n ran out of
Jimmy's yard and down the street, following Top, the trick dog. For as
soon as Top had seen that Teddy was following after him, which,
evidently, was just what Top wanted, the dog raced on, barking wildly.

"Do you think he came to call you?" panted Janet, as she ran beside her
brother.

"Sure he did," Ted answered. "Didn't you ever read in books how dogs do
that when they want you to come to help somebody who's in trouble--like
somebody in the water?"

"I've read lots of stories like that," said Jimmy.

"Oh, maybe something has happened to Trouble!" cried Janet.

"Mother took Trouble down town with her," Teddy answered. "So if Trouble
is in trouble Top wouldn't know it."

"Maybe our house is on fire," went on Janet, who seemed quite determined
to have something dreadful happen.

"You'd hear the alarm bell and see the engines if there was a fire,"
declared Jimmy.

"Well, it's _something_!" exclaimed Janet. "Isn't it a pity dogs can't
talk like parrots? If they could, Top could tell us just what the matter
was."

"We'll see pretty soon," said her brother. "We're almost at our house,
and it must be there that something is the matter."

As the children were racing down the street, with Top running in front of
them, looking back every now and then to make sure the Curlytops and
Jimmy were following, a man stopped the children and said:

"Why are you chasing that poor dog? Don't you know it is wrong to tease
and annoy animals?"

"We're not teasing him," Teddy answered. "He's our dog, anyhow."

"That is no matter," the fussy man said. "I think it is wrong to chase
dogs or to tie tin cans on their tails."

"As if we'd tie a tin can to the tail of our nice Top!" exclaimed Janet.
"We _never_ tie cans to dogs' tails!" she added. "And we're running after
Top because he wants us to. He came to get us because something has
happened at our house."

Seeing that the children had stopped, because the strange man had halted
them, Top came running back, barking and wagging his tail. He caught hold
of Teddy's coat, and again pulled it.

"See!" exclaimed Ted. "He wants us to follow him. He did that before, and
that's why we ran after him, not because we're chasing him, Mister."

The man looked at the excited dog and at the kind-faced children. He must
have known they would never have harmed animals, for he said:

"Oh, excuse me! I guess I made a mistake. I thought you were chasing the
poor dog. Excuse me!