remonstrances, “it would be a great deal better to wait till the eggs
are hatched, and then get one of the birds.”
[Sidenote: The plan changed.]
Ralph paused when he heard this suggestion. He began to think that it
might possibly be a better plan to wait, as Eddy proposed, and to get a
bird instead of an egg. He paused a moment on the ladder, standing on
one foot, and holding himself on by one hand.
“Would you, Eddy?” said he.
“Yes,” said Eddy, “I certainly would.”
Eddy proposed this plan, not so much from any desire he had that Ralph
should get one of the birds when they were hatched, as to save the
eggs from being taken away then. He had an instinctive feeling that it
was wrong to take away the eggs, and he pitied the poor birds in their
distress, and so he said what he thought was most likely to induce
Ralph to desist from his design.
After hesitating a few minutes, Ralph said, “Well, I will.” He then
came down to the ground again, and, taking up the ladder, he carried it
away.
About a week after this, Ralph got the ladder one day when the birds
were not there, and climbed up to the nest. He found three very pretty
blue eggs in it.
[Sidenote: The birds are hatched.]
About a week after this he climbed up again, and he found that the eggs
were hatched. There were three little birds there, not fledged. When
they heard Ralph’s rustling of the branches over their heads, they
opened their mouths very wide, expecting that the old birds had come to
bring them something to eat.
About a week after this Ralph climbed up again, but, just before he
reached the nest, the three birds, having now grown old enough to fly,
all clambered out of the nest, and flew away in all directions.
[Sidenote: “Here’s one!”]
“Stop ’em! stop ’em! Eddy,” said Ralph, “or watch them at least, and
see where they go, till I come down.”
“Here’s one,” said Eddy.
He pointed, as he said this, under some currant-bushes, near an alley
where he was walking. The little bird was crouched down, and was
looking about him full of wonder. In fact, he was quite astonished to
find how far he had flown.
Ralph clambered down the ladder as fast as he could, and then ran off
to the tool-house, saying as he ran,
“Keep him there, Eddy, till I go and get my net.”
“I can’t keep him,” said Eddy, “unless he has a mind to stay. But I
will watch him.”
So Eddy stood still and watched the bird while Ralph went after his
net. The bird hopped along a little way, and then stopped, and remained
perfectly still until Ralph returned.
[Sidenote: A bird pursued.]
The net was a round net, the mouth of it being kept open by means of a
hoop. It was fastened to the end of a long pole. Ralph crept up softly
toward the place where the bird had alighted, and, when he was near
enough, he extended the pole, and clapped the net down over the bird,
and made it prisoner.
[Sidenote: Caught and caged.]
“I’ve caught him! I’ve caught him!” said Ralph, greatly excited. “Run,
Eddy, and get the cage. Run quick. No, stop; you come here, and hold
the net down, and I’ll go and get the cage myself.”
So Eddy held the net down, while Ralph went into the tool-house after
the cage. He succeeded in putting the bird into the cage safely, and
then went home.
[Sidenote: The feeding.]
Ralph attended his bird very carefully for many days, feeding him
with strawberries and crumbs of bread. The natural food of most small
birds consists of seeds, berries, and insects. Ralph knew, therefore,
that strawberries would be good for his bird, and as for bread, he
reflected that it was made from seeds, namely, the seeds of wheat. The
only difference was, that in bread the seeds were ground up, mixed with
water, and baked. So Ralph concluded that bread would be a very proper
food for his robin.
[Illustration: Ralph taming the robin.]
[Sidenote: The stile.]
As soon as the robin grew old enough to hop about a little, Ralph
used often to take him out of his cage and put him on the walk in the
garden, or on the end of a fence, near a stile, where was a broad,
flat place convenient for the little bird to stand on. In such cases,
he would, himself, always stand at a little distance off, so as not to
frighten the bird, and in this manner he gradually taught him to be
very tame and familiar.
[Sidenote: Bruno and Hiram. Description of the premises.]
Although Ralph was thus very kind to his robin, he was generally a very
unreasonable and selfish boy. Bruno, at this time, lived in the house
next to the one where he lived. Bruno belonged, as has already been
said, to a boy named Hiram. The two houses that these two boys lived in
were pretty near together, and the gardens adjoined, being separated
from each other only by a wall. At the foot of each garden was a gate,
and there was a little path which led along from one gate to the other,
through a field where there was a brook, and also a great many trees
overshadowing the banks of it. The boys used often to visit each other
by going from one of these gates to the other along this path. There
was a space under Hiram’s gate where Bruno could get through. He used
often to go through this opening, and pass down into the field, to
drink in the brook, or to play about among the trees. Sometimes both
the gates were left open, and then Bruno would go and look into Ralph’s
garden; and once he went in, and walked along as far as the tool-house,
looking about and examining the premises very curiously. As soon as he
had seen what sort of a place it was, however, he turned round and ran
out again, not knowing what might happen to him if he stayed there.
[Sidenote: Ralph wishes to buy Bruno.]
Ralph saw Bruno often when he went to visit Hiram in his garden, and he
wished that he could have such a dog himself. In fact, he tried to buy
him of Hiram a long time, but Hiram would not sell him. Ralph became
very angry with Hiram at last for so strenuously refusing to sell his
dog.
“You are a great fool,” said he, “for not being willing to sell me the
dog. I would give you any price you would name.”
“That makes no difference,” said Hiram; “I would rather have the dog
than any amount of money, no matter how much.”
[Sidenote: Ralph becomes Bruno’s enemy.]
So Ralph turned, and went away in a rage; and the next time he saw
Bruno out in the field behind the garden, he ran down to his gate and
pelted him with stones.
Bruno could not understand what reason Ralph could have for wishing to
hurt him, or being his enemy in any way. He perceived, however, that
Ralph was his enemy, and so he became very much afraid of him. When he
wished to go down to the brook, he always looked out through the hole
under the gate very carefully to see if Ralph was near, and if he was,
he did not go. If he could not see Ralph any where, he would creep out
stealthily, and walk along in a very cautious manner, turning his head
continually toward Ralph’s gate, to watch for the slightest indications
of danger; and if he caught a glimpse of Ralph in the garden, he would
turn back and run into Hiram’s garden again.
[Sidenote: The boys play together.]
Bruno was a very courageous dog, and he would not have run away from
Ralph, but would have attacked him in the most determined manner, and
driven him away from the garden gate, and thus taught him better than
to throw stones at an innocent and unoffending dog, had he not been
prevented from doing this by one consideration. He perceived that Ralph
was one of Hiram’s friends. Hiram went often to visit Ralph, and Ralph,
in return, came often to visit Hiram. They used to employ themselves
together in various schemes of amusement, and Bruno, who often stood
by at such times, although he could not understand the conversation
that passed between them, perceived, nevertheless, that they were
good friends. He would not, therefore, do any harm to Ralph, even in
self-defense, for fear of displeasing Hiram. Accordingly, when Ralph
assaulted him with sticks and stones, the only alternative left him was
to run away.
[Sidenote: Hiram catches a squirrel. Ralph wishes to buy the squirrel.]
It is singular enough that Ralph, though often very unreasonable and
selfish in his dealings with other boys, and though in this instance
very cruel to Bruno, was still generally kind to animals. He was very
fond of animals, and used to get as many as he could; and whenever
Hiram had any, he used to go to see them, and he took a great interest
in them. Once Hiram caught a beautiful gray squirrel in a box-trap. He
put the trap down upon a chopping-block in a little room that was used
as a shop in his father’s barn. Ralph came in to see the squirrel. He
kneeled down before the block, and, lifting up the trap a little way,
he peeped in. The squirrel was in the back corner of the trap, crouched
down, and feeling, apparently, very much afraid. He had a long, bushy
tail, which was curled over his back in a very graceful manner. Ralph
resolved to buy this squirrel too, but Hiram was unwilling to sell
him. However, he said that _perhaps_ he would sell him, if Ralph would
wait till the next day. Ralph accordingly waited; but that night the
squirrel gnawed out of his trap, and as the shop window was left open,
he made his escape, and got off into the woods again, where he leaped
back and forth among the branches of the trees, and turned head over
heels again and again in the exuberance of his joy.
[Illustration: The shop.]
[Sidenote: Hiram and Joe go into the woods.]
One day Hiram went out into the woods with a man whom they called Uncle
Joe, to get some stones to mend a wall. They went in a cart. They
placed a board across the cart for a seat. Uncle Joe and Hiram sat
upon this seat together, side by side, Hiram on the right, as he was
going to drive. The tools for digging out the stones, consisting of a
spade, a shovel, a hoe, and a crowbar, were laid in the bottom of the
cart. Thus they rode to the woods. Bruno followed them, trotting along
by the road-side, and now and then running off under the fences and
walls, to see if he could smell the tracks of any wild animals among
the ferns and bushes.
[Sidenote: Bruno barks at something.]
He was not successful in this hunting on his way to the woods, but,
after he arrived there, he accomplished quite a brilliant achievement.
Hiram and Uncle Joe were very busy digging out stones, when their
attention was arrested by a very loud and violent barking. Hiram knew
at once that it was Bruno that was barking, though he could not see
him. The reason why they could not see the dog was, that he was down
in the bottom of a shady glen, that lay near where Hiram and Uncle Joe
were digging the stones.
“What’s that?” said Hiram. “What is Bruno barking at?”
“I don’t know,” said Uncle Joe; “go and see.”
[Sidenote: Bruno finds a fox’s hole.]
So Hiram threw down his hoe, and, seizing a stick, he ran down into the
glen. He found Bruno stationed before a hole, which opened in under
a bank, near a small spring. He seemed very much excited, sometimes
running back and forth before the hole, sometimes digging into it with
his fore paws, and barking all the time in a very loud and earnest
manner. He seemed greatly pleased when he saw Hiram coming.
As soon as Hiram saw that Bruno was barking at a hole, which seemed to
be the hole of some wild animal, he went back and called Uncle Joe to
come and see. Uncle Joe said he thought it was the hole of a fox, and
from the excitement that Bruno manifested, he judged that the fox must
be in it.
“I’ll go and get the tools,” said he, “and we will dig him out.”
[Sidenote: Hiram gets a little fox.]
So Uncle Joe went for the tools, and he and Hiram began to dig. They
dug for more than half an hour. Finally they came to the end of the
hole, and then they found a young fox crouching close into a corner. He
was about as large as a small kitten.
[Sidenote: His plans for him. Hiram gives his fox a hole to live in.]
Hiram said he meant to carry the fox home, and bring him up, and tame
him. He accordingly took him in his arms, and carried him back to the
place where they had been digging stones. Uncle Joe carried back the
tools. Bruno jumped about and barked a great deal by the side of Hiram,
but Hiram ordered him to be quiet, and finally he learned that the
little fox was not to be killed. When they reached the stone quarry,
Hiram made a small pen for the fox. He made it of four square stones,
which he placed together so as to inclose a small space, and then he
covered this space by means of a flat stone which he placed over it.
Thus the little prisoner was secured.
When the pen was completed, and the fox put in, Hiram resumed his work
of digging stones with Uncle Joe. He was very eager now to get the load
completed as soon as possible, so as to go home with his fox. While he
was at work thus, Bruno crouched down before the place where Hiram had
shut up his fox, and watched very earnestly. He understood that Hiram
wished to keep the fox, and therefore he had no intention of hurting
him. He only meant to be all ready to give the alarm, in case the
little prisoner should attempt to get away.
Hiram had very good success in training and taming his fox. Ralph and
Eddy came often to see him, and they sometimes helped Hiram to feed
him, and to take care of him. There was a place by an old wall behind
the house where Hiram lived where there was a hole, which seemed to
lead under ground, from a sort of angle between two large stones.
“I’ll let him have that hole for his house,” said Hiram. “I don’t know
how deep it is; but if it is not deep enough for him, he must dig it
deeper.”
[Sidenote: The chain.]
Ralph had a small collar which was made for a dog’s collar; and one
day, when he felt more good-natured than usual, and had in some measure
forgotten Hiram’s refusal to sell Bruno to him, he offered to lend
Hiram this collar to put around Foxy’s neck.
“Then,” said Ralph, “you can get a long chain, and chain Foxy to a
stake close to the mouth of his hole. And so the chain will allow him
to go in and out of his hole, and to play about around it, and yet it
will prevent his running away.”
Hiram liked this plan very much. So Ralph brought the collar, and the
boys put it upon Foxy’s neck. Hiram also found a kind of chain at a
hardware store in the village, which he thought would be suitable to
his purpose, and he bought two yards of it. This length of chain,
when Foxy was fastened with it, gave him a very considerable degree
of liberty, and, at the same time, prevented him from running away.
He could go into his hole, where he was entirely out of sight, or he
could come out and play in the grass, and under the lilac bushes that
were about his hole, and eat the food which Hiram brought out for him
there. Sometimes, too, he would climb up to the top of the wall, and
lie there an hour at a time, asleep. If, however, on such occasions,
he heard any one coming, he would run down the rocks that formed the
wall, and disappear in his hole in an instant, and he would not come
out again until he was quite confident that the danger had gone by.
[Sidenote: The cunning of the fox.]
It is not very difficult to tame a fox. And yet, in his natural state,
he is very wild and very cunning. He resorts to all sorts of maneuvers
and contrivances to entrap such animals as he likes for food. On the
adjoining page is the picture of a fox lying in wait to catch some
rabbits which he sees playing in a neighboring field. He watches for
them very slyly; and when they come near enough, he will spring upon
them, and seize them entirely unawares.
[Illustration: Picture of a fox lying in wait for some rabbits.]
He is very cunning, and yet, if he is caught young, it is not difficult
to tame him.
[Sidenote: Ralph offers half a dollar for Hiram’s fox.]
One day, after some time, Ralph took it into his head to buy Foxy, as
he had tried to buy Bruno; but he found Hiram as little disposed to
sell the one as the other.
“I will give you half a dollar for him,” said Ralph, “and that is twice
as much as he is worth: a full grown fox is not worth more than that.”
Ralph had some money in small silver pieces and cents, amounting to
about half a dollar. This treasure he kept in a tin moneybox, shaped
like a house, with a place to drop money in down the chimney.
“No,” said Ralph, “I would rather not sell him.”
Ralph tried a long time to persuade Hiram to sell the fox, but Hiram
persisted firmly in his refusal. At length Ralph became very
angry with him, because he would not consent. This was extremely
unreasonable. Has not a boy a right to do as he pleases about selling
or keeping his own property?
Most certainly he has; and yet nothing is more common than for both men
and boys to be angry with their friends and neighbors for not being
willing to sell them property which they wish to buy.
[Sidenote: “Ralph, are you stoning Bruno?”]
When Ralph found that Hiram could not be induced to sell Foxy, he went
off in great anger, muttering and threatening as he went. He passed out
through the gate at the bottom of the garden, and then walked along
the path toward the gate which led to his own garden. As he was going
in, he saw Bruno lying down upon a grassy bank near the stream. He
immediately began to take up stones to stone him. The first stone which
he threw struck Bruno on the back, as he lay upon the grass, and hurt
him very much. Bruno sprang up and ran away, barking and making other
outcries indicative of pain and terror. Hiram came running down to the
garden to see what was the matter. When he reached the place, he saw
Ralph just aiming another stone.
“Ralph!” exclaimed Hiram, greatly astonished, “are you stoning Bruno?”
“Yes,” said Ralph; “I’ve stoned him a great many times before, and I’ll
stone him again the next time I catch him down here.”
[Sidenote: Bruno’s escape.]
By this time Bruno had come to the gate. He scrambled in through his
hole, and then, thinking that he was now safe, he walked along up one
of the alleys of the garden.
Hiram, knowing well that it would do no good to remonstrate with Ralph
while he was in such a state of mind, shut the gate of the garden, and
went to the house.
[Sidenote: Ralph resolves to reclaim his collar.]
That evening, while Hiram was in the house eating his supper, Ralph
came down out of his own garden, and went into Hiram’s. He was talking
to himself as he walked along.
“I am going to get my collar,” said he. “I won’t lend it to such a
fellow any longer. I shall take it off the fox’s neck, and carry it
home. I don’t care if the fox does get away.”
[Sidenote: He does so.]
When he approached the old wall, the fox was on the top of it; but, on
hearing Ralph coming, he ran down, and went into his hole. As soon as
Ralph reached the place, he pulled the fox out roughly by the chain,
saying,
“Come out here, you red-headed son of a thief, and give me my collar.”
So saying, he pulled the fox out, and unhooked the chain from the
collar. He unfastened the collar, and took it off from the fox’s neck.
He then threw the fox himself carelessly into the grass, and walked
away down the garden.
Just at this time Hiram came out from his supper, and, seeing Ralph
walking away, he apprehended something wrong, and he accordingly
hastened on to see if his fox was safe. To his great surprise and
grief, he saw the chain lying on the ground, detached and useless. The
fox was gone.
He immediately called out to Ralph to ask an explanation.
“Ralph,” said he, “where is my fox?”
“_I_ haven’t got your fox,” said Ralph.
“Where is he, then?” asked Hiram.
“Gone off into the woods, I suppose,” said Ralph.
Hiram stood still a moment, utterly confounded, and wondering what all
this could mean.
“I came to get my collar,” said Ralph, holding up the collar in his
hand, “and if the fox has gone off, it is not my fault. You ought to
have had a collar of your own.”
[Sidenote: Hiram laments the loss of his fox.]
Hiram was extremely grieved at the thought of having so wanton an
injury inflicted upon him by his neighbor and playmate, and he turned
toward the place where his fox had been kept with tears in his eyes.
He looked all about, but the fox was nowhere to be seen. He then went
slowly back to the house in great sorrow.
As for Ralph, he went back into his own garden in a very unamiable
state of mind. He went up into the loft over the tool-house to put the
collar away. He climbed up upon a bench in order to reach a high shelf
above, and in so doing he knocked down a box of lucifer matches, which
had been left exposed upon a corner of the shelf. He uttered a peevish
exclamation at the occurrence of this accident, and then got down upon
the floor to pick up the matches. He gathered all that he could readily
find upon the floor, and put them in the box, and then put the box back
again upon the shelf. Then he went away into the house.
[Sidenote: Hope.]
About two hours after this, just before dark, Hiram was sitting on the
steps of the door at his father’s house, thinking mournfully of his
loss, when he suddenly heard a very loud barking at the foot of the
garden.
“There!” said he, starting up, greatly excited, “that’s Bruno, and he
has found Foxy, I’ll engage.”
[Sidenote: An alarm. The garden-house on fire.]
So saying, Hiram ran down the garden, and on his way he was surprised
to see a smoke rising from the direction of Ralph’s garden-house.
He did not, however, pay any very particular attention to this
circumstance, as it was very common for Ralph to have fires in the
garden, to burn the dried weeds and the old straw which often collect
in such places. He hastened on in the direction of Bruno’s barking,
quite confident that the dog had found his lost fox, and was barking
for him to come and get him.
Just at this moment he saw Bruno come running to the gate at the
bottom of the garden. He was barking violently, and he seemed very
much excited. As soon as he saw Hiram coming, he ran back again and
disappeared. Hiram hastened on, and, as soon as he got through the
gate into the field, he saw that Bruno was standing at the gate which
led into Ralph’s garden, and running in and out alternately, and
looking eagerly at Hiram, as if he wished him to come. Hiram ran to
the place, and, on looking in, he saw, to his utter consternation,
that the garden-house was on fire. Dense volumes of smoke were pouring
out of the doors and windows, with now and then great flashes of flame
breaking out among them. Bruno, having brought Hiram to the spot,
seemed now desirous of giving the alarm to Ralph; so he ran up toward
the house in which Ralph lived, barking violently all the way.
His effort was successful. In a minute or two he returned, barking as
before, and followed by Ralph. Ralph was greatly terrified when he saw
that the garden-house was on fire. He ran back to the house to call his
mother. She came down to the place in great haste, though she seemed
quite calm and composed. She was a woman of a very quiet disposition,
and was almost always composed and self-possessed. She saw at a glance
that the fire could not be put out. There was no sufficient supply of
water at hand, and besides, if there had been water, she and the two
boys could not have put it on fast enough to extinguish the flames.
[Sidenote: “What shall we do?”]
“Oh dear me! oh dear me!” exclaimed Ralph, in great distress, “what
shall we do? Mother! mother! what shall we do?”
“Nothing at all,” said his mother, quietly. “There is nothing for us to
do but to stand still and see it burn.”
“And there’s my poor robin all burning up!” said Ralph, as he ran to
and fro in great distress. “Oh, I wish there was somebody here to save
my robin!”
[Sidenote: The robin in danger.]
The cage containing the robin was hanging in its place, under the shelf
by the side of the window. The smoke and flame, which came out from the
window and from a door below, passed just over it, and so near as to
envelop and conceal the top of the cage, and it was plain that the poor
bird would soon be suffocated and burned to death, unless some plan
for rescuing it could be devised. When Hiram knew the danger that the
bird was in, his first thought was that he was glad of it. He pitied
the bird very much, but he said to himself that it was good enough for
Ralph to lose it. “He deserves to lose his bird,” thought he, “for
having let my Foxy go.”
This spirit, however, of resentment and retaliation remained but a
moment in Hiram’s mind. When he saw how much interest Bruno seemed
to feel in giving the alarm, and in desiring to have the fire
extinguished, he said to himself, “Bruno forgives him, and why should
not I? I will save the bird for him, if it is possible, even if I get
scorched in doing it.”