"Come on!" called the little boy to his sister. "Let's go see what it is!"
"Do you think it will hurt us?" asked Weezie, holding back a little.
"No!" answered her brother. "Anyhow, isn't Policeman Paddock here with his club? And Mother and Grandma have gone out to see about it!"
This gave Weezie courage, so she followed the officer out into the yard, close after Nat. The children saw the policeman crawling through the hole in the back fence—the same hole through which Racky the rocker had gone but a little while before. Only they did not know this.
"What's the matter, Nat?" asked Rodney, looking over the side fence.
"Is somebody going to be arrested?" asked Addie.
She and her brother had come home from school to eat their lunch, just as had Nat and Weezie. They had heard the loud talk in the house next door, and had seen the blue-coated officer run out of the back door with his swinging club.
"Is somebody going to be arrested!" Addie again inquired.
"Oh, I don't guess so," answered Weezie. "Anyhow, it's only a tramp."
"A tramp came in while we were at school," explained Nat, "and took Grandma's rocking chair and her glasses. She sent me after a policeman, but he came in, anyhow, before I could run after him!"