Part 4

And the flower gardens! Oh, I wish you could have seen them. Even though it was almost winter, the flowers were in blossom, for the little old man knew how to make them bloom in cold weather. And the children were allowed to pick as many flowers as they wanted, only they thought they looked prettier on their stems, so they didn’t take many.

Well, the Trippertrots were playing away, and having lots of fun. Tommy was in the swing, and Johnny pushed him up so high that Tommy nearly hit the top of a tree. And then something happened. Mary was building a nice sand house for a dollie to live in, when the house fell down and covered her legs all up. Covered Mary’s legs, I mean, not the doll’s. Mary couldn’t see her legs, and she thought they might have dropped off.

“Oh, dear!” she cried.

“What is the matter?” called Tommy.

“My poor little legs!” said Mary, trying to pull them out from under the sand.

“Oh, they’re all right,” spoke Johnny, and then he took a piece of board and he dug the sand off Mary’s legs, and she was all right again, and she made a big sand bridge for boats to go under.

Soon out from his house in the beautiful garden came running the funny little man. He was waving his arms all around his head, like a windmill in a storm.

“Oh, I have found where you live! I have found where you live!” he cried, in his jolly voice.

“Where who lives, us or that little girl named Jack?” asked Tommy.

“I know where Jack lives,” said the little old man. “I called up on the telephone and found out. Her papa is coming for her in a minute.”

“Oh, goodie!” cried the little girl, jumping up and down.

“But what about us?” asked Mary Trippertrot.

“I’ll find where you live very soon,” said the little old man. And just then the little lost girl’s papa came for her, and took her home, after he had thanked the Trippertrots and the little old man for being so kind to her.

And then, all of a sudden, when the little old man was calling up on the telephone, trying to find where the Trippertrots lived--all of a sudden, I say--along came Suzette, the nursemaid, looking for them.

“Oh, you children!” she cried, when she saw them in the garden. “I thought I would never find you. Come home at once. Why did you run away?”

“We went to help a little lost girl, and we got lost ourselves,” said Mary; “but we didn’t mean to, did we, boys?”

“No,” answered Tommy and Johnny together. Then Suzette thanked the little old man, and she took the children home, and oh! how glad their mamma was to see them! And they said they would never trot away again. But you just wait and see what happens.

ADVENTURE NUMBER NINE

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FIREMAN

A few days after the Trippertrot children got home, following their adventure with the little old man, their mamma said to them:

“Now, children, I am going over to see your Aunt Mary Jane, and I want you to stay in the house until I get back. It is rather chilly out of doors, and it looks as if it might rain. So stay in, play with your toys, or look at your picture books, but don’t go out.”

“Can’t we go out at all, mamma?” asked Mary Trippertrot, as she looked in a glass to see if her hair ribbon was on straight.

“No,” said her mother, as she looked in the glass to see if her hat was on straight.

“Not even if the house should tumble down on us?” asked Tommy Trippertrot.

“Well, if something most extraordinary like that happens, you _may_ run out,” said Mrs. Trippertrot, trying not to laugh.

“Of course,” spoke Johnny, “we wouldn’t want to be all squashed up, like pancakes.”

“Oh, I just love pancakes--the kind you eat, I mean!” exclaimed Mary. “May we have some, mamma?”

“Perhaps. I’ll see about it when I get back. Now good-by,” she said to them, “and be good children, and don’t go out unless you really have to.”

So they promised, and they all crowded to the window of the big front room to wave their hands to their mamma as she went down the steps.

Then they began to play with their toys, and to look at picture books, until pretty soon Mary said:

“Oh, dear! This isn’t any fun!”

“No, indeed,” agreed Tommy.

“I--I almost wish we could run away again, and get lost,” said Johnny boldly.

“Oh-o-o-o-o-o!” exclaimed Mary. “You wouldn’t really go tripping and trotting off again, would you?”

“I would, if something happened,” said Johnny, and he tried to make all of his toy soldiers stand up in a line, but they fell over and bumped their noses on the carpet, and one soldier lost his sword. Then the children played circus for a while, and Tommy was a make-believe elephant, who lived in a cave under the big chair, until all at once Mary said:

“I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to ask Suzette to build a nice fire in the open grate. Then we can sit and watch the flames go up the chimney, and we can make-believe we see pictures in them.”

“Oh, that will be fine!” cried Tommy and Johnny.

So Suzette came in, and built a fine, big fire on the large open brick hearth. And dear me! how the flames did roar up the chimney! for Suzette put on a great deal of wood. It burned and it blazed, and then, all of a sudden, the front doorbell rang.

“There’s mamma come back!” cried Mary, as she ran to open the door. Tommy and Johnny followed her, but instead of Mrs. Trippertrot being there, it was a fireman, in his nice blue uniform, with silver buttons on the coat, and he was wiping his feet on the mat.

“Quick!” he cried, for firemen always have to be quick, you know. “Quick! Let me in! The chimney is on fire, and I must put it out!”

“Put out which, the fire or the chimney?” asked Tommy, who was often a funny sort of a little fellow.

“Put the fire out, of course,” cried the fireman. “Ha! I thought so!” he exclaimed, when he had rushed into the front room and had seen the big blaze in the fireplace. “There is too much wood on there. Quick, get me a lot of salt!”

So Mary ran to the kitchen to get the salt, for Suzette had gone upstairs, to make the beds, I guess, and the nursemaid didn’t even know the fireman was in the house. Back Mary came running with a whole bowlful of salt.

“Oh, please, Mr. Fireman,” said Tommy, “before you put out the fire, mayn’t we just run out on the sidewalk and see it spouting up out of the chimney top? Mayn’t we, please? We’ve never seen a chimney on fire.”

“Mamma said we weren’t to go out,” spoke Mary.

“But this is a most extra-extra-extraordinary occasion,” said Tommy. “It isn’t exactly like the house falling down, but if the fire in the chimney burns long enough it may fall down, mightn’t it, Mr. Fireman?”

“Oh, yes,” he answered, and he got ready to throw salt on the fire, for that puts out a blaze in the chimney, you know. Yes, really it does. I’m not fooling a bit, honestly.

“Oh, may we go out?” asked Mary this time, and the fireman said they might, and that he’d wait a minute before he threw the salt on the flames. So out the Trippertrots ran, and sure enough, there was a lot of fire coming out of the top of their chimney. You see, the soot--that is, the black stuff inside--had caught fire from the big blaze Suzette had made on the hearth.

Then, all of a sudden, as the children stood on the sidewalk, the fire went out, for the fireman threw on the salt.

“Now we must run in,” said Mary. “It’s chilly here, and the fire’s out, anyhow, so there’s nothing more to see. Come on, boys.”

In the children ran, and the fireman was getting ready to go out, for he had finished his work. He said he happened to be passing along the street, when he saw the chimney on fire, and then he hurried in.

“But now the fire is out, and so I am going out, too,” said the fireman; and out he went, as quickly as you can stub your toe on a stone in the road.

“Now there isn’t any nice warm blaze on the hearth,” said Mary, after a while. “What shall we play now? We can’t look at pictures in the fire.”

“Oh, I just thought of something!” cried Tommy.

“What?” asked Johnny.

“We forgot to thank that fireman,” went on Tommy, “and that’s very impolite. He did us a great favor in putting out the chimney fire, and now I’m going to run after him and thank him.”

“So am I,” said Johnny.

“Oh, but mamma wouldn’t like us to go out; you know she wouldn’t,” said Mary quickly.

“She wouldn’t like us not to thank the fireman, either,” spoke Johnny. “I guess this is one of those most extra-extra-extraordinary occasions she spoke of, like the house falling down, so I’m going.”

Then he put on his hat and coat, and Tommy did the same.

“Well, if you two are going, I’m not going to stay here alone,” said Mary. “I’ll come also.”

Well, Suzette wasn’t there to stop them, and in another minute away the Trippertrot children were tripping and trotting again. They just couldn’t seem to stay home, could they?

They looked up the street, but they couldn’t see the kind fireman. Then they looked down the street, but they couldn’t see him there, either.

“I know what we’ll do,” said Tommy. “We’ll walk along until we come to the fire-house where he lives, and then we’ll thank him.”

So, hand in hand, they went down the street, looking for the fire-house. Pretty soon they met a man.

“Can you please tell us where to find the fireman?” asked Tommy politely.

“Why, is your house on fire?” asked the man quickly.

“No, but the chimney was, and the kind fireman put it out, but we forgot to thank him, and now we’re looking for him,” said Mary.

“Oh, well, the fire-house is just around the corner, and down the street a little way,” said the man. “But don’t get lost,” and he smiled at them.

“I guess he knows we’re the Trippertrots,” spoke Johnny. “But we won’t get lost this time.”

Pretty soon they were at the fire-house where the firemen live, and where they keep the fire-engine and the horses. There were some firemen in front of the place, so Tommy went up to them and said:

“If you please, we want to thank the kind fireman who put out the blaze in our chimney, because we forgot it when he was at our house. But I don’t see him here,” the little Trippertrot boy went on, as he looked among all the firemen, and couldn’t pick out the special one he wanted.

“Oh, yes,” said the captain of the firemen, “that was George. He telephoned to me that he had put out a chimney fire on his way home to dinner. You see, he hasn’t yet come back,” the captain said to the children, “but if you would like to stay here a while he will soon come, and you can thank him.”

“Shall we stay?” asked Mary of her brothers.

“Yes,” said Johnny and Tommy quickly, but they didn’t look at Mary, for they were looking through the doorway at the shining fire-engine and the big brass bell on the wall.

“But maybe we’ll get lost, and mamma wouldn’t like us to stay here,” went on Mary.

“Oh, we can’t get lost in a fire-house,” said Tommy, and he wished the horses would run out, so he could see them.

“Besides, I guess the firemen know where our house is,” said Johnny. “You do, don’t you?” he asked of the captain. “It’s a house with a red chimney on it.”

“I guess I can find it,” answered the captain, with a laugh, and all the men laughed, too. Then the children went inside the fire-house, and all of a sudden a big bell began to ring.

Ding! Dong! Cling! Clang!

Those firemen rushed about like anything, and the captain grabbed up the children and set them on a table, and the horses ran out and hitched themselves to the shining engine. Then men and horses ran out with the engine, and there the Trippertrots were--left all alone in the fire-house.

ADVENTURE NUMBER TEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE FUNNY BOY

“Why, where in the world do you s’pose all the horses and the men went to?” asked Mary Trippertrot, as she looked at her two brothers, who, like herself, were on top of the table where the fireman captain had set them. “Where did they go in such a hurry?”

“To a fire, of course,” answered Tommy. “Whenever the bell rings there is a fire, and the horses and the men have to take the engine to it.”

“Does the engine want to see the fire?” asked Johnny.

“No. It wants to squirt water on it and put it out,” replied his brother.

“Do the firemen have to go to a fire even at night?” asked Mary.

“Of course,” replied Tommy.

“Then I should think they’d take out the bell after supper, or fix it so it couldn’t ring, and make them go to fires,” went on Mary. “I shouldn’t like to go out in the dark. Why, some nights it rains or snows!”

“Oh, ho! That doesn’t make any difference to a fireman,” said Tommy. “Firemans is always brave; aren’t they, Johnny?”

“Of course,” replied Johnny. “And some one makes the bell ring in the fire-house, so they will know where the fire is, and go to put it out, same as the one put out the fire in our chimney.”

“That’s so,” spoke Mary. “I wonder when he is coming back? He missed going to this fire.”

“Oh, he’ll be along pretty soon,” said Tommy. “We’ll just wait here. The bell may ring some more, and besides, I haven’t seen half the things. I guess we can get down off the table now.”

“But do you think we ought to stay?” asked Mary, who wasn’t exactly sure that they were doing right.

“Of course we must stay,” said Johnny. “Why, we haven’t thanked the fireman yet for doing us that favor, and mamma wouldn’t want us to come home until we had done it.”

“That’s right,” added Tommy. “Why, don’t you remember once Mrs. Smith gave me a piece of cake, and I forgot to thank her, and came home, and mamma sent me back to tell Mrs. Smith I was much obliged? And I’m real glad I went back, for she gave me a second piece of cake. Oh, yes, we must always be polite in this world.”

“Yes; and now let’s look at all the shiny things,” suggested Johnny.

So he and his brother and sister went all around inside the fire-engine house. Pretty soon the fireman came in who had put out the chimney fire in the Trippertrot home.

“Why, bless me!” he exclaimed in surprise. “Everybody has gone to another fire, and I must go, too!” And he was about to run out on the street again, to find where the fire was, when Mary said:

“Oh, but if you please, couldn’t you first wait until we thank you, and then can’t you take us home? For I’m afraid we’ll get lost if we go by ourselves. We’re always getting lost, you know. But we forgot to thank you, so we came here to do it.”

“Bless me! That was kind of you,” said the fireman. “But I really haven’t time to stay, for I must go and help the captain and the men put out this other fire. I really can’t stay.” And once more he was about to run off.

“Quick! Thank him, Johnny and Tommy!”

“We thank you!” said Tommy and Johnny together, making two low bows.

“And so do I thank you for not letting our chimney burn up,” said Mary, making her nicest bow.

“Well, you’re welcome, I’m sure,” replied the fireman. “But really, now, I must hurry away.”

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

“Hold on! Wait a minute!” exclaimed the fireman. “I have an idea. Here!” he called to a funny-looking boy who just then came into the fire-house. “Jiggily, will you please take these children home, so they won’t get lost? I put out a chimney fire in their house to-day, and they came here to thank me. You take them home. You know where the Trippertrot house is, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” said the funny boy. “I can take them home, all right, and I’ll be glad to do it.”

“Then I can go to this other fire,” said the fireman, and away he ran, like Tom-Tom the piper’s son, waving his hand to the children as he hurried along the street.

“Come on, little ones!” called the funny boy. “I’ll see you safely home.”

“Is your name Jiggily?” asked Mary, and she didn’t quite know whether she liked the funny boy or not, for he was very funny-looking.

He had on a funny suit, partly green and partly yellow, and his nose was stubby and short and turned up at the end, as if it was always trying to fly up to the stars; but the boy looked kind, and he was always laughing or smiling.

“Yes, my name is Jiggily,” he said to Mary, as they all walked out of the fire-engine house.

“Haven’t you any other name?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, yes, of course,” answered the funny boy. “My other name is Jig; so you see my whole name is Jiggily Jig.”

“How did you get that name?” inquired Johnny.

“Why, they call me that because I can dance a jig,” said the funny boy. “Would you like to see me?”

“Indeed we would,” spoke all the Trippertrot children together, and then and there that funny boy did a funny little dance in front of the fire-engine house. And a little black poodle dog that was running past in the street saw him, and would you ever believe it, if I didn’t tell you? but that dog tried to dance just as Jiggily Jig was doing.

But, bless you, all of a sudden the doggie slipped on a piece of banana skin, and he almost fell down. He would have, too, only Jiggily Jig caught him by the tail and stood him on his feet again--on the dog’s feet, you understand, not those of Jiggily Jig--which shows you that you must never, never throw banana skins on the sidewalk, as they are very slippery.

“Oh, that was a very nice dance,” said Mary, who went to dancing school sometimes.

“Can you do anything else?” asked Tommy, and he wished the funny boy would come and live with them.

“Yes, I can whistle on my fingers,” said Jiggily Jig. So he put his fingers in between his lips, just as if he was going to eat a piece of pie, only, of course, he didn’t really have any pie, or cake, either, and then the funny boy whistled as loudly as an automobile horn can toot.

“Oh, my!” cried Mary, and she had to put her hands over her ears, because Jiggily Jig whistled so loudly.

“My, that was fine!” cried Johnny and Tommy, who wished they could whistle that way.

“Can you do anything else?” asked Johnny.

“Yes. I can stand on my head and wiggle my feet in the air,” answered Jiggily Jig; and before anybody could stop him, even if they had wanted to, which, of course, they didn’t, that funny boy was standing on his head in front of the engine-house, and he was waving his feet in the air, as easily as a baby can wiggle its pink toes.

“Oh, that’s great!” cried Tommy and Johnny together.

“Yes; I’m going to try it,” said Johnny.

“No! You mustn’t!” exclaimed his sister. “You might slip, and get dirty.”

“Yes, and you might slip and also get hurt,” said Jiggily Jig. “The best place to try that trick, until you learn how, is safely at home, in the middle of the bed. Then, if you fall, you won’t get hurt.”

“I’m going to do it as soon as I get home,” said Johnny.

“Do you know any more tricks?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, my gracious goodness me sakes alive!” cried Mary, shaking her finger at her brothers and the funny boy. “Please don’t show them any more tricks, or we’ll never get home to-day. Can’t you take us home now, Jiggily Jig?”

“Oh, yes,” answered the funny boy. “I forgot where we were going. Come along, little ones.”

So along the street they went, the Trippertrots and Jiggily Jig. But they couldn’t go very fast, because every once in a while Jiggily Jig would have to stop and dance, and, of course, he couldn’t walk then. And sometimes he would whistle on his fingers, and all the dogs in all the streets for half a mile around would think he was whistling at them, and they’d come running up, wagging their tails; and, of course, when there were a whole lot of dogs around them the children couldn’t walk at all.

And then, again, Jiggily Jig would stand on his head, and that would make a crowd of people come around; and then, too, the Trippertrots couldn’t walk on through the crowd.

“Oh, we’ll never get home, at this rate!” said Mary, and she felt a little bit like crying, for she thought her mamma would be in the house by this time, and would worry because her little children weren’t home.

“Yes, we will soon be there,” said Jiggily Jig, as he looked around to see if he could locate the Trippertrot house. But he couldn’t yet discover where it was.

“I think it must be around the next corner,” said the funny boy at last. “Come on. We will soon be there.”

Well, they turned the corner, but still the Trippertrot home wasn’t in sight, and even Tommy and Johnny were beginning to be worried now, when, all of a sudden, they saw coming toward them a man pushing a little wagon on two wheels, and on the wagon were a lot of pies; and behind the man was another queer-looking boy, almost like Jiggily Jig.

“Oh! Who is that?” cried Mary.

“Why, the man pushing the wagon is a pieman,” said Jiggily Jig.

“And who is the boy?” asked Johnny.

“Why, that is Simple Simon,” answered Jiggily Jig. “You know he used to be in Mother Goose’s book. ‘Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair. Said Simple Simon to the pieman, let me taste your ware.’ That’s who the boy is.”

“Oh, how glad I am to meet them!” cried Mary.

“And is the pieman going to a fair or circus?” asked Johnny.

“No, he is just coming back, because the circus is over!” exclaimed Simple Simon. “But he’s got lots of pies left. Hey, Jiggily Jig!” called Simple Simon to the funny boy. “Let’s see who can turn the most somersaults.”

And then those two funny boys began turning somersaults down the street, going over and over, faster and faster, and getting farther and farther away from the Trippertrots.

“Oh, he’s gone--Jiggily Jig is gone, and we’ll never get home!” cried Mary.

“Never mind,” said the kind pieman, “I think I can take you home. Come with me.”

ADVENTURE NUMBER ELEVEN

THE TRIPPERTROTS AND THE PIEMAN

The Trippertrot children stood on the sidewalk, looking after Jiggily Jig, the funny boy, and Simple Simon, turning somersaults. Then the Trippertrot children looked at the pieman.

“Whatever shall we do?” asked Mary. “Oh, I wish we had never left the house when mamma told us not to! What shall we do?”

“Go with the pieman, of course,” answered Johnny.

“Yes, and maybe he’ll give us each a pie, and mamma or Suzette could pay him when he gets to our house. I’m very hungry,” spoke Tommy.

“So am I,” said Johnny.

“And I guess I am also,” added Mary.

“Why, bless your hearts!” exclaimed the kind pieman. “Hungry, eh? That will never do! I can’t bear to see hungry children. Step right up to the pie wagon, and help yourselves. I have apple pie, peach pie, lemon pie, cocoanut pie, orange pie, cranberry pie, and even sawdust pie, but I wouldn’t like to give you any of that last. Sawdust pie is very hard to eat.”

“Who does eat sawdust pie?” asked Mary, wondering what it looked like.

“Oh, sawdust pie is for sawdust dolls,” said the pieman. “I make it especially for them. That’s really the only thing they can eat. But what kind would you children like--lemon, peach, custard----”

“Oh, I just love custard pie!” interrupted Johnny, smacking his lips.

“So do I!” cried Tommy.

“And mamma says it’s very good for us,” added Mary.

“Only--only,” spoke Tommy slowly, “we haven’t any money to pay you with just now, Mr. Pieman.”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter in the least,” spoke the kind pieman, winking both his eyes, one after the other.

“But when Simple Simon wanted to taste of your pies you made him show you first his penny,” said Johnny.

“And he didn’t have any,” added Mary.

“Oh, but _that_ was Simple Simon,” said the pieman, with a laugh. “He’s different, Simon is. Why, he’d eat every pie on my wagon if I didn’t make him show me his penny every now and then. And sometimes he loses it, and then he can’t have any pie for a week. But I don’t want any money from you Trippertrot children.”

“What kind of pie does Simple Simon like best?” asked Tommy, as he went close up to the pie wagon, and saw that there were several large custard pies on it.