THE BLACK POODLES
Once they were in the trolley, going to Canfield, the two Curlytops felt quite happy. They were happy for one reason, because they were having a ride. Teddy and Janet always liked to be doing things and going somewhere, and this was one of those times.
And they were happy for another reason, because they felt sure they would find Top, and perhaps Tip. Who knew?
Policeman Cassidy had said the most likely place to find the missing poodles would be in a dog show. And they were going to a dog show.
"Do you s'pose mother will mind?" asked Janet of Ted, after they had ridden for a little way in the trolley.
"Oh, I don't guess so," he answered. "We'll soon be back, for it isn't very far to Canfield, and she said we could go out and hunt for Top."
"But maybe she didn't mean we were to go so far, and on a trolley."
"She didn't tell us not to!" declared Teddy.
"All right," went on Janet. "We're going, anyhow."
"Whereabout in Canfield do you—you Curlytops want to get out?" asked the trolley-car conductor.
"Oh, do you know us?" asked Janet, for the conductor had called the little boy and girl by the name so often given them.
"Well, I don't exactly know you," he answered. "But I would call you Curlytops if you were my children. For the tops of your heads are curly," he added with a laugh.
"Everybody calls us Curlytops," said Teddy. "And could you please let us out near the dog show?"
"The dog show," repeated the conductor, wonderingly.
"This one," went on Ted, taking from his pocket a hand bill of "Professor Montelli's Wondrous Aggregation of Canine Cut-ups." Teddy had found the bill in the street.
"Oh, that show!" exclaimed the conductor, with a laugh. "Why, that's only a little side-show in a tent near where this car runs. I'll let you get off there if you want to, but it isn't much of a show. It isn't a circus, you know," he said, as he started the car again, after a very fat lady had gotten off. "If you're looking for a circus this isn't it. The dog show is only a little side one—the kind they used to charge ten cents to go in and see after or before the regular circus. I hope you Curlytops aren't running away to see a circus," he added doubtfully.
"Oh, no, sir!" exclaimed Janet. "We're looking for our lost dog, and we thought maybe it was with this show. Two dogs we had, Tip and Top," she went on. "They were white poodles and they belonged to Uncle Toby and they could do tricks. But one was stolen when we were bringing them home, and the other night Top was taken from our barn. It's our dogs we're looking for, not a circus."
"Besides, we're going to have a circus of our own," added Teddy. "That is, we are if we get Tip and Top back."
"Do you think your dogs ran off to join a show?" the conductor asked.
"Oh, no!" answered Teddy. "They were taken away. But Mr. Cassidy—he's a policeman—said the right place to look for our dogs was in a dog show, so we're looking."
"Well, this Professor Montelli, as he calls himself, has a dog show near the end of my trolley line," said the conductor. "I don't know much about it, as it only came there yesterday. It's in a little tent—a regular side show. I'll put you off near it. But do you think it will be safe for you to go there alone and ask for your lost dogs?"
"Oh, we won't go right in and ask for them," explained Teddy. He and his sister had talked it over, and they had made up their minds what they would do. "We'll just go into the show—'cause we have money to pay for our tickets," the Curlytop boy explained. "Then if we see Tip and Top there we'll take 'em right away."
"That's what we will!" declared Janet. "And if that show man won't give our dogs to us we'll call a policeman."
"Well, I guess you Curlytops can take care of yourselves," laughed the conductor. "You get off three blocks from here, and then you'll be right near the dog show. Good luck to you!"
"Thank you," replied Teddy and Janet.
They saw the tent—a small one with a few flags on it—almost as soon as they alighted from the trolley car. It was about three o'clock, and a crowd about the tent showed that the performance was going on, or would soon start.
Professor Montelli's name was painted on a strip of canvas over the entrance to the tent, and on either side were painted pictures of dogs doing all sorts of queer tricks. One picture was that of a dog jumping off a high platform into a tank of water.
"Oh, if we could only make our monkey Jack do a trick like that!" whispered Janet to Teddy.
"Maybe we can," he whispered back, as they walked up to the tent. "But monkeys don't like water, I guess. We might get Skyrocket to do the jump. We'll try. But now let's see if Tip or Top are here in this show."
A man standing in a booth outside the tent was calling out in a loud voice:
"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Step right up, boys and girls! The big show is about to begin!"
He ruffled a bundle of red tickets in his hand and went on:
"Pay your dime and step right up. You'll see the world-famed aggregation of canine cut-ups! The funniest dogs you ever saw doing the funniest tricks! There are hound dogs, bulldogs, setter dogs, fox terriers, big dogs, little dogs, all good dogs, and some poodle dogs!"
Ted and Janet looked at each other.
"Poodles!" whispered the Curlytops.
Tip and Top were white poodles!
"Come on! Let's go in!" said Teddy boldly.
He stepped up to the booth, bought two tickets, and he and Janet went into the tent. At one end was a raised platform, hung about with red cloth. On the platform were some chairs, a table, some pedestals, some paper-covered hoops and other things used in the dog tricks. There were also some board benches, like circus seats, in the tent.
"Come on up front, where we can see the dogs better," said Ted to his sister. "If we see Tip or Top we'll call them right down to us off the platform."
There were as yet not many persons in the tent, and the Curlytops had no trouble getting front seats. Then they anxiously waited for the performance to begin, which it did in a little while.
Out on the platform came a man with a very black moustache and a little whip. The moustache was under his nose and the whip in his hands. He looked around at the audience, and then in a sing-song voice said:
"Ladies an' gen'men: With your kind attention an' permission I will now show you what my dogs can do. Let 'em on, Jack," he called to someone back of the platform.
A moment later about ten dogs rushed up on the platform, barking and wagging their tails. Every one of the dogs looked anxiously at the black-eyed and black-moustached man, as if afraid he would hit them with the whip he carried. Each dog seemed to know his or her place, and went to chair, box, or platform, until all were arranged in a half circle back of the man.
"First Lulu, the highest jumper in the world, will perform some tricks," said Professor Montelli. "Here, Lulu," he called, and a long, thin greyhound leaped from a chair and stood ready. This dog jumped over a pile of high baskets, and through some of them, there being no bottoms to them. Then the greyhound leaped over a high pile of chairs.
In turn the other dogs did tricks, some of which the Curlytops had seen before, and some of which were new. They quite enjoyed the show, or they would have done so had they not been worrying about getting their own dogs back. They looked anxiously at the dogs on the platform. None of them was Tip or Top.
I shall not tell you all about the tricks the dogs in this show did, for I want to tell you about the circus the Curlytops had. Enough to say that Professor Montelli seemed to know a great deal about dogs, though I can not say the trick animals loved him. They seemed more afraid than anything else.
"Well, I guess we shan't find Tip or Top here," said Ted to Janet after a while. "There aren't any white poodles like ours."
"No, I guess not," sadly agreed the little girl.
But just then Professor Montelli stepped to the edge of the platform and said:
"This ends our regular performance, ladies an' gen'men, but I have two more dogs to show you. I have not finished training them yet, an' they can do only a few tricks, but I want you to be satisfied, an' think that you got your money's worth, so you will recommend my show to your friends. I will now show you two more trick dogs. Bring on the poodles, Jack," he called to his assistant.
Ted and Janet looked at each other, quickly.
"Poodles!" they murmured, but they did not speak out loud.
The same thought was in each of their minds. If the poodles should be Tip and Top!
A barking was heard back of the platform, and, a moment later, on rushed two dogs, exactly the same kind of poodles as were Tip and Top, and exactly the same size.
But alas! Tip and Top were white, while these poodles were jet black!