round of the pets, when a brilliant idea came to Wally.

"Let's have a menagerie race!" he cried suddenly.

"What's that?" Norah asked blankly.

"Why, you each drive an animal," explained Wally, the words tumbling
over one another in his haste. "Say you drive the kangaroo, 'n me the
wallabies, 'n Jim the Orpington rooster, 'n we'll give old Harry the
tortoise--turloise, I beg pardon!"

"Thanks," said Harry dryly. "The tortoise scored once, you know, young
Wally!"

"Well, old man, you take him," Wally said kindly. "Wouldn't stand in
your way for a moment. We can use harness, can't we?"

"Don't know," Jim said. "I never studied the rules of menagerie racing.
Use bridles, anyhow. It's a good idea, I think. Let's see how many
starters we can muster."

They cruised round. Dogs were barred as being too intelligent--horses
were, of course, out of the question. Finally they fixed on the possible
candidates. They were the kangaroo, the wallabies, a big black Orpington
"rooster," Fudge the parrot, Caesar the cockatoo, Mrs. Brown's big yellow
cat, Tim, and the "turloise."

"Eight," said Harry laconically. The starters were all mustered in one
enclosure, and were on the worst of terms. "We'll need more jockeys--if
you call 'em jockeys."