At any rate the burglars ran away, not getting anything that they came to steal. And it was all due to Mr. Nip.
"He'll sure be in our circus now," said Teddy, as he made ready to go back to bed again, the neighbors and police having left. "Everybody will want to see a parrot that drove away two burglars, won't they, Daddy?"
"They probably will, Teddy boy," his father replied. "Well, one of Uncle Toby's pets has more than paid for his board bill by to-night's work."
"Aren't you glad we got 'em?" asked Teddy.
"Yes, I guess I am," his father answered, laughing.
"Say! I wish I'd been over to your house last night," exclaimed Jimmy Norton to Teddy, when the story of the attempt to rob was being talked over among the children.
"Well, I was wishing I was somewhere else," said Janet. "Oh, but I was scared!"
"I was at first, but I knew I had to tell my mother or my father," remarked Teddy. "So I got out of bed."
"Teddy was brave," declared Janet.
"Oh, that wasn't anything," the little Curlytopboy said modestly. "I wasn't as brave as Mr. Nip. He called the burglars names!"
"Everybody will be glad to come to the circus to see him," said Harry Kent, who was going to help with the show.
"We'll put Mr. Nip in a special cage, and put a sign on so people will know he's the parrot that scared the burglars," suggested fat Jackie Turton.
In fact, Mr. Nip became quite celebrated. For there was an account in the newspaper of the attempted burglary at the Martin house, and the part the parrot had played was well told, so that all over Cresco Mr. Nip was talked about.
"It's a good advertisement for our circus, isn't it, Daddy?" asked Teddy, for the paper mentioned that the Curlytops had a number of pets they were getting ready to place on exhibition in a show.
"Yes," said Mr. Martin, "it is."
"What are you going to do with the money you get from your circus—if you get any?" asked Mrs. Martin of the Curlytops one day about a week after the burglars had gotten in. By this time Mr. Nip was quite well again, and could go back to the barn to bewith the monkey, the alligator and the white mice and the rats.
"Oh, we'll getsomemoney," declared Teddy. "But I don't know what we'll do with it. Maybe we'll buy more pets."
"Oh, I hope not!" laughed his mother. "You have enough now."
As the days passed the Curlytops and their friends worked with Uncle Toby's animals, teaching them several new tricks. More than once Teddy and Janet wished they had Tip, the missing dog, as he had performed so well with Top. But no word had come about him, and it was felt he was gone forever.
"Skyrocket is good," Teddy told his boy chums, "but he isn't as good a trick dog as Tip and Top were when they did their tricks together."
"Maybe we can teach Jack, the monkey, some new tricks," suggested Harry Kent.
"Oh, yes, Jack must learn a lot of tricks," agreed Teddy. "We'll start on him now, I guess, as about the only tricks Snuff can do are to roll around on the football and jump through a paper hoop."
That last trick was a new one, and really had not been intended for Snuff. One dayTeddy and Janet were getting some paper-covered hoops ready for Skyrocket or Top to jump through, as the dogs seemed to like that trick. Snuff and Turnover were playing together near by, and when Turnover chased Snuff, the Persian cat leaped right through a paper hoop.
"Oh, if we could only make him do that for the circus!" Janet cried. "It would be great!"
"We'll try," Teddy had said. And, after many trials, they did succeed in getting Snuff to leap through a paper hoop. It was a fine trick.
But now the Curlytops planned to teach Jack, their monkey, some tricks in addition to a few that he had learned from Uncle Toby or the sailor. So Jack was brought out from his cage and given a banana, fruit of which he was very fond.
"What trick shall we teach him?" asked Janet.
"I think a jumping trick would be good," Teddy answered. "I'll go and get some boxes, and we'll make a high thing, like a tower, of them. We'll get Jack up on top, and have him jump down. That will be great, won't it?"
"Fine," agreed Janet. "I'll help you get the boxes."
The Curlytops left their monkey sitting on a bench in the yard while they went back into the barn after the boxes. Jack was peacefully eating his banana when Teddy and Janet left him. But when the children came out with the boxes, it having taken longer to find them than they had thought, Jack was not to be seen.
"Oh, Jack is gone!" cried Janet, looking around.
"Maybe he's up in a tree," suggested Teddy. "Here, Jack! Jack!" he called.
But there was no chattering answer, and the monkey was not to be found. He had not gone back into the barn, where the other pets were, and Trouble, who was playing in the back yard, said Jack had not passed him.
"Where can he be?" asked Janet. She and Teddy were beginning to worry, when Mrs. Johnson, into whose baby carriage Slider had once been put by Baby William, called from across the street:
"Are you looking for your dog, children?"
"No'm. For our monkey," answered Teddy.
"Oh, maybe the hand-organ man hashim," said Mrs. Johnson. "I saw an Italian with an organ go into your yard a little while ago."
"Did he have a monkey with him?" asked Teddy.
"I don't much believe that he did. I saw the man go in, but I didn't notice a monkey. But I remember now that when the organ man came out, he had a monkey with him. Maybe it was yours."
"I'm sure it was!" cried Janet. "Oh, Ted! The hand-organ man has taken Jack! He took Jack when we were in the barn!"
"I didn't hear any hand-organ music," Teddy said.
"Course he wouldn't play when he came to get Jack!" exclaimed Jan, with tears in her eyes. "Oh, Ted, go for the police! The hand-organ man has taken our monkey! Oh dear!"
Perhaps it would have been better for the Curlytops to have run into the house and have told their mother about the missing monkey. But neither Janet nor Teddy thought of this, because they were so excited over the news that Mrs. Johnson gave them—the news that Jack had been taken away by a hand-organ man.
"We've got to get him back!" cried Teddy.
"Of course!" agreed Janet. "It won't be half a circus without a monkey in it."
"Come on!" called Ted, and out of the yard he ran, followed by Janet. The Curlytops took one look to make sure that Trouble was safe before going away and leaving him. The little fellow was playing with Turnover and Skyrocket. He would do that for a long time.
Out of the yard and down the street ranthe little boy and girl, thinking only of getting their monkey back.
"Did he go this way?" Teddy called to Mrs. Johnson, who was watching him and his sister.
"Yes, right down that street," answered the mother of Baby Ruth. "But you had better not chase after him. He might not give Jack back to you, and he might be cross, and maybe it wasn't your monkey he had at all, Curlytops!"
But Teddy and Janet did not stay to hear all this. They hurried on, Teddy a little ahead of his sister, because, being a boy and a year older, he could go faster. But every now and then he stopped to wait for her. They turned the corner of a street, and Teddy, being in the lead, had the first glimpse down it.
"Do you see him?" gasped Janet, hurrying up to the side of her brother.
"No, he isn't here," was the answer.
Mr. Anderson, who left groceries at the home of the Curlytops, came along just then in the delivery wagon.
"Whoa!" he called to his horse. And then, seeing that Teddy and Janet were worried about something, he asked them: "Haveyou lost your little brother?" Mr. Anderson knew how often Trouble ran away.
"No, sir," answered Teddy. "We're looking for our monkey."
"And the hand-organ man," added Janet.
"Monkey? Hand-organ man?" exclaimed Mr. Anderson. "Are you going to give a party, and do you want the hand-organ man to play at it, and the monkey to do tricks?"
"Oh, no, this is our own pet monkey," exclaimed Janet.
"The hand-organ man took him away when he was eating a banana," added Teddy.
"Our monkey—his name is Jack—he was eating the banana—not the hand-organ man," said Jan, fearing Mr. Anderson might not understand what her brother meant.
"And he does tricks, and we're going to have him in our little circus—I mean our monkey does tricks," went on Teddy.
"Well, I guess I'll get the straight of it after a while," said Mr. Anderson, with a little laugh. "Anyhow it seems that some stray hand-organ man has taken your monkey, has he?"
"Yes. And we want our monkey back!" cried Janet.
"Then you'd better get up here in thewagon with me," went on the grocery man, "and I'll drive you down the street. It will be quicker than walking, and, as I've delivered all the orders, I'm in no hurry to get back to the store. Hop up, Curlytops!"
He helped Janet and Teddy to the seat beside him, and drove off. It was not the first time the children had ridden with Mr. Anderson, for he often took them with him when he had occasion to stop at their house.
"Do you know which street he went down?" asked the grocery man, as he called to his brown horse which started off again.
"We don't know," answered Teddy. "We didn't see him. We were in the barn, getting some boxes so Jack—that's the monkey—could do some tricks. We left him eating a banana, and when we came out he was gone. But Mrs. Johnson said she saw a hand-organ man come out of our yard and he had a monkey."
"And it must 'a' been Jack!" added Janet.
"Well, we'll try to get him back for you," promised Mr. Anderson, as he guided the horse down the street. "And we'll ask some of the people we meet if they have seen Jack."
"Oh, now I know we'll get him back!" exclaimedJanet, and there was a smile on her face where, before, there had been a sad look, which always came just before she cried. "I'm glad we met you, Mr. Anderson," she said.
"So am I," agreed Teddy.
The first person they met was Patrick, the man who worked for Mrs. Blake, the lady into whose house Jack made his way one night, making Mrs. Blake think he was a fuzzy burglar.
"Oh, Patrick!" cried Teddy, "a hand-organ man took our monkey away. Have you seen him?"
"Which? The hand-organ man or the monkey?" asked Mrs. Blake's gardener.
"Either one," said Janet. "He's the same monkey that was once in your house, you know."
"Yes," returned Patrick, with a smile, "I know. Well, I'm sorry, but I didn't see either the hand-organ man or the monkey."
"Giddap!" called Mr. Anderson to his horse. "We must try someone else."
They drove along a little farther, and next they met Sam White, a colored man, who cut grass and did other work for the neighbors of the Curlytops.
"Oh, Sam! have you seen our monkey, Jack?" called Teddy.
"Seen a monkey? No'm, I hasn't," answered the colored man, who had been wheeling a lawn-mower.
"Did you see a hand-organ man?" asked Janet.
"Yes'm, I done seen a hand-organ man," was the answer. "He's jest 'round de corner ob de next street. But I didn't see him hab no monkey."
"Maybe he has our monkey hidden inside the hand-organ so no one will see Jack!" cried Teddy. "Please hurry, Mr. Anderson!"
"I will," promised the grocery man. "Giddap there, Molasses!" he called to his horse. "We're in a hurry!"
And as they turned the corner of the street, toward which Sam White had pointed, there came to the ears of the Curlytops the strains of hand-organ music.
"There he is! I see him!" cried Janet, pointing. "He's stopped, and he's playing!"
"Yes, and I see our monkey, too!" added Teddy. "Please hurry down there, Mr.Anderson, and we'll take Jack away from that bad hand-organ man."
"Maybe it isn't your monkey," said the grocer. "All monkeys look alike to me. I couldn't tell one from the other, but maybe you can. Giddap, Molasses!" he called again to his horse, and down the street clattered the Curlytops.
They came to a stop in front of the organ grinder just as the dark-colored Italian ground out the last strains of a tune. And there, surely enough, perched on the top of the organ, was a monkey.
"Jack! Jack! Come here!" cried Teddy, getting ready to jump down from his seat in the wagon.
"Come away from that bad man!" added Janet.
The organ grinder turned quickly, gave one look at the Curlytops and at Mr. Anderson, and then, slinging his organ up on his back, started hurriedly up the street, taking the monkey with him.
"Here! Hold on a minute!" called the grocer, getting down off the seat, and then helping Teddy and Janet down. "If you have a monkey belonging to these childrenyou must give it back, or I'll call a policeman!"
"No! No!" jabbered the Italian. "Dis a-monk mine! Long time mine! No belong childerns! Goo'-bye!"
He would have been off down the street and around the corner in another few seconds, but Teddy, rushing after him, looked and made sure it really was Jack that the organ player had with him. There was a queer little tuft of white hair on the end of Jack's tail, and this monkey had the same mark.
"Jack! Jack!" cried Teddy. "Come on, to me! I'll give you all the bananas you want!"
"Dis-a my monk!" jabbered the Italian.
"He is not! He's ours!" declared Janet, as she hurried up to the side of her brother. "Make him give back our monkey that we got from Uncle Toby!" she appealed to Mr. Anderson.
"If he doesn't," said the grocer, "I'll call a policeman and——"
But just then Jack acted for himself. With a shrill chatter he broke loose from the string that was tied to the collar about his neck. There had been no cord on him when he was eating a banana in the yard of the Curlytops, and the hand-organ man must have tied it there after he took the children's pet. Once free, Jack made one leap and landed safe in Teddy's arms.
JACK MADE ONE LEAP AND LANDED SAFELY IN TEDDY'S ARMS. "The Curlytops and Their Pets" Page 174JACK MADE ONE LEAP AND LANDED SAFELY IN TEDDY'S ARMS."The Curlytops and Their Pets"Page 174
Now, Jack was rather a large monkey, and, jumping from a distance, as Jack did, he knocked Teddy over. Flat down on the sidewalk sat Teddy, the monkey clinging with its hairy arms about the little boy's neck.
"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Janet, and then she stopped, for she did not know what else to say.
"Look out!" cried Mr. Anderson. "Maybe that's a savage monkey, and he'll bite you!"
"This is Jack all right," declared Teddy. "I know him and he knows me. He didn't hurt me. I—I just sat down, that's all," and the little Curlytop boy laughed.
Jack chattered, clung tighter to his master, and then the crowd that had gathered also laughed. For it looked so odd to see Teddy sitting on the sidewalk, with a monkey, quite a large one, clinging to his neck.
"What's the matter here? What's the trouble?" asked a gruff but not unkindlyvoice, and on the outside of the crowd appeared Policeman Cassidy.
"Oh, Cassidy," said Mr. Anderson, "this Italian took the Curlytops' monkey, and they just got him back—I mean they got the monkey back. The Italian——"
But with a half-smothered cry of anger, the Italian started to run down the street, his hand-organ swaying from side to side on his back. He had no wish to meet Policeman Cassidy and be arrested for having taken Jack.
And that is just what the Italian had done. He had sneaked into the yard and, seeing the monkey unfastened and eating a banana, had picked up the pet and hurried off with him. The Italian must have known how to talk to and handle monkeys, for Jack made no outcry, but went peaceably with his captor. Perhaps the monkey was afraid of being beaten. And, so that Jack could not get away, the Italian had tied a string to the collar.
But, thanks to Mr. Anderson and the grocery wagon, the Curlytops had gotten back their pet. The Italian had not played his organ very near the home of Teddy and Janet for fear of their hearing it, I suppose.But when he thought he was far enough away he started, and Sam White had heard him.
"Maybe the hand-organ man kept Jack hidden under his coat until he got down here," said Janet.
"Perhaps," agreed the grocer, as the crowd began to melt away, seeing there was to be no more excitement. "And now if you Curlytops, and your monkey, will get into the wagon, I'll drive you back home."
"Do you want me to chase after that Italian and arrest him?" asked the policeman.
"No, thank you, I guess not," answered Teddy, as he rubbed Jack's fuzzy head. "We got our monkey back, and now we can start to teach him some tricks for the circus. We'll send you a free ticket to the show, Mr. Anderson, 'cause you helped us get Jack back."
Janet whispered something to her brother.
"Oh, yes," added the little fellow, "we'd like to have you come, too, Mr. Policeman Cassidy."
"I'll come and stand guard at the ticket wagon," laughed the big, good-natured officer. "And if I see that Italian sneaking up I'll chase him."
"I guess he won't come," said Teddy. Then he and his sister climbed up on the seat beside Mr. Anderson and were driven back to their home. It was time, too, for their mother was out at the gate, holding Trouble by the hand, and looking up and down the street.
"Where have you been, Curlytops?" she asked them. "And what are you doing in Mr. Anderson's wagon—and with the monkey? Did Jack run away?" she asked.
"He was taken away," explained Teddy.
"By an old organ grinder," added Janet.
And then the story was told.
"Dear me," said Mrs. Martin, when it was finished. "I'm sure if your father and I had known all the things that were going to happen because of Uncle Toby's pets, we would not have brought them home."
"Oh, it's fun!" laughed Teddy, slipping down with Jack.
"And Policeman Cassidy is coming to our circus," said Janet.
"Don't forget me!" called Mr. Anderson, as he drove away with the wagon.
"We won't!" promised the Curlytops.
"You been take Jack to barber's?" askedTrouble, letting go his mother's hand to pat the monkey.
"The barber's?" repeated Teddy, as he put Jack down on a box and gave the pet a banana, as had been promised. "What made him think that?" Teddy asked his mother.
"He's been singing that Mother Goose verse, 'Barber, barber! shave a pig. How many hairs will make a wig? Four and twenty, that's enough, give the barber a pinch of snuff.' I suppose Trouble thought maybe Snuff, the cat, had something to do with a barber, and he got Jack mixed up in it somehow. But I am glad you Curlytops are home again. I was getting worried about you. What are you going to do now?"
"Teach Jack to jump off a high tower of boxes," explained Ted. "We were getting ready to do that when the Italian took Jack. Come on, Janet, we'll make the box tower."
"Me help!" cried Trouble.
"Oh, you'll be more bother than you will help," replied Janet. "You'll be knocking the tower over all the while, or trying to climb up on it. You go and play with Skyrocket and Turnover," she advised, as the dog and cat came around the path.
"All wite! Me make Turn an' Sky docircus twicks!" said Trouble, talking half to himself.
Having made sure that Jack was comfortable and had not been harmed by the Italian who took him away, the Curlytops set about building, of old packing boxes, the tower off which they hoped their monkey would leap, thus doing a new trick for the pet circus. Teddy and Janet were so busy they paid no attention to Trouble, except to notice, now and then, that he was playing at the end of the yard with Skyrocket and Turnover, or "Sky" and "Turn", as he shortened the pets' names.
"There, I guess the tower is high enough for the first few jumps," Teddy remarked, as he nailed in place the last of the boxes. "We don't want Jack to jump down from too high a place at first."
"No," agreed Janet, "we don't. He might hurt himself, or he might get scared, and then he wouldn't want to be in the circus. But we ought to have some sort of net for him to jump into, didn't we ought, Teddy?"
"I guess we did," said the Curlytop boy. "Then we can make the tower higher. Oh, I know what we can have for a net!" he suddenly cried.
"What?" asked Janet.
Her brother pointed to a clothesline in the yard, across which were drying some lace curtains that had just been washed.
"They'll be just dandy for a circus net!" Teddy went on. "You can hold one end, and I'll hold the other. But we won't make the tower any higher for a while. I'll get a curtain for a net."
"S'pose mother will mind?" asked Janet.
"Oh, no, I don't s'pose so," answered Teddy. "It won't hurt the curtain. Jack isn't so big that he'll tear it, and if it gets dirty, an' maybe it will a little, we can wash it again. You get Jack now, and I'll get the curtain. Then we'll make Jack climb up to the top of the box tower and jump off."
"How you going to get him to go up?" asked Janet, when Ted came back with his mother's lace curtain which he had taken off the line.
"I'll put a piece of banana up there on the top box," Teddy answered. The pile of boxes, nailed together, was higher than his head, but he had brought out the stepladder so he could reach up with that.
"How you going to get Jack to jump down into the lace curtain net?" Janet went on.
"I'll hold out another piece of banana," Teddy replied. "Come on here, Jack, and learn a new trick!" he called to the monkey.
But just then both Teddy and Janet saw a sight that made them cry out in surprise. And the sight was that of Trouble, coming around the corner of the barn, driving before him Turnover and Skyrocket, the first cat and dog pets the Curlytops had ever owned. But Turnover and Skyrocket had never looked so funny as they did now, with Trouble urging them on and crying:
"I dot a new twick! I dot a new twick! Look what me make Turn an' Sky do!"
"Well, look what that little tyke has done!" cried Teddy, with a laugh.
"All by himself, too!" added Janet. "How did he ever think of it?"
"And how he got Turnover and Skyrocket to stand still long enough to be harnessed up is a wonder!" said Teddy.
For that is what baby William had done. With bits of string, straps and strips torn from some pieces of cloth he had found in the barn, he had made a crazy jumble of a harness for the dog and the cat. They were tied and fastened together.
But this was not all. Besides harnessing the dog and cat together, like a team made up of a big horse and a little pony, Trouble had made the two pets fast to a small express wagon that he claimed as his very own, though it had once belonged to Teddy.
"And look what he has in the wagon!" cried Janet, now laughing as heartily as was Teddy. "My old rag doll—Miss Muffin!"
In her earlier days Janet had a large rag doll, which had been named Miss Muffin, just why no one knew. But as she grew older and had other dolls, and finally had come to play more with her brother and the pets than with such toys, Janet had forgotten all about Miss Muffin. So the rag doll had been tossed here and there, sometimes in one corner and sometimes in another, getting more ragged, torn and dirty as the weeks went by.
But Baby William had found this old doll and had tied it to the little seat in his express wagon. And there sat Miss Muffin, one eye partly scratched off her painted cloth face, and the other eye, by some accident, skewed around until it was standing up and down, and did not lie sideways as most eyes do.
"I give Miss Muffin a wide," announced Trouble. "She 'ike it, an' maybe it's a twick for de circus!"
Teddy and Janet looked at one another and then they both laughed.
"Say, itwouldbe a good trick!" said Teddy at length. "We could dress Trouble up funny like, and have him come in drivingTurnover and Skyrocket. The people would clap like anything."
"I believe they would," agreed Janet.
"Did Turnover scratch you when you tied all those strings on, Trouble?" she asked her little brother.
"Nope! Turn, he 'ike it," declared Baby William. "An' Sky, he puts hims tongue on my hands and 'ick me."
"I guess he wouldn't have much trouble with Skyrocket," said Teddy. "I've harnessed the dog to little carts before. But I never hitched the dog and cat together. You made a fine trick there, Trouble."
"I be in circus?" asked the little fellow.
"Sure you may be in the circus," said Janet. "It will be one of the best acts. And we can tie ribbons on the necks of Sky and Turn, as Trouble calls them, to make it look prettier. Go on, Trouble," she said to her little brother, "let's see you drive 'em around the yard. Maybe they'll break away, or get all tangled up, and then it wouldn't be a good act for our show," she said to Teddy.
But Trouble seemed to have charmed Skyrocket and Turnover to do just what he wanted them to do, and they walked slowlyaround the paths in the yard, giving Miss Muffin a fine ride.
"Don't keep 'em hitched up too long, Trouble," advised Janet. "If you do they'll get tired, and won't like it next time."
"I undwess 'em now," said the little boy. By "undressing" he meant taking the string and strap harness off the dog and cat.
Turnover and Skyrocket seemed very glad to be set free, and they ran off together, while Trouble stayed with his brother and sister, as they had told him they were going to make Jack do a trick now.
It was time to see if they could get the monkey to do what was wanted of him. The tower of boxes had been built, and Teddy had two bananas, one to get Jack to climb up on top of the pile, and another yellow fruit to induce the monkey to leap down. The lace curtain net had also been provided.
"Now, Jack, we'll see what good you are," said Teddy, as he climbed up on the stepladder and placed the banana on the top-most box, letting part of the fruit stick out over the edge.
"Here, Jack!" called Teddy, standing half way up the ladder. "Come on and do your trick!"
The monkey chattered a little, but came to Teddy, who picked the fuzzy creature up in his arms. Holding Jack up, Teddy showed him the banana on top of the pile of boxes.
With another chatter, Jack scrambled out of Teddy's arms, and with the usual quickness of monkeys, was soon on top of the pile of boxes—the "tower" as Ted and Jan called it. When they gave their circus they planned to cover the pile of boxes with green boughs and pretend it was a big tree in the jungle.
"Oh, see!" cried Janet in delight, as she saw Jack on top of the pile, eating the banana he found there. "He's done the first part of the trick all right, Teddy!"
"Yes, and if he does the last part as well it will be fine!" declared the little Curlytop boy. "But the last is the hardest part. Jack may want to climb down instead of jumping. But first we'll let him eat the banana, and get hungry for the second one."
So the three children stood on the ground, and watched Jack, up on the tower, eating his banana. The monkey looked down, making funny faces, which he seemed to be doing most of the time, and Trouble laughed.
"He is funny!" laughed Janet. "I'm sure the people who come to our circus will like Jack."
"They'll like him a lot more if he does tricks," said Teddy. "Come on, Jan," he called, after a while. "We'll get the net ready now. I guess it's time he jumped for the other banana."
Mrs. Martin had not seen the Curlytops take her lace curtain off the line to use for a circus net. If she had, she would, of course, have stopped them. But Teddy and Janet did not think they were doing anything very wrong. As for Trouble, he never bothered his head about it. Whatever Ted or Janet did was all right to him.
"If we each have to hold one end of the curtain net, how are we going to hold out the banana so Jack will see it?" asked Janet of her older brother.
"We'll lay the banana in the middle of the net," decided Ted.
This was done, and when the curtain was held stretched as tightly as Janet and Teddy could pull it, as they had once seen the Cresco firemen stretch out a life-net in a practice drill, the banana was placed in the center.
"Come on now, Jack! Jump down!"called Teddy. "Jump down and get your other banana!"
Jack chattered, but did not jump. He clung to the edge of the tower of boxes, made two or three motions as if he were coming down, but he did not descend.
"I guess he doesn't see the banana," remarked Janet. "One of us ought to hold it up."
"We can't, and hold the net too," Teddy declared. "And if we don't hold the net, and Jack jumps, he may hurt himself, and then he can't be in the show."
"Oh, I know what we can do!" Janet declared.
"What?" asked Teddy.
"We can have Trouble hold the banana! Let him stand right near the outside edge of the net, near the middle, and hold up the banana. Then Jack will see it and jump."
"That is a good idea," remarked Teddy. He was always willing to give his sister credit for thinking of things to do. "Come on, Trouble," called Teddy to his brother. "Hold the banana up for Jack!"
"Eess, me do dat!" replied Baby William, so excited he could hardly talk at all, much less talk properly.
Eager to do his share in getting ready for the circus, Trouble held the banana up as high as he could reach, so that Jack could see it. And this time the monkey caught sight of the fruit.
With a chatter of delight at the good things he was getting to eat, Jack came down, but not exactly in the way Janet and Teddy wanted him to. For the petclimbeddown the boxes, which were of different sizes, making many places where he could hold on by his hands and tail. He didn't jump at all!
With a chatter and a scramble, Jack reached the ground, ran around the net to where Trouble stood, and then just reached up, plucked the fruit from the little chap's hand and began to eat it. And it was all done so quickly that Ted and Janet hardly had time to say a word.
Finally, however, after laughing at the funny look on Trouble's face when he saw the monkey snatch away the banana, Teddy said:
"Oh, Jack! I didn't mean for you to come down that way! I wanted you to jump into the net! Here, you can't have the rest of that banana until you jump for it."
Teddy took the fruit away from his fuzzypet, and Jack jabbered and chattered at the top of his voice, for he did not like this at all. To have a banana taken away when he was just half finished with it! That didn't seem fair!
"Come on! We'll try again, Jan," said Teddy, holding the half-eaten yellow fruit out of Jack's reach. For the monkey was jumping up trying to get back the banana.
"You'll have to get him up on top of the boxes again," Janet said.
"Yes, and I guess I'll have to break off a piece of this banana to get him to go up after it," her brother said. "Come on, Jack!" he cried.
Breaking what was left of the banana in half, Teddy once more climbed the step ladder and put the pulpy mass on top of the pile of boxes. Jack saw what was done, and in an instant he had climbed up.
"He's learning to go up fine!" declared Teddy, as he got down and moved the ladder away, so Jack would not use that in his descent. "If we can only make him jump now. Get ready, Trouble, to hold up the banana again."
"There isn't much left of it," Janet remarked.
"It's all there is until we go to the store for more," answered Teddy. "I guess it will do. We'll wait until he swallows what he's eating now, and then Trouble can hold up what is left."
Anxiously the Curlytops and their little brother watched Jack perched rather high on the tower of boxes. The monkey made short work of the small piece of banana that had been put on his high perch. Then he looked down for more.
"Hold it up, Trouble! Hold it up!" cried Teddy, at one end of the curtain net, while Janet held the other end.
"I hold it, but my hoots is gettin' tired," said the little fellow.
"Never mind, dear," consoled Janet. "If Jack doesn't jump this time we'll let you go. We can put a stick in the ground near the edge of the net, and tie the banana to that if Trouble is tired," she said to Teddy.
"Yes, but it won't be so good as Trouble, 'cause Jack likes him," Teddy answered. "Look out! I think he's going to jump!"
And that is just what Jack did!
With a chatter of delight as he saw Trouble holding up the piece of fruit, Jackstood for a moment on the edge of the pile of boxes, and then he leaped.
Straight down he jumped toward the lace curtain and toward Trouble, who held up the banana. But before the monkey landed there was a scream from the house, and Mrs. Martin came running out.
"Don't let Jack jump into my lace curtain! Don't do it, Curlytops!" exclaimed their mother. "He'll tear it to pieces. Stop him!"
But it was too late. Jack had jumped!
Mrs. Martin ran as fast as she could from the back door of the house to that part of the yard where the Curlytops and Trouble were planning and practicing the new circus trick. Ted and Janet heard their mother's cry, and, for the first time, realized that perhaps they had done wrong in taking the lace curtain for a net.
And by the time Mrs. Martin reached the place where Trouble was standing, Jack had jumped into the curtain. Right into the middle of it he landed, and you can guess what happened.
Yes, Jack tore through, making a big hole in the lace. For it was not strong enough for even a play circus net, and, really, Ted and Janet should have known this.
Down through the hole in the curtain fell Jack, but he did not go quite all the waythrough. That is parts of the torn lace clung to him.
In another instant, after landing lightly on the ground, Jack sprang up, grabbed the banana away from Trouble, and then made a flying leap for the nearest tree, trailing the lace curtain after him, dragging it on the ground, catching it on the branches of the tree and tearing it worse than ever.
So suddenly did Jack snatch the piece of banana away from Baby William that the little fellow was knocked down, just as Jack, leaping away from the Italian hand-organ man, had knocked Teddy to the sidewalk.
"Oh! Oh!" wailed Trouble, and then he began to cry.
"Oh, Curlytops! Curlytops! What have you done?" exclaimed Mrs. Martin in dismay.
Teddy and Janet could not say a word. They seemed frightened and dazed when Jack, in his wild leap, pulled the curtain from their grasp.
"We—we——" began Janet.
"Didn't mean to," finished Teddy.
And then Jack began to chatter as he tried to tear loose the lace curtain which was tangled all about him as he sat perched in atree, licking from his paws some bits of crushed banana.
With the crying of Trouble, the chatter of the monkey, and Mrs. Martin saying: "Oh dear! Oh dear!" again and again, there was quite a little excitement in the yard of the Curlytops just then.
"Poor Trouble!" sighed Janet, as she walked over to her little brother, who was crying and sitting on the ground where Jack had knocked him. "Did the monkey scratch you?"
But Trouble was sobbing too hard to answer.
"What in the world were you doing?" asked Mrs. Martin, as she picked Trouble up in her arms, and finally made him stop crying. "Why did you take one of my nice curtains?"
"We didn't know it was nice," Teddy answered. "And we had to get something for a net to have Jack jump in. I thought it was an old curtain."
"It wasn't one of my best ones," said his mother, "still I didn't want it torn. And it is of no use now. Look! All in shreds!"
Indeed that was the state of the curtain. For by this time Jack had managed to tearit off him, and it dangled in the tree like the tail of a broken kite.
"It will be good for dolls' dresses," said Janet. "And we can make other things to dress the animals up in for the circus."
"Oh, you Curlytops!" cried Mrs. Martin, trying not to laugh, for it was all rather funny in spite of the fact that one of her curtains was ruined. "However, it can't be helped," she went on. "Only, next time, come and ask me when you want a circus net."
"We will," promised Teddy. "But, anyhow, I guess we have taught Jack his new trick. He jumped like anything, and from the top of the tower, when he saw the banana."
"Oh, doesn't he look funny now!" cried Janet, pointing to the monkey, that was now sitting on a box and looking at the children and their mother. "He's got a lace frill on."
Part of the torn lace curtain was around Jack's neck, making him, indeed, look as though he wore a fancy collar.
"Him's got a bib on!" declared Trouble, now over his fright and crying spell, the first having caused the second. "Him's got a bibon 'ike Trouble when him eats bread and 'ilk."
"So he has, dear!" laughed Mrs. Martin. "And I guess Jack would rather be eating bread and milk than doing tricks in this pet show."
"Oh, no! He likes the circus! Or he will when we get it started," declared Teddy. "We've got lots to do yet, but I guess we can have it in about two weeks. We'll get Jack to practice his jump some more."
"Then we'll need more bananas—he ate the last one," remarked Janet. "And Mr. Nip likes them, too."
"We'll get more, but we won't make Jack do any more tricks to-day, Jan," decided Teddy. "Animals get cross if you keep 'em at their tricks too long."
"And I think I'll take Trouble into the house. He's had enough excitement for the day," said Mrs. Martin. "Don't take any more of my lace curtains," she added, as she moved toward the house.
"We won't," promised the Curlytops. Then they pulled from the tree, where Jack had torn his way out of it, the remainder of the lace curtain they had used for a landing net for the pet monkey.
It was two or three days after this, during which time the Curlytops had taught their pets several new little tricks, that their mother called Janet and Teddy to her one afternoon. Mrs. Martin held a letter in her hand, the postman having just left it for her.
"Here is something I want to talk to you children about," said their mother.
"Oh, is that a letter from Uncle Toby, and is he coming back to take his pets away before we've had the show?" asked Janet.
"No, indeed," answered her mother, with a laugh. "We haven't heard from Uncle Toby since he left for South America. I suppose, by this time, he is sitting in the jungle, watching hundreds of parrots and monkeys."
"I wish he'd send some more to us!" said Teddy.
"Oh, gracious sakes! I don't!" laughed Mrs. Martin. "I think we have quite enough as it is."
But of course the Curlytops did not think so.
"What I called you for," went on Mrs. Martin, "was to ask if you really intend to go on with this circus of yours. Do you really intend holding it?"
"Sure we do, Mother!" Teddy answered. "We're going to have a tent, and seats and everything."
"Are you going to charge money for persons to come in?"
"Yes," said Janet. "It's to be five cents for big boys and girls, and three cents for little ones like Trouble. Of course Trouble won't have to pay, 'cause he's going to be part of the show. But what is your letter about, Mother?"
"It's about your circus," was the answer. "At least now that I know you are really going on with the performance this letter will have something to do with it. This is a note from some ladies who, like me, belong to a charitable society," said Mrs. Martin. "The secretary has just written me, asking if I can not think up some plan to raise money so some poor orphan children may be sent to the country to board for a few weeks this summer."
"Oh, can't we help the orphan children, as we helped the crippled children once?" asked Teddy.
"Just what I was going to say," went on his mother. "You may take in quite a few dollars giving your animal show, and I canthink of no better way of spending it than to give it to the orphans. Besides, if it is known that the circus is for charity, many more people will come than would otherwise. So do you Curlytops want to help the orphans?"
"Of course!" said Janet.
"Sure!" cried Teddy.
"Me help, too! What is it?" asked Trouble, coming up just then.
"Oh, you're going to help all right!" laughed Janet. "You're going to drive Turnover and Skyrocket with my old rag doll, Miss Muffin, in the express wagon, and I'm sure you'll be so darling and funny that everyone will laugh."
"And I hope Jack does his jumping trick," said Teddy. "It would be great if we had Tip and Top to perform together. We could charge twenty-five cents for big people to come in if we had the two trick dogs."
"Well, one is better than none," said Janet. "It's a good thing we have Top."
"Yes," agreed Teddy, "I suppose it is. But I wonder where Tip can be?"
But of course no one could tell him that.
So it was settled that the money that wastaken in for the show of the Curlytops and their pets should go to the orphans, so they might have a few weeks in the green country during the hot summer.
The Curlytops were much excited that evening, telling their father about the performance for the orphans, and Mr. Martin agreed that no better use could be made of the money.
"You must take good care of your pets from now until the time of the show," he said. "Don't let them get away or become ill, or you will not be able to give a good circus."
"Let's go out to the barn now, and see if they are all right," proposed Janet.
"All right," agreed Teddy.
It was early evening, and light enough to see in the barn. Top and Skyrocket barked a welcome, Snuff and Turnover mewed their delight at seeing the children, and while Mr. Nip shrieked away about being a "crack-crack-cracker" Jack chattered. About the only quiet ones were the white rats and mice, and Slider, the alligator.
"They're all right, and ready for the circus," said Teddy as he came out and locked the door after him.
"Yes, I can hardly wait!" murmured Janet.
But in the morning there was bad news for the Curlytops. Their mother, who had gone out to the barn to open the door for the animals, came hurrying back to the house as Teddy and Janet descended for their breakfast.
"Where is Top?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"Top!" exclaimed Teddy. "Why, isn't he in the barn with Sky and the other pets?"
"No," answered his mother, shaking her head. "Top is gone! The barn door was locked, and all the other animals are there, but Top is gone!"
Teddy and Janet looked at each other in sorrow and dismay. It seemed that the worst had happened—Top missing just when they were getting ready for the show! First Tip was gone, and now Top! Could it be true?
"Are you sure, Mother?" asked Teddy. "Maybe Top is hiding behind a box or something."
"Let's go look!" proposed Janet.
"Oh, I'm sure he isn't there," said Mrs. Martin. "I called him, as I always do, when I go to let him and Skyrocket out. But Top did not come."
"Did Skyrocket?" asked Janet.
"Yes, he came rushing out of his kennel, barking and wagging his tail as if he would wag it off. And Snuff came out, and so did Turnover. But there was no Top."
Teddy started for the barn on the run, and so did Janet. Their mother followed more slowly. She felt very sorry for her Curlytops, as she knew they would be very sad over the loss of their second pet dog.
"The barn door is locked!" said Teddy, as he reached it and tried to go in.
"Yes, I locked it after me when I came out," his mother said. "I wanted to make sure that none of the other pets would get away. But the door was locked when I first went in this morning. It was locked just as you left it last night."
"Then I don't see how Top could have gotten out," Janet said.
"Unless there is some other place open in the barn—like a window," Mrs. Martin suggested.
"Let's look!" cried Teddy.
His mother turned the key in the padlock on the outside of the barn door. As the door opened and the Curlytops went in, they were greeted by barks of welcome from Skyrocket, by mews from Snuff and Turnover, the cats, by chattering from Mr. Jack, the monkey, and by shrill cries from Mr. Nip, the parrot, who called as loudly as he could:
"I'm a crack-crack-cracker!"
"They're all here but Top," said Mrs. Martin. And as the Curlytops looked around the barn they saw that this was so. Top was not in sight.
"Here, Top! Top! Top!" called Teddy, and he whistled. Mr. Nip also whistled, as loudly and clearly as the little boy himself. But there was no answer from his pet trick dog.
Janet ran over and looked in the box where Top always slept on a piece of carpet. The box was empty.
"Where do you s'pose he can be?" she asked her mother.
"That's what we must find out," was Mrs. Martin's answer. "We must look all through the barn. There are several places where he may have gotten out—or been taken out," she added a moment later.
It was Teddy who finally discovered the open window by which it was thought someone had entered the barn and taken Top out. The window was near the stalls used by the horses before Mr. Martin bought an automobile. In a corner, at the left of the stalls and too high from the floor of the barn for Top to have reached, even in his best jump, was a swinging window. This was open, asTeddy found, and when his mother and Janet came at his call, Mrs. Martin saw that the bolt had been broken.
"That is how it happened," she said. "Someone opened that window from the outside last night, crawled in, and took Top away. The dog himself could not have gotten out of that high window. Someone must have taken him."
"But wouldn't he bark and bite them?" asked Janet.
"Top was too friendly to bite anyone unless they harmed him," said her mother. "And I have no doubt but that this man—it must have been a man or a big boy—knew how to be nice to Top. Maybe they gave him a little piece of meat to chew on while they took him away."
"Oh dear!" sighed Janet. "How shall we ever get him back?"
"I'll call your father, and ask him what to do," remarked Mrs. Martin. "This is getting serious! Two of Uncle Toby's best pets gone! If he comes back he will think we did not take very good care of his animals."
"It wasn't our fault that a burglar came and took Top," said Teddy.
"No, dear," answered his mother. "But we must do what we can to get the dog back. I'll call your father."
Mr. Martin came quickly when he heard what had happened. He went to the barn to look, and he agreed with his wife that, during the night, someone had broken open the barn window, had crawled in, and had taken out Top.
"But why didn't they take Jack or Mr. Nip or Slider?" asked Teddy. "All our pets are nice. Why didn't they take more?"
"Maybe they didn't have time, or perhaps they were frightened away, or they may have wanted only Top," said Mr. Martin. "I think that last is the real reason. A trick poodle, like Top, is valuable. And if he could be placed in a show with his chum Tip, the two would earn a lot of money for whoever had them."
"Then," said Teddy, "we've got to find out who has Tip, and maybe then we'll get back Top."
"Yes," agreed his father, "but it isn't going to be easy. I'll report it to the police and also to the police of that town where Tip was taken."
"We can't have much of a show with Tip and Top gone," said Janet sadly.
"Well, not so very," answered Teddy, trying to make the best of it. "But if we don't get Top back we still have some pets left. The only thing is that Skyrocket has learned to do some tricks with Top, and if Top doesn't come back Sky can't do those tricks. Oh dear, I wish I knew who had our two trick poodles!"
"So do I!" chimed in Janet.
Mr. Martin called up the Cresco police and told them of the theft. Word was also sent to the town where the Curlytops had stopped for lunch the day they had brought home Uncle Toby's pets, when "Shorty" had been left on guard.
After that there was nothing to do but wait, though Ted and Jan wanted to go around among their friends, asking if, by chance, any of them had seen Top. And after breakfast their mother allowed them to do this.
To house after house of their friends and neighbors went the two Curlytops, telling the story of the theft of Top, and asking if anyone had seen him. But it was a hopeless search, as Mrs. Martin knew it would be.For whoever had taken Top, she felt sure, would hide him away, and not let him be seen in or about Cresco, where the pet animal was well known.
"What's the matter, Curlytops?" asked Policeman Cassidy, as he saw Teddy and Janet going along the street one day, having called at several houses, without getting any word about Top. "What's the matter? Can't you have the circus you were counting on?"
"We can't have it as nice as we want it with Top gone," answered Teddy, and then he explained about the theft, of which the policeman had not heard, having been away on his vacation.
"We've been looking all over for Top," added Janet, when her brother had finished, "but we can't find him."
"You aren't looking in the right places," said the policeman. "You won't find him at the houses of any of your friends. If he was there he'd run back to you as soon as he got outside. Where you want to look is in some dog show."
"Dog show?" exclaimed Teddy.
"Yes," went on Mr. Cassidy. "I've heard about stolen dogs before. They are takenby men who want to make money. And since Top was a trick dog, as well as Tip, I'm sure someone has them who would put them in a show. So look for a dog show, and when you find it go in and look at the dogs. That's where you'll find Top, and maybe Tip, too. It's in a dog show you should be looking!"
"Yes," agreed Teddy, after thinking the matter over, "I guess we should. Thank you, Mr. Cassidy. Come on, Jan, we'll look for a dog show. Do you think there's one in Cresco, Mr. Cassidy?"
"None that I've heard of," the officer answered. "You'll see bill posters, and advertisements on the fences when there's a dog show around. Look for a dog show, and maybe you'll find your pets."
The Curlytops thanked him again, and walked off down the street together, filled with a new idea. Eagerly they scanned the walls and fences, seeking for some poster that would tell of a show. And it was not long before they saw just what they were looking for.
"See!" cried Janet, pointing to a red and black poster on a fence. "That tells of a show, Ted."
"Yes," agreed her brother, "so it does. But it's over in Canfield."
The advertisement told of "Professor Montelli's" wonderful collection of trained and trick dogs. A show would be given every afternoon and evening, the bill said, and, as Teddy had remarked, it was over in the neighboring town of Canfield.
"Maybe Tip would be there," suggested Janet, as she and her brother looked at the poster.
"And Top," added Ted.
"Let's go!" suddenly cried Janet. "I've got most of my allowance that daddy gave me. We can go on the trolley. It isn't far!"
Teddy thought it over for a moment. Then he made up his mind.
"All right!" he said. "Let's go to the dog show!"
Once they were in the trolley, going to Canfield, the two Curlytops felt quite happy. They were happy for one reason, because they were having a ride. Teddy and Janet always liked to be doing things and going somewhere, and this was one of those times.
And they were happy for another reason, because they felt sure they would find Top, and perhaps Tip. Who knew?
Policeman Cassidy had said the most likely place to find the missing poodles would be in a dog show. And they were going to a dog show.
"Do you s'pose mother will mind?" asked Janet of Ted, after they had ridden for a little way in the trolley.
"Oh, I don't guess so," he answered. "We'll soon be back, for it isn't very far to Canfield, and she said we could go out and hunt for Top."
"But maybe she didn't mean we were to go so far, and on a trolley."
"She didn't tell usnotto!" declared Teddy.
"All right," went on Janet. "We're going, anyhow."
"Whereabout in Canfield do you—you Curlytops want to get out?" asked the trolley-car conductor.
"Oh, do you know us?" asked Janet, for the conductor had called the little boy and girl by the name so often given them.
"Well, I don't exactly know you," he answered. "But I would call you Curlytops if you were my children. For the tops of your heads are curly," he added with a laugh.
"Everybody calls us Curlytops," said Teddy. "And could you please let us out near the dog show?"
"The dog show," repeated the conductor, wonderingly.
"This one," went on Ted, taking from his pocket a hand bill of "Professor Montelli's Wondrous Aggregation of Canine Cut-ups." Teddy had found the bill in the street.
"Oh, that show!" exclaimed the conductor, with a laugh. "Why, that's only a little side-show in a tent near where this car runs. I'lllet you get off there if you want to, but it isn't much of a show. It isn't a circus, you know," he said, as he started the car again, after a very fat lady had gotten off. "If you're looking for a circus this isn't it. The dog show is only a little side one—the kind they used to charge ten cents to go in and see after or before the regular circus. I hope you Curlytops aren't running away to see a circus," he added doubtfully.
"Oh, no, sir!" exclaimed Janet. "We're looking for our lost dog, and we thought maybe it was with this show. Two dogs we had, Tip and Top," she went on. "They were white poodles and they belonged to Uncle Toby and they could do tricks. But one was stolen when we were bringing them home, and the other night Top was taken from our barn. It's our dogs we're looking for, not a circus."
"Besides, we're going to have a circus of our own," added Teddy. "That is, we are if we get Tip and Top back."
"Do you think your dogs ran off to join a show?" the conductor asked.
"Oh, no!" answered Teddy. "They were taken away. But Mr. Cassidy—he's a policeman—said the right place to look for ourdogs was in a dog show, so we're looking."
"Well, this Professor Montelli, as he calls himself, has a dog show near the end of my trolley line," said the conductor. "I don't know much about it, as it only came there yesterday. It's in a little tent—a regular side show. I'll put you off near it. But do you think it will be safe for you to go there alone and ask for your lost dogs?"
"Oh, we won't go right in and ask for them," explained Teddy. He and his sister had talked it over, and they had made up their minds what they would do. "We'll just go into the show—'cause we have money to pay for our tickets," the Curlytop boy explained. "Then if we see Tip and Top there we'll take 'em right away."
"That's what we will!" declared Janet. "And if that show man won't give our dogs to us we'll call a policeman."
"Well, I guess you Curlytops can take care of yourselves," laughed the conductor. "You get off three blocks from here, and then you'll be right near the dog show. Good luck to you!"
"Thank you," replied Teddy and Janet.
They saw the tent—a small one with a few flags on it—almost as soon as theyalighted from the trolley car. It was about three o'clock, and a crowd about the tent showed that the performance was going on, or would soon start.
Professor Montelli's name was painted on a strip of canvas over the entrance to the tent, and on either side were painted pictures of dogs doing all sorts of queer tricks. One picture was that of a dog jumping off a high platform into a tank of water.
"Oh, if we could only make our monkey Jack do a trick like that!" whispered Janet to Teddy.
"Maybe we can," he whispered back, as they walked up to the tent. "But monkeys don't like water, I guess. We might get Skyrocket to do the jump. We'll try. But now let's see if Tip or Top are here in this show."
A man standing in a booth outside the tent was calling out in a loud voice:
"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Step right up, boys and girls! The big show is about to begin!"
He ruffled a bundle of red tickets in his hand and went on:
"Pay your dime and step right up. You'll see the world-famed aggregation of caninecut-ups! The funniest dogs you ever saw doing the funniest tricks! There are hound dogs, bulldogs, setter dogs, fox terriers, big dogs, little dogs, all good dogs, and some poodle dogs!"
Ted and Janet looked at each other.
"Poodles!" whispered the Curlytops.
Tip and Top were white poodles!
"Come on! Let's go in!" said Teddy boldly.
He stepped up to the booth, bought two tickets, and he and Janet went into the tent. At one end was a raised platform, hung about with red cloth. On the platform were some chairs, a table, some pedestals, some paper-covered hoops and other things used in the dog tricks. There were also some board benches, like circus seats, in the tent.
"Come on up front, where we can see the dogs better," said Ted to his sister. "If we see Tip or Top we'll call them right down to us off the platform."
There were as yet not many persons in the tent, and the Curlytops had no trouble getting front seats. Then they anxiously waited for the performance to begin, which it did in a little while.
Out on the platform came a man with avery black moustache and a little whip. The moustache was under his nose and the whip in his hands. He looked around at the audience, and then in a sing-song voice said:
"Ladies an' gen'men: With your kind attention an' permission I will now show you what my dogs can do. Let 'em on, Jack," he called to someone back of the platform.
A moment later about ten dogs rushed up on the platform, barking and wagging their tails. Every one of the dogs looked anxiously at the black-eyed and black-moustached man, as if afraid he would hit them with the whip he carried. Each dog seemed to know his or her place, and went to chair, box, or platform, until all were arranged in a half circle back of the man.