be heard a
long way.

"Oh, Nicknack isn't here!" cried Jan, when she saw the empty place.
"Maybe he's run away, Ted."

"He must be on the island somewhere," said the little boy. "He can't row
a boat and get off, and he doesn't like to swim, I guess, though he did
fall into the water once."

"But where is he?" asked Janet.

"We'll look," Teddy said.

So the children peered about in the bushes, but not a sign of Nicknack
could they see. They called and called, but the goat did not bleat back
to them.

"Oh, where can he be?" asked Janet, and her eyes filled with tears, for
she loved the pet animal very much.

"We'll look," said Teddy. "And if we can't find him we'll ask grandpa to
help us look."

They wandered about, but not going too far from the leafy bower, and,
all at once, Ted cried:

"Hark! I hear him!"

"So do I!" added Janet. "Oh, where is he?"

"Listen!" returned her brother.

They both listened, hardly breathing, so as to make as little noise as
possible. Once more they heard the cry of the goat:

"Baa-a-a-a-a-a!" went Nicknack. "Baa-a-a-a!"

"He's over this way!" cried Teddy, and he started to run to the left.

"No, I think he's here," and Janet pointed to the right.

"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Mrs. Martin, who came out just
then to see what was keeping the children.

"We can hear Nicknack, but we can't see him," answered Ted.

Mrs. Martin listened to the goat's call.

"I think he's down this path," she said, and she took one midway between
those Ted and Janet would have taken. "Come along!" she called back to
the two children. "We'll soon find Nicknack."

"Here, Nicknack! Here, Nicknack!" called Ted.

"Come on, we want you to give us a ride!" added Janet.

But though the goat answered, as he nearly always did, his voice sounded
afar off, and he did not come running to see his little friends.

"Oh, I wonder if anything is the matter with him?" asked Ted.

"We'll soon see," said Mrs. Martin.

Just then the barking of a dog was heard.

"Oh, I wonder if that's Skyrocket?" asked Janet.

"No, we left our dog home," said Mrs. Martin. "That sounds like a
strange dog, and he seems to be barking at Nicknack. Come on, children.
We'll see what the matter is!"

They hurried on, and, in a little while, they saw what had happened.
Nicknack was caught in a thick bush by the rope around his horns. He had
pulled the rope loose from his leafy bower, and it had dragged along
after