miles from home! I must take them back at once. How did you get here, children?” he called.

“Oh, there’s Mr. Johnson in his auto!” exclaimed Mary. “We are lost, Mr. Johnson. Will you please take us home?” For you see the man in the automobile happened to live next door to the Trippertrots, and he knew them.

“Of course I’ll take you home,” he said kindly. “Get in.”

“Oh, but we must take Fido and Ivy Vine, and Fuzzo and the hand-organ man,” said Tommy. “Fido is our lost dog, and Ivy Vine is our lost cat, and Fuzzo is the monkey. We don’t know the man’s name, but he isn’t lost, neither is Fuzzo, but they are very hungry, and we are going to take them to our house for supper.”

“What! Take you and those animals and the hand-organ man in my auto?” cried Mr. Johnson, in astonishment.

“Yes, and the hand-organ, too,” said Mary. “Then the man can play tunes on the way, and you won’t have to blow your horn. Get in, Fido. Get in, Ivy Vine. Get in, Fuzzo. And you, too, Tommy and Johnny, and Mr. Hand-Organ Man.”

Mr. Johnson laughed, and then he thought the best thing to do would be to take the Trippertrots and everybody and everything that they wanted along with him in the auto.

So they all piled into the car, and away they went; and, surely enough, the hand-organ man played tunes all the way along, and the people in the street laughed when they saw the automobile with its queer load. But the Trippertrots didn’t care, and soon they were right in front of their own house.

ADVENTURE NUMBER FOUR

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FUNNY HORSES

When Mrs. Trippertrot looked out of her window and saw her three children, and Mr. Johnson, the man who owned the automobile, and Fido the dog, and Ivy Vine the cat, and Fuzzo the monkey--to say nothing of the hand-organ man--when she saw all of them in front of her house she didn’t know what to think.

“Oh, my dear children!” she cried. “I have been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?”

“We have been lost, mamma,” said Mary.

“And we had a most lovely time!” exclaimed Johnny, laughing.

“And we’ve got a dog and a cat, and a monkey!” added Tommy.

“Oh, dear!” cried their mamma. “I’ve been telephoning all over for you. I didn’t know what to do, and I have just sent for your papa.”

“That’s too bad,” said Tommy. “Really, we didn’t want to worry you, mamma. But if papa hurries home, he can have supper with the hand-organ man.”

“Have supper with the hand-organ man!” cried Mrs. Trippertrot. “What in the world do you mean?”

“This is the hand-organ man,” said Mary, and she pointed to the man who owned Fuzzo the monkey. “He’s very hungry, and we helped him get some pennies. Mr. Johnson found us, didn’t you, Mr. Johnson?”

“I certainly did,” he said, and then he looked to see if he had to pump any more wind into his big automobile tires.

“But a policeman found us first,” said Johnny.

“Only we jumped out of the wagon to go after Fido, for he was chasing a cat,” explained Tommy. “Here is the cat, mamma. Her name is Ivy Vine, because she can climb a tree so good.”

“Bless us!” said Mrs. Trippertrot. “I shall never understand all this. Oh, I hope you children never run away again. I am ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Johnson, for bringing them home. But what shall I do with a monkey and a dog and a cat and a hand-organ man?”

“Well,” said Mr. Johnson, “I think I would give the hand-organ man and his monkey something to eat, and send them away. Then I’d let the children keep the dog and cat for a while.”

“Oh, we’re going to keep them forever,” said Mary, “and the monkey, too; can’t we, mother?”

“Oh, please don’t ask me!” cried Mrs. Trippertrot. “Yes, you may keep anything, as long as you don’t run away again. Oh! I have been so worried about you!”

“I am very sorry, but I can’t stay here,” said the hand-organ man. “I must go home, for I am going to teach Fuzzo, my monkey, a new trick of standing on his head, and then perhaps we may get many more pennies. I thank your children very much for what they did for me.” And then, making a low bow to Mrs. Trippertrot, and to Mr. Johnson, he climbed down out of the auto and took his hand-organ and monkey and started away with them.

“Don’t you want some supper?” asked Tommy quickly.

“No, I thank you,” said the man. “Since you were so kind as to help me get some pennies, I can buy enough for Fuzzo and myself to eat. So I’ll say good-by.” And then the hand-organ man hurried away.

Soon Tommy and Mary and Johnny got out of the auto, and kissed their mamma, and they went into the house, after thanking Mr. Johnson for bringing them home, and Fido and Ivy Vine went in with them.

“I don’t know what your papa will say about keeping those animals,” said Mrs. Trippertrot, “but he will soon be home, and we can ask him.”

“Oh, he’ll let us keep them,” said Mary.

“Sure, for he loves dogs,” spoke Johnny.

“And cats, too!” cried Tommy, for just then Ivy Vine was purring away like a sewing machine, and washing her fur, in front of the open fire in the library.

Pretty soon Mr. Trippertrot came home, and when he heard about what his children had done, and how they had been lost, and how they had brought home a cat and a dog and a monkey, to say nothing of a hand-organ man, he didn’t know what to say.

“But I suppose they may keep the dog and cat,” he said. “They will be good pets for them. But I hope you never run away again, children.”

Of course Mary and Tommy and Johnny promised, but you just wait and see what happened. It was quite an adventure.

One afternoon, about three days later, the three Trippertrot children were up in the playroom, having a soldier game. Tommy was the general, and he had a sword; and Johnny was a soldier, with a make-believe wooden gun; and Mary was a nurse, to take care of the soldiers when they were ill.

“Oh, I just wish we had horses!” cried Johnny suddenly. “Then we could take a long ride.”

“That _would_ be fun,” said Tommy.

“Could I ride, too?” asked Mary.

“If we could find you a horse,” spoke Johnny.

“Well, we have your old hobby-horse,” said Mary to Tommy, “and down in the laundry is a clothes-horse. I could have that.”

“But what could I have?” asked Johnny.

“Oh, I know!” cried Mary. “A sawhorse! The very thing!”

“Do you mean a horse that is all sawed up into sawdust?” asked Johnny, trying to stand on his head.

“No, indeed,” replied his sister. “A sawhorse is something a carpenter uses on which to saw out boards. It has a back and four legs, just like a real horse. Oh, I know what we’ll do! We’ll get the sawhorse and the clothes-horse and the rocking-horse all out on the lawn, and we’ll put empty thread spools under them for wheels, and we can really make-believe truly ride.”

“Great!” cried Tommy.

“Wonderful!” said Johnny.

“They are funny horses,” said Mary, “but we can have some fun, and, who knows? perhaps we may ride to fairyland on them. Come on, boys, we’ll get them ready.”

So they took the rocking-horse out of the playroom and carried it out on the lawn. Then they brought the clothes-horse up from the laundry.

The clothes-horse, you know, is the horse on which the washlady hangs the clothes to dry in front of the fire. And then those funny Trippertrot children went next door, where a man was building a new house, and one of the carpenters let them take a sawhorse. So they had three horses, you see.

[Illustration: _“Trot Along, Clothes-Horse!” Cried Mary._]

Mary took a board and put it across the clothes-horse, so she could sit on it to ride. But Tommy and Johnny didn’t need any boards for their horses. Tommy had the sawhorse, and Johnny the rocking-horse. Then they fastened some big, empty thread spools on the bottom of the legs of their horses, and they were all ready to ride off after some new adventures.

They took their funny horses to the top of a little hill on the smooth grassy lawn, so they would start to roll down easily. Then they all got up on the horses’ backs.

“Giddap!” cried Tommy.

“Gee-up!” cried Johnny.

“Trot along, clothes-horse!” cried Mary.

And then, would you believe it? those funny horses began to roll down the long, grassy hill. Faster and faster they went on the spools, rolling along, bumpity-bump.

“Oh!” exclaimed Mary. “Why, my horse is going!”

“And so is mine!” said Johnny.

“Of course!” cried Tommy. “Horses always go.”

Faster and faster went the funny horses. The children were hanging to them tightly, so as not to fall off.

“Oh, isn’t this great!” said Mary. “I wonder where they will take us?”

“To fairyland, of course,” said Johnny.

By this time the funny horses, carrying the Trippertrot children, were at the bottom of the lawn. They were galloping along quite fast, when, all of a sudden, Mary cried:

“Oh, look! The brook! The brook!”

Right ahead of them was a little stream of water, and it was quite wet water, too, let me tell you.

“Oh! If we fall in that, we’ll be drowned!” said Johnny, shivering.

“Stop the horses! Stop them!” cried Tommy.

So they all pulled on the pieces of string which they had tied on the rocking-horse, and on the sawhorse, and on the clothes-horse, for driving reins. But, would you believe it? those funny horses never stopped at all.

Along they went on the empty spool-wheels, until they were right at the edge of the brook; and then, instead of stopping to get a drink, the way real horses would have done, those strange horses just tumbled into the water. Right in they tumbled, Trippertrot children and all.

“Oh!” screamed Mary, as she felt the water coming up over her toes.

“Oh, me!” cried Johnny, as he felt the water on his nose.

“Oh, my!” exclaimed Tommy, as some water splashed up on his knees. “We’ll be drowned!”

But I’m not going to let anything like that happen to our Trippertrots. No, indeed. I’m going to save them. Just listen.

All of a sudden, when the three children were in the water--all of a sudden, I say--the clothes-horse and the sawhorse and the rocking-horse sort of floated close to each other, and all at once they made themselves into a nice raft, that was just as good as a sailboat.

“Climb up, and we’ll have a ride in the brook!” cried Johnny, when he saw that the funny wooden horses would hold them all, and not let them sink.

So the three children climbed up on the funny boat, that was made from the funny horses, and they sat there a little while until they were nice and warm and dry again, and then the sawhorse and the clothes-horse and the rocking-horse just swam toward shore as fast as they could, and so the children were saved, just as I told you they would be.

And then--well, if you want to know what happened after that, will you please turn to the next page, and then you can read all about it.

ADVENTURE NUMBER FIVE

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE OLD FISHERMAN

All of a sudden, as the Trippertrot children were riding along on their funny horses, which had just galloped up out of the water to the dry land--all of a sudden, I say--Mary happened to look behind her, and there was Ivy Vine, the cat, running after them as fast as she could run, and her tail was sticking straight up in the air, like a clothes-post.

“Oh, look!” cried Mary. “Ivy Vine is coming, and she may get lost!”

“So might we get lost, if we go far enough,” answered Johnny. “We’d better wait for Ivy Vine, and she can show us the way home.”

“That’s right,” added Tommy. “We were lost once, and I don’t want it to happen again.”

“Oh, that was nothing,” said Mary. “I think it was fun to be lost. Remember the good time we had.”

“Oh, look over there!” suddenly called Johnny. “There comes Fido, our dog! Now, surely we can’t get lost with him along. I say, let’s get off our horses and take a walk. My horse is tired, anyhow.”

“And so is mine,” said Mary. “Maybe if we walk along real slowly we’ll have an adventure.”

Then, pretty soon, up came Ivy Vine, the cat, and Fido, the dog, and, leaving their three funny horses in the grass, the Trippertrots and the dog and the cat started off. They walked along and along, and pretty soon they came to a little hill.

“Let’s go up this hill, and see what’s on top,” said Tommy.

“Yes. Maybe a nice fairy lives there,” spoke Johnny.

“No, don’t go up,” objected Mary. “We might fall down on the other side.”

“That’s so,” agreed Johnny. “I don’t want to fall down, because I’ve got on a new pair of stockings, and mamma doesn’t want me to get any holes in them.”

“Oh, you are too fussy,” spoke Tommy. “Why, we don’t have to fall down the other side. And besides, if we do start to slip, we can grab hold of Ivy Vine’s tail, and she can stick her sharp claws down in the grass on the hill, and we won’t slide any more.”

“That’s so. I never thought of that,” said Mary. “We’ll go up. Come on, Ivy Vine, I’m going to hold you, so if I happen to slip you can save me.”

“And Johnny and I will take Fido,” said Tommy. “His toenails aren’t as sharp as Ivy Vine’s, but he’ll do, I guess.”

So up the hill they went, slowly and carefully, with the dog and the cat, and they kept a close watch on every side, but they didn’t see any fairies, though in one place they saw growing some toadstools, that fairies use for umbrellas when it rains.

Then, presently, the Trippertrots were at the top of the hill, and it was a nice, flat, smooth place, all covered with grass; and they couldn’t have fallen off if they had tried with all their might; no, indeed!

And then, all of a sudden, Mary happened to look behind a tree that was growing on top of the hill, and she saw a nice old man sitting in a chair, on the edge of a little lake of water. Oh, he was a very old man, and he had such a nice, pleasant face, though you couldn’t see very much of it because he had so many whiskers. He had whiskers all over him, almost like Santa Claus.

“Look!” whispered Mary to her brothers. “I wonder who he is, and what he is doing?”

“I know what he’s doing,” said Johnny.

“What?” asked Tommy.

“He’s a fisherman,” answered Johnny. “Can’t you see his pole and line?”

“Oh, of course,” spoke Mary. “But I wonder what he is catching?”

“Let’s go up and ask him,” suggested Tommy.

“No, we mustn’t do that,” objected Johnny. “Fishermen never like to be bothered when they’re catching fish.”

“But maybe he hasn’t caught any yet,” said Mary, “and, of course, then he wouldn’t mind. We can go up to him, and we’ll tell him that as soon as he begins to catch any fish we’ll run away, and not bother him.”

“I guess that will do,” said Johnny. “Come on.”

So the three Trippertrot children walked softly up to the old fisherman, and when he saw them coming he waved his hand to them, not the hand that held the fishpole, you understand, but his other one, and he smiled in a very kind way, and said:

“Come right along, children. I heard what you said, and you won’t annoy me a bit. I like children.”

“Thank you,” said Mary politely. “But if you catch any fish we’ll go right away and not bother you.”

“Oh, but I never catch any fish,” said the old man, with a jolly laugh. “I’ve fished for years and years, right here, and never a fish have I caught.”

“That’s funny,” said Johnny. “We live near here, and I don’t remember ever seeing you before.”

“Ha! Perhaps that is because you never happened to look when I was sitting here,” said the man. “But you say you live around here?”

“Yes--yes--I--er--I guess so,” said Mary slowly.

“Can’t you be sure?” asked the old fisherman.