The message passed from dog to dog. It woke up Towser, a bloodhound who lived way out in the country.
" A message from the city," Towser explained to Lucy the goose.
"An important one, too! I'd better tell the folks on the farm."
Old Towser's barking woke up a cat named Sergeant Tibs.
Tibs told Captain, a horse, to wake up Colonel the sheepdog.
The Colonel pricked up his ears. "Fifteen spotted puddles were stolen!"
"I think that's puppies, sir." said Sergeant Tibs.
Tibs remembered hearing some barking at the old De Vil place.
"Nonsense! That house has been empty for years," said the colonel.
"Not any longer," Captain said. "There's smoke rising from the chimney."
"Then we'd better investigate, Tibs," barked the Colonel.
Sergeant Tibs slipped into the house.
