IN THE BOAT
Nearer and nearer to the picnic party on the beach raced the big, yellow
dog. He was barking in delight and his tail was wagging from side to
side.
"He'll get us wet!" exclaimed Mrs. Slater. "Down, Sandy! Down!" she
commanded.
Instantly the dog stopped and began to shake himself vigorously, sending
the water in a shower from his shaggy coat.
"Oh, he minded you! He's your dog all right, isn't he?" cried Bunny.
"Yes, he's my Sandy," answered Harry. "He always minds sometimes."
At the sound of his young master's voice the dog, with another joyful
bark, again leaped forward. He had stopped to get rid of as much of the
water as possible, but a moment later he was jumping and tumbling about
Harry and Mrs. Slater, while the little boy, caring not at all about the
dog's damp coat, was hugging his pet.
"Oh, Sandy! Sandy! I'm so glad you came back!" cried Harry.
"Is it really your dog?" asked Mrs. Brown of her friend.
"Yes," answered Mrs. Slater. "Oh, do be quiet, you crazy animal," she
said, as he leaped up and tried to put his tongue on her face.
"He wants to kiss you," said Sue.
Then the dog turned to Sue, and he really did "kiss" her, for Sue was
sitting down and the dog easily reached her tanned cheeks with his red
tongue.
"Be careful," warned Mrs. Brown.
"Oh, Sandy is gentle and loves children," said Harry's mother. "But I
fancy that young man in the boat wants some explanation," she went on.
"Though, since we have told him this is Christmas Tree Cove, he must
have guessed that we are the people to whom the dog belongs."
The man in the boat had stopped his engine, and the craft was now
grounded in the sand not far from where the picnic was being held. A
four-pronged anchor was tossed out to prevent the motor boat from
drifting away, and then the young man came up the beach. He was smiling
pleasantly, and as he took off his cap and bowed to the ladies he said:
"Davy Jones seems to have found out where he belongs all right. I
presume this is Harry Slater," he went on, looking at the boy around
whom the dog was leaping.
"Yes," answered Mrs. Slater. "And this is Mr. Ravenwood?"
"Yes," was the reply. "I called the dog Davy Jones, for he seemed to
love the sea, and I didn't know what his right name was. He is evidently
yours."
"Sandy belongs to us," returned Mrs. Slater. "It is all rather a strange
story from the time Sandy ran away from us until we found your box and
learned that you had our dog. But there is a stranger part to it still,
it seems, if what Bunny and Sue think proves to be true."
"What is that?" asked Mr. Ravenwood.
Then he was told about the missing pocketbook and ring.
"Are you sure, children, that this is the same dog that ran into the
yard that day and made off with my pocketbook?" asked Mrs. Brown of
Bunny and Sue.
"Oh, yes!" declared Bunny. "He runs just the same, and he barks just the
same, and he looks just the same."
Sue agreed with this, and when Mrs. Slater told again what a habit Sandy
had of carrying things off in his mouth it was decided that this was the
animal that had caused Bunny and Sue so much trouble, including the
locking in at Mr. Foswick's carpenter shop.
"How did you get Sandy?" asked Mrs. Slater of Mr. Ravenwood.
"He came to me," was the answer. "I am a sort of carpenter myself," he
went on. "I make things of wood, called patterns. They are for the use
of foundries in casting objects in metal. The box you found is full of
wooden patterns, and that is why it floated away up here after I lost
it."
"How did you lose it?" asked Sue.
"And isn't there _any_ pirate gold in the box?" asked Bunny, much
disappointed.
"No, not a bit of pirate gold, or any other kind," laughed Mr.
Ravenwood. "I wish there might be some real, good gold in it, but such
things don't happen outside of books, I'm afraid," he added. "Perhaps I
had better tell you the whole story," he suggested.
"I should like to hear it," said Mrs. Brown. "That is, unless you want
to go up to our woodshed and make sure it is your box we have found."
"No," was the reply. "I am pretty certain, from your description of it
and from the fact that it has my name on it, that it is mine. Now I will
tell you how Davy Jones, as I called him, or Sandy, as you call him,
came to me.
"I was in my motor boat one day at a dock in Bellemere, getting some
wood to take to my shop in Sea Gate to make into patterns. I was just
about to start off when this big, yellow dog came running along the
pier. He jumped into my boat and made himself at home. I tried to make
him go ashore, but he wouldn't. As I had no time to get out myself and
tie him up, I took him with me back to Sea Gate. He proved to be very
friendly, and though I was sure he was a valuable animal and that some
one would want him back, I had no time then to make inquiries. I just
kept him and took him home with me."
"Did he have a pocketbook when he jumped into your boat?" asked Bunny.
"No, I don't believe he did," answered Mr. Ravenwood. "He had nothing in
his mouth that I recall; though, to tell you the truth, my back was
turned when he leaped aboard."
"He couldn't have had my pocketbook," said Mrs. Brown. "If this is the
same dog that was in our yard, and he seems to be, he either dropped my
purse in the carpenter shop or else in some other place which we shall
never know. The shop has been searched, but where else to look no one
knows."
"Well, as I said," went on Mr. Ravenwood, "Sandy came aboard my boat and
I kept him. It was not until the other day that I noticed an
advertisement about him, and then I knew what to do with him. That was
the day after I lost my box."
"How did you lose that?" asked Uncle Tad.
"I lost it overboard out of my boat in the fierce storm of the other
night," was the answer. "I had packed the box full of wooden patterns,
put it in my boat, and I had lettered my name and address on it in
readiness for sending it away by express. I was also going to put the
name of the place where the box was to go, but I was called away just
then to the telephone at the dock in Sea Gate, and when I came back I
was thinking so much about something else that I forgot all about
putting the other name on the box. I started out in my boat to take the
box across the bay to the express office, and I was caught in the storm.
I was nearly capsized and had to put back to shore, the box tipping
overboard and floating off. I was glad enough to let it go and get
safely back myself."
"And did Sandy go overboard, too?" asked Harry, his arms about his dog's
neck.
"No, I had left Sandy on shore," answered Mr. Ravenwood. "Though he
always wanted to go with me; didn't you, old fellow?" he asked, and the
dog wagged his tail to show how happy he was.
"Well, that's about all there is to my story," said Mr. Ravenwood.
"After the storm was over I set out in search of my box of patterns, for
I knew they would float, but I could not find them. Sandy went with me
on these trips. Then I got Mr. Brown's letter, telling me that the box
with my name on was here in Christmas Tree Cove, and, at the same time,
I noticed the advertisement in one of the papers about the lost dog.
"I connected the two names, and then I thought the best thing to do was
to bring Sandy here and see if he belonged to you folks. And I am glad
to know that he does," he went on. "And now, if I may get my box and pay
any expenses there may be attached to it----"
"There aren't any expenses," interrupted Mrs. Brown, with a smile. "The
box is in our shed, and you are welcome to it at any time. But won't you
have lunch with us? The children were so anxious for you to come that I
thought this would make the time pass more quickly. We did not dream of
your coming to us here."
"I'm glad I did," said the young man, as he took a sandwich which Sue
passed him.
Then there was a happy time on the beach, different parts of the strange
stories being told over and over again. Sandy seemed to be thoroughly
enjoying himself, and he eagerly ate the pieces of bread and meat the
children tossed to him.
At last, however, the time came to go home. Mr. Brown was expected up
from Bellemere and Mr. Ravenwood said he would wait over and meet him.
"We can all get in my boat, and ride to the dock," proposed the young
pattern-maker.
"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Bunny. "Come on!"
The lunch baskets were gathered up, and as they went down the beach to
Mr. Ravenwood's boat Sue put her arms around Sandy's neck, looked into
the brown eyes of the dog, and said very seriously:
"Can't you tell what you did with my mother's pocketbook and diamond
ring?"
Sandy only wagged his tail, gave a little bark, and raced off after
Harry and Bunny, who were getting into the boat.
"All aboard!" called Mr. Ravenwood, as he helped in Mrs. Brown and Mrs.
Slater. "All aboard!"
"I'll push off and you can start the engine," offered Bunker Blue. "I'm
used to it and I can hop on after she gets started."
"All right," said Mr. Ravenwood, and he went back to the stern of the
craft where the gasolene motor was placed under a cover made of wood, to
keep out the rain and the salty spray.
Bunker pushed the bow of the boat free from the sand and then leaped on
board himself.
"Start her up!" he cried to Mr. Ravenwood.