Read Ebook: The Curlytops in the Woods; Or Fun at the Lumber Camp by Garis Howard Roger Greene Julia Illustrator

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Ebook has 356 lines and 13277 words, and 8 pages

a crow," he answered a moment later. "But how do you know he is Mr. Jenk's?"

"Because! Look how he stands!" answered Janet.

As she spoke the woodpecker tapped again.

Tap! Tap! Tappity-tap-tap! Rat-a-tat! went the hard bill of the woodpecker on the hollow limb of a tree. It was like a distant little drum.

And as surely as Ted and Janet looked, to say nothing of Trouble peering up into the trees--as surely as the children looked, when the sound of the woodpecker's bill echoed through the woods, the crow stood on one leg. At least it seemed so to the children.

"Look! Look!" cried Janet. "He's standing on one leg just like Mr. Jenk's crow used to do!"

"And he has the other leg sticking out," added Ted. "Janet, I believe this is the tame crow!" he exclaimed. "But how did it ever get away up here in the woods?"

"I don't know," answered his sister.

The woodpecker kept on tapping, for that was his way of getting something to eat--bugs and worms that he pulled out of holes he drilled in the rotten wood of the tree. The woodpecker cared nothing about the crow.

And as the woodpecker tapped the crow still stood on one leg, with the other, as nearly as the children could see, stuck out to one side, stiff and straight.

"That surely is Mr. Jenk's crow!" declared Janet.

"If he'd only pop like a cork coming from a bottle we'd be certain," said Teddy. "Then I'd get him."

"How can you get him?" Janet wanted to know.

"I'll climb the tree!" cried Teddy. "I can do it!"

He started toward the tree, but just then Janet cried:

"Look! I think he's going to pop!" She meant that the crow might be going to imitate the pulling of a cork from a bottle. "He's got his mouth open," went on Janet.

Teddy, too, saw this, and he was beginning to make very sure that it was Mr. Jenk's crow when suddenly, as the black bird had his mouth open, there sounded at some distance in the woods the cry of:

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

It was another crow hoarsely calling, and as the noise came to the crow that was standing on one leg, he gave forth an answering:

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

"Oh, dear!" cried Janet as she heard this. "He was just going to pop the cork when that other crow hollered and made him holler. But I'm sure it was Mr. Jenk's lame, tame crow, Ted."

"I think so, too. Anyhow, I'll go up the tree and get him!"

Why Teddy thought he could climb a tree and catch the crow I can't tell you. Certainly if the boy had been a bit older, or if he had stopped to think, he would have known that a bird that can fly and hop cannot be caught by some one climbing a tree after it.

And that's just what happened to Teddy. No sooner did he start to climb the tree than again the cawing sounded distantly in the woods. It was answered by the crow who was still standing on one leg. And then this black bird that the Curlytops were watching suddenly put both claws down on the limb.

An instant later he spread out his wings and soared away, flying off through the trees.

"Oh, he's gone!" sighed Janet.

"Maybe I can watch where he goes!" cried her brother.

He ran forward through the trees, but a crow can fly much faster than a small boy can run--or even a large boy for that matter--and soon the black bird was lost to sight.

"Oh, well, maybe he'll come back," said Janet, trying to comfort her brother.

"I hope he does," said Teddy. "I'd like to get that ten dollars. I'm sure it was Mr. Jenk's crow."

But when they told their father and mother about it Mr. and Mrs. Martin only laughed.

"It couldn't be the same crow that got away from our neighbor, Mr. Jenk," Mr. Martin said. "I don't believe it would fly up this far, though of course a crow that wasn't lame could fly many miles."

"But he stood on one leg, just like Mr. Jenk's tame crow used to when we snapped our fingers, or made a tapping sound," explained Ted.

"Yes, birds often stand on one leg," said his father. "And so do chickens. Lots of times I've seen one of our roosters stand on one leg with the other drawn up under his feathers to keep warm."

"Well, maybe it wasn't Mr. Jenk's crow, but it looked like him and it acted like him," decided Janet.

However, there was no help for it. The crow, whatever crow it might be, had flown away and might never be seen again. The Curlytops were a bit sad and disappointed for a while, but soon got over this feeling as there were so many things to do in the woods and so much fun to have in the lumber camp.

Ted had gotten all over his scare of being lost in the woods and of being followed by the bobcat. In fact he wanted to start out to try to hunt the lynx.

"We could easy catch him," he said to his father.

"I hardly think so," said Mr. Martin, with a smile. "A lynx is almost as shy as a fox unless he is trailing some animal he isn't afraid of."

"But he followed me," said Teddy.

"Well, it just wanted to see who you were," said the boy's father. "I don't believe the lynx would have jumped down on you to scratch or bite you. It was just curious."

Some of the lumbermen said the same thing, adding that not unless they were cornered would a bobcat attack a man. So Ted was really not in as much danger as he had tried to think he was. Still it was scary enough for the little chap.

Work at the lumber camp went on from day to day. Dozens of great trees were chopped down to be sawed up into boards. Quite a pile of sawdust was mounting near the mill now, and the children loved to play in this. They would climb to a point near the top of the pile. Then they would leap into it near the bottom and they could not get hurt because the sawdust was so soft.

However, it got into their shoes, so most of the time they played in the sawdust bare-footed. But it also got down inside their clothes and scratched them; so that every time they played in the sawdust pile they had to go in and take off their clothes, shaking them out to get rid of the ticklish, powdered wood particles. Still they thought this was part of the fun.

Once, when Trouble climbed to a higher point for the jumping off place than he had ever before been allowed to reach, and when he had jumped into the sawdust, Ted and Janet couldn't find him.

"Trouble! Trouble! Where are you?" cried Janet, looking down the sawdust slope for a sight of her small brother.

There was no answer and not a sign of him.

"Oh, Ted!" called Janet. "Trouble's gone!"

"He's down in the sawdust!" Ted answered. "He must have jumped into a hole and he's covered up. We'll have to dig him out!"

They did not wait to call or run for help, but, with their hands, began digging in the soft and fluffy pile. In a few seconds they had uncovered Trouble's head. He was all right, except that he was rather badly frightened. As Teddy had explained, Trouble had sunk down in a soft part of the sawdust pile, and more of the dust sliding down had covered him up.

"Are you hurt, Trouble?" asked Janet.

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