FARMER BROWN'S BOY LOOKS IN VAIN
Loyalty is priceless and
Is neither sold nor bought.
Alas, how few who seem to know
Its value as they ought.
_Bowser the Hound._
As I have told you, Farmer Brown's boy had been all about the
neighborhood asking at each farmhouse if anything had been seen of
Bowser. Of course nothing had been seen of him, and so at last Farmer
Brown's boy felt sure that something dreadful had happened to Bowser in
the woods.
For several days he tramped through the Green Forest and up through the
Old Pasture, looking for signs of Bowser. His heart was heavy, for you
know Bowser was quite one of the family. He visited every place he could
think of where he and Bowser had hunted together. He knew that by this
time Bowser couldn't possibly be alive if he had been caught by a foot
in a trap or had met with an accident in the woods. He had quite given
up all hope of ever seeing Bowser alive again. But he did want to know
just what had happened to him, and so he kept searching and searching.
One day Farmer Brown's boy heard that a strange dog had been found over
in the next township. That afternoon he drove over there, his heart
filled with great hope. But he had his long ride for nothing, for when
he got there he found that the strange dog was not Bowser at all.
Meanwhile Old Man Coyote and Reddy Fox and Old Granny Fox had become
very bold. They even came up around the henyard in broad daylight.
"I believe you know something about what has become of Bowser," Farmer
Brown's boy said, as he chased Old Man Coyote away one day. "You
certainly know that he isn't home, and I more than suspect that you know
_why_ he isn't home. I certainly shall have to get another dog to teach
you not to be so bold."
But somehow Farmer Brown's boy couldn't bring himself quite to taking
such a step as getting a new dog. He felt that no other dog ever could
take Bowser's place, and in spite of the fact that he thought he had
given up all hope of ever seeing Bowser again, 'way down deep inside was
something which, if it were not hope, was something enough like it to
keep him from getting another dog in Bowser's place.
Whenever he went about away from home, he kept an eye out for dogs in
the farmyards he passed. He did it without really thinking anything
about it. He had given up hope of finding Bowser, yet he was always
looking for him.