o her
brother. "I hope they get a lot! I'll give some to Snuff, the Persian
cat."

"If we stay it will be just like camping," agreed Ted.

While Mr. and Mrs. Martin were considering what to do, Bob, the boy who
had come for the pigeons, put his head in through the doorway and called
out:

"I got 'em all, thank you! I'm going now. I hope you have good luck with
Uncle Toby's pets!"

"Goodness knows we'll need it," said Mrs. Martin, and then she had to
laugh. The whole affair seemed to her to be so very funny. Neither she
nor her husband had imagined that Uncle Toby's "collection" could be
anything like this--dogs, a parrot, a monkey, a Persian cat and a little
alligator, not forgetting the white rats and mice.

"Well, we'd better stay here for the night," finally decided Daddy
Martin. "It is warm, and Uncle Toby had quite a number of beds. The
house is in good order. I'll turn on the water, and you and the children
might go to the store and get things for supper," he added. "It will soon
be night."

"Oh, what fun! We're going to stay here!" cried Janet, dancing around the
Persian cat, who was trying to rub against her legs.

"And I'll teach Tip and Top some new tricks, so we can have a circus when
we get home," remarked Ted.

"There's circus enough here," his father said, with a smile. "But trot
along, Curlytops, if you are going to get something for us to eat. The
animals have been fed and now it is time for us. I'm getting hungry."

"Me hundry, too!" declared Trouble.

"We mustn't let that happen!" laughed his mother. "We'll go to the store.
Come along, Curlytops!"

As the children walked down the street with their mother to look for the
nearest delicatessen store, they saw the boy Bob carefully wheeling his
basket of pigeons toward his own home. He had gotten the birds out of
Uncle Toby's barn.

When Mrs. Martin and the Curlytops, with Trouble, of course, came back to
Uncle Toby's house, they found Daddy Martin sitting in front of the
kitchen stove in which he had kindled a fire. In his lap was the Persian
cat, purring contentedly, and Mr. Martin was rubbing the long, soft silky
fur of Snuff.

In front of the father of the Curlytops were Skyrocket, Tip, and Top, the
three dogs. They were lying asleep near the fire. In the other room were
the mice, the rats, the alligator, the monkey, and the parrot, all the
animals quiet, for a wonder, as Mrs. Martin said.

"Oh, Daddy! you love 'em, don't you?" excla