Dogtown: Being Some Chapters from the Annals of the Waddles Family Set Down in the Language of HousepeopleWright, Mabel Osgood
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Dogtown: Being Some Chapters from the Annals of the Waddles Family Set Down in the Language of Housepeople
Wright, Mabel Osgood
Dogs -- Juvenile fiction
[Illustration: _Happy’s First View of Waddles._]
Anne crouched upon the door-sill quite in despair, then she saw that
Cadence’s eyes were fastened upon her face, so she smiled, chirruped to
her, and tried what patting her back and smoothing her long ears would
do.
The effect was magical; the little hound stopped cowering, looked up,
gave a spring, touching Anne’s finger-tips with her tongue, and walked
off after her new mistress without further objection.
In fact, as they took the downhill path toward home, Cadence led as
if she was quite well aware where she was going, and she tugged and
strained so on the leash when she came in sight of the house as to make
Anne fairly trot.
Then for the first time Anne thought of the objections that Waddles
might make; for though he had chummed with Lumberlegs until recently,
their relations were not wholly satisfactory, and as for Lily--well,
he never interfered with her, but then also he never asked her to walk
with him.
As it chanced Waddles was standing in the middle of the walk sniffing
the air, with a very sentimental expression on his mobile face.
Anne slipped the leash, as it does not lead to friendliness when
strange dogs meet to have one run free and the other chained. Before
Waddles fully realized what had happened, before he could give a sniff
or a growl, Cadence evidently captivated by his looks had bounded up,
given him the coyest lick on the nose and sprung back again, her tail
wagging in a complete circle and an unmistakable smile on her face.
Thus taken by surprise Waddles surrendered, and by way of making the
newcomer feel at home he raised his head, gave a bay, and then putting
his nose to the ground found the trail he had been trying to locate,
gave a short bark and started off in full cry, Cadence following and
yelping madly.
“She knows how to pick up a trail if she is stupid,” said Anne to
herself; “but I wonder if she will come back here or go up to the
Kennels. I think I will just go in and explain about her to mother
while she has her run.”
The explanation was fortunately satisfactory; but then Anne’s father
and mother seldom objected to anything unless it was unkind, dangerous,
or too expensive.
In a quarter of an hour or so back came the pair, evidently the best
of friends, Waddles allowing Cadence not only to drink from his dish,
but to take a nicely ripened beef bone that he had partly buried under
the big apple tree. This was a wonderful bit of condescension, as it is
against the rules of Dogtown to dig up another’s bone, at least when
the other is looking, and the offence is punishable with a ki-yi-ing
and a real bite.
“Mistress,” said Waddles, behind his paw as it were, “that is a very
beautiful young lady; I will gladly share my bones with her, and that
is something that I have never done before,” which was perfectly true;
for Waddles, besides being very strict about food etiquette, thought a
good deal about what he ate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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