Chapter III: Part 3

“I thought perhaps Jiggily Jig would have told you where our house was before he began turning those somersaults,” said Mary.

“Bless you, no, he didn’t,” answered the pieman. “But you never can depend on Jiggily Jig. He’s too fond of doing funny tricks. But don’t worry. I dare say I can manage to find your house. So come along, eat your pie, and be happy.”

Then he cut a nice, fresh custard pie for them, and gave them each a piece. Oh, it was most delicious! Which means very nice, you know. Yes, that pie was certainly good, and I wish I could give you all some, if you were allowed to eat it, but I’m not--I mean I’m not allowed to give you any, because there wouldn’t be enough to go around.

“Well, now, if you’re all ready, we’ll start off,” said the kind pieman, when the Trippertrot children had finished eating. “We will go up one street and down another, and perhaps after a while we may come to your home.”

“I’m afraid we won’t,” answered Mary. “We always do seem to have such bad luck in losing our home. I’m sure we never mean to run off, but something always seems to happen.”

“This time it was a fire,” said Johnny.

“And the other time it was a little lost girl, crying in the street,” spoke Tommy.

“Well, never mind,” said the pieman. “I’ll sing a little song as we go along, and people will come to the doors or windows of their houses to see what I have to sell, and some of the people may see you children, and know you. Then they can tell me where to take you home.”

“Oh, goody!” cried Mary, dancing up and down, almost like Jiggily Jig did.

“Lots and lots of people know us,” said Johnny. “I’m sure that would be a very good plan.”

“Then we’ll do it,” spoke the pieman. “Now let me see, what song shall I sing? Oh, I know one.” And then he sang this song:

“I am a jolly pieman,
My pies are nice and sweet;
They’re made of many different things
For boys and girls to eat.
If you would kindly try them,
I think you’d like them, too,
Because there is a special pie
Made specially for you.

“There’s lemon, peach and apple,
And cocoanut and plum,
And custard pie and orange,
And also chewing-gum.
But, best of all, is Christmas,
A pie you all may eat,
The kind Jack Horner had when he
Sat in his corner seat.”

Well, no sooner had the kind pieman finished his song than all the people along the street began opening their doors and windows, and putting their heads out.

“Ho! Ho!” cried some boys and girls who were just home from school. “We would like some pies.”

“Then come and get them,” said the pieman, and the boys and girls, and lots of ladies, also, came around the pieman’s wagon, and bought his pies.

Then, when he was wrapping up the pies, or taking in the money, or making change, the pieman would say:

“Do any of you boys or girls, or ladies know where these children live?”

“Why, don’t they know where they live themselves?” asked one lady.

“Oh, no,” answered the pieman. “These are the three little Trippertrots, and they are always getting lost. I am looking for their house as I go along selling pies.”

But no one seemed to know where Mary or Johnny or Tommy lived. Lots and lots of boys and girls and ladies and men came out to buy pies, and they looked at the children, but none knew where they lived.

“Maybe some big giant has moved our house away,” said Tommy, “and that’s why we can’t find it.”

“Oh, of course not!” exclaimed Mary. “Giants don’t live around here.”

“Well, I wish they did,” said Johnny quickly.

“Why?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, then we could ask one of them to take us up on his shoulder, and he could walk about two of his steps and he would be right at our house, and we’d be home,” went on Johnny. “But I s’pose that can’t happen. We’ll have to trip and trot along until the pieman finds our house.”

So along through the streets they went, the pieman singing his little song, and selling pies, and asking all the people he met if they knew where the Trippertrots lived.

But no one did, and Mary and Tommy and Johnny were beginning to think they would never find their papa or mamma, or Suzette, the nursemaid, again.

And then, all of a sudden, as the pieman was pushing his cart down a little street where there were lots of trees, and many small houses with red chimneys on them sticking up through the roof--all of a sudden, I say--out ran a little girl, holding a dollie in her arms.

“Oh, Mr. Pieman!” cried the little girl. “I have been waiting such a long time for you!”

“Why, what is the matter?” asked the kind pieman.

“Oh, Sallie, my doll, is very ill,” said the little girl, “and I want some sawdust pie for her.”

“I have just one left,” said the pieman. “Here it is, and I hope she will soon be better.” Then he wrapped up the sawdust pie for the little girl’s doll, and he asked her--asked the little girl, I mean--if she knew where the Trippertrots lived. “For I can’t seem to find their home,” said the kind pieman, blinking both his eyes at once.

“No, I don’t know, where they live,” said the little girl, as she looked carefully at Mary, Johnny and Tommy.

“Oh, dear!” cried Mary. “I’m so tired walking about, looking for our home.”

“So am I!” exclaimed Johnny and Tommy.

“Then I know the very thing to do,” said the little girl, as she looked in the paper to see if her sawdust pie was all right. “Here comes the banana man, and he has quite a large wagon which he pushes about on its two wheels. Let him take you on his wagon, and ride you through the streets, and perhaps you may find your home that way.”

“Oh, goody!” cried Mary.

“It will be fun to ride in the banana wagon,” said Johnny, jumping up and down.

“Yes, and I think he can take us home,” spoke Tommy.

And just then along came the banana man, and he said he would be very glad to help the Trippertrots get home. So the pieman said good-by to them, and gave them each a little custard pie, and then he went off to find Simple Simon and Jiggly Jig.

“Jump on my wagon,” said the banana man, and the Trippertrot children did so, as there was lots of room. Up they hopped, and away they went along the street, looking for their house, and wondering how long it would be before they found the place.

ADVENTURE NUMBER TWELVE

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE BANANA MAN

“It’s almost as nice to ride on a banana wagon as it is on a load of hay,” said Mary. “This is just lovely, I think.”

“So do I,” agreed Tommy. “And there really _is_ hay on this wagon, so it’s almost like a straw ride.”

“Oh, yes, I always put the bananas on soft hay, so they won’t break open when the wagon goes over rough stones,” said the banana man. “But hold tight, now, as I am going very fast.” And so he did, and the children were bounced about, and up and down a bit, but then the hay was so soft that they didn’t get hurt in the least.

“Do you know where our house is?” asked Johnny, after a bit.

“No, but I think I can find it,” answered the banana man. “I know where lots and lots of houses are, and I’m sure one of them must be yours. I’ll go along through the street, and you can look at all the houses you see, and pretty soon you’ll see the right one.”

“Oh, but we have been away from home a long time,” said Tommy. “Ever since early this morning, when we went after the kind fireman to thank him. And we’ve been lost from then on.”

“And maybe some one has painted our house a different color,” spoke Johnny, “so we won’t know it even when we see it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” spoke the banana man. “They couldn’t have painted your house since morning, and it isn’t night yet.”

“The false-face man could,” said Mary. “He is a very fast painter, but then I know he would make funny faces on our house, if he _did_ paint it, so we would know it anyhow.”

“Yes, that’s right,” said the banana man. “But lie down, now, and rest yourselves, and I will wheel you up first one street and then down the other, and soon you may be home.”

So he did that, and lots and lots of persons stopped to look at the funny sight of three lost children sitting on the hay in a two-wheeled banana wagon.

“Do you happen to know where they live?” the banana man would ask the different people who crowded around his wagon.

“No,” said every one, and the men and women shook their heads.

“Do you know any of these people?” the banana man then asked of the Trippertrot children. But neither Mary nor Johnny nor Tommy knew any of them.

“Then we will have to go along a little farther,” said the banana man; and so he went up some streets that were hilly, and down some that were smooth, and along some that were very rough with cobblestones, and all the while he kept wheeling the children in his wagon, or cart, if you’d rather call it that.

And once the wagon went over a stick of wood, and tipped to one side, and Mary nearly fell out. She would have, only Tommy grabbed her just in time, and held her on the hay.

And a little later there was a dog chasing a cat, and the cat ran so fast to get away from the dog that the pussy jumped right up in the wagon, into Mary’s lap.

“Oh, you poor, dear little pussy!” cried Mary, as she rubbed the cat’s fur, and tried to make its tail smaller, for it was all swelled up on account of the dog, you know.

“That cat looks like our cat, Ivy Vine,” said Tommy, when the banana man had driven away the dog.

“Oh, yes, I just wish Ivy Vine was here now,” said Mary.

“And I wish Fido was here,” spoke Johnny. “He is kind to cats.”

“Yes, if we could only find Ivy and Fido, they would show us the way home.” And Mary sighed a little, and a salty tear fell out of her left eye.

“Never mind,” said the banana man. “I think we will soon be there.” But he talked in a tired voice, for his legs were very weary with tramping around all day, selling bananas, and then giving the lost children a ride up and down so many streets, looking for their home. Still he wouldn’t give up.

Pretty soon they came to where a man was selling hot, roasted chestnuts, and also some cold, boiled ones. And the banana man knew the chestnut man, and bought some nuts from him and gave them to the lost Trippertrots, for they were hungry again, those three children were.

“Oh, it doesn’t seem as if we were ever going to be at home again!” said Mary, after a while, when she had eaten some of the roasted chestnuts.

“No, indeed,” spoke Johnny, as he ate some boiled ones.

“I’m never going to run away again,” said Tommy, “not even if the chimney does get on fire.”

“Or even if the house falls down,” added Mary. And then they put their arms around one another and sat there on the banana wagon, and wished they were home.

And the banana man did the best he could. He looked at all the houses, and he asked lots of people where the Trippertrots lived, but none knew.

“I guess you will have to look for the kind policeman again,” suggested Tommy. “He can find our house for us.”

“Or else Mr. Johnson, who took us home in his automobile, the other time when we were lost,” added Johnny. “He might help us.”

“Perhaps I had better look for a policeman,” said the banana man, for he was now very tired, because it was like pushing three baby carriages, made into one, to push the Trippertrots about on the banana wagon.

So he looked all over for a policeman, but he couldn’t see any. I guess they were all down at the big fire, where all the firemen had gone. And the banana man couldn’t even see the pieman or Simple Simon, nor even Jiggily Jig.

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

“I don’t know,” answered Johnny. “Do you, Tommy?”

“No, I don’t know, either,” replied Tommy Trippertrot.

But just then they turned around the corner of the street, and they heard some music playing, and there was a hand-organ man, with a monkey!

“Oh, goody!” cried Mary. “There is the hand-organ man who once rode with us in the automobile, and he will know where we live.”

“No, I am sorry to say I don’t know where you live,” answered the hand-organ man, when they had asked him. “You see, I am a new man here, and not the one you thought I was. I just bought this organ and the monkey from the man who rode with you in the auto. The monkey may know where you live, but I don’t.”

“Then let’s ask the monkey,” suggested Tommy.

So they asked the monkey. But, bless you! the monkey couldn’t talk, you know, and all he did was to take off his cap and make a low bow, as if he was asking for pennies.

“That’s of no use,” said Tommy hopelessly.

“No,” agreed Mary. “We’ll never get home that way.”

Well, the three little Trippertrots didn’t know what to do, and they were almost ready to cry, when, all at once, Johnny gave a loud shout.

“What’s the matter?” asked Mary. “Are you hurt?”

“No! But look!” cried Johnny. “There comes Ivy Vine, our cat!”

“And there comes Fido, our dog!” exclaimed Tommy, and he pointed to the dog and cat coming down the street together like twins, only, of course, they weren’t twins--dogs and cats can’t be twins, you know.

“Oh, now we will find our way home,” said Mary. “Ivy and Fido will lead us. We can’t be far from our house.”

“I am glad of it,” said the banana man, who was more tired than ever.

“Here, Fido! Fido!” called Tommy.

“Come, Ivy! Ivy!” cried Mary.

The dog and the cat came running up to the children, and they were very glad to see them. I mean the children were glad to see Fido and Ivy Vine, and Ivy Vine and Fido were glad to see the children. So they were all glad, even the banana man.

“Now show us the way home, Fido!” called Tommy, and, somehow or other, Fido understood, for he wagged his tail so hard that it almost dropped off, and Ivy Vine wagged her tail, and then they trotted on ahead of the banana wagon. They looked back every now and then, to see if the wagon was coming.

“Just follow them, and we’ll soon be at our home,” said Mary. And the banana man did so, riding the children on his cart, and a little later, just as they went around a corner, there was the Trippertrots’ house!

“Oh, we’re home! We’re home!” cried Mary joyfully.

“And how glad we are!” cried Tommy and Johnny, and they all hugged each other. Fido capered about, barking as loudly as he could; and then out ran Suzette and Mr. Trippertrot and Mrs. Trippertrot.

“Oh, you children!” cried their mamma. “Lost again, I suppose!”

“Yes’m,” answered Mary.

“And we were looking all over for you,” said their papa.

“But Fido and Ivy Vine and the banana man brought us home,” explained Tommy, “and we had some wonderful adventures since we went to thank the fireman.”

“Well, please don’t ever have any more,” said their mamma.

“No’m, we won’t,” answered Mary.

Then they all went into the house and had supper, and Mr. Trippertrot thanked the banana man very kindly, and gave him some money.

“I don’t want any more adventures very soon,” said Tommy.

But my goodness sakes alive and the mustard spoon! It wasn’t any time at all before those three little Trippertrots had something more happen to them.

ADVENTURE NUMBER THIRTEEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE DANCING BEARS

The three little Trippertrots were in the house one day, looking out of the window. Suzette, the nursemaid, was in the next room, trying to mend a hole that Mary had torn in her red dress. I mean that Mary had torn a hole in her own dress, not in Suzette’s, you understand, of course. And the way it happened was this:

They were playing soldiers, the Trippertrot children were, Tommy and Johnny and Mary, and Tommy had a make-believe gun. It was really the poker from the stove, but it looked something like a gun.

And they were having a great battle, making believe shoot off the poker-gun bang-bang, you know, when, all of a sudden, Mary ran past Tommy, and the poker caught in her dress, and tore a hole in the cloth.

“Oh, I’m afraid you can’t play soldiers any more,” said Mrs. Trippertrot. “It’s too rough a game. Please play something gentle, that doesn’t make so much noise.”

So Mary and Tommy and Johnny played a guessing game; that is, they tried to guess how many people were in the trolley cars that passed the window, or how many letters the postman had in his bag, or how fast the butcher boy could run when a pussy cat chased him, and all guessing games like that. So that’s the reason, as I told you at first, why the Trippertrots were looking out of the window of their house.

“Oh, I’m tired of this,” said Tommy at last.

“And so am I,” said Mary.

“What can we do?” asked Johnny.

“Oh, let’s make-believe we’re lost again,” suggested Mary. “We can pretend that the parlor is away off downtown, and that the dining-room is another city, and the kitchen can be a cave where a fairy lives, and upstairs--I wonder what upstairs can be?”

“That will be a mountain, of course,” said Tommy. “The stairs are high, and so are mountains; and I’m going to climb one, and get lost on the top, and build a campfire, and sleep there all night.”

“Pooh! You sleep upstairs all night, anyhow,” said Johnny. “Our beds are there.”

“Oh, but this is only a make-believe mountain,” said Tommy. “Come on! All ready to play this game! We’ll see who will be the first one to get lost.”

Well, the Trippertrots played that game a long time, and then Suzette had Mary’s dress mended, and the nursemaid went to answer the back doorbell, for the butcher boy was there with some meat for supper.

Now in about a minute you will see where the dancing bears appear in this story. I’m almost up to that part, so watch closely.

When Suzette was at the back door, Mrs. Trippertrot happened to think there was no bread in the house for dinner.

“I know what I will do,” said the children’s mamma. “I will just run next door to Mrs. Johnson’s, and borrow a loaf. Now don’t you children go outside while I’m gone!” she called to Tommy and Mary and Johnny.

“Not even in case of something most extra-extra-extraordinary happening?” asked Johnny.

“Oh, I suppose if it’s something most extraordinary you may go out for a minute,” answered Mrs. Trippertrot, “but don’t you dare to get lost.”

So they promised that they wouldn’t, and then they went back to play the game of looking out of the windows, and Mary said:

“Oh, I wish something most extra-extraordinary would come along!”

“So do I!” exclaimed Tommy.

“And there it is!” suddenly cried Johnny. “If that isn’t extraordinary, I’d like to know what is!”

And sure enough, down the street came a man with three dancing bears. There was a little bear and a middle-sized bear and a big bear, just as in the story book. And the man had a horn, on which he played jolly, funny little tunes.

“Oh, I hope the bears dance where we can see them,” said Mary, and Tommy and Johnny said the same thing; and really it was just as if the dancing-bear man heard the Trippertrot children, for, sure enough, he stopped in front of their house, and began to blow a tune on his horn.

“Hum tum-tum tiddle di de um,
Hum tum-tum tiddle day;
Dum-dum-dum fiddle faddle de um,
Ho tum-tum skiddle ray.”

And with that, those bears stood up on their hind legs, and began to dance around almost as well as you or I could do it. I’m sure you would have been very glad to see them, for they were such nice bears.

The big bear took big steps when he danced, and the middle-sized bear took middle-sized steps, and, of course, the little bear had to take little steps, for that was all the kind of steps that were left, but they suited him exactly.

“Oh! Aren’t they fine!” cried Mary.

“Yes. I wish we had one,” said Johnny.

“Oh, I don’t!” exclaimed his sister. “He might scratch us, not meaning to, you know, but accidentally. I don’t want a bear in the house.”

“I think it would be fun,” said Tommy. “We could play we were hunters on a mountain, and make-believe shoot the bear, only, of course, we wouldn’t _really_ do it.”

“Oh, look! Look!” suddenly cried Mary. “One bear is climbing a telegraph pole!” And, sure enough, the middle-sized bear was doing that, while the man played more tunes on his horn.

“Oh, look there!” cried Johnny. “The big bear is standing on his head!” And, just as true as I’m telling you, he was.

“See! See!” exclaimed Tommy. “The little bear is turning somersaults just like Simple Simon and Jiggily Jig did! Isn’t it great!”

Well, the man made the dancing bears do many more tricks, and then he held out his hat for money, for that was how he made his living. And Suzette gave the children some money to give to the bearman.

Then the man made a bow, to show that he was thankful, and the bears made bows, too, to show they were thankful, for if the man hadn’t gotten any money the bears wouldn’t have had much for supper. Then they started off up the street to dance some more.

“Oh, I’m sorry they’re gone!” said Mary, and her brothers were, also; and they were just wondering what else they could do to have fun, when, all of a sudden, Tommy cried:

“Look! Look! The little bear has run away from the man, and is coming back here!”

“Yes, and I guess the man doesn’t know it, or he would come back after him,” said Johnny. “I think we ought to go out and catch the little bear for the man.”

“Oh, don’t you do it!” cried Mary, shivering.

“Why, he’s tame, and won’t hurt me,” said Tommy. “Besides, we would be doing the man a kindness.”

“But mamma doesn’t want us to go out of the house,” said Mary, for she could now see the bear quite plainly, as he was right in front of the house again, and he was so kind and gentle-looking, and he seemed to smile so at the children, that they just loved him.

“I’m going out and catch him for the man, and give him something to eat,” said Tommy.

“Who? The man or the bear?” asked Johnny.

“The little bear. See! He has a chain on his neck, and we can lead him by that. Come on.”

“Oh, dear! Well, I s’pose I’ll have to go, too,” said Mary. “This is one of those most extra-extraordinary occasions, I guess. But I do hope we’re not lost again.”

“Hurry up!” called Johnny. “We can catch the bear, take him to the man, and soon be in the house again.”

Well, would you ever believe it if I didn’t tell you? That little bear just stood still when the Trippertrot children came up to him, and he almost seemed to smile, you know the way bears do, by opening his mouth, and then he made a low bow.

“Oh, I almost believe he could talk, if he wanted to, he is so cute,” said Mary.

“Come along, little bear,” spoke Tommy.

“Yes, we’re going to take you back to the man,” said Johnny. “He doesn’t know you’re lost, I guess.”

Well, the bear growled a little bit, but that was only his way of saying “Thank you!” And then he stood still while Johnny took hold of the chain around his neck--I mean the chain around the bear’s neck, not Johnny’s, for Johnny didn’t have any chain on his neck. And Tommy also took hold of the bear’s chain, and so did Mary, just the littlest, tiny tip end, you know.

“Now we’re all ready,” said Johnny. “Come along, little bear, and we’ll soon have you back to your master.”

So the three little Trippertrots marched down the street, leading the tame little bear, and they expected any minute to find the man with the horn. But they couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Oh, we must find him soon,” said Mary.

“Yes,” said Johnny. “We can’t take the bear back home with us.”

“And if we let him go by himself he’ll get lost,” spoke Tommy. “Let’s go on a little farther.”

So they went on a little farther with the animal, but they couldn’t find the man who owned the bear, and they couldn’t hear his tooting horn. And then, as they turned around a corner, Mary suddenly said:

“There! I knew it!”

“Knew what?” asked Johnny.

“I knew we were lost again,” said Mary. “I’ve never seen this street before. We are certainly lost again.”

“Oh! What will mamma say?” asked Tommy.

“And lost with a little dancing bear to take care of,” added Mary.

“Well, if we’re lost, the bear is lost, too, and that’s all there is about it,” spoke Johnny cheerfully. “Maybe we can find our way back. Let’s try.”

So they walked down another street, looking for the way back home, or for the man who owned the little bear.

ADVENTURE NUMBER FOURTEEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE PINK COW

“We don’t seem to be getting anywhere very fast,” said Tommy Trippertrot, after he and his sister and his brother and the little tame dancing bear had walked up and down several streets.

“No, indeed,” agreed Mary.

“Are you sure we’re lost again?” asked Johnny.

“I certainly am,” replied his sister. “We must have come farther than we thought we did. All the streets are strange, and all the houses, too, and I don’t see a single person that I know. Oh, dear! Isn’t it too bad?”

“Never mind!” exclaimed Johnny, putting his arms around Mary to hug her. “I’ll take care of you.”

“And so will I,” added Tommy.

“Wuff! Wuff!” growled the bear in his gentle voice, and that was his way of saying that he, too, would take care of Mary. And he put one fuzzy paw around her neck, and squeezed her the least bit; not enough to hurt her, you understand. Oh, of course not.

“Well, what had we better do?” asked Johnny.

“We’ll ask the first person we meet if they know where we live,” said Mary. “It’s funny, but we never can seem to remember. I guess we ought to have a stamp and an address on us, just as letters do, and then the postman could always take us home.”

“I think that _would_ be a good idea,” said Tommy. “But it’s too late to do that now, and I don’t see any people we can ask,” and he looked up and down the street, but no one was in sight.

“Oh, I tell you what let’s do!” exclaimed Johnny. “We’ll let the bear go wherever he wants to, and maybe he’ll take us home, the way Fido and Ivy once did.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Tommy. “We’ll do it.”

So they let go of the chain that was around the bear’s neck, and Mary said to him:

“Now go ahead, little bear, and take us home.”

“Oh, bears can’t understand our talk,” said Tommy.

“Why, Fido understands me!” said Mary. “When I speak pleasantly to him he wags his tail, so I’m sure he understands; and if _he_ can, why can’t bears?”

“Oh, well, maybe he does,” admitted Johnny. “Let’s see what he’ll do.”

The little bear didn’t do anything at first. He just stood there on his hind legs, looking all around, and sort of sniffing the air. I guess he was trying to see if he could smell his supper cooking anywhere. Then, all at once, he started to run across the street.

“Come on!” cried Johnny. “I guess that’s the way home! We’ll follow the bear!”

So they ran after the shaggy little creature, who kept right on going, looking over his shoulder every now and then, just as if he was telling the children to follow him. And they did. But where in the world do you suppose he led them?

You’d never guess, I’m afraid, so I’m going to tell you. It was right up to a bakery shop window, that was filled with all sorts of nice cakes and cookies and pies. Yes, just as true as I’m telling you, that’s what the bear did. He came to a stop right in front of the window, and then he looked up at the children, and sort of whined, just as Fido, their dog, did when he was hungry.

“Oh, I know what he wants!” cried Mary.

“What is it?” asked both her brothers at once.

“He wants some cakes,” said Mary. “He is hungry, poor little fellow. That’s why he led us over to this bakery. I’m going to see if the bakery man will give us some cakes or buns for our little bear.”

“I wish he’d give us some for ourselves,” spoke Johnny. “I’m hungry myself.”

“So am I!” exclaimed Tommy.

“Well, let’s go in,” suggested Mary.

“Oh, not all at once,” objected Johnny. “For if we did, and left the bear all alone outside here, he might run away. I’ll stay here with him, Tommy, and you and Mary can go in and ask the bakery man for some cake.”

“All right,” agreed Tommy, and into the bakery shop he and his sister went, leaving Johnny to take care of the baby bear.

“Well, little ones, what can I do for you to-day?” asked the baker-man of Mary and Tommy, as he came out of the back room, wiping some flour off the end of his nose. “Will you have bread or pie?”

“Neither, if you please, sir,” answered Mary, “but we have a little bear, and----”

“Good gracious sakes alive and some ground cinnamon!” cried the baker-man. “You don’t mean to tell me you have a real live bear in here? Take him out at once, I beg of you!”

“Oh, no, he isn’t in here,” said Tommy. “He’s outside, with my brother Johnny. But anyhow, he’s tame and gentle, and he wouldn’t hurt a fly, not if one were to light on his nose and tickle him. He’d just blow him off.”

“Oh, he is a very kind bear,” went on Mary.

“I am very glad to hear that,” spoke the baker-man. “But what do you want me to do--buy him?”

“Oh, no,” answered Tommy. “You see, he is lost, and we are lost, and he came over here to look at your cakes because he was hungry, and we are hungry, too. But you needn’t mind us, unless you have some cakes you don’t want, and----”

But then Tommy had to stop to catch his breath, which had nearly gotten away from him, and Mary said:

“Oh, you had better let me finish. What we want, Mr. Baker-man, is some cake for our little bear. At least he isn’t really ours, but he belongs to the man who plays tunes on the funny little horn, and he is lost.”

“Who is lost, the man or the bear?” asked the baker, with a jolly laugh.

“Both, I guess,” said Tommy, who had his breath by this time. “But have you any cakes?”

“Oh, yes, plenty of them,” said the kind baker. “I will give you some, and the bear some, and----”

“But we have no money,” said Mary quickly, “and we are lost--we’re always getting lost,” she said.

“No matter about the money,” went on the baker. “I will give you as many cakes as the bear needs, and some for yourself. Bring in the bear.”

So Johnny brought in the bear, and the baker cried out as soon as he saw the shaggy little fellow:

“Why, I know that bear! He belongs to a nice Italian in the next street. You had better leave him with me, and I will see that he gets home safely. But first he must have some cakes. Come here, Bruno!” called the baker to the bear, and the little tame bear came right over to him, and ate a chocolate cake out of his hand.

“You see, he knows me,” said the baker. “I will see that he gets safely home.”

“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Mary. “I wish that some one knew _us_, and would see that _we_ got home. It’s dreadful to be lost all the while, but we can’t seem to help it.”

“Never mind,” said the baker kindly. “Here, eat some cakes, and then we will see what is to be done. Perhaps I can think of a way to get you home.”

Well, you would never believe it if I didn’t tell you, I suppose, but this is just how it happened. All of a sudden into the baker shop walked a man, and he had a string in his hand.

“What are you leading by that string? Another bear?” asked the baker-man.

“No. I am leading my pink cow,” said the man.

“A pink cow!” exclaimed the baker. “I never heard of a pink cow!”

“Well, I have one,” said the man. “You can look for yourself, if you don’t believe me.”

So they all looked out on the sidewalk--that is, all but the little bear, and he was too busy eating cakes to look--and there, sure enough, was a nice pink cow, and the man was leading her by a yellow string around her neck.

“How did she get pink?” asked the baker-man.

“She went to the circus once,” said the other man, “and she drank a pailful of pink lemonade, in mistake for water, so she has been pink ever since. But it doesn’t hurt her any, and she gives as good milk as ever.”

“What are you going to do with her?” asked the baker-man.

“Why, I am going to sell her to a man named Mr. Jones,” said the cowman. “He lives a few streets away, and he has always wanted a pink cow. So I am taking mine to him.”

“Oh! I wonder if that’s the Mr. Jones who lives two doors from us?” cried Mary.

“What might your names be?” asked the pink-cow man quickly.

“The Trippertrots!” cried Tommy and Johnny and Mary, all at the same time.

“Then that’s the Mr. Jones, all right,” said the pink-cow man. “He said he lived next door to a family of Trippertrot children, who were always getting lost----”

“And we’re lost now!” interrupted Mary.

“But you can take us home!” cried Johnny.

“To be sure I can,” answered the man. “I’ll take you home on my way to leave my pink cow at Mr. Jones’s house. Come along, children.”

So they said good-by to the little bear, who was still eating buns, and then to the baker, who gave the Trippertrots some cakes to take home; and then the children started out with the man and the pink cow to go home to their house.

“Oh, how thankful I am that we’re not lost any more!” exclaimed Mary, as they walked along, with the pink cow following behind, and switching her tail to keep the flies away.

“Yes; and wasn’t it lucky that the baker-man knew what to do with the bear?” said Johnny.

“It certainly was,” spoke Tommy.

“You will soon be home now,” said the pink-cow man, and they kept on up the street, and in a little while they were safely at the Trippertrot house.

Just as the three children got in front of their house they saw their papa and mamma, and Suzette, the nursemaid, looking at them out of the parlor windows.

“Oh, there are our dear children!” cried Mrs. Trippertrot.

“I wonder where they have been this time?” asked Mr. Trippertrot.

“There is no telling,” replied his wife. “They do seem to go to the strangest places. And look what they have with them! A pink cow, of all things!”

“Oh, I hope they are not going to bring that pink cow in here!” exclaimed Suzette, the nursemaid. “There is no place to put it!”

“Oh, dear! I wonder what those children will do next?” asked Mrs. Trippertrot. But there was no one there to answer her, for Mr. Trippertrot ran out to get Mary and Tommy and Johnny, and Suzette ran out to help him, and so Mrs. Trippertrot thought she would run out herself.

“Oh, mamma!” cried Mary. “We had the grandest time!”

“And we took the little bear home,” said Johnny.

“And the baker-man gave us some cakes, but we ate them all up,” spoke Tommy.

“Oh, you children!” cried their mamma.

“And what about the pink cow?” asked Mr. Trippertrot. “I do hope you haven’t brought that home with you!”

“Oh, no,” said the man who owned the cow. “I am taking my cow to Mr. Jones, who lives two doors from you. He wants her, and as I was coming this way, I brought your children with me.”

“That was very kind of you,” said Mr. Trippertrot, “and I hope they don’t trip and trot off again. Come in, now, children, and tell your mother and me all about where you were this time.”

“And we can tell you why the cow is pink,” said Tommy. “She ate some pink ice cream once--strawberry, I guess it was----”

“No, she drank pink lemonade,” corrected Mary.

“Oh, yes, that’s it,” agreed Tommy, “and so she’s been pink ever since.”

So the three little Trippertrots went into their house, and the man took the pink cow to where Mr. Jones lived, and everybody was happy for a while, just as you all are, I hope.

ADVENTURE NUMBER FIFTEEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE TRAIN OF CARS

It was shortly after the Trippertrot children got home, after finding the little lost bear, that, one afternoon, when they were all looking out of the window of their house, their mamma said:

“Now, children, I am going across the street to see a lady, and I don’t want you to stir out of the playroom until I come back.”

“May we go out when you do come back, mamma?” asked Mary.

“I’ll see,” returned Mrs. Trippertrot. “At any rate, you are to stay here until I come back.”

“Can’t we even go out if we see the little lost bear again?” asked Tommy.

“No, indeed,” answered his mamma. “Not on any account.”

Well, the Trippertrots didn’t like to stay in very much, but they were good little people, and they did just as they were told, unless, of course, they happened to forget, or unless a very extra-extraordinary thing happened.

“Oh, I wish we had some game to play,” sighed Mary.

“I know!” exclaimed Johnny, “let’s play another choosing game. I’ll let you have first choice, Mary, of whatever comes along the street. Then Tommy can have his choice, and then it will be my turn.”

“All right!” cried Tommy and Mary, so they began to play. And when Mary saw an automobile coming alone she chose that--not really to have for her very own, you understand, but just to make-believe. Then it was Tommy’s turn, and he picked out a nice horse and wagon. But when it came Johnny’s turn, all there was left was a man pushing a wheelbarrow, so Johnny took that.

“Oh, that’s not a bit nice to choose,” said Mary, as she wrinkled up her nose. “You may have part of my automobile, if you like, Johnny.”

“And he can have part of my horse and wagon,” said Tommy.

“All right, then I’ll take the horse, and we’ll all go riding,” quickly cried Johnny. But, of course, this was only make-believe, you know.

And then, all of a sudden, Mary happened to look down the street, and she cried out:

“Oh, look! There is the pink cow running away from the stable where Mr. Jones put her.”

“Sure enough, so she is!” exclaimed Tommy.

“We must go after her,” declared Johnny.

“No, mamma said we weren’t to leave the house,” said Mary.

“Oh, but she said we weren’t to go if a bear came along,” insisted Johnny. “This is a cow, not a bear, and, besides, she’s pink.”

“And besides,” added Tommy, “Mr. Jones wouldn’t want to lose that cow, as it must have cost a whole lot of money. I think we ought to chase after her and bring her back.”

“So do I,” added Johnny, and then the two boys, catching up their hats and coats, ran out of the house.

“Well, I’m not going to stay here all alone,” said Mary. “I guess mamma would want us to catch the pink cow, as long as it isn’t a little tame bear. Wait, boys, I’m coming,” she called.

And there those three little Trippertrots were running away again, and without in the least meaning to. But it just shows you what will happen sometimes; doesn’t it?

The pink cow was slowly walking down the street, chewing her gum--I beg your pardon, I mean her cud--and the Trippertrot children were chasing after her.

“Hold on!” cried Tommy to the cow.

“Yes, wait a minute,” called Johnny.

“Oh, don’t talk to her,” said Mary. “Cows can’t understand our talk. Just catch hold of the string around her neck, and then we can lead her back to Mr. Jones.”

“But there isn’t any string on her neck,” said Tommy.

“Then, of course, you can’t do it,” spoke Mary. “Never mind, I guess she will soon get tired, and then we can catch her.”

But that pink cow didn’t seem to get tired, and all at once she ran down a street where there weren’t any houses, and she kept on until she was out in a big field, and the children were chasing after her, but they couldn’t catch her.

And then, all of a sudden, there was a loud whistling noise. At first the children thought it was a giant, but it wasn’t, it was only the choo-choo engine in front of a train of cars that just then came puffing along. And as soon as the cow saw the engine, with the smoke shooting up out of the black chimney, and when she heard the loud whistle, that pink cow just kicked up her heels and jumped so high that it looked if she jumped over the moon.

At least I think she jumped over the moon, for the children couldn’t see her any more, though maybe the cow was only hiding behind the bushes until the train got past. Anyhow, she wasn’t in sight.

“She’s gone!” exclaimed Mary.

“There’s no use chasing after her any more, then,” said Tommy.

“Yes, we had better hurry home, and tell Mr. Jones that his cow has run away, so he can run after her,” spoke Johnny.

Well, those Trippertrots started to go back home, but, would you believe it, they couldn’t find the way. They looked everywhere, but they couldn’t find the right path that led back to their house.

“Oh, we’re lost again!” exclaimed Mary.

“Yes, I guess we are,” said Tommy, sorrowfully.

“And what are we to do?” asked Johnny. “This is a queer place to be lost in--out in the fields.”

Just then the train with the choo-choo engine on in front came to a stop. A man with a blue coat, all covered with shiny brass buttons, jumped off the first car.

“All aboard!” he called, waving his arms around his head. “Everybody get on! All aboard, everybody! No time to wait! Get on the train!”

“Who is he?” asked Mary of her brothers in a whisper.

“He’s the conductor,” said Tommy.

“And I guess he’s talking to us,” spoke Johnny. “He wants us to get on.”

“Of course,” said Mary. “I never thought of it. Papa has sent the train to take us home. Get on board.”

“Ladies first,” said the conductor, politely, and he helped Mary up the steps, and then he helped Johnny and Tommy, for they were too little to get up by themselves.

“All aboard!” called the conductor again, and then the engine gave a loud toot, and off the train started.

ADVENTURE NUMBER SIXTEEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS IN A TROLLEY CAR

“Oh, this is fine!” cried Tommy, after they had ridden some distance.

“It’s the best yet,” said Johnny. “I like this kind of running away!”

“But we’re not running away,” said Mary. “We only ran after the pink cow belonging to Mr. Jones, and now the train is taking us home.”

“I hope we get in before mamma comes back from her call across the street,” said Johnny. “She told us not to go out.”

“Oh, but she only said not to go out after a little tame dancing bear, as we once did,” said Tommy. “This time we went out after the pink cow.”

“Well, I hope it will be all right,” spoke Mary. “Oh! look out of the windows, boys, and see all the pretty fields and trees and--and----”

“And telegraph poles,” added Tommy. “My, what a lot of them.”

“And look! There is the pink cow!” suddenly cried Johnny, and, sure enough, the pink animal was running along beside the train in a green field. But pretty soon the train got going so fast that the cow was left behind.

“I hope she gets back home all right,” said Tommy; and Mary and Johnny hoped the same thing.

Well, the train kept going faster and faster, and the children were looking out of the windows, having a good time, when the conductor, with his blue coat all covered with brass buttons, came in.

“Where do you children want to go?” he asked.

“Home,” said Mary.

“Home,” said Johnny.

“Home,” said Tommy.

“Ha, so you _all_ want to go home,” exclaimed the conductor, with a jolly laugh. “Well, where might your home be?”

“Why, don’t you know?” asked Mary in surprise.

“No, I am sorry to say I don’t!” answered the conductor.

“He--doesn’t--know--where--we--live!” exclaimed Tommy and Johnny together, slowly.

“Why, I thought papa sent this train to take us home,” went on Mary.

“Well, it may take you to your home, if you tell me where your home is,” went on the conductor. “Let me see your tickets, and I can tell where you want to go.”

“But we haven’t any tickets,” spoke Mary.

“No tickets!” cried the conductor. “Then why did you take this train?”

“We didn’t take it,” replied Mary slowly. “It took us, and it’s taking us now. But if it doesn’t take us home I don’t want to stay on it.”

“Me either,” said Tommy and Johnny, as they started to leave their seats.

“Wait a moment!” called the conductor. “Why did you get into this railroad car?”

“Because you told us to,” answered Mary. “We were chasing after the pink cow, that belongs to Mr. Jones, but she got away from us, and then your train came along, and you told us to get on board, and we did. It isn’t our fault.”

“Well, well! This is quite a puzzle,” said the conductor, shaking his head, and scratching his nose with his ticket puncher. “And so you haven’t any tickets at all, eh?”

“Wait!” cried Tommy, with his jolly little laugh, “I think I have a ticket.” He looked in all his pockets, and as he had a number of things in them, it took him some time to find his ticket. There were balls of cord, an old knife, some wheels from an alarm clock, and a piece of chewing-gum. Then there was a red stone and a broken lead-pencil, and when Tommy had all these articles out on the seat the conductor said:

“Oh, I am afraid you have no ticket.”

“Oh, yes, I have, just wait a minute, please,” said Tommy. And then he pulled out a little tin can that he used to take with him when he went fishing, and inside of that was a piece of paper. “There is our ticket!” cried Tommy, with another jolly laugh. “It’s a ticket I made for a magic-lantern show that I had, and it cost two pins to come in to it. Now we can go home, can’t we, Mr. Conductor?”

“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” cried the conductor, again scratching his nose with his ticket puncher, “that isn’t the kind of a ticket I meant at all. ‘A ticket to a magic-lantern show! Admission two pins!’” he read from the piece of paper as he looked at it.

“What kind of a ticket did you mean?” asked Mary, politely.

“A railroad ticket,” answered the conductor. “That is what I meant. This one is no good.”

“And can’t--can’t we ride on your train?” asked Mary, and, somehow or other, a few tears came into her pretty eyes. Tommy and Johnny felt like crying, also, but they happened to remember that boys never cry--that is, hardly ever--so they didn’t.

“I’m afraid you can’t ride on that ticket,” said the conductor slowly, as he gave it back to Tommy. “I shall have to put you off----”

“Wait, I’ll pay their fare!” interrupted a nice fat man, in the seat behind the children.

“Oh, I’m not going to put them off here,” said the conductor kindly, and it is a good thing he wasn’t, for just then the train was going through the woods. “But I’ll put them off at the next station,” he said. “Then I will send word back to the place where they got on, and some one can come for them. It would not be right to take them as far off as where this train is going.”

“No, indeed!” exclaimed Mary. “We want to go home.”

“But some one will have to come for you when I put you off at the station,” said the conductor.

“Oh, no one ever comes for us,” exclaimed Mary. “We always have to go home by ourselves, don’t we, boys?”

“Of course,” answered Tommy and Johnny together. “We are the Trippertrots, and we are always getting lost, but this time we didn’t mean to. It was the pink cow’s fault.”

“Oh, dear! I don’t know what in the world to do!” exclaimed the conductor, and for the third time he scratched his nose with his cap--I mean with his ticket puncher.

“Well, I know what to do,” said a voice on the other side of the car. “I am going to give those children something to eat. I know they must be hungry--children always are.”

And, would you ever believe it? there was the nice little old lady to whose house the Trippertrots once went when they were lost, and she had a cat, you remember, who purred as it lay asleep in the middle of the floor.

“Oh, that lady knows us!” exclaimed Mary. “You can tell where our home is, can’t you?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” said the little old lady. “You know you were at my house, but when I went to get a policeman, to show you the way home, the queer little old man came, and you went away with him, and so I never found your home.

“But don’t worry now, I will give you something to eat, and then I will get off at the next station with you, and I’ll see if I can’t find some one to take you home.”

So the little old lady opened her satchel and she took out some nice chicken sandwiches, and some jam tarts, and some oranges, and gave them to the Trippertrot children to eat.

Well, the train kept going on and on, and lots of the passengers watched the Trippertrots eating the lunch which the little old lady gave them, and the children themselves were having a nice time, though of course they were sorry that the pink cow had gotten lost.

And then, all of a sudden, the train conductor called out:

“Here’s where you get off, children. Come along; step lively, please.”