ht an
automobile. In a corner, at the left of the stalls and too high from the
floor of the barn for Top to have reached, even in his best jump, was a
swinging window. This was open, as Teddy found, and when his mother and
Janet came at his call, Mrs. Martin saw that the bolt had been broken.

"That is how it happened," she said. "Someone opened that window from the
outside last night, crawled in, and took Top away. The dog himself could
not have gotten out of that high window. Someone must have taken him."

"But wouldn't he bark and bite them?" asked Janet.

"Top was too friendly to bite anyone unless they harmed him," said her
mother. "And I have no doubt but that this man--it must have been a man
or a big boy--knew how to be nice to Top. Maybe they gave him a little
piece of meat to chew on while they took him away."

"Oh dear!" sighed Janet. "How shall we ever get him back?"

"I'll call your father, and ask him what to do," remarked Mrs. Martin.
"This is getting serious! Two of Uncle Toby's best pets gone! If he comes
back he will think we did not take very good care of his animals."

"It wasn't our fault that a burglar came and took Top," said Teddy.

"No, dear," answered his mother. "But we must do what we can to get the
dog back. I'll call your father."

Mr. Martin came quickly when he heard what had happened. He went to the
barn to look, and he agreed with his wife that, during the night, someone
had broken open the barn window, had crawled in, and had taken out Top.

"But why didn't they take Jack or Mr. Nip or Slider?" asked Teddy. "All
our pets are nice. Why didn't they take more?"

"Maybe they didn't have time, or perhaps they were frightened away, or
they may have wanted only Top," said Mr. Martin. "I think that last is
the real reason. A trick poodle, like Top, is valuable. And if he could
be placed in a show with his chum Tip, the two would earn a lot of money
for whoever had them."

"Then," said Teddy, "we've got to find out who has Tip, and maybe then
we'll get back Top."

"Yes," agreed his father, "but it isn't going to be easy. I'll report it
to the police and also to the police of that town where Tip was taken."

"We can't have much of a show with Tip and Top gone," said Janet sadly.

"Well, not so very," answered Teddy, trying to make the best of it. "But
if we don't get Top back we still have some pets left. The only thing is
that Skyrocket has learned to do some tricks with Top, and