Part 6

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?”