repared to get out of the
machine, which had now come to a stop. "I must have run over a sharp
stone or a broken bottle."

"No, it wasn't the tire," said Janet, and she laughed. "It was Trouble's
toy balloon. He blew it up too big and it burst."

"That's what it was! And a piece of the rubber hit me in the eye!"
laughed Ted.

"My 'loon all gone!" wailed William.

"So that's what it was--a burst toy balloon," said Daddy Martin. "Well,
I'm glad it wasn't one of my tires."

"So am I," said Mother Martin. "It is too hot to have to change a tire
to-day. Besides, I'm in a hurry to get to Uncle Toby's and see what it is
he wants us to take charge of while he is away. I hope he doesn't go
until we get there."

"You never can tell what Uncle Toby is going to do," said Mr. Martin,
smiling, now that he knew he had no tire to change. "And so you burst
your toy balloon, did you, Trouble? Well, I'll have to get you another,
but not while we're on this auto ride. I don't want to be frightened
again, and I might be if you blew up another balloon and it burst."

"I didn't know he had one with him," remarked Mrs. Martin, as Trouble
looked sadly at what was left of his toy.

"I didn't either," Janet said. "All of a sudden he took it out of his
pocket and began to blow it up."

"I was makin' be'eve it were a wed soap bubbles," explained Trouble.

"Well, soap bubbles or not, it burst," said Teddy. "It sure did make a
noise! But now we can go on. I want to see if Uncle Toby is going to
leave any guns."

"And I want a spinning wheel," Janet murmured. "But you can't take it to
play steamboat with," she told her brother.

"I shan't want it if I have a gun!" retorted Ted.

"Now, children, be nice," begged their mother.

Daddy Martin started the automobile again, first getting out to look at
the four tires, to make sure none was flat, punctured or burst. They were
all round, plump and as fat as big bologna sausages.

"Now we go to Uncle Toby. Maybe I get a kittie cat!" said Trouble, when
he decided to smile after feeling so bad about his burst balloon.

"A kittie cat!" exclaimed Janet. "Why, we have a lovely cat, Trouble.
Don't you like Turnover?"

"Yep! But I 'ikes a kittie cat, too. Maybe Uncle Toby hab one for me!"

"Probably Uncle Toby is too old a man to bother with pet cats," said Mrs.
Martin.

But it only goes to show that you never know what is going to happen in
this world--sometimes you don't even know what you a