n of what had happened.

"Two boys," replied the baker. "They have a box with them--Ha! here is
the box now. It is the cage that the mice got out of!" he cried, pointing
to a box with a wire front on the floor of the store, in a corner.

"Uncle Toby's box!" exclaimed Mr. Martin, in a low voice.

"What's that?" cried the baker. "You know these white rats and mice, Mr.
Martin?"

"I'm afraid I do," said the father of the Curlytops. "My children got
some new pets from an uncle of mine--Uncle Toby. Among the pets were
white mice and rats. That is the box we brought them in from Pocono. But
how did the box get here?"

"Some boys brought it in, I am telling you," the baker answered. "Two
boys."

"Did you know them? Was one my son Teddy?" asked Mr. Martin.

"I do not know--I forgot to look I was in such a hurry, for my bread was
almost burning in my oven. I run to the store quick, as I am all alone
now; I wait on the boys, they want cookies; and I run back to my oven.
Now I come--the rats--the mice!" and Mr. Capper, who was a Frenchman,
raised his hands in the air over his head in despair.

"I wonder if Ted could have done this?" mused Mr. Martin.

And then he heard Teddy's voice calling:

"Come on, Jim! Here they are! We left the rats here, and--Oh, I say!
Look! They got out of the cage, and look what they're doing to the buns!"

A moment later Teddy Martin came pushing his way through the crowd now in
the bakery.

CHAPTER XI

TOP ACTS STRANGELY

Mr. Martin, the father of the Curlytops, Mr. Capper, the baker, and the
crowd of persons in the shop looked at Teddy and his friend, Jimmy
Norton, as the two boys hurried into the place. Nearly everyone guessed
what had happened, but Mr. Martin wanted to make sure, so he asked:

"Teddy, did you let your white mice and rats get loose among Mr. Capper's
buns?"

"Well, I--I didn't exactly do it, Daddy," Teddy answered. "But I guess
they did get loose, didn't they?" he asked, with half a smile.

"There is no doubt about it--they are loose, and they have done a lot of
damage," and Mr. Martin spoke rather sternly.

"Damage! They have eaten up over two dollars' worth of buns--or they have
as much spoiled!" said the excited baker.

"How did it happen?" asked Teddy's father.

"Well, it was an accident," the little Curlytop boy answered. "Jimmy and
I were taking the cage down to the store to have some new wire put on.
There's a place where the wire is broken, an