THE TRICK DOG
We left Bunny and Sue Brown standing beside the track with the jolly
switchman, who laughed at the little girl's question as to whether his
wife lived in the small brown shanty.
"My wife live in that little shanty?" he cried, his face all wrinkled
with smiles like a last year's apple. "Why, that shack is hardly big
enough for me, and when my dog comes to see me he has to stick his tail
outside if he wants to wag it!"
"Oh, have you a dog?" cried Bunny.
"That I have, and a fine dog he is, too. He's at home with my wife now,
in the cottage. But I'll soon take you there. My, my! but you're little
children to have come alone in a freight car."
"We weren't alone," explained Sue. "Nutty was with us."
"Oh, yes, I know that queer tramp," said the water-tank switchman with
another laugh. "There's no harm in him, though some of the trainmen put
him off when they find him stealing a ride."
"This is his cat," went on Sue, showing the pussy. "Will your dog bite
it?"
"Oh, no, indeed!" exclaimed the switchman. "My dog likes cats. In fact,
my wife has a cat and I have a dog, and the two animals get along very
nicely together. But come along--let's see--what shall I call you?" he
asked.
"I'm Bunny and this is my sister Sue," answered the little boy. "Our
last name is Brown."
"Hum! That's funny!" laughed the jolly switchman. "My last name is
Black, though I'm a white man."
"What's your dog's name?" asked Bunny, as he and his sister trudged
along with the switchman, one on either side of him, Sue carrying
Nutty's pussy cat.
"His name is Bruno," was the answer. "He's a good dog and likes
children. But I'm thinking your mother and father will be worried about
you. Night's coming on. They can hardly get here after you before
to-morrow, and I don't believe they know where to look for you. Did they
see you get into the freight car and come away?"
"No," said Bunny. "Daddy wasn't there and mother was asleep."
"If I knew where your mother was I could go into town and send her a
telegram, I suppose," went on the switchman. "What station was it you
got off at?"
But Bunny and Sue had either forgotten or they had never heard it. It
was all the same as far as telling the switchman was concerned. He did
not know how to reach Mrs. Brown and she did not know where to come to
get Bunny and Sue.
"I guess you'll have to stay with me all night," said the railroad man.
"Lucky I've got a spare bed. My wife will be glad to see you, for she
doesn't see much white company. There's lots of colored folks in the
village, though."
"Do you live in a village?" asked Bunny.
"Yes, it's a little town about half a mile away over the hill. I leave
there every morning and come to the shanty by the water tank to stay
until dark. Then I go home as I'm doing now. Sometimes my dog comes to
keep me company, but he didn't come to-day."
"I hope he doesn't bother my kittie," said Sue. She was beginning to
think of Nutty's cat as hers now.
"Oh, Bruno loves cats!" declared the switchman.
He led the children up a hill and away from the railroad. Looking down
the road from the top of the hill Bunny and Sue could see through the
gathering twilight a small village.
"Here's my house," said the switchman a little later, as he turned into
a path that led through a yard and up to a white cottage. A dog ran out,
barking.
"Down, Bruno! Down!" cried the switchman, who had said his name was
Black. "These are friends, and you must be good to them and to the
pussy."
Bruno sniffed around the legs of Bunny and Sue, and he sniffed toward
the cat, though he could not put his nose on her because Sue held her
new pet high in her arms. Then Bruno wagged his tail to show that he
would be friends.
"Hello, Mrs. Black!" called the switchman in a jolly voice to his wife,
who just then came to the side door to look out. "I've brought you
company for supper!"
"Company!" cried Mrs. Black, in surprise.
"Yes, two children and a cat!" laughed her husband. "Guess we'll have to
put 'em up over night!"
Quickly he told of the ride of Bunny and Sue in the freight car, and
Mrs. Black came out, followed by a large maltese cat, and soon made the
Brown children welcome.
"Of course they shall have supper and stay all night," she said in kind
tones which matched the jolly ones of her husband. "And I'll give your
pussy some milk, Sue," she added.
"Thank you," replied Sue. "And do you think my mother will be here after
supper?" she asked.
Mrs. Black did not answer the little girl's question, but talked about
the cat. She did not want to tell Sue that it would be almost impossible
for Mrs. Brown to get there before the next day.
The freight car had not been a very clean place, and if you can get
dirty and grimy traveling in a regular passenger coach, you can imagine
how much more grimy Bunny and Sue got on their trip.
"Come in and wash," went on Mrs. Black, while her husband tossed sticks
for Bruno to race after and bring back to him. It was almost too dark
for the children to see the sticks as they were thrown, but the dog
seemed to know where to find them.
Bunny and Sue washed in a basin, there being no bathroom in the humble
cottage of the switchman. As for Mr. Black, his hands and face got so
dirty from working around the pumping engine that he had to scrub
himself out back of the woodshed in a tin basin.
"I like to splash a lot of water when I wash," he said. "And I need lots
of room. I can't wash in the house."
"I should say not!" laughed his wife, as she got some clean towels for
Bunny and Sue. "You'd spoil all the wall paper!"
Mr. Black looked a very different person when his face and hands were
clean and his hair nicely combed. Bunny and Sue also felt better after
getting off some of the grime of their trip. A little later they all sat
down to the supper table.
There was plenty to eat, and enough left over for Bruno, the dog, and
for Waffles, the big cat. Toddle also had supper.
"We call our cat Waffles because he is so fond of waffles," explained
Mrs. Black.
"What are waffles?" asked Bunny.
"Oh, they're a sort of pancake, but baked on an iron that makes them
full of little squares," said the switchman's wife. "I'll make you some
to-morrow."
"Maybe my pussy will like waffles," suggested Sue.
"Maybe," answered the switchman's wife. "Now, any time you children want
to go to bed let me know. You must be tired and sleepy."
Bunny and Sue, however, were wide enough awake for the present. It was
new and strange, this stopping at the cottage of a switchman whom they
had never before seen. But they were beginning to feel at home. Of
course they were lonesome for their father and mother, and Bunny was
afraid Sue would cry in the night. But for the time being the two
children were so interested in being at a new place that they did not
worry much. Not half as much as Mr. and Mrs. Brown, back at the station,
worried about the children.
"Bruno," suddenly called Mr. Black, "go see if my paper has come!"
With a short bark, the dog, having finished eating, ran out of the room.
In a few minutes he came walking back on his hind feet with the folded
evening paper in his mouth.
"Oh, look!" cried Bunny.
"He's a trick dog, isn't he?" squealed Sue.
"Well, yes, I have taught him a few tricks," the switchman answered.
"I'll show you what else he can do. Bruno, play soldier!" he called.
Mr. Black got a broom from a corner, and as Bruno stood upright on his
hind legs the switchman put the broom over the dog's shoulder and under
one paw.
[Illustration: BRUNO MARCHED AROUND THE ROOM.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South._ _Page 179_]
"March!" cried Mr. Black, and while he hummed a tune Bruno marched
around the room, with the broom for a gun.
"Oh, that's a dandy trick!" cried Bunny. "Can he do any more?"
"Yes," answered Mr. Black. "He'll go for the milk. Here's the bucket.
I'll put the money in it and he'll carry it down the street to the house
where we get our milk and bring back the full bucket. Come, Bruno!" he
called. "Get the milk!"
With a bark, the trick dog dropped the broom and sprang to do this new
trick.