he slipped on his bath robe. "I didn't see them carry much
as they ran."

By this time Janet had gone in to Trouble, comforting him, stopping his
frightened sobs, and telling him a little story. And then several
neighbors, roused by Mr. Martin's shooting, came in, and a little later
the police arrived.

An examination was made in the kitchen, and it was found that the
burglars had broken open a window and had thus come into the house. But no
sooner had they entered than Mr. Nip roused up and began to talk. And it
was his talk and his loud voice that had awakened Janet and Teddy.

The burglars, fearing the parrot would awaken someone, had tried to
silence him by throwing something over the cage. But the bird, who was
always more excited when strangers were around, kept on screeching and
yelling. Then one of the burglars, in his anger, must have thrown
something at the parrot's cage, knocking it over, and this was one of the
crashes heard upstairs.

"Poor Mr. Nip!" said Teddy, when he was allowed to come down with his
father and mother. The parrot's cage was set upright again, no damage
having been done.

The excitement seemed to have made Mr. Nip feel better, for he showed no
signs of illness as he cried again and again:

"Police! Fire! Burglars! I'm a crack-crack-cracker!"

"You're a good polly!" declared Mrs. Martin. "You saved our house from
being robbed!"

And there is no question but what Mr. Nip had done that. Bringing the
sick parrot into the kitchen had been the means of scaring away the
burglars. No thieves will stay in a house at night if they hear someone
moving around, or hear voices, and these bad men may have thought at
first that Mr. Nip was some real person, calling for the police.

At any rate the burglars ran away, not getting anything that they came to
steal. And it was all due to Mr. Nip.

"He'll sure be in our circus now," said Teddy, as he made ready to go
back to bed again, the neighbors and police having left. "Everybody will
want to see a parrot that drove away two burglars, won't they, Daddy?"

"They probably will, Teddy boy," his father replied. "Well, one of Uncle
Toby's pets has more than paid for his board bill by to-night's work."

"Aren't you glad we got 'em?" asked Teddy.

"Yes, I guess I am," his father answered, laughing.

"Say! I wish I'd been over to your house last night," exclaimed Jimmy
Norton to Teddy, when the story of the attempt to rob was being talked
over am