THE RAGGEDY MAN
“Hello, Bobby!” exclaimed Mr. Ward, who seemed to know the colored boy.
“What are you doing?”
“Nawthin’,” answered Black Bobby.
“That’s what you’re generally doing,” chuckled Mr. Ward. “But say,
Bobby, you have a dog, haven’t you? A dog you found the other day?”
“Ya’as, I got a dog,” answered Black Bobby. “An’ he’s my dog, too.
Nobody’s goin’ to take him away.”
“Well, somebody took away a dog belonging to this little girl and boy,”
went on Mr. Ward, “and they thought maybe their dog was the one you
found. We’d like to look at him.”
“I ain’t got their dog,” mumbled Black Bobby, and he started to shuffle
away.
“Just a minute now! Wait!” commanded Mr. Ward so sharply that Black
Bobby turned and halted.
“Whut yo’ all want?” he asked, in a cross voice.
“We want to see that dog you say you found,” answered Mr. Ward. “He may
be Patter, the trick dog that belongs to Bunny and Sue here. And if
it’s their dog they can take it.”
“’Tain’t their dog and they can’t have it!” snapped Black Bobby. “This
dog don’t do any tricks.”
“Our dog does!” declared Sue, who was keeping close to Mr. Ward, for
she was a little afraid of Black Bobby, not because his face was black,
but because he seemed so unpleasant.
“Our dog does lots of tricks,” added Bunny.
Black Bobby stood sullenly, digging one toe of his black foot into the
sand. He looked up and down the street as if getting ready to run away,
but as at one end of the street he saw a policeman and as Mr. Ward
stood ready to grab him if he tried to dart off, Black Bobby seemed to
think better of his idea of escaping.
“This dog I got, he ain’t no trick dog,” said the colored boy.
“Well, we’ll take a look at him and make sure,” said Mr. Ward. “Where
is he, Bobby? Now don’t try to fool me,” he added sharply. “I know you
and you know me. And if I were to tell the police who broke windows in
the old factory, why, maybe, Bobby, they might come looking for you,
the police might. Where’s the dog you found?”
“I didn’t find him,” said Bobby crossly.
“Where did you get him then?”
“A fellah guv him to me.”
“Well, maybe he found him,” went on Mr. Ward. “Come now, where is the
dog?”
“He’s in my yard.”
“Come on,” said Mr. Ward to Bunny and Sue. “I know where your yard is,
Bobby. Once I found in it some machinery that had been stolen from the
factory.”
“I didn’t take it, Mr. Ward. Honest I didn’t!” cried Bobby.
“Well, maybe you didn’t,” admitted the caretaker. “But show us the dog.”
After that Bobby seemed a little afraid, and he led the way into the
yard behind the ramshackle old house where several colored families
lived. Bunny and Sue had never been here before.
As soon as they entered the yard a dog came rushing from an old kennel
in one corner. But the dog did not come very far, for he was held by a
chain fastened to his collar.
“That’s our dog! That’s our dog!” cried Bunny.
“That’s Patter! Oh, you dear Patter, we’ve found you again!” cried Sue,
and before any one could stop her she had run forward and was hugging
the dog around his neck. Then Bunny went to him, and it seemed the dog
would wag off his tail, so happy was he.
“Oh, Patter! Patter! I’m so glad we found you!” said Bunny.
“That ain’t your dog--he’s mine!” insisted Black Bobby. “You can’t take
him away, either! He’s mine--a fellah guv him to me an’ I’m goin’ to
keep him!”
“Just a minute now,” said Mr. Ward. “I’m not saying some other boy
didn’t give you this dog, Bobby, but, even if he did, he may have had
no right to. This seems to be Bunny’s dog.”
“And mine, too,” added Bunny’s sister.
“Yes, and Sue’s,” agreed Mr. Ward. “Of course they may be mistaken,
Bobby,” he went on, “for a great many dogs look alike. But from the way
this dog shows his joy on seeing this little boy and girl, and from the
fact that he didn’t make any fuss over you, I’d say this was the lost
Patter.”
“His name ain’t Patter--it’s Nero!” grumbled Black Bobby.
“Who gave him that name?” asked Mr. Ward.
“I did,” said Bobby.
“Well, that doesn’t prove anything,” went on the watchman. “Now look
here, Bobby, if this is your dog he can do some tricks for you. Call
him to you. Take the chain off and call him to you.”
“All right! I’ll show you he’s my dog!” insisted the colored boy. He
took the chain from the dog’s collar, but instead of going to the
colored boy when he whistled, the dog remained with Bunny and Sue.
“It looks as if he were their dog,” said Mr. Ward. “But we’ll have
another test. Can you make that dog do any tricks, Bobby?”
“Naw! He can’t do no tricks yet, but I’m goin’ to teach him.”
“Oh, Patter can do lots of tricks; can’t he, Bunny?” cried Sue.
“Sure he can,” said her brother. “Here, I’ll make him do some. Say your
prayers, Patter!”
There was an old, broken chair in the yard, and up in this jumped
Patter. He put his head down between his paws, as he had been taught to
do, and remained thus until Bunny called:
“Amen!”
Up jumped Patter to frisk around Bunny and Sue.
“Now what do you say to that, Bobby?” asked Mr. Ward.
“Nawthin’,” drawled the colored boy. “But he’s my dog jest th’ same!”
“Nonsense!” exclaimed the watchman. “Can you make your dog do any other
tricks?” he asked Bunny.
“Lots of tricks,” answered the boy.
“He’s going to do a pile of tricks in the show,” said Sue. And then she
added: “Oh, Bunny, now we have Patter back we can give the show!”
“Yes,” agreed Bunny. “Here, I’ll make Patter march like a soldier, and
that’ll show he’s our dog,” he said.
With a stick for a gun, Patter marched around the yard. Then Bunny and
Sue put him through some of his other tricks until Mr. Ward exclaimed:
“That’s enough! I’m sure he’s your Patter, and you can take him away.”
“They can not!” cried Black Bobby. “He’s my dog, I tell you!”
“Now look here, Bobby,” said Mr. Ward sharply, “if you don’t give this
dog up quietly I’ll call the policeman in from the end of the street.
You know this dog isn’t yours, and it didn’t belong to the boy who
gave it to you, so he had no right to give it away. Now shall I call
the police?”
“Oh, take th’ ole dog!” growled Bobby, and he turned aside as Bunny and
Sue went out of the yard, followed by the happy and frisking Patter.
“We’re much obliged to you,” said Bunny to the watchman.
“You were good to us, and I’ll tell my mother and my daddy and they’ll
thank you,” added Sue.
“Oh, that’s all right,” said Mr. Ward, with a smile. “I’m glad I could
help you. But do you know your way home now?”
“I--I guess so,” said Bunny.
“Maybe Patter can take us,” suggested Sue.
“No, that won’t do,” declared Mr. Ward, seeing how uncertain the
children were. “I’d go with you myself, but I haven’t time. I don’t
want you to get lost again. I’d better find a telephone and let your
father know where you are. That’s what I’ll do, I’ll telephone.”
“Oh, look!” suddenly exclaimed Bunny, pointing to a ragged man across
the street some distance away from the ruined factory. “He’ll take
us home! He knows where we live. It’s Mr. Stern, and he was in the
hospital where we went.”
“Oh, it’s the nice raggedy man!” laughed Sue.
Indeed it was Mr. Stern, and his clothes were rather ragged, even
though they were some that had been given him at the hospital. He had
been cured and was allowed to go. He did not want to stay there any
longer, being a trouble, he said. And so, without letting Mr. Brown
know, the poor old man had slipped away by himself.
Now, as he heard the cries of Bunny and Sue, he looked across the
street at them and smiled. His eyes, too, rested lovingly on Patter.
“Do you know where these children live and could you take them home?”
asked Mr. Ward. “I would, but I haven’t time.”
“Yes, I can take them home,” said Mr. Stern. “I’ll be glad to, as they
were very kind to me.”
“All right then, I’ll leave them with you,” said Mr. Ward.
On the way home Bunny and Sue told all that had happened--how they had
become lost in searching for Patter and how they were locked in the
old factory. Whether Patter had been stolen or had just jumped out and
wandered away was never found out.
“Well, I’m glad you have your dog back,” said Mr. Stern. “He is a good
dog, and valuable.”
He went as far as the children’s corner with them, and when they were
within sight of their house he would have left them. But Bunny and Sue
caught hold of his hands and would not let him go.
“Daddy and mother will want to see you,” said Bunny.
Just then Mrs. Brown came out, looking for her children, as they had
been gone a long time. She saw Mr. Stern, she heard the story, and she
insisted that he come into the house.
“You shouldn’t have left the hospital without telling us,” she said.
“Oh, I didn’t want to make any bother,” he murmured.
“But my husband wants to help you. He can give you work.”
“There’s only one kind of work I’m good for,” said Mr. Stern, with a
sigh. “That is in the show business. If I could find Jim Denton--but I
guess it’s of no use.”
“Well, you stay here until my husband comes home,” said the children’s
mother.
“And can’t you stay for our show?” asked Bunny. “Now that we have
Patter back we’ll give the show!”
“Maybe I’ll stay,” agreed the old man, wearily.
News of the finding of Patter soon spread, and a crowd of boys and some
girls came to the Brown house to see the dog.
“We’ll let him rest awhile and then we’ll practice him on his tricks
and give the show,” said Bunny. And this plan was carried out.