While the three were in the midst of their cake-making, into the kitchen rushed a little poodle dog, whirling around, barking and trying to catch his tail.

“Oh, Roly-Poly, where have you been?” cried Hal.  “Did Daddy come home with you?”

“Bow-wow!” barked Roly-Poly, which might mean “no” or “yes,” just as you happened to listen to his bark.

“Oh, don’t get in my way, Roly!” called Mab as the little dog danced about in front of her, while she was carrying a pan filled with cake dough toward the oven.  “Look out!  Oh, there it goes.”

Just what Mab had feared came to pass.  She tripped over the poodle dog, and, to save herself from falling, she had to drop the pan of cake dough.  Down it fell, right on Roly-Poly’s back.

“Bow-wow-wow!” he barked and growled at the same time.

“Oh, look at him!” laughed Hal “He’s a regular cake himself.”

“Don’t let him run through the house that way!” called Mother Blake.  “He’ll get the carpets and furniture all dough.  Get him, Hal!”

Hal made a grab for the little pet dog, and caught him by his tail.  This made Roly-Poly howl louder than ever, until Hal, not wishing to hurt his pet, managed to get him in his arms.  But of course this made Hal’s waist all covered with cake dough.

“Never mind,” said Mother Blake, as she saw Hal looking at himself in dismay.  “It will all wash off.  Better to have it on your waist than on the carpets.  Why, Mab!  What’s the matter?” for Mab was crying softly.

“Oh—­Oh, my—­my nice ca-cake is all spoiled,” she sobbed.

“Oh, no it isn’t!” comforted Mother Blake.  “Only one pan of dough is spilled, and there is plenty more.  The kitchen floor can easily be washed, and so can Roly Poly.

“Hal,” went on his mother, “you take the dog up to the bath tub and give him a good scrubbing.  He’ll like that.  Take off your own waist and let the water run on that.  I’ll wipe up the floor and you can fill another pan and put it in the oven, Mab.  Don’t cry!  We’ll have the cake in time for supper yet.”

So Mab dried her tears and once more began on the cake, while Mrs. Blake cleaned up the dough from the floor.  In a little while the cake was baking in the oven, and Hal came down stairs, rather wet and splattered, but clean.  With him was Roly-Poly, looking half drowned, but also clean.

“Well, we did a lot of things!” said Hal, when he had on dry clothes, and he and Mab were waiting for the cake to be baked, after which the chocolate would be spread over it.  “It was fun, wasn’t it?”

“I—­I guess so,” answered Mab, not quite sure.  “Did I hurt Roly when I stepped on him?”

“I guess not.  He splashed water all over me when I put him in the bath tub, though.  I pretended he was a submarine ship and he swam all around.”

“I wish I had seen him.”

“I’ll make him do it again,” and Hal started toward the stairs with Roly in his arms.