as carried
up to his bed in Uncle Toby's house.

A little later Ted and Janet also went to their rooms, having given
farewell pats and rubs to the dogs and cat. Mr. Martin went about,
seeing that the house was locked up, and then he and his wife sat
downstairs, talking while the children were asleep.

"Do you really intend to take all those pets home with us?" asked Mrs.
Martin.

"I don't see what else we can do," her husband replied. "The children
will be disappointed if we don't. And I don't really want to sell them.
Uncle Toby might not like it. I think I'll take them home with us, and
write to him, if I can get his address. He must have left it, even if he
is going to live in South America."

"But how can we take home a monkey, a parrot, three dogs, a cat, an
alligator and some rats and some white mice?" asked the mother of the
Curlytops.

"Oh, there is plenty of room in the auto," her husband answered. "We'll
load it up in the morning."

The night passed quietly enough, except that about twelve o'clock the
parrot suddenly began shrieking:

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

"Dick! Dick! Wake up!" called Mrs. Martin. "Someone is at the front
door!"

"Police! Police!" chattered the parrot again.

And, surely enough, it was the police, though how the red and green bird
knew it is more than I can say. A passing policeman, seeing the light in
Uncle Toby's house, and having been told by Mrs. Watson, the housekeeper,
on her way to her sister's, that the place was to be closed, had stopped
to inquire.

"I thought it was burglars," said the policeman, after Daddy Martin had
gone down to the front door and explained.

"That's what Mr. Nip did, too, I guess," said Mr. Martin.

"Who's Mr. Nip?" asked the officer.

"The parrot," said the father of the Curlytops. "He awakened us by his
shrieking."

After the policeman had gone, the house became quiet again, and nothing
more happened until morning. After breakfast the water was turned off,
and the home of Uncle Toby was made ready for closing up until the old
gentleman should return.

The parrot's cage, the box for the monkey, the little tank of water and
pebbles in which Slider lived, and the wire cage of the white mice and
rats--all these were taken out to the automobile. It was a large one,
and there was plenty of room for the Curlytops and their new pets.

"Take Snuff, the cat, in between you and Trouble, Janet," her father