Chapter I: Part 1

Three Little Trippertrots

HOW THEY RAN AWAY AND HOW
THEY GOT BACK AGAIN

BY
HOWARD R. GARIS

AUTHOR OF “THREE LITTLE TRIPPERTROTS ON THEIR TRAVELS,”
“THE BEDTIME STORIES,” “UNCLE WIGGILY’S
ADVENTURES,” ETC.

_ILLUSTRATED_

NEW YORK
GRAHAM & MATLACK
PUBLISHERS

THE TRIPPERTROT STORIES

BY HOWARD R. GARIS

Quarto. Illustrated. Price, per volume, 60 cents, postpaid

THREE LITTLE TRIPPERTROTS

How They Ran Away and How They Got Back Again

THREE LITTLE TRIPPERTROTS ON THEIR TRAVELS

The Wonderful Things They Saw and the Wonderful Things They Did

GRAHAM & MATLACK, Publishers, New York

COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
GRAHAM & MATLACK

_Three Little Trippertrots_

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

The stories of the Three Little Trippertrots, though never before published, have been told to thousands of children, in a way, probably, that no tales have ever before been related. They were read _over the telephone_, nightly, to thousands of little folks, by means of the system operated by the N. J. Telephone Herald Company. The stories so delighted the children that the author has yielded to the request to issue them in book form.

CONTENTS

ADVENTURE PAGE

I. THE TRIPPERTROTS ARE LOST 1

II. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE KIND POLICEMAN 7

III. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE HAND-ORGAN MAN 15

IV. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FUNNY HORSES 21

V. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE OLD FISHERMAN 29

VI. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FALSE-FACE MAN 35

VII. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LITTLE OLD LADY 44

VIII. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LITTLE OLD MAN 50

IX. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FIREMAN 58

X. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FUNNY BOY 64

XI. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE PIEMAN 73

XII. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE BANANA MAN 80

XIII. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE DANCING BEARS 86

XIV. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE PINK COW 92

XV. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE TRAIN OF CARS 102

XVI. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE TROLLEY CAR 106

XVII. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LAME BIRD 113

XVIII. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE NICE BIG DOG 122

XIX. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE POOR LITTLE BOY 131

XX. THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LITTLE GIRL 138

Three Little Trippertrots

ADVENTURE NUMBER ONE

THE TRIPPERTROTS ARE LOST

Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there were two little boys, and a little girl, who lived with their papa and mamma in a house in a big city. One of the boys was named Tommy, and the other was called Johnny, and the little girl’s name was Mary. Mary was seven years old, Tommy was six, and Johnny was the youngest of all, being only five years old. Now the children had a last name, which was the funny one of Trippertrot. They were called this because they were always tripping or trotting off somewhere or other.

One day, when Tommy and Johnny and Mary were at play in their house, the telephone bell rang, and Suzette, the nursemaid, who had charge of the children, ran to answer it.

“Who do you s’pose it is calling up?” asked Tommy of Johnny.

“I don’t know; maybe it’s the milkman,” answered Johnny.

“Milkmen don’t have time to talk on a telephone,” said Mary. “But I know what let’s do, Johnny and Tommy. Now that Suzette isn’t here, let’s go out for a walk. She won’t see us.”

“Oh, goody! Let’s do it!” cried Johnny and Tommy together, like twins, you know, only they weren’t, of course. They jumped up very quickly, and followed Mary out of the house.

Now, of course, that wasn’t just the right thing to do--to go away when Suzette wasn’t looking. But the Trippertrots didn’t always do what was right, any more than do some children whom I know--but, of course, I don’t mean any of you. Anyhow, the Trippertrots ran away, and I’m going to tell you what happened to them.

“Which way shall we go?” asked Tommy, when they stood outside on the pavement.

“Let’s go off and see if we can find a fairy,” suggested Mary.

“No, don’t do that,” cried Johnny, “for we might meet a bad fairy, and she might turn us into an automobile with a honk-honk horn, or an elephant with a long nose, or something like that.”

“Well, if we’re going to take a walk, we’d better hurry,” said Mary. “Suzette will soon be back from the telephone, and she’ll miss us, and come looking for us, and then we’ll have to go in and have our faces and hands washed. Hurry up!”

“I know what’s the best thing to do,” exclaimed Tommy. “We’ll go down the street, where the toy store is, and get some things to play with.”

“But we haven’t any money,” said Johnny.

“That doesn’t make any difference,” Tommy replied. “I mean we can look in the toy-store window and choose what things we’d like to have.”

“Oh, yes, that is fun!” agreed Johnny. “I heard a boy do that one day, and he choosed a whole train of cars and an engine.”

“But did he get them?” asked Mary.

“No; but it was fun just the same. Come on.”

So down the street the Trippertrot children went, hand in hand, hurrying as fast as they could, and looking back every now and then to see if Suzette was following them. But she wasn’t.

And oh! what wonderful things those children saw as they ran along! An automobile nearly banged into a trolley car, and a dog just missed being run over by a peanut wagon, and he barked almost as loudly as a lion can roar when he’s hungry for popcorn balls in the circus.

Then the Trippertrots saw a man selling red and green and yellow balloons, and pink paper pin-wheels. And pretty soon they turned a corner, and there was a lady wheeling two babies in the same carriage. What do you think of that? They were twins, you know.

“Oh, aren’t they cute babies!” exclaimed Mary. “Let’s stop and look at them, boys.”

“No, we haven’t time,” said Johnny. “We’ve got to hurry down to that toy store, and choose things, or we won’t be back in time for tea, and we’d be hungry if we missed that.”

So they hurried on faster and faster, still holding hands. They went past one store, in the windows of which were lots and lots of cakes, with pink and brown and white frosting on, and Johnny wanted to stop there and choose one, but Tommy hurried him on.

Then they went around a corner where a Chinaman was ironing clothes right in the window of his shop, and past another place where a man was digging a big hole in the ground, and Mary nearly fell down in it, and she was very much frightened, only her brothers pulled her away from it just in time.

Then, all of a sudden, a big automobile whizzed past, just as the Trippertrots were crossing the street, and a kind man called to the children:

“Look out, little ones, or you’ll get run over!” Then they ran as fast as they could run, and the man called after them: “Aren’t you children lost?”

“No, indeed, thank you,” answered Tommy. “We’re going to the toy store to choose presents.”

“All right,” said the man, and he went on his way, laughing.

A little while after that Tommy stubbed his toe and fell down. But do you suppose he cried? No, sir! not a bit of it. Not a single tear, though he wanted to very much.

“But if I cry, and get my eyes full of water,” he thought, “I might not be able to see in the toy-shop window to choose things. So I’m not going to cry.”

Then Mary and Johnny rubbed the sore place on Tommy’s leg, and Mary kissed him, and the Trippertrots went on farther.

Then, just as the postman blew his whistle, they came to the toy shop. Oh, I just wish you could have seen it! The window was full of toy trains, and toy elephants who could wiggle their heads and their trunks, and there were dolls, and steam engines, and rocking-horses, and camels, and lions, and tigers--not real, you know, only make-believe--so don’t get frightened. And then there was an airship, with a thing in front that went around whizzy-izzy.

“Oh, I’m going to choose that airship!” cried Johnny, as soon as he saw it.

“No, it’s Mary’s turn first,” said Tommy. “Ladies are always first, you know.”

“Oh, yes, of course. I forgot,” admitted Johnny. “Go on, Mary, you choose.”

“Well,” said Mary slowly, “I’ll take the doll with the pink dress and the blue eyes.”

“Now I am going to take the airship!” cried Johnny eagerly.

“And I want the big elephant that wiggles his nose,” said Tommy. “Now it’s your turn again, Mary.”

“I’ll take the little brass bed for my doll,” spoke the boys’ sister.

And so they went on. Well, those children just stood there, choosing all the pretty toys in the store window, until there were hardly any left. Only, you know, of course, that it was only make-believe, for they didn’t really take the things away.

Mary had just picked out a lovely doll carriage, and Tommy was going to take a small automobile with wheels that really went around, when, all of a sudden, the lady who kept the toy store came out on the sidewalk, and said:

“I am afraid you children had better run home. You have been standing here for some time, and your mamma will worry about you, I’m sure. Run along, now, and take this,” and she gave each of them a stick of nice candy.

“Yes, I guess we had better go home,” said Tommy. “Which way do we go, Johnny?”

“Why, don’t you know the way home, Tommy?” asked his brother.

“No. Don’t you?”

“Not a bit of it!” answered Johnny, surprised like. “I am all turned around. Maybe Mary knows.”

“What!” exclaimed the little Trippertrot girl, “you boys don’t mean to tell me you don’t know where our house is, do you?”

“I don’t know,” spoke Tommy.

“And I’m sure I don’t know,” answered Johnny.

“We don’t either of us know,” went on Tommy in a sad voice. “Do you know, Mary?” and he began to eat his candy.

Mary shook her head. Then two tears came into her blue eyes. Then came still more tears, until they rolled from her cheeks, and splashed down on the sidewalk, like salty rain.

“Oh, dear!” she cried. “If none of us knows where our home is we’re lost! We can’t ever find our house! What shall we do?”

And there was no one there to tell the children what to do, for the toy-store lady had gone back into her shop and shut the door.

Then, all of a sudden, along came a big, kind-looking policeman, with a blue coat covered with brass buttons. Tommy saw him first.

“Oh! Oh!” exclaimed Tommy. “Run! Run! Here comes a policeman after us!”

“Yes, and he may put us in jail!” said Johnny. “Run!” So he and Tommy started to run, but Mary caught hold of them.

“Stop, you silly boys!” she cried. “Don’t be afraid. Mamma always said that if ever we got lost we should go to a policeman right away. Now the policeman is coming to us, and that is much better; so it’s all right.”

Then the nice big man with the brass buttons on his coat came closer, and Mary said to him:

“Please, Mr. Policeman, we’re the Trippertrot children, and we’re lost. We don’t know where our house is. Will you please find it for us?”

“To be sure I will,” answered the policeman, with a jolly smile. “Come along with me.”

ADVENTURE NUMBER TWO

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE KIND POLICEMAN

“Are you going to take us home right away, Mr. Policeman?” asked Mary, as she and her brothers walked along beside the big man.

“Of course I am,” he answered kindly. “But you must first tell me where your home is, and then I can go there by the shortest way. Where is your home?”

“Why, don’t you know?” asked Johnny, and he stopped there in the street and looked at a big automobile which was whizzing along close behind a little fuzzy dog that was trying to get out of the way of the big rubber wheels. “Don’t you know where our house is, Mr. Policeman?” asked Johnny again.

“Well,” spoke the big officer with the blue clothes, and the brass buttons down the front, like a whole lot of shiny eyes, “if you will tell me which street your house is on, I think I can easily take you to it.”

“Don’t--don’t you even know the _street_?” asked Johnny, and two tears came into his eyes, one in each, and splashed down on the sidewalk.

“Why, can’t you tell me the street?” the policeman wanted to know.

Mary shook her little head. Johnny shook his little head. Tommy shook his little head. Then they all shook their heads together, and they said, all at once:

“We--don’t--know!”

“My! My!” exclaimed the policeman. “What am I going to do with three lost children who don’t know where they live?”

“I thought policemans knew everything,” said Mary Trippertrot. “You ought to know about our house.”

“I only wish I did,” replied the officer. “But I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you a nice ride in a wagon, and I’ll take you to a place where there are a whole lot of policemen, and perhaps some of them may know where you live.”

“Oh, goody!” cried Johnny. “Now we’ll be all right.”

“Yes, and I know where he’s going to take us,” said Tommy. “It’s to a fire-engine house, ’cause I once saw a little lost boy in a fire-engine house.”

“Oh, no, it isn’t,” said Mary. “He must be going to take us to a police station. But I don’t care, for it’s nice there. Once, Sallie Jones was lost, and she was taken to a police station, and the men there gave her candy until her mamma came for her. I know, ’cause she told me.”

“Then I’m glad we’re lost,” said Tommy, “’cause the candy the toy-shop lady gave us is all gone.” And that’s as true as I’m telling you, the Trippertrots had eaten up all their candy.

“Come along, now, little ones,” said the kind policeman, “and I’ll telephone for a wagon so that I can give you a ride.”

“Oh, if you’re going to telephone,” cried Mary, “you can telephone to our house and tell mamma we’re coming home. I know where our house is now! It’s where the telephone is. We have one, and to-day, when Suzette went to answer it, we ran out. That’s how we got lost. All you have to do, Mr. Policeman, is to go to the house where our telephone is, and we’ll be home.”

Mary looked up at the big officer, but he only shook his head.

“There are so many houses which have telephones in,” he said, “that I could never find yours that way. But come on.”

So he led them down the street until pretty soon he came to a big fat telephone pole that looked like an elephant’s leg in the circus. And on the pole was a blue box, which opened just like the door of the cupboard where mother keeps the bread and jam.

And inside the box were a whole lot of shiny things, and a bell rang, like a telephone bell, and pretty soon the policeman was talking into that box and telling some one away far off at the police station to send a wagon for three little lost children.

So there they stood, the three Trippertrots and the kind policeman, waiting for the wagon to come. And a whole lot of people gathered around and looked at the children, and felt very sorry for them because they were lost. But Mary and Johnny and Tommy weren’t a bit sorry. They knew it would be all right, and that the policeman would take care of them.

And then, all of a sudden, a dog came running up the street. He was a nice, fuzzy, yellow dog, and he had a tail that he could wag. And what do you think he did? Why, he crawled right in between the legs of a fat man who was looking at the lost children, and then that dog went right up close to Mary, and barked softly, just as if he was saying:

“Don’t you be worried now. I’m here, and I’ll take care of you.”

“Oh, look! See the dog!” exclaimed Tommy.

“Is he your dog?” asked the policeman.

“No,” answered Johnny, “but I guess we can have him if we wish. Maybe he’s lost, too.”

“I believe he is!” cried Mary. “Look how tired he is! I think we shall call him Fido, and he’ll be our dog; won’t you, Fido?”

Well, I just wish you could have seen the dog wag his tail at that! He nearly wagged it off, he was so happy because Mary had called him Fido, for that was really his name; and he was lost, but he didn’t care, now that he had some children to love.

And then, while they were standing there, the three Trippertrots and the dog and the kind policeman, along came the wagon to take the children to the police station. And there was a fine, big brown horse pulling the wagon.

“Now get in, little ones,” said the policeman kindly.

“You go first, Mary,” said Tommy politely. “Ladies are always first.”

“No, let Fido get in first,” suggested Johnny. “He is so tired, and he can lie down in the wagon. Here, Fido, jump in!”

“But you can’t take that dog in the wagon,” said the policeman, his face turning red.

“Why not?” asked Mary, and she patted Fido on the head, so that he wagged his tail harder than ever.

“Because,” said the policeman, “we don’t like dogs in our wagons; and besides, he isn’t your dog.”

“Of course he’s our dog!” cried Johnny. “He came to us, and he’s ours. We’re going to keep him.”

“Of course,” added Tommy. “He’s lost, and we’re lost, so he belongs to us.”

“And if we can’t have him we don’t want to ride in your wagon, Mr. Policeman, though we like you very much,” said Mary. “Fido must come with us. You want to come, don’t you, Fido?” And she patted the dog’s head again.

Then what do you suppose that dog did? Why, he wagged his tail up and down, instead of sideways, right up and down he wagged it, like a pump handle.

“See!” cried Mary. “He’s saying ‘yes’ with his tail! He wants to come, Mr. Policeman.”

“Oh, my! Then I suppose he’ll have to go,” said the officer, with a laugh, and everybody in the crowd laughed also. “Get in, Fido; and you, too, children,” the policeman went on.

So they all got in the wagon, the Trippertrots and the dog and the policeman, and away they went. Tommy had hold of Fido’s left ear, and Johnny had hold of his right ear, and Mary had her hand on the dog’s head, and every once in a while Fido would put his cold nose in the policeman’s hand, to show that he liked him, and then the policeman would jump as if a mosquito had bitten him, for he wasn’t thinking about the dog. But Fido didn’t mind, and he thumped his tail down on the floor of the wagon until it sounded like a baby’s rattle-box.

Pretty soon they were almost at the police station, and the policeman was wondering how he could find out where the lost Trippertrots lived, when, all of a sudden, Fido saw a pussy cat running along the sidewalk. And then, before you could look at a picture in a story book, out Fido jumped from the wagon to chase after the cat.

Fido didn’t want to catch her, you understand. Oh, no; he just wanted to see if he could run as fast as the pussy was running. So that’s why he jumped out of the wagon.

“Oh, my! There goes our dog!” cried Tommy.

“Yes, Fido is running away!” exclaimed Johnny sorrowfully.

“Oh, we must get him, or he’ll be lost again!” cried Mary. “Stop the wagon, please, Mr. Policeman, and we’ll get Fido back again. Come here, Fido!” she called.

Well, the policeman wasn’t going to stop the wagon, but just then a trolley car got in the way of it, and the driver had to stop, whether he wanted to or not. And that was just the chance the Trippertrots wanted.

First, Mary jumped out of the wagon, and then Tommy jumped out, and then Johnny jumped out.

“Come back! Come back!” cried the policeman. “You’ll be lost again, and I’ll have to find you.”

“We’re--going--to--get--our--Fido!” panted Mary.

And then, before the big, kind policeman could get out of the wagon, those three children had hurried around a corner of the street and were racing after Fido, and Fido was racing after the pussy cat, and there was such a crowd of people that the policeman couldn’t see the children, even when he put on his glasses.

“My! My!” he exclaimed. “They will be lost again!”

ADVENTURE NUMBER THREE

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE HAND-ORGAN MAN

“Oh, do you s’pose we’ll ever catch that dog?” asked Mary Trippertrot of her two brothers, as they raced along after Fido, and Fido was chasing after the cat.

“Of course we will,” answered Tommy.

“And maybe we’ll get the pussy cat, too,” said Johnny, who couldn’t run so very fast, as his legs were rather short.

“But we don’t want the cat,” spoke Mary. “For you see, she and Fido aren’t very well acquainted yet, and they might not like each other. I think we’ll just catch Fido, and then we’ll all go home and get something for him to eat. I’m sure he must be hungry. I know I am.”

“But we don’t know where our home is,” panted Johnny, as he tripped along beside Tommy.

“Why, you silly boy, we can go back to the policeman in the wagon, and he’ll find our home for us,” went on Mary. “Come on, now. We are catching up to Fido.”

So on the Trippertrot children tripped and trotted as fast as they could. And, all of a sudden, Mary slipped, and she would have fallen down, only Johnny caught her. And then Tommy was running so fast that he ran right into a lady who was carrying a basket full of loaves of bread, and the bread all bounced out on the sidewalk.

“Oh, dear! Oh, me! Oh, my!” cried the lady. “Now see what you have done!”

“We are very sorry,” said Tommy politely. “But you see we are lost, and our dog Fido is lost, too, only we know where he is, and we’re chasing after him, and he’s chasing after a cat, and that’s how I happened to run into you. But we’ll help you pick up the bread, though Fido may get so far ahead of us that we can’t find him.”

“Oh, my! What a lot of things to happen to three little children!” said the lady kindly. “Never mind about the bread. I can pick it up myself. You run on after your Fido, bless your hearts!”

So she began to pick up the bread herself, and a man helped her, and the Trippertrots ran on. And about a minute after that Johnny stubbed his toe, but he didn’t even cry half a tear, for he was a brave little fellow.

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.

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.

“No, sir,” answered Tommy. “You see, it’s this way. We are the Trippertrots, and we’re always getting lost. We start out somewhere, as we did to-day on our funny horses, and we don’t seem to go very far at all, but all of a sudden we’re lost. So we never know whether we’re near home or not.”

“I guess it’s that way now,” said Mary. “I don’t seem to remember this place at all,” and she looked all around. “It isn’t a bit like what I thought it was, and we didn’t seem to come so very far; and anyhow, we only started out from home a short while ago. But we’re lost, sure.”

“Never mind,” said Tommy. “Fido or Ivy Vine will show us the way home; or, if they can’t, perhaps this gentleman will.”

“To be sure,” said the fisherman, pulling up his line and looking at it, and then the children saw that instead of a regular sharp fish-hook he had a big hammock-hook on the end of his line.

“That’s a funny hook,” said Johnny.

“Isn’t it?” agreed the old fisherman, with a jolly laugh. “But I like it.”

“Maybe that’s why you never catch any fish,” said Tommy.

“I believe you’re right,” agreed the old man, with another jolly laugh. “I never thought of it in that way before, but I believe that’s the reason.”

“But if you don’t catch fish, what do you catch?” asked Mary, who was very curious.

“Oh, lots and lots of things!” exclaimed the fisherman. “It would take me a long time to tell you, for they are such funny things. The best way for me to do would be to show you what I catch. Now look at me carefully, and see what I pull up this time on my hammock-hook.”

So the old fisherman carefully lowered his hook and line into the little lake. Then he leaned back in his chair, and the Trippertrots stood around him. The old man closed his eyes.

“Ha! I have something!” he suddenly cried, and, quickly pulling up his line, there, dangling on the hammock-hook, was a pair of rubber boots.

“That’s funny,” said Mary.

“Oh, that’s nothing at all,” said the old fisherman. “Just you wait and see what happens next. I catch very funny things.”

So he put in his line again, just like Jack Horner put his thumb in the pie. Then the old fisherman pulled it out again--pulled out the line, you know, not Jack Horner’s thumb--and this time, dangling on the hammock-hook, was a nice rubber coat, such as children wear to school on rainy days.

“That’s strange,” said Tommy.

“Not at all,” said the old fisherman. “See what my next catch will be.” And what do you suppose it was? Why, when he pulled up his line the next time there was a big umbrella on the hook!

“There! What did I tell you?” exclaimed the fisherman.

And then, all of a sudden, before the Trippertrots could say anything--all of a sudden, I say--it began to rain. How it did pour! The drops splashed down all over, and made the grass quite wet.

“Oh! Whatever shall we do?” cried Mary.

“Quick!” cried the old fisherman. “Tommy, you put on the rubber boots and the rubber coat, and Johnny, you take the umbrella, and hold it over you and Mary. It’s big enough for two children. Lively now, and then run as fast as you can.”

“Where shall we run?” asked Tommy, as he put on the rubber boots.

“Run anywhere,” answered the old fisherman. “Anywhere. It doesn’t matter, as long as you get in out of the rain. Run! Run! I’ll run, too!” And catching up his chair in one hand, and his fishpole in the other, he ran as fast as he could after the children.

“Oh, I just know we’ll be lost again!” cried Mary sorrowfully.

“Never mind,” said Tommy. “This is jolly fun!”

“It certainly is,” agreed Johnny. “Maybe we’ll have another adventure. Come on, Ivy Vine and Fido.”

So on they ran, the Trippertrots and the old fisherman and the dog and cat; on and on through the rain, which kept coming down harder and harder, until pretty soon they saw a little house in the woods.

“Who lives there?” asked Mary.

“The false-face man,” said the old fisherman. “Come on. We’ll go in there out of the wet.”

So they started for the house of the false-face man, and they wondered what would happen when they got there.

ADVENTURE NUMBER SIX

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FALSE-FACE MAN

“Oh, my! It’s raining harder than ever!” cried Mary Trippertrot, as she and her brothers and the old fisherman ran along. “Can’t you please hold that umbrella over me better than that, Johnny? I’m getting all wet.”

“Never mind,” spoke the kind old fisherman, and he held the chair upside down over his head, so his whiskers wouldn’t get full of water. “Never mind. We’ll soon be in the false-face man’s house, and we can get good and dry.”

“Do you think he is at home?” asked Tommy.

“Who? The false-face man?” inquired the old fisherman. “Of course he’s at home. He’s never anywhere else. He never goes out, you know. Why, who would make all the false-faces if he went away? He just can’t spare the time, you see.”

“Oh, it must be dreadful to have to stay in the house all the while!” said Mary. “I wouldn’t like it a bit.”

“Well,” said the fisherman, as he tried to run in between the big rain-drops so he wouldn’t get hit by them, “there is one good thing about staying home all the while--you never get lost.”

“That’s so,” agreed Tommy. “But we’d better hurry. My boots are full of water, and my feet are wet.”

“Oh, that’s too bad!” exclaimed the fisherman. “I forgot about the water in the boots. I wonder how it got in?”

“Why, you fished them up out of the lake,” said Johnny, “and I think it must have gotten in over the tops that way. They were down under water, you know.”

“To be sure,” said the old fisherman. “The next time I catch rubber boots I’m going to have the tops covered over with shingles so the water won’t get in. But I see the false-face man waving to us, and that means he’s at home, and he wants us to hurry in. Run a little faster, children.”