So that is how it happened that Mr. Nip was moved in from the barn to the house. And it was the third night that the parrot had slept in the house that something happened.
In the middle of the night the Curlytops were awakened by hearing Mr. Nip cry out loudly:
"Go 'way! Go 'way! I'm a crack-crack-cracker! Get out of here!"
Teddy and Janet, who seemed to be the only ones awakened by this alarm of Mr. Nip, listened, half shivering in their beds.
"Did you hear that?" called Teddy to his sister in the next room.
"Yes. What is it?" inquired Janet.
"It's Mr. Nip," whispered back the Curlytop boy. "He's calling to someone. Maybe daddy or mother's down there giving him medicine."
But just then the parrot set up such a screeching as the children had never heard, since he came from Uncle Toby's at least.
"Go 'way! Go 'way!" cried the bird. "I'm a crack-crack-cracker! Police! Fire! Burglars!"
And then, to the surprise and terror of the Curlytops, a strange voice, somewhere downstairs in their house, exclaimed in a harsh whisper: