imed Jan, as she saw her
father surrounded by some of the pets. "We may keep them, mayn't we?"

"I'll see about it," was the answer, and Janet whispered to Teddy that
she was almost sure this meant "yes."

It did not take long to get up a little supper. Daddy Martin ran the
automobile into the side yard of Uncle Toby's house, and the Curlytop
family, as I sometimes call them, prepared to stay all night. There were
plenty of beds, and in the morning they could turn off the water again,
take the pets away, close the house, and everything would be as Uncle
Toby wished it.

You can easily guess that neither of the Curlytops, nor Trouble, for that
matter, wanted to go to bed early that night. The children were thinking
too much of the pets. And, indeed, the pets seemed to like the children.
Mr. Nip, the parrot, let Jan scratch his head, a form of caress of which
he seemed very fond. Jack, the monkey, no longer snatched off Trouble's
cap. But perhaps that was because baby William did not wear it near the
lively chap. Snuff, the Persian cat, seemed to have taken a great liking
to Mr. Martin, and as for the dogs, Tip and Top, they were hardly out of
the sight of Jan and Ted. Nor was Skyrocket neglected or jealous. He
entered into the fun of playing around on the lawn and porch with the
white poodles after supper.

Even Slider, the little alligator, seemed very friendly. He took bits of
meat from the fingers of Ted, though Janet said she was afraid of the
scaly creature.

"I'm going to teach him some tricks, so he can be in the animal circus,"
declared Ted.

"Are you going to have a circus?" asked his sister.

"Sure!" he answered, though, to tell the truth, he had not begun to think
of it until he saw all the pets Uncle Toby had left. "We'll have a fine
circus!"

The evening passed pleasantly. Finally Trouble became sleepy, even though
he was much interested in watching Jack, the monkey, crack peanuts.

"Come, laddie, you must go to bed!" called Mrs. Martin. "Mr. Nip, the
parrot, has gone to sleep long ago, with his head under his wing, poor
thing!" and she sang part of the "Robin Song."

"Me want see head's under swing," murmured Trouble. "Me see!"

"Oh, no! I don't want to wake up Mr. Nip. He has a cloth over his cage to
keep him quiet," and Mrs. Martin carried Trouble over to where the
parrot's cage had been covered with a table-cover for the night.

"Goo'-bye," murmured the little fellow sleepily, and then he w