hat she meant."

"Did Snap chase after a peddler?" asked Bert, for the colored cook was
still at the window.

"No, I didn't see you all's dog chase after de peddler, honey lamb,"
replied Dinah. "But jest a little while ago a woman wif a red dress on,
all trimmed wif yaller, real fancy like, comed to de back do' sellin'
lace work. Snap was heah den, eatin' some scraps I put out fo' him, an'
de woman patted him an' talked to him in a queer like way."

"She did!" cried Bert excitedly. "What'd she say?"

"Lan' goodness! You all don't s'pose I knows all de queer languages in
de United States, does yo'?" asked Dinah, shaking her kinky head. "But
de woman talked queer t' Snap, an' he wagged his tail, which he don't
often does t' strangers."

"No," put in Flossie, shaking her head vigorously, "Snap don't often
talk to strangers. He's awful dig-dignified with 'em. Isn't he,
Freddie?"

"Well, he doesn't like tramps, and they're strangers," replied her
brother. "Are peddlers tramps, Bert?"

"No, I guess not. But some of 'em look like tramps--pretty near, maybe."

"What happened to the woman peddler?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Oh, I soon got rid ob her," said Dinah. "I tole her we was gwine t' lib
in de woods an' we didn't want no fancy lace 'cause it would git all
ripped on de trees an' bushes. So she went off."

"And what happened to Snap?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Oh, he was eatin' his scraps de last I seen ob him," answered Dinah.
"An' he wagged his tail ag'in at de woman in de gay dress what looked
like she was gwine on a picnic."

"A dress of red and yellow," said Nan. "Isn't that the color the gypsies
wear?"

"Was the woman a gypsy?" asked Bert quickly.

"She mought o' been," answered the cook. "She had gold rings in her
ears, an' she was dark. Not as dark as me or Sam, but like some of them
Eytalian men. I didn't pay much 'tention to her, 'cause I was makin' a
cake. But maybe Snap done followed her to see to it she didn't take
nuffin. 'Cause ef she was a gypsy she mought take things."

"Yes, and she's taken Snap--that's what she's done!" cried Bert. "That's
what's happened to our dog. The gypsies have him! I'm going to tell
daddy, and have him get a policeman."

"Now don't be too sure," advised Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps that peddler may
have been a gypsy, and she may have made friends with Snap--those people
have a strange way with them about dogs and horses--but it isn't fair to
say she took your pet. He may have