Happy, having weaned the pups, had seemingly given them entirely into the guardianship of Jack Waddles, who was so watchful and motherly in his care of them that Miss Letty said his name should be changed to Jane, and that he should wear a nurse’s cap and apron. But Anne, who understood him, loved him for his gentleness, and was glad to have one stay-at-home dog, that, though he knew and liked the hunting in a way, did not run himself to a skeleton over it, for the cool weather had set in, and Happy’s voice could be heard far and wide, telling of her running ability; while upon more than one occasion she stayed out so late at night that she did not have to get up for breakfast. Strange to say, Waddles suddenly stopped hunting with her; of course he was an old dog now, but why he should run one week and then stop puzzled Anne. She felt his nose; it was moist and cool. She examined his paws; there were neither cuts or thorns visible. His coat was well-kept and flexible,--a rough, brittle coat tells its own tale of illness both in dogs and horses,--likewise, his eyes were bright, yet he ate but little, and lay all day silently guarding a large accumulation of ungnawed bones. “Miss Jule says ‘if a horse seems all right, yet doesn’t eat, look at his teeth.’ Perhaps it may be the same with dogs; anyway, I will look,” said Anne to herself. At the first attempt Waddles resisted and growled a little; then he changed his mind. Sure enough, the tooth back of the right canine was not only broken, but quite loose, and the gum red and swollen. “You poor Waddlekins! Of course you can’t chew without getting a dreadful pain! Baldy shall pull the old thing out, and it will all be over in a minute,” said Anne, soothingly. Waddles sat perfectly still, looking out of the side of his eyes at his mistress. He suspected something, and yet he had no experience in tooth-drawing to give him a hint of what was coming. Anne first found Baldy, then going to her father borrowed a little pair of pincers that he had kept in a drawer by his desk, ever since they had done duty on her easy first teeth, and would soon do the same for Tommy. Then she called Waddles to come to the garden where Baldy was working. After thinking for a few minutes, he obeyed, walking very slowly on tiptoe, his gait when either suspicious or reluctant. When Baldy tried to hold him firmly between his knees, Waddles instantly freed himself from collar and all, with the single backward jerk of the head for which he was celebrated; but the next moment seated himself quietly by Anne, and without being held, allowed Baldy to pull out the tooth.