d it needed fixing so the
rats couldn't get out. So Jimmy and I took the cage, and the rats and
mice in it, down to the hardware store."

"Why didn't you take the mice out, and leave them in the barn?" asked Mr.
Martin.

"'Cause there wasn't anything I could leave 'em in," Teddy replied. "I
was afraid they'd get out, and maybe go over in Mrs. Johnson's baby
carriage, just as Slider did. So I thought if we took the rats and mice
right in the cage the man at the store could put some new wire netting
over the old, and they couldn't get out."

"And did he do it?" Teddy's father went on, while the crowd listened to
the talk.

"Yes, sir," Teddy replied. "The cage was fixed all right, and on the way
back, Jimmy and I got tired of carrying it, so we stopped in here to get
some cookies. We were hungry."

"It is as I told you!" broke in Mr. Capper. "Two boys did come in for
cookies. These are the two--I remember now."

"Well, why didn't you boys take the cage of rats and mice with you when
you went out?" asked Mr. Martin. "If you hadn't left them here they
wouldn't have gotten loose and gone into Mr. Capper's show window to eat
or spoil all his buns. Why did you leave the cage here?"

"We--we forgot it, I guess; didn't we, Jimmy?" asked Teddy of his chum.

"Yes," agreed Jimmy, "we did."

"But if the man at the hardware store put new wire on the cage, I don't
see how the rats and mice got out," Mr. Martin went on.

Teddy looked at the empty cage which had been set down in a corner when
he and his chum bought the cookies.

"The door came open!" Teddy exclaimed. "See, Daddy, the door sprang open
and the white mice got out that way. It wasn't our fault at all!"

"But it was your fault for leaving the cage here," went on Mr. Martin. "I
don't see why you did it."

"I guess it was on account of the fire engine," spoke up Jimmy Norton.

"The fire engine!" cried Teddy's father. "What has the fire engine to do
with white mice eating buns?"

"Well, after we'd bought the cookies, and were going to take up the cage
of mice and go out," Jimmy explained, "the fire engine came past, and Ted
and I ran out to see it and we went to the fire, but it wasn't a big one,
and we forgot about the mice; didn't we, Teddy?"

"Yes," said Teddy, "we did. And I didn't think about 'em until a little
while ago, 'cause we started to play marbles, and--and----"

"Yes, and by your thoughtlessness you have made a lot of trouble," Mr.
Martin remar