blanket. But the baby himself isn't hurt at all.
And--"

"I'll be over there, in fifteen minutes," said the Chief, alive with
professional interest.

But in ten minutes he was on the wire once more.

"Has the baby blanket got the monogram, 'B.R.R', on one corner?" he
asked excitedly.

"Yes," answered the Master. "I was going to tell you that, when you
hung up. And on--"

"That's the one!" fairly shouted the Chief. "As soon as you finished
talking to me, I got another call. General alarm out for a kidnaped
baby. Belongs to those Rennick people, up the Valley. The artists that
rented the old Beasley place this summer. The baby was stolen, an hour
ago; right out of the nursery. I'll phone 'em that he's found; and then
I'll be over."

"All right. There's another queer point about all this. Our dog--"

"Speaking of dogs," went on the garrulous Chief, "this is a wakeful
evening for me. I just got a call from the drug store that a couple of
fellows have stopped there to get patched up from dog-bites. They say a
dozen stray curs set on 'em, while they were changing a tire. The
druggist thought they acted queer, contradicting each other in bits of
their story. So he's taking his time, fixing them; till I can drop in
on my way to your house and give 'em the once over. So---"

"Do more than that!" decreed the Master, on quick inspiration. "What I
started to tell you is that there's blood on Lad's jaws; as well as on
the baby's blanket. If two men say they've been bitten by dogs--"

"I get you!" yelled the other. "Good-by! I got no time to waste, when a
clew like that is shaken in front of me. See you later!"

Long before the Chief arrived at the Place with triumphant tidings of
his success in "sweating" the truth from the mangled and nerve-racked
Schwartzes, the two other actors in the evening's drama were miles away
among the sunflecked shadows of Dreamland.

The baby, industriously and unsanitarily sucking one pudgy thumb, was
cuddled down to sleep in the Mistress's lap. And, in the depths of his
cave under the living-room piano, Lad was stretched at perfect ease;
his tiny white forepaws straight in front of him.

But his deep breathing was interrupted, now and then, by a muttered
sigh. For, at last, one of his beautiful presents had failed to cause
happiness and praise from his gods. Instead, it had apparently turned
the whole household inside out; to judge by the noisy excitement and
the telephoning and all. An