“Yes, I dare say he did!” laughed Mrs. Martin. “Most puppies will lick you with their tongue if they get a chance. But put the little doggie down now, Trouble, and come to me. My! but you are dirty.”
“You can take him over to our house and wash him,” suggested the ice-cream boy. “We have lots of water at our house. My little brother gets dirty, too, and has to be washed every day.”
It did not take long to get Trouble clean, with the big basin of warm water and a little soap which the mother of the boy who kept the ice-cream stand brought out for Mrs. Martin.
“Now I think we are ready to travel on again,” said Daddy Martin, when they were once more in the automobile.
“Skywocket not come?” asked Trouble, waving his hand toward the kennel of the puppy into which he had crawled. “Me want Skywocket.”
“That isn’t Skyrocket!” laughed Teddy, though he felt quite sorry when he thought of his lost pet. “That fellow is this boy’s dog!”
“Yes; and I’d hate to have any one take him away,” said the ice-cream boy. “Did your dog die?” he inquired.
“No,” answered Janet. “But he dis—he dis—— Oh, what’s that funny word you told me, Uncle Ben?” she asked.
“Disappeared,” answered Mr. Wilson. “Skyrocket disappeared. That is, he went off all at once, just like a skyrocket,” he added.
“We don’t know if the same burglars took him that took the queer box from Miss Ransom,” said Teddy, “but Skyrocket is gone. But of course we wouldn’t take your dog!” he added quickly. “My little brother doesn’t know dogs very well, and he surely did like Skyrocket.”