Part 3

“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.”

So the Trippertrots ran faster, and so did Ivy Vine, the cat, for she didn’t like the wet very much; and neither did Fido, the dog; but they didn’t say anything about it. And the old fisherman ran, also.

Mary and Tommy and Johnny looked toward the little house to see what kind of a person the false-face man was. He was standing in the doorway. And he was quite a jolly sort of a man, if you will kindly take my word for it. He had on an apron all covered with spots of paint, and his arms, on which the sleeves were rolled up almost to the shoulders, had paint on them also. The children could see him quite plainly now, for all of a sudden the sky cleared up, though the ground was still very wet.

“Leave the umbrella, chair, coat and rubber boots here,” said the old fisherman. “We won’t need them, as it has stopped raining.”

So they put them down in the grass and hurried on.

And oh, so many, many pretty colors as the children saw! There were red spots on the false-face man, and green spots of paint, and pink spots, and black spots, and yellow, and brown, and purple, and gold, and silver, and even some chimney-colored spots. It was just as if a rainbow had splattered over him.

“Why is he all spotted up that way?” asked Mary, as she and Johnny splashed into a puddle and out again.

“Because he paints the false-faces,” said the old fisherman. “He paints them all sorts of colors, and, of course, some of the paint splashes on him. But bless you! he doesn’t mind it in the least; not in the least, I do assure you.”

“Does he make _all_ the false-faces?” asked Tommy, as he stepped along.

“Everyone,” answered the old fisherman. “All those faces you see in the store windows for Hallowe’en. Wait. I’ll have him tell you about it.”

So they ran on, and now they were right at the front door of the house of the false-face man, and they could see that he was even more jolly-looking than they had at first thought.

“Don’t you make all the false-faces?” the old fisherman asked him, as he pointed to some of them hanging on the house. “Please tell the children all about it.”

“To be sure I will,” said the false-face man, with a jolly laugh. “I have just finished making a whole lot of false-faces for the children all over this country, and for some out in a city called Orange; but I think that must be a funny place. I wonder why they didn’t call it Lemon?”

“Because, if you please,” said Mary, “I think it was because lemons are sour.”

“Ha! I never thought of that!” exclaimed the false-face man. “No doubt you are right. But come in. Don’t mind the paint. It won’t come off, for it’s dry by this time.”

“I wish _we_ were dry,” said old fisherman, as he twisted his whiskers around to squeeze the water out of them. “_We_ are very wet, even if the paint isn’t.”

“Well, come in, and you may sit by the fire,” said the false-face man. “I’m very glad to see you.”

“And will you really tell us about making the false-faces, if you please?” asked Tommy politely.

“To be sure I will,” was the answer. “Do you mind if I sing it?” and the false-face man looked at the children, and then at Ivy Vine, who was trying to get her fur dry with her red tongue.

“No. I think they would like very much to hear you sing,” spoke the old fisherman.

“Do you think the dog or cat would mind?” went on the false-face man. “Some dogs don’t like music.”

“Oh, I don’t believe they would mind your singing,” said Tommy, and the false-face man and the old fisherman began to laugh, though the Trippertrots didn’t know why.

“Well, then, here goes for the song,” said the false-face man after a while. “It’s not a very good one, as I made it up myself, but it’s the best I can do. And I’ll sing it to the tune of Hum-dum-dum diddle-iddle-um.”

Then he sang this song:

“I am the false-est facer man That ever you have seen. I make false-faces colored red, And also colored green. I make an elephant’s false-face, And then I go and make A false-face for a mooley-cow Who’s eating jelly cake.

“I’ll make false-faces for you all, If you will kindly wait; I’ll make one for the soup dish, And for the butter plate. And then we’ll have a party, The funniest ever seen, For we’ll all have false-faces To wear on Hallowe’en.”

“I think that is a very nice song,” said Mary, when the false-face man had finished.

“Thank you,” replied the false-face man, making a low bow.

“Oh, goody!” cried Tommy. “When is Hallowe’en?”

“To-night,” answered the old fisherman.

“And will you really make false-faces for all of us?” inquired Johnny.

“To be sure I will,” said the false-face man, “and I’ll make one for Ivy Vine, and for Fido the dog. Then we’ll have a party, just as I sung about.”

“Oh, but I forgot!” exclaimed Mary. “We can’t stay to any Hallowe’en party.”

“Why not?” asked Tommy.

“Because we’re lost,” said his sister. “We must try to find our way back home, or mamma and papa will be alarmed about us.”

“That’s so,” said the two boys.

“Oh, don’t worry,” spoke the false-face man. “I think I can find your home for you after a while, and it is early yet.”

That made the children feel better, and they thought they might stay just a little while longer; anyway, until they got their false-faces.

“Now, what kind of faces do you want?” asked the man, who was all covered with paint spots.

“I want an Indian’s!” exclaimed Tommy.

“You shall have it,” said the false-face man.

“And I want one like Little Jack Horner, who sat in the corner,” said Johnny.

“You shall have it,” said the false-face man, with a jolly laugh, “and you may sit in the corner of my shop here, and perhaps we can find a Christmas pie so you can put in your thumb and pull out a plum.”

“Oh, that will be jolly!” exclaimed Tommy.

“And now what kind of a false-face do you want, Mary?” asked the old fisherman.

“Oh, I think I would like one of Old Mother Hubbard who went to the cupboard,” said the little Trippertrot girl.

“And you may have that,” promised the false-face man. “And I have a cupboard, and you have the dog, so if we can find a bone the cupboard won’t be bare.”

Then he gave the children their false-faces, and he found a bone for Fido, who barked three times, to say thank you; and there was some milk for Ivy Vine. Then the children put on their false-faces, and there was one for Fido. He was dressed up like a monkey; and as for Ivy Vine, she had a false-face like a wax doll, and she was very cute-looking.

And the false-face man didn’t need any false-face himself, as he was all covered over with paint, anyhow. And whom do you suppose the old fisherman dressed up like? Why, who else but Santa Claus, and he wore his own whiskers. Then they had a party, and Johnny put his thumb in a pie and pulled out a whole bag full of sugar plums. Oh, they were just having the grandest time, when, all of a sudden, there came a knock on the door!

“Ha! I wonder who that can be?” asked the false-face man.

“I’ll look,” said the old fisherman.

So he looked, and who should be there but the Trippertrots’ nursemaid, Suzette.

“Oh, children!” exclaimed Suzette, when she saw them. “You must come home at once! I have been looking everywhere for you! Your mamma is much worried. Come home at once!”

“We didn’t mean to run away,” said Mary, “but the sawhorse and the clothes-horse and the rocking-horse got going so fast that we couldn’t stop them. So we got lost.”

“But we’re not lost now, any more!” exclaimed Tommy, as the nursemaid walked into the house.

“And here is a little present for Suzette,” spoke the false-face man, as he gave her a face that looked like a Chinese lady, with a pigtail down her back.

And then, when the children had said good-by to their two friends, the fisherman and the false-face man, they started home with Suzette, taking Ivy Vine and Fido with them, and also their false-faces.

But they hadn’t been home very long before they ran away again, and then they had another adventure.

ADVENTURE NUMBER SEVEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LITTLE OLD LADY

One day Mrs. Trippertrot called to her three children.

“Now, children,” she said, “I am going out for a little while, and I do hope you will not trot off anywhere this time. You don’t know how worried I am when you run off, as you have done several times lately.”

“We’re sorry, mamma,” said Tommy.

“And we don’t ever really mean to trot off,” said Mary Trippertrot.

“It--it just seems to happen,” spoke Johnny Trippertrot. “Our legs run off with us before we know it.”

“Well, try and not let them run off with you to-day,” said their mamma. “I will leave Suzette in charge of you.”

“We’ll try to be good, mamma,” said Mary politely.

“But, oh! we did have such fun the other day when we rode off on the funny horses!” exclaimed Tommy.

“Yes, when we met the false-face man and the old fisherman,” added Johnny.

“Oh, I know what let’s do!” cried Mary. “We’ll get out our false-faces and play it’s Hallowe’en again.”

“That will be nice, I think,” said their mamma, “and it ought to keep you in the house. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

So off she went, downtown shopping, I guess, and the children got out their funny false-faces, and played some games. They were having a good time, when, all at once, they heard some one out in the street crying.

“I wonder who that is?” said Johnny.

“Let’s go look,” suggested Tommy.

“No, you had better not,” said Suzette the maid. “For it might be a funny monkey, and then you would want to go off after it, and you would be lost again. You had better stay here and play at having a surprise party.”

Well, the children didn’t want to do that, but they knew they must mind Suzette, for she was in charge of them. But just then something happened. The delivery wagon came from the big downtown store, and Suzette had to go down to the side door to take in some things for the children’s mamma. Then Mary and Tommy and Johnny heard the crying noise out in the street again, and Mary said:

“I don’t believe it would do any harm to take just one peep, to see who is crying.”

“Me, either,” spoke Tommy.

“Then let’s do it,” said Johnny, and they did. They went to the front window and looked out. And this is what the children saw:

There was a tiny little girl walking along, and she had fallen down, and her knee had been cut on a sharp stone, and that’s why she was crying.

“Oh, see the poor thing!” cried Mary.

“We ought to help her,” said Johnny.

“Then let’s do it,” suggested Tommy. “Suzette or mamma wouldn’t care if we helped somebody in trouble. Mamma would want us to, I’m sure. Besides, mamma isn’t here now, and neither is Suzette.” For you see, the nursemaid was still talking to the delivery boy. He had forgotten to bring a spool of thread that Mrs. Trippertrot needed, and Suzette was asking about it.

“We’ll go down to the little girl,” said Mary. “We can’t get lost in front of our own house.”

So down they went, and I just want you to listen, and see what happened after that. It just goes to show that you never, never can tell what is going to happen in this world.

“What is the matter, little girl?” asked Mary, after she had wiped the child’s tears away with her handkerchief.

“Oh! Boo-hoo! I’m lost!” cried the little girl. “I went to the store for a stick of candy, but I came back the wrong way, and I’m lost.”

“Where is the stick of candy?” asked Tommy.

“I ate it all up,” said the little lost girl. “Look! You can’t see it.” And she opened her mouth so the Trippertrots could see away down her throat, and believe me, there wasn’t a bit of candy to be seen!

“Yes, it’s all gone,” said Johnny sorrowfully, when he got through looking.

“Say, do you know what I think we ought to do?” spoke Tommy suddenly.

“What?” asked Mary and Johnny.

“We ought to take this little lost girl home. We’d want some one to take us home if we were lost, and I don’t believe mamma or Suzette would mind.”

“I don’t, either,” said Mary.

“Then let’s do it,” said Tommy. “Do you know which street you live on?” he asked of the little girl.

“Oh, yes. It’s a street with trees on it,” said the child, and now she stopped crying. “Please take me to it.”

“There are lots of streets with trees on,” said Tommy, “but we’ll try to find the right one for you. Come on.”

And so that’s how the Trippertrots started tripping and trotting off again, and at the beginning they didn’t really mean to do so at all. But you see how some very funny things happen sometimes.

Along they walked, all four children together, hand in hand, looking for the house where the little lost girl lived. Ivy Vine, the cat, didn’t come along this time, nor did Fido, the dog. For Ivy Vine was washing her face with her red tongue, and Fido was gnawing a bone.

“What is your name, little girl?” asked Mary, when they had gone a short distance down the street.

“My name is Jack,” she answered.

“Why, that is not a girl’s name, it’s a boy’s!” said Tommy in surprise.

“I know it,” said the little lost girl, “and I _want_ to be a boy, so I choosed a boy’s name. My mamma lets me, and when I grow up I’m going to ride a horse and play football.”

The Trippertrot children laughed at that, and they thought the little girl who wanted to be a boy was very nice. But still they couldn’t seem to find her home. They looked all over for her house, and every time they came to a street with trees on it they asked her if it was there she lived, but she said:

“No, none of these houses are my papa’s house. I guess we’ll have to go on a little farther.”

So they went on a little farther, but still they couldn’t seem to find the place, and the little girl said:

“Oh, dear! I guess I’m lost still, aren’t I?” And she took a tighter hold of Mary Trippertrot’s hand.

“I guess you are,” answered Mary.

“And I guess _we_ are, too,” said Tommy.

“Well, that’s just what I was afraid would happen,” said Johnny. “Here we are lost again, and we promised mamma we wouldn’t go out of the house.”

“Oh, but we really didn’t _mean_ to,” said Mary; “and besides, she’ll forgive us when she knows we tried to do a kindness.”

“Yes, I guess so,” said Tommy, “but what are we going to do? I don’t know which way to go.”

Neither did any of the others, and Mary was just looking around, hoping she could find a nice policeman, when, all at once, the door of a house, in front of which they were standing, opened, and a kind little old lady looked out.

“Oh, you poor, dear, little lost children!” she exclaimed. “Come right in here, and let me love you.”

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

“Oh, I was once a little girl myself,” said the nice little old lady, and, though her hair was white, her eyes were as bright as the snapping fire on a cold night. “So I know when children are lost,” she added.

So the little lost girl and the Trippertrots, who were also lost now, went into the house of the little old lady. She brought out some nice low chairs for them to sit on, and she gave them some picture books to look at, and then what do you think she did? Why, she went out and got them some bowls of milk from a mooley-cow--the milk was from the cow, you know, not the bowls--and she brought some bread; and say! I just wish I had some of that bread and milk myself! Oh, it was very good! But I can’t have any, because the Trippertrots and the lost girl finished it all up, down to the last drop, and they ate some sugar cookies, too.

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

“Send for a policeman,” said Mary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ADVENTURE NUMBER EIGHT

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE LITTLE OLD MAN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That will be nice,” said Johnny.

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

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

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

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

“Oh, fine!” cried Tommy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The Trippertrots,” said the little old lady.

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes. What is it?” asked Johnny.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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