CHAPTER VIII
ANOTHER LOSS
Mr. Keller stood still near the spot where he had pulled his wife to herfeet. With sharp eyes he looked all about the sand.
"What you all doin'?" asked Trouble, who had wandered off down the beachand who now came running back. "Is you all makin' a hole for a nellifuntto get a drink?"
"No, Trouble!" answered Janet.
"Don't come here, little man! Stay where you are a few minutes!" calledMr. Keller.
"What's matter?" William wanted to know, for he seemed to feel thatsomething had happened.
"Mrs. Keller has lost her ring," explained Ted.
"And I think the best way to find it will be to look about on the sandbefore it is trampled down out of sight," added Mr. Keller. He wanted toexplain to the children.
"Please don't any one move," he begged, as, after another look allaround where his wife had been sitting, he stepped a little to one sideso that he might look behind her. "All of you keep still!"
"Is you all playin' a game?" asked Trouble, who did not seem quite tounderstand what had happened.
"Yes, it's a sort of game," answered Janet, for Mrs. Keller was feelingtoo sad to answer and her husband was busy looking about. Janet thoughtthis was the best way of making Trouble stand still. And so it proved,for he said:
"Aw right! I stay here an' play game. Has it got a nellifunt in it?" hewanted to know.
"No, dear, no elephant," answered Mrs. Keller, with a sigh. "I shouldhope not," she went on. "If an elephant trampled over the sand I shouldnever see my dear wedding ring again. Oh, I don't see how it dropped offwithout my noticing it at once."
"Don't worry! We'll get it back for you right away!" said her husband."It must be lying right on top of the sand. That's why I don't want anyof you to walk around, because you might step on it," he told Janet andTed. "I can watch where I set my feet so I won't tread on it."
He looked about carefully, casting his eyes over every inch of sand in acircle about his wife. She, too, looked as well as she could in front ofher, but Mr. Keller moved all around her.
"I don't see it," he said, at last. "Suppose you three walk away fromthe spot, in a straight line, looking wherever you set your feet to makesure you don't step on the ring," he said.
"Do you mean us?" asked Ted.
"Yes, you and your sister."
"What about Trouble?" asked Janet.
"You go over where he is and stay by him. Then he won't trample over thespots I want to search," Mr. Keller answered.
The Curlytops walked carefully, looking at each spot of sand beforeputting down their feet. But they did not see the ring, though they werevery anxious to find it. Mrs. Keller's face looked so sad. Tears werecoming from her eyes now. And the Curlytops were sure she would behappier if her wedding ring could be found.
But though Mr. Keller looked and looked again he did not find it. Hiswife and the children were now away from the spot where it was supposedthe gold band had been dropped in the sand. But the wedding circle wasnot in sight, or it would have been picked up.
"Well, I don't see it," said Mr. Keller, with a sigh. "Now I shall haveto begin poking in the sand."
"Poke very carefully," urged his wife, "or you may cover it so deeplythat it will never be seen."
"I'll be careful," he promised. "I'm sorry to keep you childrenwaiting," he added; "but I'll soon be with you, Ted, and help you makethat sand-mill wheel."
"Oh, I don't mind waiting," answered the Curlytop boy politely. "Don'tyou want me to help hunt for the ring?" he asked.
"Thank you, but I think it better that I search alone for a while," Mr.Keller replied. "While extra pairs of eyes are valuable, too many feetmight do damage. I think I can pick up the ring very soon."
He knelt down on the sand, near the spot where his wife had beensitting, and, picking up handful after handful of the silvery grains, helet them run out in a stream, hoping thus to pick up his wife's ring.
Anxiously the Curlytops watched him. Anxiously Mrs. Keller looked on,now and then wiping away a tear from her eyes. Anxiously, too, Troublelooked on. At last he murmured.
"This funny game! Is he playin' nellifunt?" he asked. For Mr. Keller,crawling around in the sand on his hands and knees, did seem to beplaying some game.
"No, he isn't playing elephant," answered Ted, in a low voice. "Don'tyou want us to help look?" he called, more loudly.
"Perhaps it would be just as well if you did--now," Mr. Keller replied."The ring isn't on top of the sand; that's sure. I've looked all over,carefully."
"Oh, but where can it be?" asked his wife.
"I think it must have rolled into some little hole, perhaps, and havebeen covered over. Or you may have pressed your hand or foot on it andthrust it into the sand. The children can help look now."
"I know how to do it," declared Janet. "You must pick up a little sandat a time and then put it down in another place, if you don't find thering."
"That's the idea," Mr. Keller told the little Curlytop girl. "If you putthe sand you take up back in the same place, you can't tell where it isin a few minutes, and you'll be going over the same sand twice."
"We ought to mark off this place with stones or sticks or something,"suggested Ted.
"What for?" his sister wanted to know.
"So we would remember where it is," Ted answered. "Once when we came tothe seashore before, I lost a rubber ball, and I couldn't find it. Thecoast guard told me to put some sticks up near the place I lost it, andlook the next day."
"Did you find your ball?" asked Mrs. Keller, who was now stooping down,picking up handfuls of sand and letting it run through her fingersagain.
"Yes, I found it," Ted answered.
"I think his idea is a good one," remarked Mr. Keller. "We may not findthis ring to-day, and we may have to search to-morrow. It is hard tocome back to the same place on the sand unless you mark it in some way.All sand looks alike."
"I'll get some sticks and stones," offered Ted.
"And I'll help look for the ring," offered his sister.
There were many pieces of driftwood on the beach, and also some greenishstones, worn smooth and polished by the constant washing of the wavesand wet sand over them. Ted quickly made a big circle about thesearchers, putting here a stick and there a stone, until the place waswell marked and could be easily found again.
"It's a good thing it's above the high tide," said Mr. Keller. "If wehad been sitting nearer the water the ring would be lost forever. Forthe tide would cover the place and might, perhaps, wash the ring out tosea."
"Oh, I wonder if I shall ever get it back!" sighed his wife.
"I think so," he answered, hopefully.
But it was a vain hope. Though Mr. and Mrs. Keller searched carefully,and the Curlytops helped, taking up and casting aside handful afterhandful of sand, the golden band did not show gleaming in the brightsun.
As each handful of sand was picked up, it was tossed as far to one sideas possible, without the circle of stones and sticks made by Ted. Inthis way the same sand would not be looked over twice.
"I'm afraid we shall have to give it up--at least, for the time being,"said Mr. Keller, at last.
"Oh, do you mean I shall never find my ring?" cried his wife.
"I wouldn't say that," he replied. "It certainly is somewhere aroundhere."
"But how can we find it?" she sighed.
"I shall have to get men with shovels, and we will sift every bit ofsand within the circle Ted made," he went on. "It will take a littletime, but we shall find it. I'll go back to the cottage and see abouthiring some men. I'm afraid your sand-mill wheel must wait, Teddy," hewent on.
"Oh, I don't mind waiting," Ted answered good-naturedly. "And I'll helpyou sift the sand," he offered.
"The sooner that is done the better," his wife remarked. "I neverthought I should lose my wedding ring! It is terrible! I can't tell youhow sad I am!"
"Never mind! Ne
ver mind," consoled her husband. "We shall find it later,I'm sure."
He arose from the sand, brushing the grains from his hands and from histrousers. Then he thrust one hand into his right trouser's pocket. As hedid so, Ted noticed a queer look come over Mr. Keller's face. It wasalmost the same kind of look his wife had borne when she first noticedthe loss of her ring.
"Oh! They're gone!" gasped Mr. Keller.
"What is?" asked his wife.
"My keys--my bunch of keys! The office Keys and the keys to Mr. Narr'ssafe and his bank deposit box. My keys are gone!" and Mr. Keller begansearching frantically in all his pockets.
"You must have dropped them while you were looking for my lost weddingring," said Mrs. Keller.
"I think I did," her husband answered. "The keys ought to be right hereon the sand."
"A bunch of keys is easier to find than a wedding ring," commentedJanet.
"They ought to be in plain sight," added her brother.
But though they all eagerly scanned the surface of the sand the keyswere not in sight. They had vanished with the wedding ring. It was agreat mystery.
"This is too bad!" said Mr. Keller. "If Mr. Narr finds out about thisthere may be trouble. I might even lose my position in his office."
"Don't say that!" begged his wife.
"But it's true," he murmured. "You don't know what a terrible man he iswhen he gets angry. Oh, I must find those keys--and your wedding ring! Imust find them!"
"We'll help!" offered the Curlytops. They began crawling around thesand. But the second search had no more than begun before a voice washeard calling:
"Ted! Janet! Where are you?"