And as soon as Tod heard the sound of the machinery he knew something was wrong. One reason was because it was not yet time to start. Another reason was that the engineer of the mill was standing3 right beside him, talking about a new lot of logs that had been floated down the river that day.
The two men looked at one another as the sound came to their ears, and the foreman cried:
“Who’s running the mill for you, Zeb?”
“Nobody,” answered Zeb White, the engineer.[222] “She isn’t supposed to be runnin’!”
“Well, she is running!” declared Tod.
“I believe you’re right!” cried the engineer. “But who could have started her?”
Without another word the two men ran up the little hill, for they were at the bottom of it and away from the mill, and could not look into the place. But when they reached the top they could hear the rattle5 of the moving carriage more plainly. They could hear the whine and hum of the big saw.
And then they saw Trouble calmly sitting astride the log, playing it was his horse, and, all the while, drawing nearer and nearer to the sharp-toothed saw.
“Whew!” whistled the foreman. “That kid is in mischief6 again!”
“Do you reckon he started my engine?” cried Zeb.
Tod Everett did not answer. He sprang to catch Trouble off the log, pulling him to one side rather roughly in his strong arms. At the same time the engineer ran for the handle that shut off the power. He pulled it quickly, with all his strength, and the saw slowly ceased buzzing, while the log on the carriage no longer moved forward.
[223]“Say, you little tyke!” cried Tod, for he was angry, “did you start the machinery?”
“Yes, I did start it,” answered Trouble, hardly knowing whether to laugh or cry. “What for you take me off my horsie?” he asked.
“Horsie? Say, you don’t want to ride this dangerous kind of horse again!” cried the engineer. “That big saw might have cut you!”
He, too, spoke7 sternly, and Trouble decided8 that all fun had gone out of the world. He began to cry. He cried hard, too.
By this time his mother, who had missed him, had come out in search of him. It took her only a few moments to understand what had happened.
“Trouble, you are a naughty boy!” she said.
“I not naughty!” he sobbed9. “I wanted a wide—a wide on my saw horsie!”
“Yes, you were bad,” went on his mother, with a grave face. “I told you never to come to the mill alone, and you didn’t mind. I told you never to touch a handle or anything, and you didn’t mind. You are a bad boy!”
Trouble sobbed again, looked from one to[224] the other of the three stern faces in a circle about him.
“Ye—yes, I—I is a bad boy!” he admitted.
“And you must be whipped,” his mother told him.
I wish I did not have to write about this part of it, but I have undertaken to tell you all about the Curlytops and Trouble, and I must put in the bad with the good.
Trouble was whipped, and he cried hard. But this was better than crying after being hurt by the saw, as might have happened. And the whipping was the best way in the world to make Trouble remember never again to go near the machinery alone.
“I’ll see that he never does such a thing again,” said Mrs. Martin.
“And I’ll never leave the mill alone again, with the power ready to be turned on,” said the engineer.
So it all ended more happily than it might have, if the machinery had not been stopped in time. And though the Curlytops felt sorry for their little brother, it was not as bad as it might have been, for which they were very thankful.
As a further punishment, and to make[225] him remember not to do such a thing again, Trouble was not allowed to go with Teddy and Janet the next time they had a picnic in the woods.
They were always having picnics—sometimes two in one day. But they enjoyed the tramps in the forest and they had no end of fun eating the lunches they begged from their father in the camp store.
This time they went on a picnic the day after Trouble had had his “wide,” as he called it, on the saw carriage. That is Ted4 and Janet went, and William remained at home. He wanted to go, very much, but his mother was firm, and though the Curlytops felt sad to hear their little brother cry to come with them, they were old enough to know it was for his own good that he must stay at home.
“What’ll we do?” asked Ted, as he and his sister walked through the forest. Ted very often left it to Janet to suggest some form of fun.
“Let’s look for the tame crow,” proposed the little girl. “I’d like to find him and take him back to Mr. Jenk.”
“So would I,” agreed Ted. “We’d get a lot of money then.”
[226]“And the crow is in these woods,” went on Janet. “I’m sure we saw him that time the woodpecker was tapping.”
“Yes, that was Mr. Jenk’s crow all right,” said her brother. “But how can we catch him?”
Janet thought for a minute. Then she remembered something that had happened back home.
“Oh, Ted!” she cried. “Cheese!”
“Cheese? What do you mean?” he asked.
“Don’t you remember how fond the Jim crow was of cheese?” went on Janet. “Whenever he used to get away Mr. Jenk would go after him, calling and holding out a bit of cheese. And Jim would fly down to get the cheese and Mr. Jenk would catch him.”
“Oh, yes!” cried Teddy. “And then he’d make believe pull corks10. I mean the crow would,” he added, though Janet understood.
“Let’s go back to daddy’s store and get some cheese,” proposed Janet. She called it “daddy’s store,” though Mr. Martin did not own it and had only been engaged to start it going. But the children always thought of the camp store as they did of[227] the one in Cresco, as belonging to their father.
“Yes, we’ll make a cheese trap,” agreed Ted.
Mr. Martin was not in the store when they trudged12 back, but one of the clerks gave them what they wanted.
“Don’t eat too much cheese,” he warned them. “It isn’t good for Curlytops.”
“Oh we’re not going to eat it,” said Janet.
“It’s for the lame
Join or Log In!
You need to log in to continue reading
(Left Keyword <-) Previous:
CHAPTER XVI THE TRICK CROW
Back
Next:
CHAPTER XX THE CROW’S NEST
(Right Keyword:->)