"He said the tramp was in the lots back of our house," added Weezie, "and I guess he's going to arrest him."
"No, he didn't say there was a tramp there," corrected Nat, "but he said there was a lot of scrabbling around in the tall weeds, and he heard a dog bark."
"Maybe it's Thump," suggested Rodney as he and his sister jumped down off the boxes upon which they had climbed, to look over the side fence, and ran toward the back. Their fence also had a hole in it through which they could crawl to the vacant lots.
"Yes, it is Thump!" went on Rodney as the children hurried to the clump of tall, dried weeds, around which now stood the policeman and the mother and grandmother of Nat and Weezie. "It is Thump! There he comes!"
And, surely enough, out of the weeds ran the dog, barking and wagging his tail. He seemed much excited over something.
"Is the tramp there?" called Nat.
"Did you arrest him!" Rodney wanted to know.
"Are Grandma's chair and glasses there?" was the question Weezie asked, while Addie called to Thump:
"Be still! Stop barking!"
"No, children," said Mother Harden, "there isn't any tramp here, nor anything else. And the rocking chair isn't here—how could it be?"