ile. They
saw the policeman and began to run.

"Oh, did you find him? Did you get Tip back?" gasped Janet, as she
reached the car. "Did the policeman find him?"

"No," answered her mother. "Did you see anything of our new dog,
Curlytops?"

Ted and Janet sadly shook their heads. They had looked up and down
several streets, they explained, but Tip was nowhere in sight. Nor had
they seen Shorty since he, also, started to look for the missing animal.

"Well, we can't stay here much longer," decided Mr. Martin. "If we do,
some more of Uncle Toby's pets may run away. We'd better get home. I'll
leave you my name and address," said the father of the Curlytops to the
policeman. "And if you hear anything of the missing dog please let me
know."

"I will," promised the officer. "And if I see Shorty I'll make him tell
me what really happened. Sometimes he plays jokes, and this may have been
one of those times."

Mr. Martin waited a little longer, and when the young man did not come
back, and when there was no sign of the missing Tip, it was thought best
to start for Cresco. So, with one of Uncle Toby's pets missing, the trip
was resumed.

"You certainly have pets enough, even without Tip," said Mrs. Martin, as
they neared the home of the Curlytops.

"Yes, but we want Tip," said Teddy. "We can't give a good show with only
one trick dog, 'specially when they are supposed to work as a team--one
on the other's back."

"Are you going to give a show?" asked his mother.

"Yes," Teddy answered. "We'll give a show and make money. We can ask real
money to see all the animals we have," and he looked down at the parrot's
cage, the box of Jack, the monkey, the cage of the white mice and rats,
and the tank of the alligator.

"Perhaps you could train Skyrocket to take the place of Tip," said Mr.
Martin.

"Maybe," agreed Teddy. "But Skyrocket isn't the same kind of a dog, and
Tip and Top looked so cute together."

"Just like twins," added Janet. "Oh, I hope we get Tip back."

They could not be sure whether the pet dog had run away himself, or
whether someone had reached in over the side of the car and lifted him
out. Someone may have done that while Shorty turned his back, saying
nothing and not trying to stop him.

"I am sorry, but I think Shorty had something to do with Tip getting
away," said Mr. Martin. "If that young man had been honest he would have
come back and told us he couldn't find the dog. I should not have allowed