"Come on then," barked Thump. "We had better get as far off as we can before they start to chase us, as they may. Did anyone see you come away?"
"No," answered Racky. "Grandma was out in the hall, and Lizzie went into the laundry from the yard, just as I slid out the back door. No one saw me leave."
"Good!" barked Thump. "It will be all the mysteriouser."
"What's mysteriouser?" asked Racky.
"It means strange," explained Thump, who was a bit proud that he had once been in school, though he didn't stay long.
"Then why don't you say strange?" asked Racky.
"Because mysteriouser is a much more stylisher word," answered the dog. "But let's start running away some more. It's a good thing none of them saw you leave!"
"Yes, indeed!" agreed Racky, and he began to sway again, following Thump across the lots, for the dog, having no rockers on his legs, could go a bit faster than the chair.
But if no one saw Racky leave the house, his absence was soon found out, or discovered, as Thump might have said. For Grandma came back in from the hall to mix the chocolate to put on the cake, and when she did not see the rocking chair where she had left it, with her basket of mended stockings on the floor beside it, the old lady cried out:
"Why, my goodness!"