oaxed into
the car.

She never went calling, claiming vigorously that she was "no gadabout,
she hoped." It was an astonishing sight, therefore, to see her marching
along Willow Street in the wake of the crying, excited children, who
themselves followed in the wake of the dog catchers' van.

The van traveled so fast that Tess and Dot and Sammy could scarcely keep
it in sight; while the children were so far ahead of Aunt Sarah that the
old woman could not attract their attention when she called.

It was a most embarrassing situation, to say the least. To add to its
ridiculousness, Mrs. MacCall met Agnes as she came in swinging her
books, and told her at the side door what had happened.

Agnes flung down her books and "hoo-hooed" with all her might for Neale
O'Neil. As soon as he answered, sticking his head out of his little
bedroom window under the eaves of Con Murphy's cottage, Agnes left the
housekeeper and the excited Finnish girl to explain the difficulty to
Neale, while she ran after Aunt Sarah.

Soon, therefore, there was a procession of excited Corner House folk
trailing through the Milton Streets to the pound. Sammy and the two
little girls trotting on behind the dog catchers' van; then Aunt Sarah
Maltby, looking neither to right nor left but appearing very stern
indeed; then Agnes running as hard as she could run; followed by Neale
at a steady lope.

The boy soon overtook his girl chum.

"What under the canopy are we going to do?" he demanded.

"Save Tom Jonah!" declared Agnes, her cheeks blazing.

"The kids are going to do that," chuckled Neale in spite of his
shortness of breath. "Guess we'd better save Aunt Sarah, hadn't we?"

"Goodness, Neale!" giggled Agnes, "they won't try to shut _her_ up in
the pound I should hope."

They did not overtake the determined woman before she was in sight of
the dog refuge. The van had driven into the yard. Before the gate could
be shut Tess, followed closely by the trembling Dot and by the more or
less valiant Sammy, pushed through likewise and faced the superintendent
of the lost dog department.

"What do you little folks want?" asked this kindly man, smiling down
upon the trio.

"We want Tom Jonah," said Tess, her voice quivering but her manner still
brave.

"You've just got to give us Tom Jonah," Dot added, gulping down a sob.

"You bet you have!" said Sammy, clenching his fists.

"'Tom Jonah'?" repeated the man. "Is that a dog?"

Tess pointed. There w