Mr. Popper's Penguins

patrol, and climbed up the ladder which the firemen had left against the building. By the time they too came through the window, they could scarcely believe their eyes. For the firemen had put firemen’s helmets on the penguins, which made the delighted birds look very silly and girlish.
    Seeing the firemen so friendly with the penguins, the policemen naturally took sides with the seals and put policemen’s caps on them. The seals looked very fierce, with their long black mustaches and black faces underneath.
    The penguins under their firemen’s helmets were parading in front of the policemen, while the seals, in their policemen’s caps, were barking at the firemen, when Mr. Popper and Mr. Swenson finally opened the door.

    Mr. Popper sat down. His relief was so great that for a moment he could not speak.
    “You policemen had better get your hats off my seals now,” said Mr. Swenson. “I got to go down on the stage and finish the act now.” Then he and his six seals slipped out of the room, with a few parting barks.
    “Well, good-bye, ducks,” said the firemen, regretfully removing their helmets from the penguins and putting them on their own heads. Then they disappeared down the ladder. The penguins, of course, wanted to follow, but Mr. Popper held them back.
    Just then the door flew open, and the theater manager burst into the room.
    “Hold that man,” he shouted to the policemen, pointing at Mr. Popper. “I have a warrant for his arrest.”
    “Who, me?” said Mr. Popper, in a daze. “What have I done?”
    “You’ve broken into my theater and thrown the place into a panic, that’s what you’ve done. You’re a disturber of the peace.”
    “But I’m Mr. Popper, and these are my Performing Penguins, famous from coast to coast.”
    “I don’t care who you are, you haven’t any business in my theater.”
    “But Mr. Greenbaum is going to pay us five thousand dollars for a week at the Regal.”
    “Mr. Greenbaum’s theater is the Royal, not the Regal. You’ve come to the wrong theater. Anyway, out you go, you and your Performing Penguins. The patrol is waiting outside.”
     

Chapter XIX

Admiral Drake
     
    O MR. POPPER, with Captain Cook, Greta, Columbus, Louisa, Nelson, Jenny, Magellan, Adelina, Scott, Isabella, Ferdinand, and Victoria, was bundled into the patrol wagon and hustled off to the police station.
    None of his pleas could move the desk sergeant.
    “That theater manager is pretty mad at the way you busted into his theater, so I’m holding you. I’m going to give you all a nice quiet cell — unless you furnish bail. I’m putting the bail at five hundred dollars for you and one hundred dollars for each of the birds.”
    Of course Mr. Popper did not have that much money about him. Neither did Mrs. Popper when they telephoned her at the hotel. The hotel bill was paid for several days ahead, but she had no cash. The check for the final week’s salary was not due until the end of the week. Indeed, it now looked as if the Poppers would never see that check, since they could not get the penguins out of jail long enough to put on their act at the Royal Theater.
    If only they could have got in touch with Mr. Greenbaum, Mr. Popper knew, that kind man would have got them out. But Mr. Greenbaum was somewhere in Hollywood, out on the Pacific Coast, and the Poppers had no idea how to reach him.
    It was very dull for the birds in jail. Wednesday came and there was still no word from Mr. Greenbaum. Thursday, and the birds began to droop. It was soon apparent that the lack of exercise, combined with the heat, might prove too much for them. There were no more tricks or merry games. Even the younger birds sat all day in dismal silence, and Mr. Popper could not cheer them up.

     
    Mr. Popper had a feeling that Mr. Greenbaum would probably turn up by the end of the week, to see about renewing the contract. But Friday passed, without any news of him.
    Saturday morning Mr. Popper got up very early and smoothed his hair. Then he dusted off the penguins as well as he could, for he wanted everything to look as presentable as possible, in case Mr. Greenbaum should appear.
    About ten o’clock there was a sound of footsteps in the corridor, and a jingling of keys, and the door of the cell was opened.
    “You’re free, Mr. Popper. There’s a friend of yours here.”
    Mr. Popper stepped out into the light with the penguins.
    “You’re barely in time, Mr. Greenbaum,” he was about to say.
    Then, as