"We'll see pretty soon," said her brother. "We're almost at our house, and it must be there that something is the matter."
As the children were racing down the street, with Top running in front of them, looking back every now and then to make sure the Curlytops and Jimmy were following, a man stopped the children and said:
"Why are you chasing that poor dog? Don't you know it is wrong to tease and annoy animals?"
"We're not teasing him," Teddy answered. "He's our dog, anyhow."
"That is no matter," the fussy man said. "I think it is wrong to chase dogs or to tie tin cans on their tails."
"As if we'd tie a tin can to the tail of our nice Top!" exclaimed Janet. "We never tie cans to dogs' tails!" she added. "And we're running after Top because he wants us to. He came to get us because something has happened at our house."
Seeing that the children had stopped, because the strange man had halted them, Top came running back, barking and wagging his tail. He caught hold of Teddy's coat, and again pulled it.
"See!" exclaimed Ted. "He wants us to follow him. He did that before, and that's why we ran after him, not because we're chasing him, Mister."
The man looked at the excited dog and at the kind-faced children. He must have known they would never have harmed animals, for he said:
"Oh, excuse me! I guess I made a mistake. I thought you were chasing the poor dog. Excuse me!"