DIX IN TROUBLE
"Is Dix really following us?" asked Mr. Brown, as, once more, he stopped
the big automobile.
"He seems to be," answered Mrs. Brown. "He and Splash are trotting along
together as happy as two clams."
"Clams can't trot," said Bunny quickly.
"No, but they can be happy," said his mother. "And Splash and Dix seem
to be happy, now, trotting along together after us."
"They're altogether too happy," said Mr. Brown. "I wonder how we're
going to get Dix back home? Mr. and Mrs. Ward think as much of him as we
do of Splash, and they'll be sorry to have him run away."
"We must try to send him home some way," said Mrs. Brown. "Bunny, you
have a pretty good way with dogs, suppose you get out and try to drive
Dix back home. Tell him we love him, think he's a nice dog and all that,
but we believe it isn't best for him to come with us now."
"All right, I will," said Bunny, and he hopped down from the automobile,
which had a little set of steps at the back to make getting in and out
easy. Though Bunny, it is true, generally jumped out, not using the
steps at all.
While the big automobile had been traveling on, Splash, knowing he was a
member of this party, had gone along as a matter of course. And,
perhaps, in some kind of dog language (which I am sure there must be) he
had said to his friend Dix something like this:
"Come along, old chap. The folks are going for a little excursion into
the country. I know they are, for once before we traveled like this, and
it was jolly fun. There'll be good things to eat, and no end of cats to
chase, too, if you like that."
"Well, I used to like it," Dix said--perhaps.
"Then come along," urged Splash. "I'm sure the folks will be glad to
have you."
"All right, I will," Dix may have answered.
And so it was he had run along, playing beside the road with Splash. And
it was not until the automobile had gone several miles that the family
noticed that another dog besides their own was following them.
"Drive him back home as your mother told you, Bunny," said the little
boy's father.
Bunny ran back to where Dix and Splash were rolling over and over on the
grass. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Go on home! Go on home!" cried Bunny.
At once Splash and Dix stopped playing and ran to the little boy. As his
mother had said, Bunny knew how to talk to dogs in a way they could
understand.
"Go on home!" said the little boy again, very earnestly.
Splash looked up in surprise. He was not used to being sent home.
"Oh, I don't mean you," said Bunny. "I mean you, Dix! Mother says we
like you very much, and would like to have you with us, but your folks
want you home with them. So go on back. Go home, I say!"
Bunny stamped his foot, spoke as sternly as he could without being too
cross, and pointed back toward Bellemere.
Dix looked into Bunny's face a minute, and then slowly the dog's tail
drooped between his legs and he slunk off, with what was really a sad
face looking at Bunny and Splash. It was as if he said:
"Say, look here, Splash! I thought you invited me on this excursion, and
now that boy of yours goes and drives me home."
"Well, I can't help it," Splash seemed to say. "There is something wrong
somewhere."
Bunny felt sad at having to drive Dix back home.
"I'm sorry, old fellow," he said, and his voice was so kind that Dix
turned and came running back.
"No! No! You mustn't do that!" cried Bunny, seeing what his kind words
had done. "Go on back home, Dix!"
Once again Dix's tail drooped between his legs, and he turned back. He
went on for some distance, never turning to look back.
"There, I guess he'll not follow us any more," said Bunny. "Come on,
Splash. You get up in the automobile and ride with us. Then Dix won't
see you, and want to come along."
Bunny led his own dog back to the big car, Splash going willingly
enough, though once or twice he looked back at Dix, who was walking
slowly the homeward road.
Again the auto started off.
"This is two delays we've had," said Mr. Brown. "If we have another I'll
begin to think there is something in Mary's idea of bad luck, after
all."
It was Sue who discovered Dix the next time. As the automobile was about
to go around a curve the little girl gazed out of the back window and
saw the Ward dog trotting happily along toward the moving automobile.
"Oh, Daddy, look there!" cried Sue. "Dix is coming after us again! What
are we going to do?"
"Is that dog following us once more?" asked Mr. Brown, as he stopped the
automobile.
"Yes, he is; and he seems happy."
"Oh dear!" said Mrs. Brown. "What trouble these dogs are giving us
to-day!"
"Well, this is the third trouble, and let us hope it will be the last,"
said Mr. Brown.
"Are you going to send Dix back again?" asked Bunny.
"No, I don't think it would do any good. Besides, we are now about ten
miles from home. He might not find his way."
"That would be too bad," said Mrs. Brown. "The Wards would not want to
lose their dog."
"I presume the only thing for us to do is to turn around and carry him
back again," said Mr. Brown slowly.
Just then Splash, who had been lying inside under one of the sleeping
cots, awoke, and, looking out of the rear door of the auto, saw his
friend Dix trotting merrily along.
"Bow-wow!" barked Splash.
"Wow-wuff-wow!" answered Dix.
That meant in dog language I suppose:
"Well, I'm glad to see you again, old fellow."
"And I'm glad to see you," said Dix. "I hope they don't drive me back
again. But I went only to the first turn in the road. There I waited
awhile and then came on. I could easily tell which way you came by the
big wheel-marks."
"Well, I guess there's no hope for it," said Mr. Brown, as the two dogs
stopped barking. "It's turn around again and take Dix back with us to
his home. It's a good thing we're not in a hurry."
He was about to turn the big car, and Dix had come to a stop a short
distance away from it when Bunny suddenly cried:
"Oh, I've thought of a way to do it!"
"A way to do what?" his father asked.
"Take care of Dix."
"Do you mean to ask somebody going past in another automobile to take
Dix to Bellemere?" asked Mrs. Brown.
"No. But in that house," and Bunny pointed to one not far away, "is a
telephone. I can see the wires, and they're just like our telephone
wires. Why can't we call up Mr. Ward and ask him if we can take his dog
along with us?"
"Take Dix with us!" cried Mrs. Brown. "What would we do with two dogs?"
"Well, they'll be company for each other," said Sue, who had taken a
great liking to Dix.
"And Dix wants to come," added Bunny. "You see how hard it is to drive
him back."
"But we don't need him, and two dogs are harder to look after than one,"
said Mr. Brown. "Dix has made trouble enough to-day, though part of it
was Splash's fault."
It was then Bunny had his fine idea.
"Oh, I know the best reason in the world for taking Dix with us!" he
cried. "Wait and I'll 'splain it all to you. Just let Dix and Splash
play together until I get through talking."
"Well, let's hear your idea, Bunny," said Mr. Brown with a smile, as he
leaned back in his seat and rested his back. Splash, seeing his dog
friend, leaped from the car and the two were soon playing together in
the road as merrily as ever.