bustled about to get supper, while Uncle Toby put the car out of the
storm.

"Take off your hat, Mary," suggested Jan to the new girl, who stood
about a bit shyly.

Before the little girl could do this her hat was suddenly snatched from
her head, and a harsh voice cried:

"Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em all up!"

"Oh! Oh!" screamed Mary. "What is it?"

"Don't be afraid!" laughed Ted. "You're just among Uncle Toby's pets!"

CHAPTER XI

WHERE DID TROUBLE GO?

Mary Benton, the little girl whose father had gone to the Big War and
had never been heard of since, was really frightened by the screeching
voice and by feeling her hat snatched off in that strange way. Even what
Ted said about being among Uncle Toby's pets did not seem to make her
feel any better.

She turned quickly around, and saw her hat that had been snatched off in
the black beak of a big red and green bird which was perched on the back
of a chair.

"Dat's Mr. Nip!" announced Trouble. He knew the parrot from the previous
summer.

"Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em all up!" croaked Mr. Nip in his harsh
voice.

"Well, please don't eat Mary's hat up!" laughed Jan. "She'll want it to
wear when we go to Crystal Lake."

"Is that parrot going to the Lake with us?" asked Lola.

"If he does I'll have to be careful of my hat," added Mary, who was
getting over her fright. "It's a new one," she went on, and the other
girls rightly guessed that, being very poor, Mary did not have many
hats. Then and there Lola and Jan made up their minds to be kind to
Mary, whose mother was in the hospital and whose father--well, no one
knew what had happened to him.

"Here are some more pets!" cried jolly Uncle Toby, as he came in out of
the storm, having put the car in his barn. He was followed by Skyrocket,
who barked and leaped about, shaking snow-flakes all about. In his arms
Uncle Toby carried Fluff, the little kitten that had been rescued from a
"Ch'is'mus tree," as Trouble called the evergreen.

"Oh, we forgot all about him!" exclaimed Jan, as she took the little
stranger from Uncle Toby.

"It wouldn't be wonderful if you forgot even your names," laughed Uncle
Toby, "considering all the excitement that was going on when we got
here. But we're all right now, I guess."

[Illustration: SHE TURNED AND SAW HER HAT IN THE BEAK OF A BIG RED AND
GREEN BIRD. Page 115]

Skyrocket went over to sniff around Jack, the monkey, with which pet the
Curlytops' dog w