A HAPPY REUNION
The hearts of the Curlytops had beaten high with hope when they heard Professor Montelli speak of some poodles. But when they saw that the two dogs were black, instead of white, their hearts sank.
"They look just like Tip and Top, but of course they can't be," whispered Janet, as the showman began clearing the stage platform in readiness for the poodles to do some tricks.
"No," answered Ted, in disappointed tones, "Tip and Top were white—not black, except for little spots. These dogs are black all over. We might as well go home. Maybe Policeman Cassidy knows of another dog show."
"Oh, let's stay and see just one poodle trick," begged Janet.
"All right," agreed Teddy.
So the Curlytops remained in their seats, with the others of the audience. The two black poodles barked, wagged their tails, and looked at Professor Montelli.
"Come on now, King! Turn a somersault!" suddenly cried the dark-moustached man. Instantly one of the black poodles—the one called "King," began turning somersault after somersault. Right out to the end of the platform he turned them, and then he stood there, wagging his tail and waiting for the applause, which he seemed to expect.
And the people did clap. They liked the poodle's trick. Janet leaned over and whispered to Teddy:
"That's just the same trick Tip did!"
"Yes," agreed the Curlytop boy. "But it can't be Tip."
"No, I s'pose not," sighed Janet.
"Come back here, King," suddenly called the trainer. "Now, Emperor," he went on, pointing his whip at the other poodle. "It is your turn. Walk on your hind legs!"
The other dog did not seem to understand. It slunk away and growled a little.
"Here! None of that!" cried the trainer. "You must do as I say! Walk on your hind legs!"
Still the dog would not mind.
"Emperor is not so good a dog as King," said the man, apologizing to the audience. "I have not had him so long, and he does not do his tricks very well. But I will make him!"
Suddenly he flicked the dog he called "Emperor" with the whip!
The dog let out a howl of pain.
"Here! Stop that!" cried Teddy, almost before he knew what he was saying.
"Yes, don't hurt the dogs," added a lady, looking kindly at the Curlytops. "The little boy is right."
"I did not mean to hurt him," explained Professor Montelli, smiling, but his smile was not a kind one. He seemed to be a cruel man, but he seemed to know that he must not be cruel to his dogs in public. "Come, Emperor!" he called more gently. "Walk on your hind legs!"
This time the black poodle did so, walking around the stage. Again Janet leaned over and whispered to her brother:
"Top used to do that same trick!"
"Yes," agreed Teddy. "That's right."
And then a strange thing happened. All at once the two poodles put their noses together, as though talking, which they may have been doing in dog language. And then the one the man had called Emperor suddenly jumped on top of the back of the dog called King, and King began walking around the stage, giving the other a ride!
The people clapped at this trick, and the two Curlytops grew strangely excited. Ted and Janet looked at each other, standing up in their seats.
"Ted, do you know what I think?" said his sister. "I think those two dogs are really Tip and Top—our poodles! That's exactly the same trick they did in Uncle Toby's house."
"But how could they be Tip and Top when they're black, and Tip and Top were white?" asked Teddy.
"I don't know," Janet answered. "But I'm sure they are our dogs. Maybe they've been in the coal bin and got all black. And, oh, Ted! Look!"
Something else happening on the platform of the dog show tent. The black poodle called King began walking around in a little circle in the middle of the stage. And, while thus moving, the other poodle began to jump over its companion's back. First this way and then that one poodle jumped over the other poodle's back.
"Why! Why!" cried Teddy. "That's the other trick we saw them do, Janet! That's the trick Mrs. Watson said Uncle Toby taught them—I mean taught Tip and Top."
"Yes," agreed Janet. "And I know these dogs are our poodles—I don't care if they are black!" Then, before Ted could stop her, she called: "Here, Tip! Here, Top! Come on!"
Instantly the two black poodles jumped down off the stage, and with barks of joy, and mad waggings of their little tails, ran to the Curlytops.
"Oh, Top!" cried Janet, as she patted his head, "I'm so glad we found you! I'd know you anywhere, even if you are black!"
Both dogs knew the children, though of course Top, having been with them longer, knew them best. Tip had been taken away soon after being removed from Uncle Toby's house, but when Tip saw that Top was friendly with the children, Tip was joyful also.
I call the black dogs Tip and Top, for they were really the missing poodles, and I will explain how it was their color was changed.
No sooner did Ted and Janet call the black poodles to them than Professor Montelli grew very angry indeed. He jumped down off the platform, and, going to where the Curlytops stood at their seats, with the dogs frisking around them, the trainer cried:
"Here! What do you mean by calling my dogs away when I am making them do tricks? What do you children mean?"
"These aren't your dogs—they're ours!" declared Ted.
"Yours! Nonsense!" blustered the trainer. "These are my dogs. I have had them a long while!"
"Not both of them!" said Janet, who remembered what the man had said. "You told us you hadn't had Emperor very long."
"Well, I have the other! They are both my dogs!" cried the angry man. "If you have lost any dogs you had better look somewhere for them. Get out of my tent and give me back the poodles!"
He made a move to thrust Ted and Janet to one side and pick up the poodles, but a man in the audience said:
"Not so fast, Professor. It seems to me that by the way these dogs came to this girl and boy when called that there may be something in their claim. Did you lose two dogs?" he asked Ted and Janet.
"Yes, sir," they answered. And then Ted told how Tip was taken out of their automobile some weeks before, while Top was stolen from their barn a night or two previous.
"Nonsense! As if I had their dogs!" sneered the trainer. "What kind of poodles did you lose, as you say?" he asked.
"Just exactly the same kind as these, and they did the same tricks," Ted answered. "We can make these do the same tricks you did, and some more, too," he added.
"I don't believe it!" growled the trainer.
"Let's show 'em, Ted!" cried Janet.
And then and there, down on the ground in the tent, while the crowd looked on, the Curlytops put the two black poodles through the tricks Tip and Top used to do.
"It begins to look as though there was something in their claim," said the man who had acted as the friend of Ted and Janet.
"Those are my dogs!" declared the Professor, getting more and more angry. "Tell me—what color were the poodles you had?" he asked Janet and Ted.
"Well," Ted answered slowly, "Tip and Top were white, except Tip had a little black spot on the end of his tail, and Top had a black spot on his head—on the top."
"There! What did I tell you?" cried the Professor. "Their poodles were white and mine are black! They can't be the same! Here, King and Emperor!" he cried, and, stooping down he made a grab for the little dogs that were staying near Ted and Janet.
With barks and growls the poodles sprang away from the angry man. And, as it happened, the one the man had called "King" ran against a pail of water that was near the bottom of the platform. The pail was upset and some of the water splashed over the black dog.
Then a queer change took place. Instead of being pure black, the poodle became streaked black and white! The black color began running out of its hair, and formed a little inky pool on the ground beneath the animal.
"Look! Look!" cried Janet, pointing.
"Those dogs were colored black—they're white poodles dyed black!" cried the man who had taken the part of the Curlytops. "Now what have you to say?" he asked the animal trainer.
"Well—er—those dogs are mine! I don't know who stained 'em black. But I bought 'em of a young man——"
"Was his name Shorty?" asked Ted.
"Well, maybe it was," admitted the showman. "What has that got to do with it? Those are my dogs!"
"They're ours!" insisted Ted. "Shorty was watching our auto when Tip was stolen," he went on, "and he knew where we were taking Top. I guess Shorty broke into our barn the other night, and took Top and colored him black. These are our poodles, and we're going to have them!"
"It looks as though they had you, Professor," said the kind man.
"And we're going to get a policeman!" added Janet.
"Oh, well, if you're sure they are your dogs, take 'em!" growled the showman. "I didn't know they were stolen. A young fellow sold me one some time ago, and I bought the other of him day before yesterday. I did color the dogs black," he admitted, "because they don't get so dirty as white ones. The dye will wash off," he said. "If you are sure these are your poodles, take 'em along!" he said to Ted and Janet.
"Oh, we're sure all right!" cried Janet. And then she took Top up in her arms, while Teddy carried the partly black and partly white Tip out of the tent, while the audience laughed and some clapped.
"The show's over!" growled the black-moustached man. "And if I get hold of that Shorty I'll have him arrested for selling me stolen dogs. They were valuable, too—as good trick dogs as I ever saw. Do you want to sell them to me?" he asked the Curlytops.
"No, sir!" cried Teddy and Janet as they hurried out of the tent. "We're going to have a circus of our own with 'em!"
And, happy and joyful, with the delighted Tip and Top in their arms, the Curlytops started for home.