uble is all right!" said Mrs. Johnson. "It's a big, black
snake that has crawled into my baby's carriage. I put Ruth out here to
have her sleep, and I looked from the window every once in a while to see
that she was all right."

"And she was, for quite a while. But a moment ago, when I looked, I saw
Trouble near the carriage, and then I saw a big, ugly snake crawling over
Ruth's robe. Oh, where is it? Where's the snake, darling? Did the snake
bite you?" and Mrs. Johnson caught Ruth up from the carriage in her arms.

"I never knew a snake would crawl up into a baby carriage," said Teddy.
"I don't see any; do you, Jan?"

"No," answered his sister, "I don't!"

"There it is! Look!" cried Mrs. Johnson, pointing with one hand, while
she held Ruth close to her in her other arm. The baby had been rather
rudely awakened from her sleep, and she was just getting ready to cry.
Her lips were puckering up, and in another moment she would let out a
yell. Janet and Teddy knew this, for they had, often enough, watched
Trouble do the same thing when he was smaller.

"There's the snake!" exclaimed Mrs. Johnson, and, as she spoke and
pointed, the Curlytops saw something black crawl out from among the
folds of the robes in the baby carriage.

Ted had one glimpse of the head of the reptile, and then the boy cried:

"That isn't a snake! It's Slider, our pet alligator! How did he get
here?"

"A pet alligator?" cried Mrs. Johnson. "In my Ruth's carriage! How did it
get here?"

"I bringed it!" said Trouble, in the silence that followed.

"You what?" cried Janet.

"I bringed Slider ober to play wif Ruff!" said Trouble. "I play wif
Slider in barn, and den hims hoots get tired, so I bringed him over to
ride in de carriage wif Ruff."

"What does he mean?" asked Mrs. Johnson, crooning to "Ruff," as Trouble
called the baby, and making the little one quiet. For William was using
some of his "baby talk," which he often did when he was excited.

"He means that the alligator's feet got tired, I suppose," translated
Janet. "He says 'hoots' for 'feet.' He must mean that Slider got tired of
sliding down the board."

Mrs. Johnson looked from one Curlytop to the other, and then at Trouble.
A puzzled look was on her face.

"Really, children dear," she said, "_you_ may know what you are talking
about, but _I_ don't. What with hoots, Slider and a board I'm all mixed
up!"

"I bringed him--I bringed Slider," explained Trouble.

"Yes, we know y