think."

"What made him go out?" asked Teddy.

"I think he got lonesome," laughed Uncle Frank. "He missed you two
Curlytops, and he wanted to come to see you."

"But where is he?" asked Janet.

"Oh, somewhere in the snow between here and the house," answered her
father. "Don't worry about Nicknack. He's able to take care of himself.
Maybe he'll be back in his stable in the morning."

Janet and Teddy were not at all sure of this, but they hoped it might
prove true. They liked their goat very much. He was a fine playfellow
for them.

"Let us call, Jan," suggested Ted. "Nicknack likes us, and maybe he'll
answer if we holler. You call first."

"All right," Jan responded. Then, at the top of her voice, she yelled:
"Nicknack, come here!"

Then Teddy shouted: "Nicknack! Oh, Nicknack!"

Then they all waited in silence, but heard nothing in reply to their
calls.

"Well, it's of no use to stay here any longer," said Daddy Martin, as
they stood looking at Nicknack's empty stable. "We'll leave everything
as it is and come here in the morning. It will be easy enough for us to
get out, now that we have the tunnel made."

"Yes, come on back to the house, and I'll tell you some stories about my
Western ranch," added Uncle Frank. "Some day I want you Curlytops to
come out there and have pony rides."

"Oh, can we?" cried Teddy.

"To be sure you can."

"And shall we get snowed in?" asked Janet.

"Well, not if I can help it. But come in the summer when there won't be
any snow. You'll like it out on my ranch in Montana."

The Curlytops were sure they would, and they were so anxious to hear
more about it and talk of getting pony rides among the cowboys that, for
the time, they forgot about Nicknack's trouble.

Back to the house they went, locking the stable door after seeing that
the horse and the cow had plenty to eat. Daddy Martin carried the pail
of milk, of which Trouble was to have his share, for he drank a great
deal of it.

"Nicknack's gone!" cried Teddy as they entered the house, after brushing
and shaking off the snow.

"Gone!" cried Mother Martin.

And then she and Aunt Jo were told what the Curlytops had discovered
when they went to the goat's stable.

"Well, maybe he'll come back," said Aunt Jo. "After supper I'll tell you
about a new bungalow I'm going to build at Ruby Lake, and I want you two
Curlytops to come to see me there."

"Oh, won't we have fun at Uncle Frank's ranch and Aunt Jo's bungalow!"