Part 4

“My, I’m sure I don’t know what to do with you children,” said the little old lady, shaking her white head at them, after they had finished eating. “I wish I knew where your home was.”

“Send for a policeman,” said Mary.

“What! A policeman? Why, you’re not bad, are you?” cried the little old lady.

“Oh, no! But policemans most always know where we live,” said Johnny. “We’re the Trippertrots, and we’re always getting lost.”

“Yes, send for a policeman,” said Tommy.

“I believe I will,” spoke the little old lady. “I’ll go for one myself; but I’ll have to leave you here all alone, as no one lives with me. But I know you’ll be all right, and you can look at the pictures and listen to the cat purring.”

And sure enough, there was a big gray cat sleeping on the rug in the middle of the floor, and it was purring just like a sewing machine because it was so happy. The cat was happy, not the sewing machine, you know. And the cat purred, not the rug, you see.

Then the little old lady put on her bonnet and shawl, and went out for a policeman who might find the homes of the lost Trippertrots and the lost girl.

“I like it here very much,” said Mary, as she rubbed the cat’s back.

“So do I,” said the little lost girl. “It is almost as nice as my home.”

Tommy and Johnny liked it, too, and they were just looking at some picture books, and wishing they had more bread and milk, when, all at once, there came a knock at the door.

“I guess that is the policeman, come to take us home,” said Mary, with a happy laugh.

“Maybe it’s my papa,” suggested the little lost girl named Jack. And then the door opened, and there stood a funny little man, making low bows to the children, and saying:

“Oh, I’m so glad I found you. Come with me.”

ADVENTURE NUMBER EIGHT

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LITTLE OLD MAN

For a few seconds after he had opened the door and spoken to the Trippertrot children, the queer little old man didn’t say anything more. He just stood there, bowing all the while, just like the pendulum of the clock, only he went up and down, and the pendulum in the clock goes sideways, you see.

“Well, are you coming along, children?” said the nice little old man, after a while, and he stopped bowing.

“Do you think we ought to go?” asked Mary of her two brothers.

“Well,” began Tommy, “the little old lady has gone for a policeman to take us home, and maybe we ought to wait until she comes back.”

“Oh, I think I can take you home as well as a policeman could,” said the little old man, and he came into the room, and tickled the pussy cat under the chin, and made the cat purr louder than ever.

“Do you know where we live?” asked Mary.

“No, but I can find out,” said the little old man. “I will look in the telephone book, or in the directory book, or something, and find your house for you. And if I can’t find _your_ house I will take you to _mine_, and you can have some fun.”

“That will be nice,” said Johnny.

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

“Oh, I saw you come in,” replied the little old man. “I was out in the street, and I saw you. Then I saw the little old lady go away----”

“Yes, she went for a policeman for us,” said Tommy.

“Well, I was afraid she was going to run away and leave you all alone,” said the little old man, “and as I like children very much I thought I’d come and take care of you. So here I am, and if you come with me before the policeman gets here we’ll have a little fun with him. Maybe he’ll think you have flown up the chimney, as Santa Claus does.”

“Oh, fine!” cried Tommy.

And just then, all of a sudden, the little lost girl began to cry.

“Why, whatever in the world is the matter?” asked the little old man.

“Boo-hoo! I--I thought you were my papa,” said the little lost girl, and she let some salty tears fall down on the cat’s back. “I thought you were my papa, and you aren’t at all.”

Then she cried a lot more, boo-hoo! and boo-hoo!--like that, you know--and the little old man went up to her, and he put his arms around her, and he wiped away her tears, and he said:

“Now--now--never mind. It’s all right. I’m going to take you to your papa right away. Don’t cry.” And his voice was so gentle, and he seemed such a nice man, that the little lost girl didn’t cry a single tear more. And it’s a good thing, because the pussy cat was getting all wet from them, and cats don’t like water, you know, especially salty tear water.

“Come on, now; hurry up,” cried the little old man. “We must hurry away from here, or the little old lady will be back with the policeman before we know it. Come along.”

“But we can’t go without thanking her for being so kind to us,” said Mary.

“That’s so,” said the little man. “Wait. I’ll write her a nice letter.” So he did that, and told the little old lady how thankful the Trippertrots and the little lost girl were for what she had done for them, and he put the letter down in front of the pussy cat, where the little old lady would see it when she got back. And the pussy put its paw down on the letter, so it wouldn’t blow away, and then it went to sleep--I mean the cat went to sleep, not the letter, you understand, of course.

“Now we are all ready,” said the little old man, and then he went out of the front door, and led the children down the street.

A little while after that, when the little old man and the children had turned around a corner, along came the little old lady and the kind policeman. They went into the house, and the lady looked all around for the children.

“Why, my goodness sakes alive!” she cried. “They’re gone!”

“Gone, eh?” asked the policeman. “What were their names?”

“The Trippertrots,” said the little old lady.

“Oh, ho!” laughed the policeman. “Then you don’t need to worry. They are sure to be all right. They are always getting lost, but they will get safely home again. Don’t worry.”

So the little old lady didn’t worry very much, and the policeman went away, and then the lady found the thankful letter where the cat was sleeping on it.

“Oh, if the little old man has the children they are all right,” said the little old lady, and then she gave the cat some milk.

But now I must tell you what happened to the Trippertrots and the little lost girl. They walked along the street with the nice, kind old man until pretty soon they came to a place like a park, with beautiful trees in it, and little brooks flowing over stones, and in the brooks were goldfishes and some silver-fishes, too, and they were wiggling their tails, and swimming about, looking for something to eat.

“Oh, what a lovely place!” cried Mary.

“Yes. What is it?” asked Johnny.

“I’d like to go in there,” spoke Tommy.

“You may,” said the little old man. “This is a garden, and a playground for boys and girls. You may do just as you like, as long as you are kind and good and pleasant. And I know you will be that way. So come on in, and have some fun; and when you are through playing I’ll find where you live, and take you home.”

“And me, too?” asked the little lost girl named Jack.

“Yes; you also,” answered the little old man.

So the children went into the beautiful garden. Oh! I wish you could have seen it! And perhaps some day I will be allowed to come around and take you all there in a fairy automobile with big fat rubber tires. But not just yet.

Now, in this garden were many swings and hammocks, and shady trees under which to rest, and there were little hills all covered with grass, down which the children could roll over and over, and never get hurt, any more than if they rolled on a feather bed.

And there were also piles of sand in big boxes, and there the Trippertrots and the little lost girl had lots of fun. They made sand gardens and sand houses and castles, wherein lived beautiful knights and princes and their ladies, and then there was a place where a whole lot of soldiers could parade and shoot off their make-believe guns.

And the flower gardens! Oh, I wish you could have seen them. Even though it was almost winter, the flowers were in blossom, for the little old man knew how to make them bloom in cold weather. And the children were allowed to pick as many flowers as they wanted, only they thought they looked prettier on their stems, so they didn’t take many.

Well, the Trippertrots were playing away, and having lots of fun. Tommy was in the swing, and Johnny pushed him up so high that Tommy nearly hit the top of a tree. And then something happened. Mary was building a nice sand house for a dollie to live in, when the house fell down and covered her legs all up. Covered Mary’s legs, I mean, not the doll’s. Mary couldn’t see her legs, and she thought they might have dropped off.

“Oh, dear!” she cried.

“What is the matter?” called Tommy.

“My poor little legs!” said Mary, trying to pull them out from under the sand.

“Oh, they’re all right,” spoke Johnny, and then he took a piece of board and he dug the sand off Mary’s legs, and she was all right again, and she made a big sand bridge for boats to go under.

Soon out from his house in the beautiful garden came running the funny little man. He was waving his arms all around his head, like a windmill in a storm.

“Oh, I have found where you live! I have found where you live!” he cried, in his jolly voice.

“Where who lives, us or that little girl named Jack?” asked Tommy.

“I know where Jack lives,” said the little old man. “I called up on the telephone and found out. Her papa is coming for her in a minute.”

“Oh, goodie!” cried the little girl, jumping up and down.

[Illustration: _The Trippertrots Were Playing Away, and Having Lots of Fun._]

“But what about us?” asked Mary Trippertrot.

“I’ll find where you live very soon,” said the little old man. And just then the little lost girl’s papa came for her, and took her home, after he had thanked the Trippertrots and the little old man for being so kind to her.

And then, all of a sudden, when the little old man was calling up on the telephone, trying to find where the Trippertrots lived--all of a sudden, I say--along came Suzette, the nursemaid, looking for them.

“Oh, you children!” she cried, when she saw them in the garden. “I thought I would never find you. Come home at once. Why did you run away?”

“We went to help a little lost girl, and we got lost ourselves,” said Mary; “but we didn’t mean to, did we, boys?”

“No,” answered Tommy and Johnny together. Then Suzette thanked the little old man, and she took the children home, and oh! how glad their mamma was to see them! And they said they would never trot away again. But you just wait and see what happens.

ADVENTURE NUMBER NINE

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FIREMAN

A few days after the Trippertrot children got home, following their adventure with the little old man, their mamma said to them:

“Now, children, I am going over to see your Aunt Mary Jane, and I want you to stay in the house until I get back. It is rather chilly out of doors, and it looks as if it might rain. So stay in, play with your toys, or look at your picture books, but don’t go out.”

“Can’t we go out at all, mamma?” asked Mary Trippertrot, as she looked in a glass to see if her hair ribbon was on straight.

“No,” said her mother, as she looked in the glass to see if her hat was on straight.

“Not even if the house should tumble down on us?” asked Tommy Trippertrot.

“Well, if something most extraordinary like that happens, you _may_ run out,” said Mrs. Trippertrot, trying not to laugh.

“Of course,” spoke Johnny, “we wouldn’t want to be all squashed up, like pancakes.”

“Oh, I just love pancakes--the kind you eat, I mean!” exclaimed Mary. “May we have some, mamma?”

“Perhaps. I’ll see about it when I get back. Now good-by,” she said to them, “and be good children, and don’t go out unless you really have to.”

[Illustration: HE BEGAN TO PLAY A JOLLY LITTLE TUNE]

So they promised, and they all crowded to the window of the big front room to wave their hands to their mamma as she went down the steps.

Then they began to play with their toys, and to look at picture books, until pretty soon Mary said:

“Oh, dear! This isn’t any fun!”

“No, indeed,” agreed Tommy.

“I--I almost wish we could run away again, and get lost,” said Johnny boldly.

“Oh-o-o-o-o-o!” exclaimed Mary. “You wouldn’t really go tripping and trotting off again, would you?”

“I would, if something happened,” said Johnny, and he tried to make all of his toy soldiers stand up in a line, but they fell over and bumped their noses on the carpet, and one soldier lost his sword. Then the children played circus for a while, and Tommy was a make-believe elephant, who lived in a cave under the big chair, until all at once Mary said:

“I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to ask Suzette to build a nice fire in the open grate. Then we can sit and watch the flames go up the chimney, and we can make-believe we see pictures in them.”

“Oh, that will be fine!” cried Tommy and Johnny.

So Suzette came in, and built a fine, big fire on the large open brick hearth. And dear me! how the flames did roar up the chimney! for Suzette put on a great deal of wood. It burned and it blazed, and then, all of a sudden, the front doorbell rang.

“There’s mamma come back!” cried Mary, as she ran to open the door. Tommy and Johnny followed her, but instead of Mrs. Trippertrot being there, it was a fireman, in his nice blue uniform, with silver buttons on the coat, and he was wiping his feet on the mat.

“Quick!” he cried, for firemen always have to be quick, you know. “Quick! Let me in! The chimney is on fire, and I must put it out!”

“Put out which, the fire or the chimney?” asked Tommy, who was often a funny sort of a little fellow.

“Put the fire out, of course,” cried the fireman. “Ha! I thought so!” he exclaimed, when he had rushed into the front room and had seen the big blaze in the fireplace. “There is too much wood on there. Quick, get me a lot of salt!”

So Mary ran to the kitchen to get the salt, for Suzette had gone upstairs, to make the beds, I guess, and the nursemaid didn’t even know the fireman was in the house. Back Mary came running with a whole bowlful of salt.

“Oh, please, Mr. Fireman,” said Tommy, “before you put out the fire, mayn’t we just run out on the sidewalk and see it spouting up out of the chimney top? Mayn’t we, please? We’ve never seen a chimney on fire.”

“Mamma said we weren’t to go out,” spoke Mary.

“But this is a most extra-extra-extraordinary occasion,” said Tommy. “It isn’t exactly like the house falling down, but if the fire in the chimney burns long enough it may fall down, mightn’t it, Mr. Fireman?”

“Oh, yes,” he answered, and he got ready to throw salt on the fire, for that puts out a blaze in the chimney, you know. Yes, really it does. I’m not fooling a bit, honestly.

“Oh, may we go out?” asked Mary this time, and the fireman said they might, and that he’d wait a minute before he threw the salt on the flames. So out the Trippertrots ran, and sure enough, there was a lot of fire coming out of the top of their chimney. You see, the soot--that is, the black stuff inside--had caught fire from the big blaze Suzette had made on the hearth.

Then, all of a sudden, as the children stood on the sidewalk, the fire went out, for the fireman threw on the salt.

“Now we must run in,” said Mary. “It’s chilly here, and the fire’s out, anyhow, so there’s nothing more to see. Come on, boys.”

In the children ran, and the fireman was getting ready to go out, for he had finished his work. He said he happened to be passing along the street, when he saw the chimney on fire, and then he hurried in.

“But now the fire is out, and so I am going out, too,” said the fireman; and out he went, as quickly as you can stub your toe on a stone in the road.

“Now there isn’t any nice warm blaze on the hearth,” said Mary, after a while. “What shall we play now? We can’t look at pictures in the fire.”

“Oh, I just thought of something!” cried Tommy.

“What?” asked Johnny.

“We forgot to thank that fireman,” went on Tommy, “and that’s very impolite. He did us a great favor in putting out the chimney fire, and now I’m going to run after him and thank him.”

“So am I,” said Johnny.

“Oh, but mamma wouldn’t like us to go out; you know she wouldn’t,” said Mary quickly.

“She wouldn’t like us not to thank the fireman, either,” spoke Johnny. “I guess this is one of those most extra-extra-extraordinary occasions she spoke of, like the house falling down, so I’m going.”

Then he put on his hat and coat, and Tommy did the same.

“Well, if you two are going, I’m not going to stay here alone,” said Mary. “I’ll come also.”

Well, Suzette wasn’t there to stop them, and in another minute away the Trippertrot children were tripping and trotting again. They just couldn’t seem to stay home, could they?

They looked up the street, but they couldn’t see the kind fireman. Then they looked down the street, but they couldn’t see him there, either.

“I know what we’ll do,” said Tommy. “We’ll walk along until we come to the fire-house where he lives, and then we’ll thank him.”

So, hand in hand, they went down the street, looking for the fire-house. Pretty soon they met a man.

“Can you please tell us where to find the fireman?” asked Tommy politely.

“Why, is your house on fire?” asked the man quickly.

“No, but the chimney was, and the kind fireman put it out, but we forgot to thank him, and now we’re looking for him,” said Mary.

“Oh, well, the fire-house is just around the corner, and down the street a little way,” said the man. “But don’t get lost,” and he smiled at them.

“I guess he knows we’re the Trippertrots,” spoke Johnny. “But we won’t get lost this time.”

Pretty soon they were at the fire-house where the firemen live, and where they keep the fire-engine and the horses. There were some firemen in front of the place, so Tommy went up to them and said:

“If you please, we want to thank the kind fireman who put out the blaze in our chimney, because we forgot it when he was at our house. But I don’t see him here,” the little Trippertrot boy went on, as he looked among all the firemen, and couldn’t pick out the special one he wanted.

“Oh, yes,” said the captain of the firemen, “that was George. He telephoned to me that he had put out a chimney fire on his way home to dinner. You see, he hasn’t yet come back,” the captain said to the children, “but if you would like to stay here a while he will soon come, and you can thank him.”

“Shall we stay?” asked Mary of her brothers.

“Yes,” said Johnny and Tommy quickly, but they didn’t look at Mary, for they were looking through the doorway at the shining fire-engine and the big brass bell on the wall.

“But maybe we’ll get lost, and mamma wouldn’t like us to stay here,” went on Mary.

“Oh, we can’t get lost in a fire-house,” said Tommy, and he wished the horses would run out, so he could see them.

“Besides, I guess the firemen know where our house is,” said Johnny. “You do, don’t you?” he asked of the captain. “It’s a house with a red chimney on it.”

“I guess I can find it,” answered the captain, with a laugh, and all the men laughed, too. Then the children went inside the fire-house, and all of a sudden a big bell began to ring.

Ding! Dong! Cling! Clang!

Those firemen rushed about like anything, and the captain grabbed up the children and set them on a table, and the horses ran out and hitched themselves to the shining engine. Then men and horses ran out with the engine, and there the Trippertrots were--left all alone in the fire-house.

ADVENTURE NUMBER TEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FUNNY BOY

“Why, where in the world do you s’pose all the horses and the men went to?” asked Mary Trippertrot, as she looked at her two brothers, who, like herself, were on top of the table where the fireman captain had set them. “Where did they go in such a hurry?”

“To a fire, of course,” answered Tommy. “Whenever the bell rings there is a fire, and the horses and the men have to take the engine to it.”

“Does the engine want to see the fire?” asked Johnny.

“No. It wants to squirt water on it and put it out,” replied his brother.

“Do the firemen have to go to a fire even at night?” asked Mary.

“Of course,” replied Tommy.

“Then I should think they’d take out the bell after supper, or fix it so it couldn’t ring, and make them go to fires,” went on Mary. “I shouldn’t like to go out in the dark. Why, some nights it rains or snows!”

“Oh, ho! That doesn’t make any difference to a fireman,” said Tommy. “Firemans is always brave; aren’t they, Johnny?”

“Of course,” replied Johnny. “And some one makes the bell ring in the fire-house, so they will know where the fire is, and go to put it out, same as the one put out the fire in our chimney.”

“That’s so,” spoke Mary. “I wonder when he is coming back? He missed going to this fire.”

“Oh, he’ll be along pretty soon,” said Tommy. “We’ll just wait here. The bell may ring some more, and besides, I haven’t seen half the things. I guess we can get down off the table now.”