A FUZZY BURGLAR
"What's that?" asked Mr. Martin, who was the last of the Curlytop family
to come out of the restaurant. "Who is gone? One of the pets?"
"Tip is gone," answered Teddy. "Oh, where is he?"
"Maybe he's hiding back of the monkey's cage," suggested Janet, for Jack,
the pet monkey, lived in a sort of cage, or box, and he had been moved
from Uncle Toby's house in it.
"No, Tip isn't here at all," said Teddy. "Top is here and Skyrocket, but
Tip is gone."
"That can't be," said the young man who had said he would guard the
animals while the Curlytops ate. "I've been here all the while, and I
didn't see even one of the white mice get away."
He seemed to be a nice, good-natured young man, and appeared to be as
much surprised as Teddy and Janet were over the loss of Tip. As for
Trouble, he was not worrying much. He had climbed into the front seat of
the automobile, and was playing with Snuff, the yellow Persian cat. As
long as Trouble had some animal near him he did not worry much about
anything else.
"Have you been right here all the while, young man?" asked Mr. Martin of
the youth who had been left on guard. "You didn't go away, did you, and
give someone a chance to come up and take one of the dogs?"
"Oh, no, sir! I stayed right here all the while. I sat down on the
running-board and waited. The only thing that happened was that the
alligator tried to crawl out, but I put him back. I was sitting here,
thinking how funny it was that anybody should have so many pets, when,
all of a sudden, I felt something rough on my neck."
"What was it?" asked Janet, while Teddy was looking under the automobile,
thinking that perhaps Tip might be hiding there.
"It was the little alligator, with his rough tail," explained the young
man, who said he was called "Shorty" by his chums. He was very tall, and
perhaps that was why he was called "Shorty," in fun you know. "It was the
little alligator that was crawling up my shoulder and scratching my
neck," he explained. "I put him back in his cage, or tank, or whatever
you call it, though I was afraid he'd bite me."
"Oh, no, Slider is very gentle," said Ted, who came up on the sidewalk,
after having peered under the automobile. "Oh, dear, I don't see where
Tip can be!" he said.
"It is queer that he should go away and leave Top," said Mrs. Martin, for
the other white poodle dog was there, safe in the automobile.
Top looked up at the friends gazing down at him, barked and wagged his
tail. Perhaps he, too, was asking what had become of his chum, Tip.
"The dog must have jumped out on the opposite side of the car from where
you were sitting," said Mr. Martin to Shorty. "Though if that had
happened I should have thought you would have heard him," and the father
of the Curlytops looked rather sharply at Shorty.
"No, sir, I didn't hear a thing," was the answer. "All I know is that the
alligator tried to crawl up my neck. I didn't see the dog run away."
"Perhaps he didn't run away," suggested Mrs. Martin.
"What do you mean?" asked Janet.
"I mean someone may have stepped up softly, when this young man had his
back turned, and, reaching over, may have lifted Tip up and taken him
away. I wish you had sat in the auto, Shorty, instead of outside on the
step."
"Yes'm, I wish so myself," agreed the young man. "But there were so many
animals in there I thought I'd better be on the outside so I could chase
'em quicker in case any got away. And one did get away and I never saw
him! I'm terribly sorry! I'll go down the street and see if I can find
him."
"I wish you would," remarked Mr. Martin. "Just take a look, and ask
everyone you meet if he saw a white poodle with a black tip on the end of
his tail. If you find him I'll give you a dollar besides the fifty cents
for watching the auto."
"I'd like to earn that dollar!" said the young man. "I'll go look!"
"I'll come, too," offered Teddy, "but I don't want a dollar if I find
Tip. I just want to get our dog back."
"So do I," added Janet. "I'll come and look with you."
"This was a valuable dog," explained Mr. Martin, as Shorty moved off down
the street. "He could do tricks. I'd like very much to get him back."
"I'll do my best," promised the young man. "It was my fault, in a way,
that he got a chance to go away. I should have been looking on both sides
of the auto at once, but I didn't. I'll see if I can't find him."
"I think I'll take a look, myself," said Mr. Martin to his wife, who had
now gotten in the automobile with Trouble. "I don't like the way things
have happened."
"Why, do you think that young man had anything to do with Tip's going
away?" asked Mrs. Martin, as Ted and Janet went down the street one way
while Shorty took the other direction.
"I can't be sure," answered the father of the Curlytops. "He looks like
an honest young man, but if he knew what a valuable dog Tip was he might
have let some friend of his step up and take away the pet animal."
"But wouldn't he have allowed both of the dogs to be taken--Top as well
as Tip?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"Maybe there wasn't time to take but the one," her husband explained.
"And perhaps I am wrong, and Shorty is right. Tip may have seen some
other dog on the far side of the street, and have jumped out of the car
to go up to him. It's too bad, but maybe we'll get him back."
"I hope the children don't go so far away that they are lost, too,"
remarked Mrs. Martin.
"I think they'll not go far," said her husband. "Oh, no, you don't!" he
suddenly exclaimed. "Come back here! We don't want to chase _you_!" and
he made a hasty grab for Slider, the pet alligator, who seemed to want to
get out of his glass-sided tank. "I'll be glad when we get Uncle Toby's
menagerie safely home," said Mr. Martin.
"So shall I," his wife added. "Though the animals seem very nice. Trouble
loves Snuff already."
"Oh, I suppose we shall get to like them all," agreed Mr. Martin. "We'll
have to let Ted and Janet make places for them in the barn. It is warm
weather now, and even the tropical animals, like the monkey, can stay
out there."
"I wonder if the parrot will talk much?" ventured Mrs. Martin. "I have
always rather wished for a talking parrot. Hello, Polly!" she called to
the red and green bird in his cage.
"Hello, Polly!" answered Mr. Nip. "I'm a crack-crack-cracker!" he shouted
at the top of his voice, and several persons, passing along the street,
turned to smile at the Martins with their automobile load of pets. Then
Mr. Nip began to whistle, so very much like a boy, that Skyrocket, Ted's
dog, imagined his master was whistling to him, and barked in answer. Then
Top, the remaining pet poodle, also began to bark, and Jack, the monkey,
chattered in his own queer way.
"I'm a crack-crack-cracker!" Mr. Nip shouted at the top of his voice, and
by this time quite a little crowd had gathered around the automobile.
"I wish we were at home!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin, who did not like so many
strange persons staring at her and her husband and Trouble. But Trouble,
who was trying to smooth down the fluffy fur of the Persian cat, did not
seem to mind.
"What's this--a traveling circus?" asked a policeman, stepping up to the
side of the car. "You have to get a permit if you're going to give a
parade," he added to Mr. Martin.
"Oh, I'm not going to give a parade," answered the father of the
Curlytops. "We are just waiting to see if we can find one of our pets, a
trick dog that ran away--or that was taken away," and he explained what
had happened.
"Do you know anything about that young man--Shorty he called himself--who
watched our auto while we ate?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"I know him--yes," the policeman answered. "Sometimes he is bad, again he
is good. I'd say he was bad more often than he was good."
"Just what I was afraid of!" exclaimed Mr. Martin. "I think
Shorty knows more about the missing dog than he has told us. I
don't believe he'll come back to get the dollar I promised him."
"Here come Ted and Janet," said their mother. "They didn't find Tip,
either."
The Curlytops were hurrying along the street toward the automobile. They
saw the policeman and began to run.
"Oh, did you find him? Did you get Tip back?" gasped Janet, as she
reached the car. "Did the policeman find him?"
"No," answered her mother. "Did you see anything of our new dog,
Curlytops?"
Ted and Janet sadly shook their heads. They had looked up and down
several streets, they explained, but Tip was nowhere in sight. Nor had
they seen Shorty since he, also, started to look for the missing animal.
"Well, we can't stay here much longer," decided Mr. Martin. "If we do,
some more of Uncle Toby's pets may run away. We'd better get home. I'll
leave you my name and address," said the father of the Curlytops to the
policeman. "And if you hear anything of the missing dog please let me
know."
"I will," promised the officer. "And if I see Shorty I'll make him tell
me what really happened. Sometimes he plays jokes, and this may have been
one of those times."
Mr. Martin waited a little longer, and when the young man did not come
back, and when there was no sign of the missing Tip, it was thought best
to start for Cresco. So, with one of Uncle Toby's pets missing, the trip
was resumed.
"You certainly have pets enough, even without Tip," said Mrs. Martin, as
they neared the home of the Curlytops.
"Yes, but we want Tip," said Teddy. "We can't give a good show with only
one trick dog, 'specially when they are supposed to work as a team--one
on the other's back."
"Are you going to give a show?" asked his mother.
"Yes," Teddy answered. "We'll give a show and make money. We can ask real
money to see all the animals we have," and he looked down at the parrot's
cage, the box of Jack, the monkey, the cage of the white mice and rats,
and the tank of the alligator.
"Perhaps you could train Skyrocket to take the place of Tip," said Mr.
Martin.
"Maybe," agreed Teddy. "But Skyrocket isn't the same kind of a dog, and
Tip and Top looked so cute together."
"Just like twins," added Janet. "Oh, I hope we get Tip back."
They could not be sure whether the pet dog had run away himself, or
whether someone had reached in over the side of the car and lifted him
out. Someone may have done that while Shorty turned his back, saying
nothing and not trying to stop him.
"I am sorry, but I think Shorty had something to do with Tip getting
away," said Mr. Martin. "If that young man had been honest he would have
come back and told us he couldn't find the dog. I should not have allowed
Shorty to watch our auto. But it is too late, now, to be sorry."
The Curlytops reached their home just before supper, and there was so
much to do, making places in the barn for Uncle Toby's pets, seeing that
they were comfortable, and that they could not get out during the night,
that, for a time, Ted and Janet forgot about the loss of Tip. If he had
been the only pet, of course they would have missed him very much. But
they had so many now that they were kept busy. Still, they wished, very
much, that Tip could be found.
"For if we don't find him, we can't have half so many tricks in our
circus show," said Teddy.
In due time the pets were put away for the night. The barn was a good
place for them, and after they had been fed and given fresh water, which
all pets need as much as they do food, the children left the animals to
themselves.
"In the morning we'll start getting ready for the circus," declared Ted.
"Will dey be han'-ordan music?" asked Trouble.
"Well, we'll have some kind of music, if I have to toot on some tissue
paper over a comb," answered Teddy.
Tired out with their two days' automobile trip, the Curlytops were soon
ready for bed. Trouble went to sleep earlier than did Ted or Janet, but
soon they, too, were ready to go to their rooms.
"Let us feed the animals--don't you do it, please," Ted begged of his
father and mother. "Janet and I want to make believe we are keepers in a
circus, feeding lions and tigers."
"All right, you may feed them," agreed their mother.
How long they had been asleep neither Ted nor Janet knew, but they were
suddenly awakened in the night by hearing screams. The screams came from
the open window of the house next door, where Mrs. Blake, a very nice
lady, lived with her two servants. Her husband was dead, and her children
had married and gone away. Mrs. Blake's bedroom was opposite the
adjoining sleeping rooms of Ted and Janet, and often the Curlytops would
call "good morning" across to Mrs. Blake.
But this time it was Mrs. Blake who called, and she did not exactly call,
she screamed in the middle of the night.
"Help! Help!" cried the lady from her open window. "Mr. Martin! Mary Ann!
Patrick!" (these were her servants) "come and get him. A little fuzzy
burglar is in my room! Come and get the fuzzy burglar!"