Three little Trippertrots on their travels

“How long do you suppose it will be before the two-humped camel gets here?” asked Mary, as she and her brothers waited in the street with the jolly sailor.

“I hope the elephant sends him along pretty soon,” said Johnny.

“I think I see something coming,” answered Tommy, slowly, and then, all of a sudden, they all heard a queer voice singing:

“Oh, I do believe that’s our camel!” cried Mary, in delight.

“I’m sure it is,” said Tommy.

“And I’m glad it is,” added Johnny, for now he was as hungry as his brother, and wanted to get home to supper.

“Avast and belay there!” called the sailor, in his jolly voice. “Are you the camel which the kind elephant was to send to take the Trippertrots and me back home?”

“I am that very self-same individual and particular camel,” was the answer, for, you see, the camel could talk just like the elephant, only not so much through his nose. And then he came closer, and my! how big and tall he was! and what a long, funny curve there was to his neck. But what the children liked best of all was to see on his back, between his humps, a little house, with long, soft, warm red curtains all around it, and inside a red lamp was burning, and it looked just as nice and warm and cosy as it could be.

“Oh, won’t we have fun going home in that!” cried Tommy.

“Won’t we just, though!” said Johnny, jumping up and down.

“Why, it’s just like a cabin in a ship,” the sailor declared. “This is just fine!”

“Oh, but look how high up it is!” cried Mary. “I never can climb up there—never—never! And there is no ladder!”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said the two-humped camel, kindly. “I will show you how you can get in the little house on my back with no more trouble than it is to wash your face. Are you all ready to start for home?”

“Oh, yes!” said all the Trippertrot children at once.

And then the camel gave a grunt, and he knelt down in the street, and that made his back come quite low, and the little house with the red lamp and the red curtains was near enough so that the jolly sailor could lift up Mary and Tommy and Johnny into it.

“Now, hold fast!” cried the camel, “for it sort of jiggles one about, when I get up off my knees. Hold fast.”

Inside the house were some benches, and a little table, and the children and the sailor held fast to the benches. And it is a good thing they did, or they might have fallen out, for the camel nearly stood on his head when he got up off his knees.

“Now, here we go,” called the camel, and off he started for the Trippertrot home, swinging along with big strides.

And then, all of a sudden, the children, who had drawn the curtains of the little red house close together, so they couldn’t see outside—all at once, I say, they heard some one shout:

“Hold on, stop, if you please! I’d like to come up there!”

“Shall I stop?” asked the camel, of the jolly sailorman, turning his long neck around so he could look into the little house on his back.

“Well, who wants to come up here?” inquired Mary.

“If it’s Jiggily Jig, or the pieman, or Simple Simon, let them come,” added Johnny.

“Especially if it’s the pieman,” spoke Tommy, “for I would love a pie now.”

“It isn’t any of them,” said the camel, as he stopped and looked at the person who had called to him. “It’s the old fisherman. Do you want him to come up?”

“Oh, yes,” cried all the children at once, “and perhaps he can fish up something for us to eat,” added Tommy, who was getting hungrier and hungrier.

“Very well,” answered the camel, “come on up, Mr. Fisherman.”

“My! how nice and cosy it is here!” cried the old fisherman. “And how glad I am to see you all! Isn’t it fine to ride on a camel?”

“It is,” agreed Johnny.

“And it would be nicer if we had something to eat,” put in Tommy.

“Well, we will soon be at your house,” spoke the camel, “but if you can’t wait, why, perhaps the old fisherman can catch something for you. He catches such odd things when he fishes.”

“Will you please try?” asked Mary, of the old fisherman.

“To be sure I will,” he said, kindly. So he took a piece of clothes-line, and his hammock-hook, which wasn’t sharp enough to hurt any one, and he dangled it out of the little house, over the side of the camel. And then, all of a sudden, he pulled it up, and there, fast to the hook, were a lot of nice pies.

“Here you are!” cried the old fisherman, as he passed the pies around.

“Oh, dear! Who took my pies? Who took my pies?” suddenly cried a voice down on the ground.

“It’s the pieman, and Simple Simon is with him,” spoke the camel. “Your hook went right into his basket of pies, old fisherman, and you hooked up some.”

“Who took my pies? Who took my pies?” cried the pieman, once more.

“I did, for the Trippertrot children,” answered the old fisherman, sticking his head out between the curtains of the little house. “Is that all right?”

“Oh, yes, surely,” answered the pieman. “The Trippertrots can have all my pies they want for nothing. Good-by, I have to go home to bake some more. Good-by.”

So he and Simple Simon hurried away, and the Trippertrots and the jolly sailor and the old fisherman in the little house on the camel’s back ate the pies, and the camel ate some, too, and then he ran as fast as anything, and in a little while he was at the Trippertrot house, and the runaway children were safely home at last. And, oh! how glad their papa and mamma and Suzette were to see them. And they thanked the old fisherman, and the jolly sailor, and the camel, for taking such good care of the little ones.

Then the two-humped camel went back to see the elephant do tricks in the theatre.

And now I think I have told you enough stories of the three little Trippertrots for this book, but if you should happen to want any more I believe I can write them for you. Mind, I’m not saying for sure, but I might, and if I do, they will be in the third book, which will be called “Three Little Trippertrots and Their Winter Fun.” And I will tell how they built a snow fort, how they went sliding down hill, how they chased after an airship, and did many other queer things.

But, for a while, we will bid them good-by, for they are very tired from their many Christmas adventures and must go to bed.

THE END