He is kept hungry, in some degree, all the time, to make him more
ferocious. He looks hollow and gaunt. There is a pan upon the ground,
from which his master feeds him, but he has eaten up all that it
contained, and he wants more. This makes him watchful. If he had eaten
too much, he would probably now be lying asleep in his kennel. The
kennel is a small house, with a door in front, where the dog goes in
and out. There is straw upon the floor of the kennel. The dog was lying
down upon the floor of his kennel, when he thought he heard a noise. He
sprang up from his place, came out of the door, and has now stopped to
listen. He is listening and watching very attentively, and is all ready
to spring. The thief is coming; we can see him climbing over the gate.
He is coming softly. He thinks no one hears. A moment more, and the dog
will spring out upon him, and perhaps seize him by the throat, and hold
him till men come and take him prisoner.
This dog is chained during the day, but his chain is unhooked at night,
so as to leave him at liberty. By day he can do no harm, and yet the
children who live in the neighborhood are afraid to go near his kennel,
he barks so ferociously when he hears a noise; besides, they think it
possible that, by some accident, his chain may get unfastened.
[Sidenote: Tiger’s fidelity. His ferocious character.]
This dog’s name is Tiger. Bruno was not such a dog as Tiger. He was
vigilant and faithful, but then he was gentle and kind.
Bruno’s master, the farmer, had a son named Antonio. That is, his name
was properly Antonio, though they commonly called him Tony.
[Sidenote: The difference between Antonio and Bruno.]
Tony was very different from Bruno in his character. He was as
faithless and remiss in all his duties as Bruno was trusty and true.
When his father set him at work in the field, instead of remaining,
like Bruno, at his post, and discharging his duty, he would take the
first opportunity, as soon as his father was out of sight, to go away
and play. Sometimes, when Bruno was upon his watch, Tony would attempt
to entice him away. He would throw sticks and stones across the brook,
and attempt to make Bruno go and fetch them. But Bruno would resist all
these temptations, and remain immovable at his post.
It might be supposed that it would be very tiresome for Bruno to remain
so many hours lying under a tree, watching a pail, with nothing to
do and nothing to amuse him, and that, consequently, he would always
endeavor to escape from the duty. We might suppose that, when he saw
the farmer’s wife taking down the pail from its shelf, and preparing
to put the farmer’s dinner in it, he would immediately run away, and
hide himself under the barn, or among the currant-bushes in the garden,
or resort to some other scheme to make his escape from such a duty.
But, in fact, he used to do exactly the contrary of this. As soon as
he saw that his master was preparing to go into the field, he would
leap about with great delight. He would run into the house, and take
his place by the door of the closet where the tin pail was usually
kept. He would stand there until the farmer’s wife came for the pail,
and then he would follow her and watch her while she was preparing the
dinner and putting it into the pail, and then would run along, with
every appearance of satisfaction and joy, by the side of his master, as
he went into the field, and finally take his place by the side of the
pail, as if he were pleased with the duty, and proud of the trust that
was thus committed to him.
[Sidenote: Antonio’s expedients to avoid work.]
In fact, he _was_ really proud of it. He liked to be employed, and to
prove himself useful. With Tony it was the reverse. He adopted all
sorts of schemes and maneuvers to avoid the performance of any duty.
When he had reason to suppose that any work was to be done in which his
aid was to be required, he would take his fishing-line, immediately
after breakfast, and steal secretly away out of the back door, and go
down to a brook which was near his father’s house, and there--hiding
himself in some secluded place among the bushes, where he thought they
could not find him--he would sit down upon a stone and go to fishing.
If he heard a sound as of his father’s voice calling him, he would
make a rustling of the leaves, or some other similar noise, so as to
prevent his hearing whether his father was calling to him or not. Thus
his father was obliged to do without him. And though his father would
reprove him very seriously, when he came home at noon, for thus going
away, Tony would pretend that he did not know that his father wanted
him, and that he did not hear him when he called.
[Sidenote: The plowing.]
One evening in the spring, Tony heard his father say that he was going
to plow a certain piece of ground the following day, and he supposed
that he should be wanted to ride the horse. His father was accustomed
to plow such land as that field by means of a yoke of oxen, and a
horse in front of them; and by having Tony to ride the horse, he could
generally manage to get along without any driver for the oxen, as the
oxen in that case had nothing to do but to follow on where the horse
led the way. But if Tony was not there to ride the horse, then it was
necessary for the farmer to have his man Thomas with him, to drive
the horse and the oxen. There was no way, therefore, by which Tony
could be so useful to his father as by thus assisting in this work of
plowing; for, by so doing, he saved the time of Thomas, who could then
be employed the whole day in other fields, planting, or hoeing, or
making fence, or doing any other farm-work which at that season of the
year required to be done.
[Sidenote: Antonio escapes.]
Accordingly, when Tony understood that this was the plan of work for
the following day, he stole away from the house immediately after
breakfast, and ran out into the garden. He had previously put his
fishing-line, and other necessary apparatus for fishing, upon a certain
bench there was in an arbor. He now took these things, and then went
down through the garden to a back gate, which led into a wood beyond.
He looked around from time to time as he went on, to see if any one at
the house was observing him. He saw no one; so he escaped safely into
the wood, without being called back, or even seen.
He felt glad when he found that he had thus made his escape--glad, but
not happy. It is quite possible to be glad, and yet to be not at all
happy. Tony felt guilty. He knew that he was doing very wrong; and the
feeling that we are doing wrong always makes us miserable, whatever may
be the pleasure that we seek.
[Sidenote: His walk through the wood.]
There was a wild and solitary road which led through the wood. Tony
went on through this road, with his fishing-pole over his shoulder, and
his box of bait in his hand. He wore a frock, like a plowman’s frock,
over his dress. It was one which his mother had made for him. This
frock was a light and cool garment, and Tony liked to wear it very much.
When Tony had got so far that he thought there was no danger of his
being called back, and the interest which he had felt in making his
escape began to subside, as the work had been accomplished, he paused,
and began to reflect upon what he was doing.
[Sidenote: He almost decides to return and help his father.]
“I have a great mind to go back, after all,” he said, “and help my
father.”
So he turned round, and began to walk slowly back toward the house.
“No, I won’t,” said he again; “I will go a fishing.”
[Illustration]
So he turned again, and began to walk on.
“At any rate,” he added, speaking to himself all the time, “I will go
a fishing for a while, and then, perhaps, I will go back and help my
father.”
So Tony went on in the path until at length he came to a place where
there was a gateway leading into a dark and secluded wood. The wood was
very dark and secluded indeed, and Tony thought that the path through
it must lead to some very retired and solitary place, where nobody
could find him.
“I presume there is a brook, too, somewhere in that wood,” he added,
“where I can fish.”
The gate was fastened, but there was a short length of fence on the
left-hand side of it, formed of only two rails, and these were so far
apart that Tony could easily creep through between them. So he crept
through, and went into the wood.
[Sidenote: He comes to the brook.]
He rambled about in the wood for some time, following various paths
that he found there, until at length he came to a brook. He was quite
rejoiced to find the brook, and he immediately began fishing in it. He
followed the bank of this brook for nearly a mile, going, of course,
farther and farther into the wood all the time. He caught a few small
fishes at some places, while at others he caught none. He was, however,
restless and dissatisfied in mind. Again and again he wished that he
had not come away from home, and he was continually on the point of
resolving to return. He thought, however, that his father would have
brought Thomas into the field, and commenced his plowing long before
then, and that, consequently, it would do no good to return.
[Sidenote: Fishing. The squirrel.]
While he was sitting thus, with a disconsolate air, upon a large stone
by the side of the brook, fishing in a dark and deep place, where he
hoped that there might be some trout, he suddenly saw a large gray
squirrel. He immediately dropped his fishing-pole, and ran to see where
the squirrel would go. In fact, he had some faint and vague idea that
there might, by some possibility, be a way to catch him.
The squirrel ran along a log, then up the stem of a tree to a branch,
along the branch to the end of it, whence he sprang a long distance
through the air to another branch, and then ran along that branch to
the tree which it grew from. From this tree he descended to a rock. He
mounted to the highest point of the rock, and there he turned round and
looked at Tony, sitting upon his hind legs, and holding his fore paws
before him, like a dog begging for supper.
[Sidenote: An unsuccessful hunt.]
“The rogue!” said Tony. “How I wish I could catch him!”
Very soon the squirrel, feeling somewhat alarmed at the apparition of
a boy in the woods, and not knowing what to make of so strange a sight,
ran down the side of the rock, and continued his flight. Tony followed
him for some time, until at last the squirrel contrived to make his
escape altogether, by running up a large tree, keeping cunningly on the
farther side of it all the way, so that Tony could not see him. When
he had reached the branches of the tree, he crept into a small hollow
which he found there, and crouching down, he remained motionless in
this hiding-place until Tony became tired of looking for him, and went
away.
[Sidenote: The lost boy.]
Tony, when at last he gave up the search for the squirrel, attempted
to find his way back to the place where he had left his fishing-pole.
Unfortunately, he had left his cap there too, so that he was doubly
desirous of finding the place. There was, however, no path, for
squirrels in their rambles in the woods are of course always quite
independent of every thing like roadways. Tony went back in the
direction from which he thought he came; but he could find no traces of
his fishing-pole. He could not even find the brook. He began to feel
quite uneasy, and, after going around in very circuitous and devious
wanderings for some time, he became quite bewildered. He at length
determined to give up the attempt to find his fishing-line and cap, and
to get out of the woods, and make his way home in the quickest possible
way.
[Sidenote: Tony’s difficulties.]
The poor boy now began to feel more guilty and more wretched than ever
before. He was not really more guilty, though he _felt_ his guilt far
more acutely than he had done when every thing was going well with him.
This is always so. The feeling of self-condemnation is not generally
the strongest at the time when we are doing the wrong. It becomes far
more acute and far more painful when we begin to experience the bitter
consequences which we bring upon ourselves by the transgression. Tony
hurried along wherever he could find a path which promised to lead him
to the gateway, breathless with fatigue and excitement, and with his
face flushed and full of anxiety. He was in great distress.
He stopped from time to time, to call aloud to his father and to
Thomas. He was now as anxious that they should find him as he had been
before to escape from them. He listened, in the hope that he might hear
the barking of Bruno, or some other sound that might help him to find
his way out of the woods.
[Sidenote: He is misled by various sounds.]
Once he actually heard a sound among the trees, at some distance from
him. He thought that it was some one working in the woods. He went
eagerly in the direction from which the sound proceeded, scrambling,
by the way, over the rocks and brambles, and leaping from hummock to
hummock in crossing bogs and mire. When at length he reached the place,
he found that the noise was nothing but one tree creaking against
another in the wind.
At another time, he followed a sound which appeared different from
this; when he came up to it, he found it to be a woodpecker tapping an
old hollow tree.
[Sidenote: Tony at the brook.]
Tony wandered about thus in the wood nearly all the day, and at length,
about the middle of the afternoon, he became so exhausted with fatigue,
anxiety, and hunger, that he could go no farther. He was very thirsty
too, for he could find no water. He began to fear that he should die
in the woods of starvation and thirst. At length, however, a short
time before the sun went down, he came, to his great joy, to a stream
of water. It was wide and deep, so that he could not cross it. He,
however, went down to the brink of the water, and got a good drink.
This refreshed him very much, and then he went back again up the bank,
and lay down upon the grass there to rest.
[Sidenote: Cows in the water.]
Presently two cows came down to the water, on the side opposite to
where Tony was sitting. They came to drink. Tony wished very much that
they would come over to his side of the water, so that he could get
some milk from them. If he could get a good drink of milk from them, he
thought it would restore his strength, so that he could make one more
effort to return home. He called the cows, and endeavored, by every
means in his power, to make them come through the water to his side.
One of them waded into the water a little way, and stood there staring
stupidly at Tony, but she would not come any farther.
[Illustration]
Then Tony thought of attempting to wade across the water to the cows,
but he was afraid that it might be very deep, and that he should get
drowned. He thought, too, that if he could contrive in any way to get
near the cows, there would still be a difficulty in getting a drink of
their milk, for he had no cup or mug to milk into. He wondered whether
or not it would be possible for him to get down under one of the cows
and milk into his mouth. He soon found, however, that it was of no use
to consider this question, for it was not possible for him to get near
the cows at all.
Then he reflected how many times his mother, in the evenings at home,
when the cows were milked, had brought him drinks of the milk in a cup
or mug, very convenient to drink out of, and how many long and weary
days his father had worked in the fields, mowing grass to feed the
cows, and in the barns in the winter, to take care of them, so as to
provide the means of giving his boy this rich and luxurious food; and
he felt how ungrateful he had been, in not being willing to aid his
father in his work, when opportunities offered to him to be useful.
[Sidenote: Good resolutions.]
“If I ever get home,” said he to himself, “I’ll be a better boy.”
[Sidenote: Here comes Bruno.]
Just then Tony heard a noise in the bushes behind him. At first he was
startled, as most people are, at hearing suddenly a noise in the woods.
Immediately afterward, however, he felt glad, as he hoped that the
noise was made by some one coming. He had scarcely time to look around
before Bruno came rushing through the bushes, and, with a single bound,
came to Tony’s feet. He leaped up upon him, wagging his tail most
energetically, and in other ways manifesting the most extraordinary
joy.
[Sidenote: Bruno leads the way through the woods.]
In a minute or two he began to walk away again into the woods, looking
behind him toward Tony, intimating that Tony was to follow him. Tony
slowly rose from his place, and attempted to go.
“Yes, Bruno,” said he, “I know. You are going to show me the way home.
I’ll come along as fast as I can.”
Tony soon found, however, that he could not come very fast. In fact,
he was almost exhausted by fatigue and hunger, and he had now little
strength remaining. He accordingly staggered rather than walked in
attempting to follow Bruno, and he was obliged frequently to stop and
rest. On such occasions Bruno would come back and fawn around him,
wagging his tail, and expressing his sympathy in such other ways as
a dog has at command, and would finally lie down quietly by Tony’s
side until the poor boy was ready to proceed again. Then he would go
forward, and lead the way as before.
It is very extraordinary that a dog can find his way through the woods
under certain circumstances so much better than a boy, or even than a
man. But so it is; for, though so greatly inferior to a boy in respect
to the faculties of speech and reason, he is greatly superior to him
in certain instincts, granted to him by the Creator to fit him for the
life which he was originally designed to lead as a wild animal. It was
by means of these instincts that Bruno found Tony.
[Sidenote: The various expeditions in search of Tony.]
Bruno had commenced his search about the middle of the afternoon. It
was not until some time after dinner that the family began to be uneasy
about Tony’s absence. During all the forenoon they supposed that he had
gone away somewhere a fishing or to play, and that he would certainly
come home to dinner. When, however, the dinner hour, which was twelve
o’clock, arrived, and Tony did not appear, they began to wonder what
had become of him. So, after dinner, they sent Thomas down behind the
garden, and to the brook, and to all the other places where they knew
that Tony was accustomed to go, to see if he could find him. Thomas
went to all those places, and not only looked to see whether Tony was
there, but he called also very loud, and listened long after every
calling for an answer. But he could neither see nor hear any thing of
the lost boy.
[Sidenote: Bruno’s search.]
Then Tony’s mother began to be very seriously alarmed, and his father,
too, determined to leave his work, and go and see if he could find him.
He accordingly sent Thomas one way, while he himself went another.
Bruno watched all these movements with great interest. He understood
what they meant. He determined to see what he could do. He accordingly
ran out into the garden, where he had seen Tony go after breakfast in
the morning. He smelled about there in all the paths until at length he
found Tony’s track. He followed this track to the seat in the arbor,
where Tony had gone to get his fishing-line. Taking _a new departure_
from this point, he went on, smelling the track along the paths as he
advanced, to the bottom of the garden, thence into a wood behind the
garden, thence along the road till he came to the gate under the trees
where Tony had gone in.
[Sidenote: He finds Tony’s cap and fishing-pole.]
By smelling about this gate, he ascertained that Tony did not open the
gate, but that he crept through between the bars on the left-hand side
of it. Bruno did the same. He then followed the track of Tony in the
solitary woods until he came to the brook where Tony had been fishing.
Here, to his great astonishment, he found Tony’s cap and fishing-pole
lying by the margin of the water.
What this could mean he was utterly unable to imagine. The sight of
these things, however, only increased his interest in the search for
Tony. He soon found the track again, and he followed it along by the
side of the bog, and to the great rock, and by the old trees. What
could have induced Tony to leave his cap and pole by the brook, and
go scrambling through the bushes in this devious way, he could not
imagine, not knowing, of course, any thing about the squirrel.
He, however, proceeded very industriously in the search, following the
scent which Tony’s footsteps had left on the leaves and grass wherever
he had gone, until at length, to his great joy, he came up with the
object of his search by the brink of the water, as has already been
described.
Tony had gone but a short distance from the place where Bruno had
discovered him, before he found his strength failing him so rapidly
that he was obliged to make his rests longer and longer. At one of
these stops, Bruno, instead of waiting by his side, as he had done
before, until Tony had become sufficiently rested to go on, ran off
through the bushes and left him.
“Now, Bruno!” said Tony, in a mournful tone, “if you go away and leave
me, I don’t know what I shall do.”
[Sidenote: The cap restored.]
Bruno was gone about five minutes, at the end of which time he came
back, bringing Tony’s cap in his mouth. He had been to the brook to get
it.
Tony was overjoyed to see Bruno again, and he was, moreover,
particularly pleased to get his cap again.
So he took his cap and put it on, patting Bruno’s head at the same
time, and commending him in a very cordial manner.
“I am very much obliged to you, Bruno,” said he, “for bringing me my
cap--_very_ much obliged indeed. The cap is all I care for; never mind
about the fishing-pole.”
[Sidenote: Bruno returns home.]
Tony spoke these words very feebly, for he was very tired and faint.
Bruno perceived that he was not able to go on; so, after remaining
by his side a few minutes, he ran off again into the bushes and
disappeared.
“Now he has gone to bring the fishing-pole, I suppose,” said Tony. “I
wish he would not go for that; I would rather have him stay here with
me.”
[Sidenote: His strange conduct.]
Tony was mistaken in his supposition that Bruno had gone for the
fishing-pole; for, instead of going to the brook again, where he had
found the cap, he ran as fast as he could toward home. His object was
to see if he could not get some thing for Tony to eat. As soon as he
arrived at the house, he went to the farmer’s wife, who was all this
time walking about the rooms of the house in great distress of mind,
and waiting anxiously to hear some news of those who were in search
of Tony, and began to pull her by her dress toward the place in the
kitchen where the tin pail was kept, in which she was accustomed to put
the farmer’s dinner. At first she could not understand what he wanted.
“My senses!” said she, “what does the dog mean?”
“Bruno!” said she again, after wondering a moment, “what do you want?”
Bruno looked up toward the pail and whined piteously, wagging his tail
all the time, and moving about with eager impatience.
[Sidenote: He succeeds in obtaining a dinner for Tony.]
At length the farmer’s wife took hold of the pail, and, as soon as she
had done so, Bruno ran off toward the closet where the food was kept,
which she was accustomed to put into the pail for her husband’s dinner.
He took his station by the door, and waited there, as he had been
accustomed to do, looking up eagerly all the time to Tony’s mother, who
was slowly following him.
“I verily believe,” said she, joyfully, “that Bruno has found Tony, and
is going to carry him something to eat.”
She immediately went into the closet, and filled the pail up, in a very
hurried manner, with something for Tony to eat, taking care not to put
in so much as to make the pail too heavy. As soon as she had done this,
and put on a cover, and then set the pail down upon the floor, Bruno
immediately took it up by means of the handle, and ran off with it.
Tony’s mother followed him, but she could not keep up with him, and was
soon obliged to relinquish the pursuit.
Bruno had some difficulty in getting over the fences and through the
bars with his burden, as he went on toward the place where he had left
Tony. He, however, persevered in his efforts, and finally succeeded;
and at length had the satisfaction of bringing the pail safely, and
laying it down at Tony’s feet. Tony, who was by this time extremely
hungry, as well as faint and exhausted by fatigue, was overjoyed at
receiving this unexpected supply. He opened the pail, and found there
every thing which he required. There was a supply of bread and butter
in slices, with ham, sandwich fashion, placed between. At the bottom of
the pail, too, was a small bottle filled with milk.
[Sidenote: He conducts Tony home, and goes back for the fishing-pole.]