Dogtown: Being Some Chapters from the Annals of the Waddles Family Set Down in the Language of HousepeopleWright, Mabel Osgood
General
Dogtown: Being Some Chapters from the Annals of the Waddles Family Set Down in the Language of Housepeople
Wright, Mabel Osgood
Dogs -- Juvenile fiction
“Besides the Squire’s dogs and Miss Jule’s, all the idlers in Dogtown
had gathered and straggled after when they heard the foxhounds call,
and there are mischief-makers among fourfoots as well as with House
People.
“Beyond the Mill is a big turkey pasture, you know, the place we
buy our turkeys from. Just as the setters were passing it a hairy
yellow cur came up and said, ‘There’s fine hunting there and plenty
of it--nice young birds.’ The moment those setters got under the bars
their noses went down and their tails whirled around like buzz-saws,
and they zigzagged across the pasture, charging on the first flock in
a body. These were fine white turkeys. The hen who led them showed
fight, but the yellow cur teased her off, and the setters, knowing
nothing, bit and shook and scattered feathers, until of the fifteen
young turkeys not one was left unhurt; then, wild with excitement and
the taste of game, they dashed down the field to where some fine bronze
birds were sunning themselves. Half a dozen fell before a great gobbler
charged from the bushes and gave chase, while the cur picked out one
of the killed and took it behind a stone fence, where he ate it at
his leisure. Then men began to gather from the fields and two of the
pups were caught and tied securely in the barn while the turkeys were
collected.
“‘Some one will pay well for these,’ said the farmer, as he laid
twenty-nine young turkeys in a row, ‘and the bill will read twenty-nine
Thanksgiving turkeys at $2.00 each, for that’s what they were on the
road to. Now we’ll round up the dogs’ owner,’ and he went toward the
stable to harness a team.
“The other two setters, Patty and Rory, disappointed in having to leave
before they had tasted meat, went toward the mill-pond for a drink.
‘Quack, quack,’ said a covey of plump white ducks, sailing from the
open into a little bushy cove.
“Quick as a lightning-bug, the pups splashed after them, Rory O’Moore
leading, for he was a special pet of Mr. Hugh’s, and had taken swimming
lessons from Hamlet in the kennel pool, once crossing the river. The
ducks dove, and scattered, but the pups seized a long neck each, and,
determined not to go hungry this time, took their game to the shelter
of the very door-steps of the mill to make a luncheon. Poor pups! they
knew no better, but they do now, for the big miller caught them and
dropped them into an empty feed bin, where it was nearly dark, and
oh, so stuffy! Then the turkey farmer driving down the road pulled
up, and after some talk the miller got in with him, and they drove
off together, the turkeys and two ducks packed in the wagon box for
witnesses.
[Illustration: _Antonio and the Young Spaniels._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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