rprise, for the man called:

"I'll have him out in a minute. He isn't under very deep!"

"Why it's the lollypop man!" cried Jan.

And so it was, Mr. Sander, the jolly, fat man who sold waffles and
lollypops.

"Is Trouble in the hole? Are you digging him out?" gasped Mrs. Martin,
and she felt as though she were going to faint, she said afterward.

"No! Trouble isn't here--I mean he isn't in the hole!" cried Mr. Sander.
"It's your goat, Nicknack, who's buried under the sand. But his nose is
sticking out so he won't smother, and I'll soon have him all the way
out."

"But where is Trouble?" cried Baby William's mother.

"There he is, safe and sound, tied to a tree so he can't get in the way
of the dirt I'm shoveling out. I didn't want to throw sand in his eyes!"
cried the lollypop man. "Trouble is all right!"

And so the little fellow was, though he had been crying, perhaps from
fright, and his face was tear-streaked and dirty. But he was safe.

With a glad cry his mother loosed the rope by which Mr. Sander had
carefully tied Trouble to a near-by tree and gathered him up in her
arms.

Meanwhile Grandpa Martin caught up one of the shovels and began to help
the lollypop man dig in the sand. The Curlytops and Hal saw what had
happened. A lot of the dirt they had shoveled out had slid back into the
big hole, almost filling it. And caught under this dirt was Nicknack,
their goat. Only the black tip of his nose stuck out, and it is a good
thing this much of him was uncovered, or he might have smothered under
the sand.

"How did it happen?" asked Ted.

"There must have been a cave-in at our gold mine," said Hal.

"But how did Nicknack get here?" Ted went on.

"I guess Trouble must have untied him and brought him here," suggested
Janet.

Then they all watched while Grandpa Martin and the lollypop man dug out
the goat.

"Baa-a-a-a-a!" bleated Nicknack as he scrambled out after most of the
sand had been shoveled off his back. "Baa-a-a-a!"

"My! I guess he's glad to get out!" cried Ted.

"I guess so!" agreed the lollypop man. "I got here just as the dirt
caved in on him, and I began to dig as soon as I tied Trouble out of the
way so he'd be safe."

"But how did you come to be here?" asked Grandpa Martin.

"And how did our goat get here?" asked Janet.

"I saw Trouble leading him along by the strap on his horns," explained
Mr. Sander. "I guess he must have taken him out of his stable when you
folks weren't lo