NICKNACK IS GONE
Daddy Martin and Uncle Frank came running from the snow tunnel. Each one carried a shovel, for while the Curlytops' father had been digging away at the snow with his shovel, Uncle Frank had used the other to pile into the basket the loosened heap of white flakes.
"What's the matter?" asked Janet's father as he looked at her. "Why did you call me?"
"'Cause Teddy's in a big drift—down there!" she answered, pointing.
"Yes, he really did jump down there, and the snow was so soft that he went all the way through," added Aunt Jo.
"Then we must get him out in a hurry!" cried Uncle Frank. "Come on, Dick! This will be a new kind of digging for us."
"I should say so!" exclaimed Mr. Martin.
The two men ran toward the big drift, but when they got close they walked more carefully, for they did not want to make more snow fall in on top of Teddy through the hole he left when he jumped into the big drift.
"Are you down there, Son?" asked Mr. Martin, leaning over the hole and calling to the little boy.
Janet began to cry. She was afraid she would never see her brother again, and she loved him very much.
"Don't cry," said Uncle Frank kindly. "Well get Teddy out all right. Did he answer you?" he inquired of Daddy Martin.
"Not yet, but I guess——"
Just then a voice seemed to call from under their very feet.
"Here I am!" it said. "Down in a big pile of snow. Say, can you get me out? Every time I wiggle more snow falls in on top of me!"
"We'll get you out all right, Ted!" shouted his father. "Just keep as still as you can. Can you breathe all right?"
"Yep!" came back the answer, as if from far away.
Then Daddy Martin and Uncle Frank began to dig in the big drifts with their shovels, while Aunt Jo and Janet looked on. As yet Mrs. Martin and Nora knew nothing about what had happened, nor did Trouble.
"But it's of no use to tell your mother and frighten her, Janet," said Aunt Jo. "They'll have Teddy dug out in a minute, and then he can tell her himself what happened to him, and we'll all have a good laugh over it."
"Won't he smother?" asked Janet.
"Oh, no," answered Aunt Jo. "Falling under snow isn't like falling under water. There is a little air in snow but not any in water—at least not any we can breathe, though a fish can. But still if a person was kept under heavily packed snow too long he would smother, I suppose. However, that won't happen to Teddy. They're getting to him."
Uncle Frank and Daddy Martin were tossing the snow away from the drift by big shovelfuls. In a little while they had dug down to where Teddy stood in a little hollow place he had scooped out for himself with his hands. He was covered with snow, but was not hurt, for falling in the big drift, he said, was like tumbling into a feather bed—the kind Trouble had once cut up when he was at his grandmother's on Cherry Farm.
"Well, how in the world did you get down there?" asked Teddy's father, when the little boy was lifted up safe on the path again, and the snow had mostly been brushed from him.
"I—I just jumped," Teddy answered. "I wanted to see how far I could go and I didn't think about that being the edge of the terrace."
For the big drift was on the edge of a terrace, where the front lawn was raised up from the rest of the yard. So the drift was deeper than any of the other piles of snow around it.
"However, you're not hurt as far as I can see," went on Mr. Martin. "But please don't go in any more drifts. Uncle Frank and I won't have time to dig you out, for we must keep at work on the tunnel."
"Isn't it finished yet?" asked Aunt Jo.
"No. And I don't believe it will be to-night. It's getting late now and we can't work much longer. It's going to snow more, too," added the father of the Curlytops as he looked up at the sky, from the gray clouds of which more white flakes were falling.
"Can't we go into the tunnel?" asked Teddy, who did not seem much frightened by what had happened to him.
"Well, yes, I s'pose you could go in a little way," his father answered. "We won't do any more digging to-night," he said to Uncle Frank.
"No, but we'd better put some boards in front of the hole we have dug to keep it from filling with snow in the night."
"Yes, we'll do that," said Mr. Martin.
The two men led the way to the tunnel, in which they had been digging most of the day. Aunt Jo, Teddy and Janet followed. At the window, one of the few out of which she could look into the big storm, Mrs. Martin motioned for the Curlytops to come in. Daddy waved his hand and called that he would bring them in as soon as he had showed them the tunnel.
The Curlytops thought this a wonderful place. They had been through railroad tunnels, but they were black and smoky. This snow tunnel was clean and white, not a speck of dirt being in it. Though it was cut through a great, white drift it was getting dark inside, for the sun was not shining, and night was coming.
"Wouldn't this be a dandy place to play?" cried Ted.
"Fine," answered Janet. "Nicer than our snow bungalow. When can we dig out to our bungalow?" she asked her father.
"Oh, in a day or two, I presume. It's pretty well covered with snow, and we must first see that the horse and cow are all right. It will be time enough to think of play after we have done that."
"And we've got to feed and water Nicknack, too," added Janet.
"Yes, we mustn't forget your goat," laughed Uncle Frank.
"Did you leave him any hay and water?" asked Daddy Martin.
"I did," Teddy answered. "I put a lot of hay where he could get it and some water to drink in a pail."
"Well, then maybe he'll have enough until we can dig our way out to him," said Mr. Martin. "But it isn't going to be easy. This has been a terrible storm, and I'm afraid it's going to be worse. I hope the poor of our town have coal enough to keep warm and enough food to eat. Being snowed in is no fun when one has to freeze and starve."
Teddy and Janet were glad they were so comfortable. They, too, hoped no one was suffering, and if they had known that not far away a poor boy was in great distress they would not have slept as well as they did that night. But they did not know until afterward, when they found out the secret about the snow bungalow.
"Well, come on out now," called Daddy Martin, as the Curlytops were looking at the snow tunnel. "It's time to go in. You've been out in the cold long enough."
"It is very cold," agreed Aunt Jo. "I'm just beginning to notice it."
Into the warm house they went, stamping and brushing off the snow that clung to them. As they gathered about the supper table, which was well filled with good things to eat, Nora came in to say that it was snowing again.
"I thought it would," remarked Daddy Martin. "We surely must finish that snow tunnel to-morrow," he said to Uncle Frank. "We may need the horse to help us break a way to the road."
"And we'll need more milk to-morrow," said Mother Martin.
That evening, as they sat in their warm house playing games and listening to the crackling of the corn which Aunt Jo popped, the Curlytops were very thankful for the nice home they had to stay in.
"How the wind blows!" cried Aunt Jo as she took the children up to bed.
"Is it snowing yet?" asked Teddy.
"I can't see," his aunt answered. "It's so dark and the snow covers the windows. But I wouldn't be surprised if it were. The storm is not over yet. I guess you children will have all the snow you want for once."
"We can have rides downhill for a long while," remarked Janet.
"And make snow men and snow forts and snowballs as much as we like," added Teddy.
All night long the storm raged again. The wind blew and the snow came down, but not as hard as it had the night before. If it had, there is no telling what would have happened. The Curlytops would have been snowed in worse than they were.
But it was bad enough, as they saw when they awakened and looked out the next morning. That is they tried to look out, but it was little indeed that they could see. For some of the windows from which they had had a glimpse of the outer world the day before were completely covered now.
"We'll have to do some digging to get to the opening of the tunnel," said Daddy Martin to Uncle Frank, "and we'll have to dig all day to get to the barn. But we've got to do it."
"That's right!" agreed Uncle Frank.
"Couldn't I help?" asked Teddy.
"No, I'm afraid not, Curlytop," answered his father. "It's pretty hard work for us men."
"But will you let me go out and see Nicknack as soon as you dig to his stable?" the little boy asked.
"I'll see about it—if the snow isn't too deep," his father replied.
"I want to come, too!" added Janet.
"Well, maybe you can," said Uncle Frank. "We'll see."
Then, after they had had a warm breakfast, the two men started the digging again. Teddy and Janet could not see them because they were so far inside the tunnel. And as the Curlytops could not be out to play they had to amuse themselves as best they could in the house.
Aunt Jo played with them and Trouble. Baby William was the hardest to amuse, as he was very active. He wanted to run about and do everything, and two or three times, when they looked for him, they found he had slipped away and was out in the kitchen, teasing Nora to let him make a cake.
It was well on in the afternoon when there came a stamping and pounding in the back entry.
"Oh, there's daddy and Uncle Frank knocking the snow off their feet!" exclaimed Janet.
"Maybe they've been out to the barn," said her brother.
"And maybe they've brought Nicknack in," added Janet.
The Curlytops ran to the kitchen, not stopping to wait for Trouble, who cried to be taken along. There in the entry, brushing the snow from them and stamping it from their boots, were Daddy Martin and Uncle Frank.
"Did you get to the barn?" inquired Teddy.
"Yes, we got there all right."
"And is our horse and cow all right?" Janet inquired.
"Yes, they're all right, and were glad to see us."
"Did you see our goat?" cried Teddy next.
"No, we haven't dug out to his stable yet. We're going to in a minute," said Daddy Martin.
"We thought we'd come in and get you two Curlytops and take you out to see Jim and the cow," added Uncle Frank.
"It isn't snowing quite as hard as it was, and it isn't quite so cold. We thought it might do the children good, for they've been cooped up all day," the children's father explained to his wife.
"So they have, but they haven't fretted much, except Trouble, and he didn't know any better. All right, take them out and then come in. We'll have an early supper. I do hope the storm will be over by to-morrow."
"I think it surely will," her husband said.
Teddy and Janet were soon warmly bundled up and were taken out of doors by their father and uncle. The keen wind cut their faces and the snowflakes blew in their eyes, but they liked it.
Through the snow tunnel they were carried to the barn door, which was open. It opened right into the snow tunnel, and inside was a lantern, for the barn was dark, being more than half covered with snow and there being only one or two windows in it.
Jim, the horse, whinnied when he heard his friends come in, and the cow mooed.
"They're glad to see us," said Janet.
"Yes, I guess they are," laughed her father. "I'm going to milk the cow. Then we'll shake down some hay for her and Jim, and give them more water, too. I'm glad the pump wasn't frozen."
So while Daddy Martin milked the cow, Uncle Frank tossed down hay from the mow upstairs in the barn and pumped some water.
"And now can't we get Nicknack?" asked Teddy, when a foaming pail of milk was ready to be carried to the house.
"Yes, I think so," answered his father.
"I called to him but he didn't answer," said Janet.
"I'll soon dig a way to Nicknack's place," said Uncle Frank, and he started at a point where the tunnel ran to the barn door. It did not take him long, with the big shovel, to clear a place so that the door to Nicknack's stable was free, for the drifts were not so deep on this side of the barn.
"Now for the goat!" cried Daddy Martin. "Stand back, Curlytops, and let Uncle Frank go first."
Uncle Frank, holding the lantern over his head, entered the goat's stable. He stood still for a few seconds.
"Is he all right?" asked Teddy anxiously.
"Well, I can't see him at all," Uncle Frank answered.
"You can't see him?" echoed Mr. Martin.
"No, Nicknack isn't here. He's gone!"