Howard Roger Garis

“ Rick, Chot and Tom—the three boys who were trailing the dog that had been taken away by the ragged sailor—came to a stop as they saw the old log cabin in the lonely hollow just off the road.
"We've found it!" Rick had said, and this was true enough as to the junk wagon. But there was no horse, no men and certainly not a dog. If Ruddy had been there you may well believe he would have been running around, if free. And as soon as the wind had brought to his sensitive nose the scent of his boy master he would have run to Rick with leaps and bounds and joyous barks. ”

“ He wanted to chase more sticks, but Rick did not throw any.
"Ruddy, which way is home?" asked Rick, as he stood in the woods, and looked about him. "Where do we live?"
Ruddy could not quite get this thought. He looked at Rick, and he saw that his master was now beginning to be troubled. Dogs know when a person is in trouble more often than you think, and they can sympathize, or be sorry, for their master and others. But Ruddy was only a puppy and his thinking-out of things was not as clear as it became afterward. ”

“ The summer months are seldom marked by storms and wrecks, and there is not often need of the services of the life-savers. When such occasion arises the station captain, or his one helper, calls for volunteers.
Stronger blew the wind, and the rain came down harder, mingling with the salty spume and spray from the ocean. The place where Rick Dalton had sat on the beach that afternoon, and wished for a dog, was now a seething caldron of white foam, and the sand dunes were under water. ”

“ Dogs do not have very good eyesight—not nearly as good as cats. In fact a dog can not see far enough to tell his master from among a group of other boys, if his master is more than a few hundred feet away. But if the wind is blowing toward the dog, and he once catches a whiff of the scent, or smell, of the boy he knows so well, he does not need eyes to tell him what he wants to know. An eagle could not dart with any more sureness toward an object than can a dog, once he catches the smell of his master. ”

“ He doesn't know I got this crow, but I'll tell him after supper. Maybe he knows how to cut their tongues."
"No, you mustn't cut the crow's tongue," said Mr. Dalton. "It is a cruel superstition to say that slitting a crow's tongue makes it talk. Not all crows can say words, but those that do, will say them just as well with a whole tongue as with one cut down the middle. Leave your crow's tongue alone, Rick, if you are going to keep him."
"Oh, I'm going to keep him!" declared the boy. "I'm going to have him for a pet same as I have Ruddy. ”

“ I won't hurt you. I love dogs, and I'm sorry Matt Stanton has you. He won't exactly kick or beat you, but he won't be kind to you. And you look as if you had come from a better home than he'll ever give you."
Jed looked back toward the house where the light dimly glowed. Then he looked down at the cringing dog, tied by a heavy rope.
"I'll do it!" suddenly whispered the sailor to himself. "I'll do it! 'Tis a shame to let Matt keep you. I wonder, if I cut you loose, if you can find your way home? I'll try it." ”

“ Ruddy never bothered the swans now. He did not even bark at them as he passed them on the shore of Silver Lake. And Ruddy and Sallie kept up their friendship. No more did Ruddy chase the cat, and no more did Sallie arch up her back and fluff out her tail if the dog came near.
One day, when the ground in the forest was thick with the fallen leaves, Ruddy went off by himself to run through the woods. He knew Rick might soon be home from school, and the dog wanted to race about by himself before that. Ruddy was livelier than the liveliest boy you ever saw. ”

“ We leave the horse in the cabin, and the wagon outside. Me, I go to my friend's house and buy my supper and a bed. If you want to sell the dog maybe he'll buy—he buys lots of things."
"No, I'll not sell him," was the gruff, growled answer. "I'm not going to sell my luck. I've got a few shots left in the locker. I can pay for my supper and a bed, and a bone for the dog. I'll go with you."
The junk wagon was driven from the road close to the old log cabin, the horse was turned out to graze on the free grass at the rear of the shack, and the junkman and the sailor started down the road. ”

“ He would have to look for someone else who would feed him, or at least give him the chance to feed himself. He would have to look for someone else whom he might love as only a dog can love—with all his heart and being.
"I'll stay here until morning," reasoned Ruddy, dog-fashion. "It's too dark now to see where to go, and it's raining too hard. I'll stay here in the sand until morning, then I can see better." ”

“ Again and again Ruddy sniffed the night air, during the hours of darkness for any trace of the hated man odor he had smelled. But it did not again come to his nose. Perhaps the wind had changed, for dogs, and most animals, can not smell persons, or other animals, if the wind is blowing away from them. When the wind blows from the animal or person to the dog, then the dog can smell very well indeed. ”

“ There's most always a dog on a ship. Oh, why can't I have a dog?"
No one answered Rick Dalton. There was no one there to speak, unless, perhaps, it was the fish hawk, and, if he could have talked Rick's language he might have told the small boy what he thought about him for having spoiled his dinner. For the dinner of the osprey depended on his catch of fish—and, not only his dinner, but the dinner of the hungry, little whistling birds in the dead pine tree farther inland. ”

“ Over the fence with him! Ha! Ha! The stormy winds do blow! Do blow! Do blow!"
And then, with a start of surprise, Rick saw, crawling up from behind the sailor, and sitting on his shoulder a green parrot. And the parrot, as he pulled himself along the sailor's coat, using claws and his big, hooked beak, opened his mouth, stuck out his queer, thick black tongue and cried:
"Ship ahoy! Where away! Two points off on the weather bow! Bow wow! Bow wow!"
Ruddy uttered a growl and started forward, his eyes fixed on the green bird, but Rick pulled him back. ”

“ Never, since the red-brown setter had come up out of the ocean to be Rick's dog, had Ruddy not been on hand to greet his master when the boy came racing from school. During the hours when Rick had to be at his classes, studying or reciting his lessons, Ruddy, when not chained in his kennel, would roam about the woods and fields, not too far away from the house. Once he had even followed Rick and Mazie to school, and Rick had been excused, and allowed to bring his pet back home. ”

“ Birds, too, when they alight after a fly, spread wide their tails. Just watch them some time.
Then, having, as they hoped, taught Ruddy a lesson, so he would not tease them again, the swans waddled back to the lake.
The setter dog had a queer expression on his face. He held his head on one side, one long, silky ear was cocked up and Ruddy seemed very much surprised by what had happened. In fact he appeared very much ashamed of himself, and animals can be ashamed just as much as can boys or girls. ”

“ I say, Mazie, did you—did you ever say your prayers for anything you wanted an awful lot, like a—like a doll, or a pair of roller skates?"
"Yep! I did once!" said the little girl. "Once I prayed for a doll carriage."
"Did you get it?" asked Rick, eagerly. ”

“ Few dogs would have been brave enough to stand in the face of these strange enemies. [Pg 105] Even a bulldog might have turned tail, as Ruddy certainly did.
Away ran the dog and after him ran the swans. The big, white birds could really travel quite fast, even on land, for they used their wings to help themselves along, just as an ostrich half runs and half flies, which makes him as speedy as some horses.
With hisses and flappings of their wings, the swans pursued Ruddy, and if Rick had seen them after his dog he could easily have guessed what the swans were saying to one another. ”

“ In running after game [Pg 233] birds, and animals, Ruddy, or any other dog used for that kind of sport, generally does just the opposite. That is they follow the scent along until they get to the place where the rabbit, squirrel or bird has gone, and not to the place where they have come from. Once in a while, though, a hunting dog will make a mistake and "back-track" when he ought to "front-track." A dog that does this is not of much value to a hunter, for the man with the gun wants to go where the game is, not where it isn't. ”

“ The cat sticks her claws in the soft bark of a tree.
If a dog's claws were sharp he might climb a tree, but they are not. A dog's claws always stick out; he can not put them out when he pleases and pull them back again, as pussy can. And because a dog's claws are always out they get worn off, and dull, as he runs around on the ground.
On raced Sallie and Ruddy raced after her, and soon, coming to a tree, up the cat shot like a flash of light. ”

“ As Rick had said, there was coasting and the building of snow houses. Snow men were made, and pelted with snowballs. Snow forts were built on the hills and the boys divided into soldier companies and had battles with snowballs.
One day when Rick had been coasting with the other boys he had stayed so late that it was almost dark. One by one his chums went home after long, swift rides over the snow-covered hill, but Rick and Ruddy remained on the slope. One or twice Rick took Ruddy down on the sled with him, and the dog seemed to like the swift motion, just as dogs like auto riding. ”

“ As I told you a dog depends on his scent, or by smelling with his nose, to tell his master and friends, and not on his ears or eyesight, though a dog's hearing is better than his vision.
"I guess I'll have to stop whistling for Ruddy when I come home from school," said Rick to his mother one day, when he had come in with his books, and had been told that Haw-Haw had played the trick three times on the setter that afternoon. "It's too bad to plague him that way. I won't whistle any more when I come along." ”

“ Of course Ruddy did not understand this talk. All he knew was that there was the man he had grown, even in a short time, to fear and hate. The very smell of the man was hateful to the dog, for it is by the smell, or personal odor, that a dog remembers his friends and enemies. ”

“ Dalton did when Rick was at school. The whole Dalton family, as well as the boys and girls in the neighborhood of Rick's house, had come to know and care for the brown setter. The setter is a very lovable sort of dog, not perhaps as strong in character as a bull, a collie or Airedale, but of a disposition that makes you love him in spite of the tricks he sometimes plays.
But as the days passed, and neither the ragged sailor nor the still more ragged junk man was seen in Belemere, Rick began to feel that his dog was safe. ”

“ When a cat, I don't mean Sallie, especially, but any cat, wants to teach a dog a lesson, [Pg 106] and cause him to fear her, so he will no longer chase her, the cat turns, arches up her back, makes her tail as large as she can, hisses at the dog and scratches his nose if possible. A cat seems to understand that a dog's nose is his most tender spot, as indeed it is. A dog really hates to have his nose scratched as it bothers him, hurts him and prevents him from smelling his best, and on a dog's scent, or sense of smell, nearly everything depends. ”

“ A cat has claws and also teeth, but a dog's claws are of scarcely any use to drive away anything that attacks him. He has only his teeth.
So Ruddy gnawed the bone, drank a little of the fresh water and then he settled himself for a sleep. Around and around he turned on the piece of carpet Mrs. Dalton had spread in his kennel. Just as the old wolf-dogs and jungle hounds had turned around and around to drive out any stray snakes, so Ruddy turned. And then he went to sleep, waiting for Rick to come home from school. ”

“ He, too, was interested in Boy Scouts, but not at a time like this. He wanted his dog.
"This is the way the junk man would go after coming from Belemere," announced Chot, pointing down the road. "If he went that way," and he pointed in the opposite direction, "he'd be going back where he came from."
"Then let's chase along!" cried Rick. "I want my dog!"
"That's it!" exclaimed Tom. "We got to catch that junk man!"
"And the sailor," added Rick, "he's the one that's got my dog, I'm sure. The junk man is only giving him a ride so he can get away quicker." ”

“ The second ragged man—whose name was Sam, went into his house and came out with a bone which he threw down in front of Ruddy, who, by this time, had been tied to a post in the yard.
"Hum!" mumbled the sailor, as he looked at the bone. "It's a good thing I bought a ten cent one. If you'd handed out a fiver there wouldn't have been enough meat on for a spider crab. Well, now the dog's eatin' let's us eat!" ”

“ Ruddy was thirsty, and he quickly lapped up the water that Rick brought to him in a clean basin. And how glad Ruddy was that the water was clean. All animals, even pigs, love to be clean and to have clean food, just as much as we do.
"Are you going to let Rick keep this dog?" asked Mrs. Dalton, as she came out in the yard, and watched Ruddy following Rick and Mazie about in the grass.
"Well, we might try it," said her husband slowly. "He appears like a nice, clean puppy. And a boy and dog seem to go together, somehow." ”

“ Taylor told exactly what had happened. He had read the "signs," just as Indians and scouts of the plains used to read signs, and as Boy Scouts of to-day are learning to do.
"Ruddy had a regular collar on," said Rick, as he looked at the harsh rope around his pet's neck. "I wonder where it is?"
"Well, I guess the junk man took it off to sell it," said Sam Brown. "Those fellows will sell anything they get that way."
"I'll cut this rope off," went on Rick. "It may hurt him."
"Hadn't you better leave it on?" asked Tom. "You'll want to tie him up, Rick, so he won't be taken away again." ”

“ Did you see me make 'em fly!"
"You leave those ducks alone!" said Rick to his dog. "Those are tame ducks, [Pg 67] not wild ones for you to hunt. Leave 'em alone!"
He spoke rather sharply to Ruddy, and shook his finger at the dog. That is the best way to tell a dog that he has done wrong. Whipping does little good, and is cruel because a dog can not understand what he is beaten for. But a dog knows the tones of his master's voice better than anything else. And when the master speaks as if he were angry the dog knows, and remembers. ”

“ The setter leaped to the length of his chain and his growl became a bark. Rick, who was coming out of the house after supper, heard this, and hastened to his dog's kennel. He heard Ruddy rumbling in his throat.
"What's the matter, old fellow? Why are you growling?" asked Rick. Of course the different smells on the night air meant nothing to him. Though a boy's nose is very good for smelling a pie baking in the oven, [Pg 95] or, in camp for whiffing the delicious odor of bacon and coffee, a boy's nose is not sharp enough to smell all a dog can smell. ”

“ As for the dog, if he had been by himself he would, as soon as he was ready, have trotted off in the direction of Belemere, and have gone straight to Rick's house. Once a [Pg 79] dog has settled himself in a home he can, nearly always, find his way back to it, and sometimes even when he has been taken many miles away, in an automobile or a train. But, just now, Ruddy did not know that Rick wanted to go home.
"I guess he wants me to scare up a bird for him to chase," thought Ruddy, dog-fashion, of course. "That is the kind of fun he wants. There's no fun sitting on a log and doing nothing. ”

“ She opened it but did not bite.
"I've taught her not to," the sailor went on. "Well, as I was saying, when I had this parrot for a mascot I felt I didn't need the dog. So I stopped around to tell you not to worry any more. I'll never whistle him away again."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Rick. "Now you belong to me forever, Ruddy!" and he put his arms around the setter's neck.
"Yes, he's yours forever," said the sailor. "He was mine, but I give him to you. A dog that could get to shore after being blown overboard the way he was, is a good dog!" ”

“ Then, as Rick's mother came out with some pieces of carpet to make a bed for the puppy, and as she gave him a large bone on which to gnaw, Ruddy forgot about the rabbits for the time.
The bone interested him more. It was a large bone, with very little meat on it, and what there was took a deal of gnawing to [Pg 52] get off. But that was good for Ruddy, whether he knew it or not, for it made his teeth stronger. The more a dog gnaws the better his teeth become, and a dog's teeth are the only weapons he has. ”

“ As soon as Ruddy saw this path, and smelled the [Pg 209] clean smell of woods and leaves, he gave a little joyous bark.
"Here now! What's the matter with you? Keep still!" growled the sailor, pulling on the rope around the dog's neck.
Poor Ruddy's tail dropped and he crouched down, for he feared he was going to be struck. But the sailor was not quite as bad as that. He rather cared for the dog, in a way, though he did not know how to be really kind to animals. Some men and boys are that way, and I am sorry for them. It is wonderful to know how to love animals, and have them care for you. ”

“ And then, in that wonderful manner dogs have of really knowing that men's ways are not their ways, and that sometimes a man makes a dog do something for the animal's good that the creature would rather not do—somehow, in this manner Ruddy knew that the coast guard was to be numbered among his new friends. ”

“ Dogs, as a rule, do not like ragged men; though no matter how old are the clothes their master wears, it makes no difference. But that is another story.
"Yes, I lost my luck when I lost that dog," growled the tramp, as he slunk away. "But I guess he never got ashore. He was lost in the ocean, I reckon. I'll have to get another mascot dog for luck."
Then he slunk out of town, and, for a time, Ruddy was safe. But Rick did not let his dog run free until after he had talked to the life guard again.
"I guess the tramp has gone away," Sig said. ”

“ Chot said.
"No," declared Rick. "It was that sailor tramp, this time, I'm sure. He wants to get Ruddy back—he told the coast guard so. Ruddy's a lucky dog, and the sailor tramp wanted him."
"He's a good dog all right," agreed Tom. "But it isn't very lucky for him to run away and get lost!"
"'Tisn't his fault!" declared Rick. "That sailor whistled him away. He must have whistled like I do, and Ruddy knew it wasn't Haw-Haw, 'cause the crow was asleep behind the stove. ”