d in. He couldn't take the
pudding out in his paw as your monkey could do."

"Maybe not," agreed Uncle Toby. "Anyhow, I'm glad to know it wasn't
Skyrocket, for I like that dog. But some one must have taken the
pudding, Aunt Sallie. Unless it slipped out of the window itself, and
went off on the toboggan!"

The children laughed at this idea, but Aunt Sallie took it seriously,
for she said:

"Oh, it couldn't do that, Uncle Toby. I mean it couldn't slip out of the
window," she added, as the Curlytops laughed again. "I had it covered
with a tin pan, and that's on the shelf, but the pudding is gone from
under it."

"This is getting mysterious," said Uncle Toby. "We must take a look and
see about it."

"I'm so sorry, for I wanted the children to have some of my plum
pudding," went on Aunt Sallie.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Lola. "We had plenty to eat."

"Too much, I'm afraid," chuckled Uncle Toby. "Maybe it's just as well
the pudding is missing. The children will sleep better without it, Aunt
Sallie."

"Oh, 'tisn't so much the _pudding_ that I am worried about," went on the
kindly housekeeper, in a whisper. "It is that some one may be sneaking
around here taking things."

"Do you think that happened?" asked Uncle Toby. The children had run
into the kitchen to look at the window through which the pudding had so
mysteriously disappeared, and Uncle Toby and Aunt Sallie could speak
freely.

"Yes, Uncle Toby, I think that is what happened," said the old lady.
"Some tramp, or somebody, must have been sneaking around your cabin.
They looked in the window, saw my pudding, and took it while we were
all in the dining room. 'Tisn't so much that I mind the pudding; that
is, if it was taken by some one really hungry. For this is Thanksgiving,
and I wouldn't want any one to go hungry. But if they had knocked at the
door and asked for something to eat I'd have given it to them, and then
the pudding would be safe. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," answered Uncle Toby, as he and Aunt Sallie followed the
children. "We never had any tramps in these woods. Maybe it's that queer
man we saw over in Newt Baker's old shack. He may be a hungry tramp."

"Well, something ought to be done about it," declared Aunt Sallie. "I
won't feel safe with such people roaming the woods."

"Maybe when I look in the snow under the window I'll see the paw marks
of a bear," suggested Uncle Toby.

"What would that mean?" asked Aunt Sal