ip was gone, and now Top! Could it be true?

"Are you sure, Mother?" asked Teddy. "Maybe Top is hiding behind a box or
something."

"Let's go look!" proposed Janet.

"Oh, I'm sure he isn't there," said Mrs. Martin. "I called him, as I
always do, when I go to let him and Skyrocket out. But Top did not come."

"Did Skyrocket?" asked Janet.

"Yes, he came rushing out of his kennel, barking and wagging his tail as
if he would wag it off. And Snuff came out, and so did Turnover. But
there was no Top."

Teddy started for the barn on the run, and so did Janet. Their mother
followed more slowly. She felt very sorry for her Curlytops, as she knew
they would be very sad over the loss of their second pet dog.

"The barn door is locked!" said Teddy, as he reached it and tried to go
in.

"Yes, I locked it after me when I came out," his mother said. "I wanted
to make sure that none of the other pets would get away. But the door was
locked when I first went in this morning. It was locked just as you left
it last night."

"Then I don't see how Top could have gotten out," Janet said.

"Unless there is some other place open in the barn--like a window," Mrs.
Martin suggested.

"Let's look!" cried Teddy.

His mother turned the key in the padlock on the outside of the barn door.
As the door opened and the Curlytops went in, they were greeted by barks
of welcome from Skyrocket, by mews from Snuff and Turnover, the cats, by
chattering from Mr. Jack, the monkey, and by shrill cries from Mr. Nip,
the parrot, who called as loudly as he could:

"I'm a crack-crack-cracker!"

"They're all here but Top," said Mrs. Martin. And as the Curlytops looked
around the barn they saw that this was so. Top was not in sight.

"Here, Top! Top! Top!" called Teddy, and he whistled. Mr. Nip also
whistled, as loudly and clearly as the little boy himself. But there was
no answer from his pet trick dog.

Janet ran over and looked in the box where Top always slept on a piece of
carpet. The box was empty.

"Where do you s'pose he can be?" she asked her mother.

"That's what we must find out," was Mrs. Martin's answer. "We must look
all through the barn. There are several places where he may have gotten
out--or been taken out," she added a moment later.

It was Teddy who finally discovered the open window by which it was
thought someone had entered the barn and taken Top out. The window was
near the stalls used by the horses before Mr. Martin boug