ittle
brother.

"What's that you say?" asked Teddy, putting the alligator back again on
the box on which stood the tank of water.

"You ought to see Snuff," repeated the little fellow.

"What's he doing?" asked Janet.

"Oh, he's rollin' ober an' ober in yard," explained Trouble, so excited
that he did not take time to talk as straight as usual. "He's rollin'
funny!"

"Oh, maybe the poor cat has a fit!" exclaimed Janet. "That would be too
bad, Ted! He couldn't be in our circus."

"I'll go see," offered Teddy. He had been among animals so long, and was
so kind to them, and he liked them so much, that he was not afraid to
try to help even a sick one. And a cat that has a fit is ill, and needs
medicine. Sometimes Turnover became ill, and had to be doctored, and more
than once Skyrocket, the dog, was in need of some simple home remedy.

So the first thought of Janet and Ted, when Trouble told them that Snuff,
the cat they had brought from Uncle Toby's, was "rollin'"--their first
thought, I say, was that Snuff had a fit.

"You stay here and watch Slider," said Ted to his sister, "and I'll go
out into the yard and see what's the matter with the cat."

"I go, too," added Trouble. "I 'ike to see Snuff roll!"

"No, you had better stay here with me," suggested Janet, and she ran to
the barn door to catch hold of her little brother before he could toddle
after Teddy.

"I want to go! Lemme go!" cried Trouble, and he struggled to get away
from Janet.

"No, you must stay with sister," said the little girl, as pleasantly as
she could. "Look, I'll show you a new trick that Slider, our pet
alligator, can do. Trouble like to see Slider do a trick?" she asked.
"Come on, Trouble! See Slider do his sliding trick!"

Baby William was not proof against this attraction. He ceased trying to
pull away from Janet and let her lead him back to the alligator's tank.
There Janet took up the scaly, long-tailed creature, which was idly
crawling around, and put him on top of the slanting board, as Teddy had
been about to do when Trouble told about Snuff. Janet did not mind
picking up Slider.

The Curlytops were not afraid of animals that many girls and boys do not
like to handle. Janet and Teddy knew a great deal about snakes, and they
knew that only two kinds that lived in their State were harmful. These
were the rattlesnake and the copperhead. All other kinds, such as black
snakes, milk snakes and garter snakes can never harm a person.