As Ted came nearer he saw a man on top of the dirt, using a shovel.
The man was digging quickly, and at first Teddy thought it was one of
the tramps. But a second look showed him he was wrong. And then came a
glad surprise, for the man called:
"I'll have him out in a minute. He isn't under very deep!"
"Why it's the lollypop man!" cried Jan.
And so it was, Mr. Sander, the jolly, fat man who sold waffles and
lollypops.
"Is Trouble in the hole? Are you digging him out?" gasped Mrs. Martin,
and she felt as though she were going to faint, she said afterward.
"No! Trouble isn't here--I mean he isn't in the hole!" cried Mr.
Sander. "It's your goat, Nicknack, who's buried under the sand. But
his nose is sticking out so he won't smother, and I'll soon have him
all the way out."
"But where is Trouble?" cried Baby William's mother.
"There he is, safe and sound, tied to a tree so he can't get in the
way of the dirt I'm shoveling out. I didn't want to throw sand in his
eyes!" cried the lollypop man. "Trouble is all right!"
And so the little fellow was, though he had been crying, perhaps from
fright, and his face was tear-streaked and dirty. But he was safe.
With a glad cry his mother loosed the rope by which Mr. Sander had
carefully tied Trouble to a near-by tree and gathered him up in her
arms.
Meanwhile Grandpa Martin caught up one of the shovels and began to
help the lollypop man dig in the sand.
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