The Curlytops and Their Pets | Page 7

haven't the least idea
what is in Uncle Toby's house, that he should be so mysterious about it,
and be in such a hurry for your father to come and take charge."
"Is Uncle Toby mysterious?" asked Janet.
"Well, yes. He says he hopes the collection will not be too much for us
to manage," went on Mrs. Martin, with another look at the letter.
"A collection of what?" Ted wanted to know.
"That's just it--Uncle Toby doesn't say," his mother replied. "We shall
have to wait until your father makes the trip to Pocono."
"Oh, may we go?" begged the two Curlytops at once.
"We'll see!" was the way in which Mrs. Martin put them off. "I wish
your father were here so we could talk over this queer letter from Uncle
Toby."
"I wis'--I wis' I had suffin' t' eat!" put in Trouble wistfully.
"And so you shall have, darling!" exclaimed his mother. "It is nearly
time for lunch, and daddy will soon be here. Then we'll see what he
says."
And what Mr. Martin said after, at the lunch table, he had read Uncle
Toby's letter was:
"Hum!"
"What do you think of it?" asked his wife.
"I think it's as queer as he is," said the father of the Curlytops, smiling.
"Uncle Toby is a dear old man, but very queer. So he wants me to come
and take charge of his 'collection,' does he? It's strange that he doesn't

say what his collection is."
"Maybe it's postage stamps," suggested Ted. Once he had started to
make a collection like that but he had given it up.
"And maybe it's a collection of--money!" said Janet.
"That would be very fine!" laughed her father. "But though Uncle Toby
is well off, I hardly think he has a collection of money lying around his
old mansion. However, I suppose I must go and see what it is the queer
fellow wants me to take charge of for him."
"May we go?" chorused Ted and Janet again.
"Oh, I suppose so," agreed their father, and this was better than the "I'll
see," of their mother.
"Me tum too!" declared Trouble. He never wanted to be left behind.
"We'll all take an auto trip over to Pocono to-morrow and see what
Uncle Toby has," decided Mr. Martin.
Accordingly, the next day, Mr. Martin left his manager in charge of the
store, and, in the comfortable family automobile, the Curlytops and
their father, mother and Trouble--not forgetting Skyrocket, the
dog--started off.
It was just as fine a day as the previous one, when Trouble had sailed
down the brook. The grass was green, the birds sang, and the wind
blew gently in the trees.
"Oh, it's summer, and there's no school and well have lots of fun!" sang
Janet.
"Maybe we'll have fun with what we find at Uncle Toby's house,"
suggested Ted.
And neither of the Curlytops realized how much fun nor what strange
adventures were in store for them.

The automobile started down a rather steep hill, and Mrs. Martin, who
was on the front seat with her husband, looked back to see that the three
children were safe.
"Hold on to Trouble!" she told Janet. "He might bounce out. The road
is very rough!"
"Yes, it isn't very safe, either," murmured Mr. Martin. "I hope nothing
happens."
Hardly had he spoken than there was a loud bang close behind him. He
jammed on the brakes and cried:
"Tire's burst! Hold tight--everybody!"
Then the automobile slid over to one side of the road and Janet cried:
"Oh, Trouble! Trouble!"
CHAPTER III
THE QUEER OLD LADY
For a little while it seemed as though something serious had happened
in the automobile which was taking the Curlytops to Uncle Toby's
house. Mr. Martin had all he could do to slow up the machine, bringing
it to a stop beside the road, and under a tree. If a tire had burst or been
punctured Daddy Martin wanted to be in the shade to fix it.
Mother Martin, holding tightly to the side of the seat when the banging
noise sounded, turned to look behind her to see if the three children
were all right. She saw Trouble sitting between Ted and Janet, and
William was looking at something in his chubby hand.
"What happened?" asked Mrs. Martin. "Were any of you hurt when the
tire burst?"
"The tire didn't burst, Mother," answered Teddy.

"Why, I heard it," said Mr. Martin, as he prepared to get out of the
machine, which had now come to a stop. "I must have run over a sharp
stone or a broken bottle."
"No, it wasn't the tire," said Janet, and she laughed. "It was Trouble's
toy balloon. He blew it up too big and it burst."
"That's what it