Teddy jumped up from his cot and ran
over to his mother, who was sitting up on her bed.
"Oh, Mother! It's coming in!" cried Teddy.
"Nonsense!" and Mrs. Martin laughed as she put her arms around her
small son.
"What is it?" asked Grandpa Martin from the curtained-off part of the
tent where he slept.
"It's a bear!" cried Janet.
Just then, from outside came a loud:
"Baa-a-a-a-a!"
Teddy looked very much surprised. Then he smiled. Then he laughed and
cried:
"Why, it's our goat Nicknack!"
"I guess that's what it is," added Grandpa Martin. "But he seems to be
in trouble. I'll go outside and look."
Taking a lantern with him, while Mrs. Martin and the children waited a
bit anxiously, Grandpa Martin went to see what had happened. The
Curlytops heard him laughing as they saw the flicker of his light
through the white tent. Then they heard Nicknack bleating again. The
goat seemed, to those inside, to be kicking about with his little
black hoofs.
"Whoa there, Nicknack!" called Grandpa Martin. "I'll soon get you
loose!"
There was more noise, more tramping in the bushes and then, after a
while, Grandpa Martin came back.
"What was it?" asked Ted and Jan in whispers, for their mother had
begged them not to awaken Trouble, who was still sleeping peacefully.
"It was your goat," was the answer. "He had got loose, and his horns
were caught between two trees where he had tried to jump.
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