"We'll get in now," said Russ, when he had the cord reins in his hands, "and we'll drive around the walk where Rose and Vi are playing with their dolls," for the two girls were having a party, with cookies and sugar water, which had been given to them by Parker. Into the wagon got Russ and Laddie. Alexis, harnessed to the little wagon, turned his head to look at them, as if to make sure they were all right. "Gid-dap!" called Russ, as he would to a horse. "Bow-wow!" barked the dog, meaning, perhaps: "I will!" Then he started to walk off. Now, when I tell you that Alexis was a big, strong dog, and that Laddie and Russ in the express wagon made quite a heavy load, and when I say that the string harness was not very strong, you can easily imagine what happened. Alexis had not taken more than two steps before---- Snap! went the string harness, and it broke in several places. "Whoa! Whoa!" called Russ. "Whoa there, Alexis!" But Alexis never "whoaed" a bit. He kept on walking, and he walked right off with the bits of the string harness clinging to him, leaving the express wagon with the two little boys in it on the walk at the side of the house. "Come on back and give us a ride!" called Laddie. "I guess we'll have to make a stronger harness," said Russ with a laugh. "I guess so, too," agreed Laddie. Anyhow, Alexis didn't come back. Just outside Aunt Jo's fence he saw another dog which he knew, and he ran up to have a "talk" with him, in bow-wow language, of course. "Well, we didn't get a ride," said Laddie. "No," agreed Russ, "we didn't. But I know what else we can do." "What?" asked Laddie. Russ did not answer for a moment. He was looking at a shovel lying in the back part of the yard, where William had been spading for a late flower bed. Then Russ saw the hose with which the man had been washing the automobile. "We can make a fountain, Laddie!" exclaimed Russ. "A fountain! How?" "Come on, I'll show you!" said Russ. Then he and his brother began to make a fountain. And I suppose you wonder how they did it. CHAPTER IX WHAT HAPPENED TO WILLIAM "First," said Russ, as he took up the shovel, "we've got to make a hole." "I thought you said we were going to make a fountain," said Laddie. "We are," Russ went on. "But first you have to have some place for the fountain water to run into, don't you?" "I guess so," agreed Laddie, who was not quite sure. "'Course you have," insisted his older brother. "Don't you 'member how a fountain is? It has a big basin where the water splashes in out of a thing like a hose, and us boys could paddle our feet in the water if we wanted to." "Oh! are you goin' to make _that_ kind of a fountain?" asked Laddie. "Sure," said Russ. "Come on, help me dig the hole, and then we'll fix the hose in it and run it full of water and then we can paddle in it--I mean in the hole full of water--and the hose'll be squirtin', and that will be a fountain."