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the package in the center of the kitchen table and went upstairs to see if the baby was awake. In a few minutes she hurried down to prepare dinner. It was late and Father would soon be home. When she pushed open the kitchen door, what did she
find but Thumpy standing in the center of the table. He was just finishing off the last bit of meat. "Thumpy!" cried Mother. "You naughty, naughty boy!"
    Betsy came running from the playroom. "What did he do?" she cried.
    "He has eaten all of the meat for dinner," said Mother.
    "Oh, Thumpy!" cried Betsy. "Shame on you! Stealing Mother's meat!"
    Thumpy put on a long face and his ears seemed to hang down longer than ever.
    "Are you going to whip him, Mother?" asked Betsy.
    "Indeed I am," replied Mother. Mother whipped Thumpy with a newspaper and put him outside.
    Just then Father came home. Betsy ran to meet him. "Father!" she called. "Thumpy just ate up our dinner."
    "He did?" said Father. "Well, let us eat Thumpy's."
    "We can't eat Thumpy's," said Betsy. "Thumpy's dinner comes in a can with ground bones in it."
    "Where is he now?" asked Father.
    "Oh, Mother whipped him and put him out of doors," said Betsy.

    "Well, he better not get outside of the gate," said Father. "The dogcatchers are around."
    "It would just serve Thumpy right if the dogcatchers got him," said Betsy. "He's a very naughty boy."
    "I don't suppose you would go after Thumpy if the dogcatchers caught him, would you?" asked Father.
    "No, I wouldn't," said Betsy, tossing her braids. "He's a naughty boy and it would serve him right."
    That evening Betsy and Father and Mother ate vegetables for their dinner.
    The next day was Saturday and Betsy spent the morning making paper dolls. After lunch she started off for Ellen's house. She was going to spend the rest of the day playing with Ellen. As Betsy closed the front door she thought of Thumpy. She hadn't seen anything of him for a long time. Betsy knew that he wasn't in the house so she looked in his kennel. Thumpy wasn't there. Betsy called, "Here, Thumpy! Here, Thump!" but Thumpy didn't appear. Then Betsy looked at the gate. It was wide open. Betsy knew at once that Thumpy was gone. Then she thought of the dogcatchers. Her little heart seemed to stand still, she was so frightened.
    Like a flash she was off. "Here, Thumpy! Here, Thumpy!" she called. As she neared the corner she could hear a great deal of barking. Around the corner she flew. Sure enough, there was the dogcatcher's wagon. A man with a big net was chasing a little black cocker spaniel across the street. "Swish!" went the big net right over Thumpy, and Betsy saw her little dog scooped up like a fish.
    Betsy ran toward the man with the net, but before she could reach him Thumpy had been tossed into the wire cage on the wagon. The cage was packed with wriggling, squealing, barking dogs.
    "Stop! Stop! Stop!" shrieked Betsy. "Don't take Thumpy away!"
    The man paid no attention to Betsy. He jumped on the back of the wagon and away it went with all of the dogs.
    Betsy ran after the wagon as fast as her legs could carry her. She could see Thumpy looking out of the wire cage. Tears ran down her cheeks and her legs grew very tired but on and on she ran. The wagon was getting farther and farther away. Thumpy looked like a black spot now. Betsy tried to run faster but her breath was giving out. She had to keep running. She couldn't stop
now. They were taking her little Thumpy away. Her precious Thumpy!
    Just then the dogcatcher's wagon disappeared over a hill. Betsy sat down on a step and put her head down on her arm. She cried and cried and cried. She was so tired from running and she had lost Thumpy after all. Betsy was still sobbing when a bright red automobile stopped beside her. "I say, Little Red Ribbons!" shouted the man in the automobile. "What's the trouble?"
    Betsy looked up. There was Mr. Kilpatrick sitting at the wheel of the automobile.

    "Oh, Mr. Kilpatrick!" cried Betsy, "the dogcatchers have taken Thumpy.