s. Greatest sport I know
of. Course you're likely to pick up a few things you haven't any
immediate need for but at least you get something for your money. Mrs.
Bullfinch scolds me sometimes for what I buy but I can't resist the
fun of bidding. Up to a point, that is. I set myself a limit on what
I'll spend at an auction. Guess I do get stuck with some strange
objects once in a while. You should have seen Mrs. Bullfinch's face
when I brought home a job lot of empty cages."

"Don't you have pets to put in any of them?" Jerry's face showed his
disappointment. If not a chimp he had hoped for a parrot or at least a
canary.

"Not a one," said Mr. Bullfinch. "Guess I'll have to wait till they
auction off some of the animals in the Washington zoo."

"They'll never do that."

"I was only joking. Do you have any pets?"

"Just a cat named Bibsy because she has a white front. Like a bib, you
know."

"Well, if I see a mouse around here I hope you'll lend me Bibsy."

"I will." Jerry sensed that Mr. Bullfinch thought it was time for him
to be leaving. And Jerry was about to when a woman screamed loud as a
fire siren.

"My wife!" cried Mr. Bullfinch and rushed toward the back of the
house, Jerry following him.

Out in the kitchen, standing on a high stool, was Mrs. Bullfinch.
She was a small plump woman wearing a pink apron. She looked
terrified.

[Illustration]

"A spider!" she gasped. "I had a broom and was making sure there were
no spiders around the ceiling when the biggest spider I've ever seen
in my life ran down the broom handle. It ran right across my arm." She
shuddered till the stool she was standing on shook. "I brushed it off.
It was horrible. I didn't see where it went but it's in this room
somewhere. And I won't get off this stool until it's found and
killed."

"Better get down, dear," said her husband. "There are two of us here
to protect you." He looked around the room for the spider, opening
cupboard doors to see if it had run in a cupboard. "It's taken off for
parts unknown by this time," he said soothingly. "Come on, get down.
You'll want to tell the movers where to put the piano."

"It's still in this room. I know it. If I get down it might run up my
leg. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"

She was pretty heavy for that stool, Jerry thought, expecting one of
its legs to crack any minute. She's like Little Miss Muffett, afraid
of spiders--only she climbed a stool instead of being frightened away.
He glanced d