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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:13:28 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:13:28 -0700 |
| commit | a02eb76167f4ab3dcaa52b9900d4bc32a961a46c (patch) | |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24482-h.zip b/24482-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11715b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/24482-h.zip diff --git a/24482-h/24482-h.htm b/24482-h/24482-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cc03c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/24482-h/24482-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2392 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Zip, by Frances Trego Montgomery. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + img {border: 0} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + .trnote {background-color: #EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 5% 1em 5%; font-size: 80%; + padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; border: dotted 1px gray;} + .padding {padding-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 2em;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .left {text-align: left;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier, by +Frances Trego Montgomery + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier + +Author: Frances Trego Montgomery + +Illustrator: Violet Moore Higgins + +Release Date: January 31, 2008 [EBook #24482] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZIP, ADVENTURES FRISKY FOX TERRIER *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar, Jason Isbell, Christine D. and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='padding'> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 274px;"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover_th.jpg" width="274" height="400" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Front" id="Front"></a></p> +<div class='padding'> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> +<a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"><img src="images/frontispiece_th.jpg" width="375" height="501" alt="AS HE DUG, SPOONS, KNIVES, FORKS AND SUGAR-BOWL LIDS BEGAN TO FLY OUT" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">AS HE DUG, SPOONS, KNIVES, FORKS AND SUGAR-BOWL LIDS BEGAN TO FLY OUT</span> +</div></div> + +<p class='right'>(<i>Page <a href="#Page_27">Twenty-Seven</a></i>)</p> + + +<h1>ZIP</h1> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 209px;"> +<a href="images/title_page.jpg"><img src="images/title_page_th.jpg" width="209" height="251" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p class='center'><big> +The<br /> +Adventures<br /> +of a<br /> +Frisky<br /> +Fox Terrier<br /> +by</big></p> + +<h2>Frances Trego Montgomery</h2> + +<p class='center'>Author of BILLY WHISKERS</p> + +<p class='center'> +Illustrated by<br /> +Violet Moore Higgins<br /> +</p> +<div class='padding'> +<p class='center'> +The Saalfield Publishing Company<br /> +Chicago +Akron, Ohio +New York<br /> +</p></div> + +<div class='padding'> +<p class='center'> +Copyright, 1917<br /> +By The Saalfield Publishing Company</p> +</div><div class='padding'> +<p class='center'> +This story appeared serially in the<br /> +Detroit News Tribune</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='center'>CHAPTER</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I</td><td align='left'>In Which Zip is Introduced to the Reader</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II</td><td align='left'>Zip's Exciting News</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III</td><td align='left'>Zip Unearths the Stolen Silver</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV</td><td align='left'>Zip's Disastrous Jump</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V</td><td align='left'>Zip is Stuck in the Stovepipe</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI</td><td align='left'>Zip and Peter-Kins</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII</td><td align='left'>Zip, Peter-Kins and the Turkey Gobbler</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII</td><td align='left'>Zip at the Candy Pull</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX</td><td align='left'>Zip and Peter-Kins Have a Fight</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X</td><td align='left'>Zip's Curiosity is His Undoing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>As he dug, spoons, knives, forks and sugar-bowl lids began to fly out</td><td align='right'><a href="#Front">Frontispiece</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>There, sure enough, were five or six little boys and girls having a picnic</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peter-Kins leaped onto a turkey gobbler that was strutting around the yard all swelled out with pride</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The monkey was trying to hit him with the empty dipper</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h1>ZIP</h1> + +<p class='center'>OR</p> + +<p class='center'>The Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">In Which Zip Is Introduced to the Reader</span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<a href="images/illo_09.jpg"><img src="images/illo_09_th.jpg" width="300" height="176" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>Zip belongs to Dr. Elsworth, who lives in the big, white house with the +green blinds on the edge of the village of Maplewood. And at the present +minute he is asleep on the front porch on a soft cushion in an +old-fashioned rocking-chair that is swaying gently to and fro, dreaming of +the days when he was a puppy chasing the white spot on the end of his +tail, thinking it was something following him. And how he would bark at it +and run around and around after it until he was so dizzy he would fall +over! Then when the ground stopped spinning round, he would get up and go +after it again, barking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> all the time for it to stop following him. Silly +little puppy that he was, not to know it was his own tail he was chasing! +Often he would bark so loudly in his sleep that it would awaken him, but +he would soon fall asleep again and go on dreaming. Sometimes he would be +chasing cows, holding on to their long tails; at others, squawking, +cackling chickens or anything else that happened to be in the road.</p> + +<p>One day when thus dreaming, he was just about to pull a mouthful of tail +feathers out of Parson Higgins' pet rooster when the latch on the front +gate clicked. Zip was awake in a minute, sitting up on the cushion with +ears sticking straight up and every nerve alert to see who was coming in +the doctor's yard.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 253px;"> +<a href="images/illo_10.jpg"><img src="images/illo_10_th.jpg" width="253" height="285" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>The first look showed him a ragged tramp with battered hat, unshaven face +and a bundle of clothes tied up in a dirty, faded red handkerchief strung +on a cane over his shoulder. That one look was enough, for if there was +one thing Zip despised and detested more than any other, it was a tramp. +And for this one to dare to try to come in the front gate—the gate he +never allowed anyone to enter unless they were well dressed—was more than +he could stand, and he flew at the fellow as if he were the size of a lion +and was going to devour him on the spot.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>As for the tramp, he hated dogs as much as they hated him. It had been his +experience that little dogs had just as sharp teeth as big ones and were +much harder to drive off, as they were so quick they could get around and +snap a piece out of one's shins before one could help himself. So when he +saw Zip bound off the chair and come running toward him with bristles +raised and teeth showing, he slammed the gate and started off down the +road.</p> + +<p>But here he did a silly thing. Instead of going off about his business, he +stooped, picked up a stone and threw it at Zip, hitting him squarely on +the side and hurting him dreadfully, as the stone was large and sharp. +This was too much. He, Zip, would have a piece of that tramp's leg or he +would know the reason why! The tramp thought he was safe in hitting the +dog as the gate was shut and the fence high. But whoever yet has succeeded +in shutting a little dog in a yard by a high fence? Not many people, I am +sure, for the dog will always find a hole to crawl through or a pale off +where he can squeeze through, or, not finding these, he will dig a hole +under the fence. And this is what Zip had done many weeks before, for he +found it necessary to have some place he could get through in a hurry to +go after the school children who delighted in teasing him. So now quick as +a flash he ran for this hole, which was well hidden by a big lilac bush, +and before the tramp even knew he was coming, Zip was through the hole and +had his little, sharp teeth buried in his shin. With a cry of surprise and +pain, the tramp turned to see what had hurt him. When he saw the little +dog, he raised his cane to strike him, but as it came down Zip let go his +hold and grabbed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> bundle that was on the end of the cane and made off +with it. This infuriated the tramp and he hobbled after Zip, calling him +all sorts of bad names as he came. This Zip did not mind in the least, but +kept right on dragging the bundle along with him as he ran down the road.</p> + +<p>Now this bundle was round and heavy, and hard for such a small dog to +carry, and it kept tripping him up and rolling him over. But he hung on +with the tenacity of a bulldog until he saw the tramp was going to +overtake him. Then he decided not to try to carry it to the hole in the +fence, but to jump the ditch and drop it in the frog pond. The tramp was +almost upon him now and had his cane raised to hit him, but when it came +down, it hit the earth, not the dog, for just at that moment Zip had made +a flying leap over the ditch, taking the bundle with him.</p> + +<p>Once there, he dragged it along or held it up off the ground by stretching +his neck up high until he came to the edge of the frog pond. Then he let +go and watched it disappear under the water.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 297px;"> +<a href="images/illo_11.jpg"><img src="images/illo_11_th.jpg" width="297" height="176" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>By this time the tramp was simply furious and was threatening to catch and +kill him, while all the time the saucy little dog barked back, "Better +catch me before you kill me!"</p> + +<p>Splash! went a big stone in the water, and if it had hit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> Zip, it +certainly would have killed him as it was so big, but he jumped aside just +in time. Then what did this mischievous, daring little dog do but stand +perfectly still and watch the tramp come after him, wading through the +tall, wet marsh grass, stumbling as he came. He was within five feet of +Zip and was just thinking, "One more step and I can reach him!" when the +long tangle grass caught one foot and threw him face down in the soft, +oozy mud.</p> + +<p>Zip barked a bark that sounded more like a laugh than a bark, making the +tramp more determined than ever to kill him, even if he had to fall forty +times before he caught him.</p> + +<p>Had the tramp stopped to think, he might have known that the dog was going +to play some trick on him, for who ever heard of a dog standing still +while a man with a big, heavy cane was bearing down on him to brain him? +But the tramp was far too angry to reason. All he thought of was to kill +the dog that had bitten him and then ran off with his clothes. He picked +himself up as best he could, and made a spring at Zip, bringing his cane +down at the same time. But as before, when the cane came down there was no +dog under it. Zip had jumped into the frog pond and was quietly swimming +to the opposite shore.</p> + +<p>When he saw this the tramp tore his hair with rage, threw clods of mud at +him and fairly yelled with fury, while Zip walked out of the water as if +no one were near, shook himself dry and trotted off home down the other +side of the pond, leaving the tramp lying on his stomach trying to fish +his bundle of clothes out of the water.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Zip stopped short, pricked up his ears and listened.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> Yes, he was +right! He had heard the doctor's low, peculiar, penetrating whistle. That +meant he was about to start on his rounds to see his patients. He never +went without Zip sitting up on the seat beside him in his old-fashioned +buggy.</p> + +<p>Zip loved these daily trips, for he was a most active, nervous, curious, +little dog, and always wanted to know what was going on throughout the +village, and these rides gave him a splendid opportunity to find out. +While the doctor was in visiting his patients, Zip would jump out of the +buggy and go around to the back of the house to call on the family's cat +or dog, whichever it happened to be. And though you may not know it, these +animals in every household know what is going on in the home from garret +to cellar, as well as all the family secrets and neighborhood gossip. So +you see Zip was a regular news-gatherer, and he not only gathered the news +in that way, but he spread it as he went along with the doctor from house +to house, so that anyone hearing Zip talk did not need to read the +newspaper to find out all the village gossip. He knew of all the births, +weddings and funerals as well as the lovers' quarrels long before anyone +else, for generally he was on the spot when they happened. Neither did he +mind listening when he saw two young people of the opposite sex strolling +down some shady lane, or hanging over a garden gate. And like all gossips, +he was never happy until he had told someone all the latest news he had +gathered.</p> + +<p>The one to whom he enjoyed telling things the most was the big, yellow cat +that lived at the doctor's and was the special pet of the cook. The cat's +name was Tabby, and she was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> big, comfortable, good-natured cat who +stayed at home and minded her own business. She was also a good listener, +which Zip considered one of her best qualities. Like all talkative people, +he would rather do the talking and have someone else do the listening. +Consequently Tabby just suited him. After he had come back with the doctor +from making his last call for the day, Zip and Tabby would curl up on the +front porch or on a garden seat and he would talk away into the night or +until time for him to make the rounds of the place. This as a watch dog he +felt it his duty to do once or twice during the night, while Tabby went to +the barn to catch mice.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 253px;"> +<a href="images/illo_12.jpg"><img src="images/illo_12_th.jpg" width="253" height="288" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>His especial bit of gossip this night was that two storks had brought +twins to Mrs. Brown's home the night before and that the sudden surprise +of two babies coming to her house in the middle of the night had made her +ill and she had taken to her bed and called the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Just like Mrs. Brown to do a thing like that—throw up her hands and give +up instead of hustling around heating some milk for the poor little things +who must have been hungry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> after their long journey down from the clouds," +sputtered Zip.</p> + +<p>To which sage remark Tabby assented.</p> + +<p>Another bit of news was that the ladies of the Episcopal Church were +going to give a strawberry festival in the Sunday School rooms on +Wednesday evening, and all were cordially invited to attend and to bring +their friends. Admission, twenty-five cents each.</p> + +<p>"This will be nice for us," remarked Zip, "for while Martha is away, we +can steal into the milk cellar and lick the cream off the pans. Of course +in the morning she will wonder why old Bess, the red cow, did not give as +rich milk as usual. But she will think that the chore boy did not feed her +enough bran, for she would never suspect Tabby, her pet, of doing such a +mean thing!"</p> + +<p>And of her own accord, Tabby never would, had not Zip put her up to it.</p> + +<p>The next was that Sophie Hooper and James Steadman were going to be +married at last. And he was glad of it, for one, for he had seen them +courting on the little bridge that crossed the creek in the valley for the +last year!</p> + +<p>Another was that Mr. Stubbins had a new dog, a red setter hunting dog, +which he believed he was going to hate as it had barked at him from its +kennel when he ran around the house to see their white cat and pass the +time of day with her while the doctor was making a call across the street.</p> + +<p>"And really, Tabby, from the way that dog barked and pulled on his chain, +I am sure he would have eaten me up could he have gotten at me! But just +wait until he finds who I am, and I guess he will quiet down!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip's Exciting News</span></p> + + +<p>"Why, Zip Elsworth! Where in the world have you been? You look all fagged +out and you are spattered with mud from head to foot! The doctor has been +whistling for you for half an hour, and I just heard him tell Martha to +save you a good dinner for you would be mighty hungry when you came in, as +you would have to come a good ten miles if you got left at the last place +he called, for it was away over at Mapleville. He said he never noticed +you were not in the buggy until he was nearly home, and then he thought +you must be running on behind, as you sometimes do so you can chase +chickens, dogs and cows that are in the road, just for the fun of it."</p> + +<p>"Tabby, don't talk to me until I have had a drink. I don't want anything +to eat. I am too excited to taste a morsel and it would stick in my throat +if I tried to swallow it."</p> + +<p>"Gracious, goodness, me! It must be something awful if it excites you this +way, for you generally love excitement and it doesn't tire you a bit."</p> + +<p>"Come with me until I get a drink and take a swim in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> watering trough +to get off this mud, and then I will tell you my news. And be prepared for +a big surprise."</p> + +<p>"Land sakes!" exclaimed Tabby. "Who has gone and hung himself to the +rafters of his barn? Or has someone's house burned down with them in it?"</p> + +<p>"No, it is neither of those things, and you might as well stop guessing +and prepare to listen to what I tell you, for you will never know it +otherwise, as I am the only one in the whole village who knows all the ins +and outs of the thing."</p> + +<p>While they were talking, Zip was running from one end of the watering +trough to the other, trying to wash the mud off his white coat. Tabby +thought he never <i>would</i> get clean, he stayed in so long, and she was +nearly bursting with curiosity to hear what he had to tell.</p> + +<p>At last he was through and, jumping out and giving himself a good shake, +they sought a sunny spot in the back garden where they would not be +disturbed, and Zip began his story.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 184px;"> +<a href="images/illo_18.jpg"><img src="images/illo_18_th.jpg" width="184" height="287" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>"In the first place, have you heard the doctor or anyone else talking +about the burglars that got in Judge Perkins' house last night, and stole +all the silver knives, forks, spoons and other things they could lay their +hands on, besides eating up the pies and the cold chicken that were on the +pantry shelf?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do tell me about it! I'm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> all excitement! I just <i>love</i> to hear about +burglars! It is so exciting it makes me feel all creepy! Just like I make +the mice feel when they smell me sitting outside their holes waiting for +them to come out so I may pounce upon them. Begin and tell me all about +it! Don't leave a thing out that you know. I want it all! How many were +there? How did they get in? What did they take, and have they been +caught?"</p> + +<p>"Go slow, Tabby! One question at a time, if you please. And now if you +will keep still, I'll tell you all I know from the very beginning. Do you +remember my telling you about a tramp I bit the other day—the one whose +bundle of clothes I dropped in the frog pond?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother the tramp! Who wants to hear about him now? I only want to +hear of the burglars," replied impatient Tabby.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have to tell you about this tramp to tell you the story, and if +you don't keep still and listen, I won't tell it at all."</p> + +<p>And Tabby, knowing he would keep his word, curled her tail more tightly +around her legs and sat up stiffly, prepared to listen.</p> + +<p>"To begin at the beginning," said Zip, "when the doctor and I got up town +this morning, he went into the drug store to get some medicines, and I +followed. When we were inside we heard a lot of excited men talking about +the burglars who had gotten in Judge Perkins' house and made off with the +silver without being caught. The Judge was in the midst of them, telling +all he knew, so I listened and got the news first-hand. And this is what +he said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>"His wife awoke and thought she heard someone moving around downstairs. +Then she wakened the Judge and they both listened. Yes, there surely was +someone moving cautiously around under them, in the dining-room! Next they +heard whoever it was move to the hall door and begin to mount the stairs. +As the Judge had no fire-arms, he said he picked up a chair and tiptoed to +the head of the stairs, intending to bring it down on the burglar's head +when he came within hitting distance. The hall was as black as your hat +and he could hear nothing now but his wife's frightened whispers, begging +him to come back or the burglar would kill him. Then he heard the +burglar's soft step on the stairs. He had reached the first landing, for +the Judge could tell by the sound of his steps just where he must be. Then +a loud howl rent the air. The burglar had stepped on their pet cat, who +always sleeps on the stair landing!</p> + +<p>"This surprised the burglar so that he stepped back, lost his balance and +fell bumpety-bump to the bottom. The Judge rushed back into the bedroom, +lit a candle and, holding it high over his head, hurried down the stairs. +His wife followed behind with a big umbrella clasped in her hand, while +the Judge was armed with a big, black briarwood cane with a silver knob on +the end. And the Judge said that if he ever got a crack at that burglar +with that cane it would split his head open. When they reached the +dining-room, they heard the burglar stumbling down the cellar stairs. They +followed him, but were too late, for as they reached the foot of the +stairs the burglar was just climbing out of a window, the way he had +gotten in, propping it open with an old cane that had a bundle of clothes +tied on the end of it, all done up in a dirty, red handkerchief.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 368px;"> +<a href="images/plate_1.jpg"><img src="images/plate_1_th.jpg" width="368" height="490" alt="THERE, SURE ENOUGH, WERE FIVE OR SIX LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS HAVING A PICNIC" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">THERE, SURE ENOUGH, WERE FIVE OR SIX LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS HAVING A PICNIC</span> +</div> + +<p class='right'>(<i>Page <a href="#Page_34">Thirty-Four</a></i>)</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The minute the Judge got to this part of his story, I left, for at the +mention of the bundle done up in a dirty, red handkerchief on the end of a +cane, I thought of the tramp I had bitten yesterday. I felt sure it was he +that was the burglar. So I determined not to lose any time, but to go over +there and nose around and see if I could not track him by the scent of his +footsteps, even if I should not be fortunate enough to get a smell at the +bundle he had left behind, for I should know the dirty smell of that man's +shins and his old bundle anywhere."</p> + +<p>"And is that where you have been, chasing that tramp? Did you find him?" +asked Tabby.</p> + +<p>"Tabby, will you keep still and stop asking questions? You throw me all +off my story! If you will only keep quiet and let me stop long enough to +get my breath, I'll tell you all. But mind, it is going to be in my own +way!"</p> + +<p>"Very well, then; I will keep still, but I am so excited, I feel I <i>must</i> +ask a question now and then or blow up!"</p> + +<p>So once again Tabby wrapped her tail tightly around her legs to keep from +tapping the end of it in her nervousness. And Zip proceeded with his +story.</p> + +<p>"Well, when I got out of the drug store, I ran just as fast as I could to +Judge Perkins' house across lots, through mud puddles and down lanes."</p> + +<p>"And you looked it when you got here!" broke in Tabby.</p> + +<p>To which remark Zip paid no attention, but went right on with his story.</p> + +<p>"When I reached the Judge's, I made straight for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> cellar window, +hoping to find the cane with the bundle of clothes still on it propping up +the window.</p> + +<p>"Was it there? Was it there?" interrupted Tabby.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 272px;"> +<a href="images/illo_22.jpg"><img src="images/illo_22_th.jpg" width="272" height="458" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>"Yes, it was there, and I went up and smelt of it and no mistaking the +odor, it was the same dirty bundle I had dropped in the frog pond! I paid +no more attention to it, but began to look for footprints and smell around +on the ground by the window. Just as I thought, it was the same tramp! I +started on his scent, which was easy to follow, as his feet were big and +the scent strong. They led me down through the garden, past the barn and +into a thick clump of trees by the stone wall at the end of the Judge's +place. Here the fellow had stopped, dug a hole and buried the silver! He +had done it hurriedly and with his hands, for I could see finger marks on +the ground and the handle of one spoon sticking out. I waited for no more, +but ran along the wall trying to find a place to get through, but I could +not until I reached the gate. Then I crawled under and then ran back to +where the tramp had climbed the wall and dropped down on the other side. +Here I picked up his trail again and followed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> it to the railroad track +where the freight trains stand on a siding. I lost it here, so I think he +must have jumped on a freight and escaped that way. Now what do you think +of that for a story?"</p> + +<p>"I think you are a very clever dog. But isn't it too bad that they will +never find their silver and there it will be all the time buried in their +own back yard!"</p> + +<p>"Of course they will find it!" exclaimed Zip.</p> + +<p>"I would like to know how! For they won't be digging in that part of the +garden."</p> + +<p>"Well, they just will, for I am going to lead them to it!" Zip said.</p> + +<p>"How are you going to do that when you can't talk, I should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't talk, but I can bark and make such a fuss that they will +follow me to the place and then I will scratch around and reveal the +silver."</p> + +<p>"My, but I should like to be there and see their faces when the first +spoon comes flying out of the earth when you scratch!"</p> + +<p>"You can be. I will tell you when I am going and you may go ahead and be +sitting on the fence when I bring them to the spot."</p> + +<p>"You are a dear, Zip! And I'll give you all the meat they give me for +dinner for three days!"</p> + +<p>"All right; it's a bargain."</p> + +<p>"When are you going?"</p> + +<p>"Right away, for I want to be there when the Judge gets home. Come ahead +and let's start!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>And five minutes later you could have seen a little, spotted dog and a +big, yellow cat running side by side across lots and down lanes in the +direction of Judge Perkins' home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip Unearths The Stolen Silver</span></p> + + +<p>"Listen, Tabby! I hear the sound of wheels and of horses' feet on the +road," and stopping to look and listen, Zip spied the Judge's fat, white +horse trotting down the road toward home. And he also recognized the +village constable sitting beside the Judge.</p> + +<p>"See, Tabby, he has brought the constable along with him to help get a +clue to the burglar. Let us hurry along and we can get there first by +going across lots."</p> + +<p>This they did, so when the Judge arrived home and went to show the +constable the window where the burglar got in, he found Zip sitting +demurely beside it.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Zip! What are you doing here?" he asked.</p> + +<p>You may think it strange the Judge knew Zip's name, but not so in a little +village. Generally everyone knows the name of all the dogs and cats and +call them by name when they chance to meet them in any unlooked-for place, +as now.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear them talking of my burglar in town and come to see for +yourself where he got in?" asked the Judge.</p> + +<p>Zip stopped the Judge's questions by jumping up and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> down on the window +sill, smelling the bundle of clothes, jumping up and down, nosing around +the tracks and then running with nose to the ground, barking as he went.</p> + +<p>"What in the dickens does the dog mean by such behavior?" said the Judge.</p> + +<p>"Looks as if he were following the scent of some person," replied the +constable.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he is!" from the Judge.</p> + +<p>"See, he is jumping upon the stone wall as if trying to get over it."</p> + +<p>"That would appear as if the person whose track he is on had climbed the +wall at that point."</p> + +<p>Here Zip came back with head up.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you want, Zip?" asked the Judge, for Zip had caught his +trouser leg in his teeth and was trying to pull him after him.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 324px;"> +<a href="images/illo_26.jpg"><img src="images/illo_26_th.jpg" width="324" height="235" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>"I think he is trying to tell us to follow him," said the constable.</p> + +<p>At this Zip let go the Judge's trousers, jumped up and down on the +constable as much as to say, "That is just what I mean!" and then darted +off down the path again. Seeing the men did not follow him, he came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> back +and jumped up and down on the Judge and then ran down the path once more.</p> + +<p>"Surely that is what he wants," agreed the Judge, and so the two walked +just behind, following the dog until he stopped and began to scratch the +dirt away from the roots of a clump of trees. And as he dug spoons, +knives, forks and sugar-bowl lids began to fly out from under his feet. +When a big tablespoon landed at the Judge's feet, he exclaimed, "By all +that is wonderful, see this spoon! That dog has discovered where the +burglar hid my silver. Pretty clever work for a little dog!"</p> + +<p>"One would think he was a police dog and had been trained to hunt down +thieves," said the constable.</p> + +<p>"Well, Zip, you shall have a silver collar for this, made out of one of my +solid silver spoons," promised the Judge, as the men went to the hole Zip +was digging and helped push away the earth. Soon they counted the pieces, +and found they had recovered all that had been missing.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" exclaimed the constable. "Whose cat are you? I never saw such a +large cat in my life!"</p> + +<p>"Where is any cat?" asked the Judge.</p> + +<p>"Up there on the wall," replied the constable, pointing his finger at +Tabby, who was quietly sitting on top of the wall enjoying the unearthing +of the stolen property.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is Zip's playfellow! I have often seen them playing together +when I have been at the doctor's," said the Judge.</p> + +<p>"Just like a smart dog to select a cat as a chum instead of another dog. +And I tell you what, I should like to own that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> dog myself, but I suppose +the doctor would not sell him at any price."</p> + +<p>"I should say not!" replied the Judge. "That little dog has been his +constant companion for three years when visiting his patients. Be the day +ever so hot or cold, it is never too hot, never too cold for Zip to go +along. In winter he sits up beside the doctor wrapped to the chin in a +big, warm robe, and in summer in a light one to keep the flies from biting +him.</p> + +<p>"Here comes my wife down the garden path. She must have heard us drive in +and our not coming to the house has aroused her curiosity and now she's +coming to see what we are doing. Won't she be surprised and delighted when +she sees we have found her silver?"</p> + +<p>And she surely was, but even more surprised at the way they had found it +than at the discovery. She looked around to pet Zip and take him to the +house and give him some cake and milk, of which he was very fond, but he +and Tabby had both disappeared.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 226px;"> +<a href="images/illo_28.jpg"><img src="images/illo_28_th.jpg" width="226" height="258" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>The next day it all came out in the Maplewood daily paper, telling how +Zip, Dr. Elsworth's little fox terrier, had tracked the burglar to the +spot where he had buried his booty, and that they had recovered it all, +not losing so much as a spoon. It also recounted how the Judge had ordered +the jeweler to make a solid silver collar for Zip with his name engraved +on it and what he had done to deserve this honor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Zip and Tabby came trotting up the front path on their return from +the Judge's, the doctor was sitting on his front porch, reading the +afternoon paper. On seeing Zip, he put it down and exclaimed,</p> + +<p>"Well, you rascal, where have you been all this time? And what do you mean +by making me take all my rides alone? You look all draggled and dirty and +as if you had been in mischief. Perhaps you have been getting Tabby into +mischief too, for I see she is with you."</p> + +<p>"So you think he has been in mischief, do you?" mewed Tabby in a cross +voice, and she avoided his hand when he attempted to stroke her. She +thought to herself, "The doctor will feel badly when he reads in +tomorrow's paper that Zip, instead of being in mischief, has made himself +the hero of the town."</p> + +<p>But Zip did not mind. He knew his looks and behavior were against him, but +that on the morrow all would be explained and the doctor would be as proud +as Punch of him. So he quietly trotted around the corner of the house and +went for a swim in the horse trough.</p> + +<p>The next day when the doctor drove into town with Zip by his side, +everyone wanted to pet him and talk about how clever a dog he had been. +And they gave him so much candy, cakes and sweets that he had a high fever +the next day. However, he went with the doctor just the same, only instead +of running around visiting all the dogs and cats he knew wherever the +doctor stopped, he just lay still on the seat and slept.</p> + +<p>At last the doctor noticed and said, "Zip, I believe you feel sick today, +you are so quiet. Let me feel your nose!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>This is what a doctor does for a dog, just as he feels the pulse in a +person. If the nose is hot, the dog is sick; if it is cold, he is all +right.</p> + +<p>Being a homeopathic physician, Dr. Elsworth opened his case and gave Zip +three little sugar pills, or so Zip thought, but they had medicine inside +of them, and he swallowed them just as if he had been a sick little boy. +Inside of two or three hours he felt better and before he went to bed that +night the doctor gave him another dose, so when Zip awoke the next day, he +was feeling as frisky as ever.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip's Disastrous Jump</span></p> + + +<p>As the doctor's buggy came to a standstill before Mrs. Mason's house, Zip +smelt the delicious spicy odor of freshly baked gingersnaps wafted to his +nostrils around the corner of the house from the kitchen.</p> + +<p>Knowing Mrs. Mason's cook, Diana, to be considered the best cake and +cookie maker in the whole village of Maplewood, he decided to run to the +rear of the house and see if she would not give him one. Failing in this, +he determined to steal one if he could get it in no other way. So he +cautiously crept up the back kitchen steps so he could peek in the open +door to see if Diana was alone, but just as he reached the top step he had +a surprise, for the Mason's big, spotted cat was curled up asleep under +the window. She smelt dog, opened her eyes and without a moment's +hesitation bounded on his back. She hated dogs worse than rats, and being +nearly the size of Zip, and having long, sharp claws, she was not an enemy +to be sneezed at. Consequently it was either fight and arouse the +household and so lose his chance of a gingersnap, or get out of her way. +He decided on the latter. Seeing a kitchen window open, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> gave one bound +and jumped through. But, horrors, what had he landed on? Not the kitchen +floor, as he thought he would, but on something soft and squashy. Not a +pillow either, for it was all soft and gooey, and he was sinking into the +soft, white stuff deeper and deeper every second! He tried to jump out, +but could not. The stuff was spongy and sticky and clingy, and he had now +sunk deep into it up to his stomach.</p> + +<p>"What ever shall I do?" he thought to himself, when horrors! the kitchen +door opened and Diana, a big, fat darky with a red and yellow spotted +turban on her head appeared in the doorway.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 272px;"> +<a href="images/illo_32.jpg"><img src="images/illo_32_th.jpg" width="272" height="255" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>On seeing a little head looking at her from the pan of dough, she threw up +her hands in fright, turned and fled down the hall, calling, "Mis' Mason! +Mis' Mason! Come heah quick! Someone done gone and left a little niggah +baby in my bread dough!"</p> + +<p>As she ran through the hall, Zip made an extra effort to jump out, but +instead of doing so, he upset the pan off the chair, and dog and dough +rolled on the kitchen floor together. Shaking off as much of it as he +could, Zip raced out the door, leaving a trail of dough behind him. He did +not dare get in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> the doctor's buggy in that mess, so he crawled under the +garden fence and ran down to the river, where he might wash himself off +before going home.</p> + +<p>When the Mason cat saw him disappear under the garden fence, she went into +the kitchen to see what he had done to make all the noise he had just +before he ran out all covered with the white stuff. As she stood by the +pan smelling the dough to discover what it was, Diana and Mrs. Mason came +hurrying into the room. Not seeing anyone there but their cat, who was +standing right beside the dough, they of course thought it was she that +had caused all this trouble. So Diana grabbed up a broom and would have +pounded her to a jelly in her anger at spoiling all her nice bread dough, +but pussy was too quick for her. She saw what was coming and flew out the +door and hid under the currant bushes in the garden, from which place she +could hear Diana scolding and talking to herself as she cleaned up the +mess.</p> + +<p>"I do declar' to goodness, I done goan to kill dat cat some of these days. +Just wait till I ketch her, I'll tie a peppah box to her tail!"</p> + +<p>"Hark!" said the cat. "I wonder who is giving that long, penetrating +whistle. Oh, I know now whose dog that was! It was Zip, Doctor Elsworth's +pet fox terrier that everyone thinks so smart and that everyone is talking +about in the village these last few days because he found the silver the +burglar had stolen from the Judge. If I had known it was he, I would not +have pounced on him, but I was only half awake when I saw a dog trying to +sneak into our kitchen. It is a law with me to jump on every dog I see +before he has time to pounce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> on me. Now I am awfully sorry about this, +for I have been wanting to meet Zip for ever so long, as I think I am the +only cat in town who doesn't know him."</p> + +<p>When Zip was nearly to the river he heard the voices of children playing +on the bank. So he crept carefully forward under the bushes until he came +to a place where he could peer through. There, sure enough, were five or +six little boys and girls having a picnic. Some were in wading, skirts and +trousers rolled up above the knees, while others were just spreading out a +tablecloth on the mossy bank preparatory to setting their table for +luncheon.</p> + +<p>While Zip was looking, one little girl took out of her basket some +delicious looking fried chicken, and as she piled the nicely browned +pieces on a plate, she put the breasts on top to make it look more +tempting. It made Zip's mouth water so for a taste that he decided to keep +well hidden and see if they would not leave the table for a moment so he +might jump out and steal a piece. As he waited another little girl lifted +out of her basket some nut cookies and big, thick slices of angel cake, +while a third arranged some stuffed eggs and big dill pickles.</p> + +<p>Now all these things Zip adored with the exception of the pickles, so he +lay down with nose stretched out in their direction as far as he could +without being seen, that he might at least smell the goodies while he +waited. But as he waited the bread dough on his back dried and hardened +and made his coat stick up in all sorts of queer shapes, though he never +once thought of it. <i>He</i> was too much occupied deciding just which piece +of chicken he would take when he had the chance, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> he was too delighted +to move when one of the boys began chasing all the others with his cup +full of water. And before he knew it, the boys trying to escape ran +straight into the bushes where Zip lay concealed and nearly stepped on +him.</p> + +<p>One boy looked down, caught sight of a queer looking animal with bright +eyes and funny hair that stuck up all over him. He gave one scream and +jumped back just in time to get the full cup of water in his face. But he +cared not. He just turned and fled, screaming, "A porcupine! A porcupine! +Look out or he will fill you full of quills!"</p> + +<p>This alarm made the girls jump up and run from their table of goodies in a +panic.</p> + +<p>The lad who had thrown the water thought the other boy was merely fooling +when he peered into the bushes and said he saw a white porcupine and fled.</p> + +<p>Now was Zip's chance. Not waiting for them to get out of sight, he boldly +rushed out and helped himself to the biggest piece of chicken he saw and +gulped it down in his haste to get another piece and to steal some cake +before the children should recover from their fright and return.</p> + +<p>As they ran, one little girl turned around to see if the porcupine was +chasing them. What she saw was some animal eating up their goodies, and +she began to cry, for she was terribly hungry and had been thinking of all +the good things they had to eat when lo! it was snatched out of their +mouths, one might say, for their fright had come so suddenly.</p> + +<p>One of the larger boys stopped running and looked back, and as he had once +seen a porcupine, he knew this animal now eating their luncheon had too +long legs and his nose was too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> thin to be a porcupine. Having gotten over +his first panic, and being very hungry, his courage began to come back, +and he called,</p> + +<p>"Here, let's stop running away and go back and kill that animal, whatever +it is! It won't eat us. It is too small!"</p> + +<p>So like frightened sheep, when their leader stopped, the children all +halted. "Get long sticks," he commanded, "and we'll drive him away."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 393px;"> +<a href="images/illo_36.jpg"><img src="images/illo_36_th.jpg" width="393" height="214" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>This was easily done, for there were lots of long, strong sticks about, +and each child got one. Armed with these, they came running back as +bravely as they had cowardly run away, all howling like Comanche Indians +on the warpath.</p> + +<p>Seeing this, Zip grabbed a leg of chicken in his mouth and, running to the +river, jumped in and swam to the opposite shore, where he soon disappeared +in the thick underbrush.</p> + +<p>Once in his safe retreat, he lay down and devoured his bone, then got up +and looked at himself. He was a sorry sight, for the quick swim across the +creek had not washed the dough off, but had merely softened it and now he +was a sticky mass from head to foot.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Whatever shall I do to get this stuff off?" he said to himself. "I'll try +rolling in the mud," which he did. But alas! it was not successful. It +only turned the dough black and made it stick all the tighter.</p> + +<p>"I see where I shall have to go stand in some water and let it soak off. +Guess I'll go home and get Tabby to come and talk to me while I am in the +trough, for it is stupid being all alone." So he trotted on home, taking +good care not to let anyone see him. And when he reached home, he hid +under the big leaves of the rhubarb plants in the garden just the other +side of the fence from the watering trough. Here he stayed until the +doctor had driven off on his afternoon round of visits to his patients, +and everyone else on the place was taking a nap. Then he barked three +quick, snappy barks for Tabby, but she did not come. He barked again. +Still she did not appear, and he was standing with drooping ears and tail +between his legs in a most dejected manner when he was aroused by Tabby +saying,</p> + +<p>"Why, Zip Elsworth! Where in the world have you been? You are as dirty as +a pig, I do declare, and your hair is all sticking up like a porcupine's +quills."</p> + +<p>At the word porcupine, Zip braced up and said, "Never mind about my looks! +If you will sit on the edge of the watering trough while I soak this stuff +off, I'll tell you how I got in this mess."</p> + +<p>So Tabby obediently jumped up on a board at one end and fixed herself +comfortably to hear of Zip's adventure.</p> + +<p>"But first I want to tell you that the doctor is very much displeased with +you," said Tabby. "I heard him tell Martha,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the housekeeper, that he did +not know what had gotten into you lately, that you were never around to go +with him any more, and if you were here, that you disappeared somewhere on +the trip and he had to come back without you. He also said that unless you +were around more, he was going to take me."</p> + +<p>"He didn't say anything of the kind, I know."</p> + +<p>"Indeed he did! Ask Martha!" retorted Tabby.</p> + +<p>"You are safe in saying that, for you know I <i>can't</i> ask Martha."</p> + +<p>"Well, he did, whether you believe me or not!"</p> + +<p>"I shan't give him the chance, for from today I shall be on hand to go +with him, and, what is more, I will stay with him and come back when he +does. I shall cut my visits short until he forgets all about my neglecting +him. Well, do you want to hear what I have been up to or not?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly do! Go ahead. I'm all ears," so while Zip walked up and down +in the trough to get clean, Tabby sat curled up on the board at the end, +purring contentedly as she listened to Zip's account of his morning's +doings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip Is Stuck in the Stovepipe</span></p> + + +<p>The next day at noon, when Zip came home with the doctor from making his +morning visits to his patients, he was surprised to see all the furniture +moved out into the side yard. At first he thought there must have been a +fire, but when he saw Martha with a towel wrapped around her head, and +Mrs. Huggins, the scrub-woman of the village, trying to squeeze a wide +table through a narrow door, while Noah, their half-witted chore-boy, was +beating carpets on the lawn, he knew it was spring house-cleaning.</p> + +<p>This the doctor vowed was worse than a fire and as bad as a moving, for +Martha never would do one room at a time, but must upset the whole house +at once and dump everything outdoors. And from the time the furniture was +moved out until it went back, all one could smell or see in the house was +soapsuds and bare, wet floors. If one wished to sit down, they had to +retire to the yard, and repose on a pile of carpets. If they wished to +eat, they had to do so off the kitchen table on the side porch. If they +wanted to dress, their clothes were in the yard, under chairs, pictures +and bedding, and the task<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> was so trying that finally one did not want to +change so much as a collar.</p> + +<p>The doctor always groaned when he got the first glimpse of housecleaning, +and gave a sigh of relief when it was over. This was one time when he made +longer calls on his patients and idled his time away at the drug store.</p> + +<p>As for Martha, she went around with a frown on her face, and with a +nervous, jerky manner, all the while talking of the terrible amount of +hard work there was to do, and grumbling that she had never seen such a +dirty house in all her life. But down in her heart she enjoyed it, for she +liked nothing better than to scrub and clean. As for the dirty house, a +fly would have slipped and broken its neck, the rooms were so clean from +cellar to garret, there being only the doctor to keep house for, and no +children to clutter up things. But just the same, on the first of May and +first of September the house had to be upset from top to bottom and +cleaned thoroughly, for Martha was born in New England and lived up to the +rules of house-keeping she had learned in her girlhood.</p> + +<p>As for Zip, he loved it for it gave him such a chance to nose into +everything. And you can rest assured he did it. There was not a bandbox of +any kind that he did not push the lid off with his nose and look into it, +or a bag of any kind that he did not smell and smell until he discovered +what was in it. He got under everyone's feet and nearly tripped them when +their arms were full of things and they could not see where they were +stepping. He was kicked by Noah, hit with the mop by Martha and had the +scrubbing brush thrown at him by the scrub-woman. But these things did not +disconcert<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> him in the least. They only added to the excitement.</p> + +<p>As for Tabby, she hated it as much as the doctor did, and generally took +advantage of these times to go to visit her cousin who lived across the +fields a mile and a half away.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 394px;"> +<a href="images/illo_41.jpg"><img src="images/illo_41_th.jpg" width="394" height="184" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>Zip had just come from the watering trough where he had been trying to get +the dirt and cobwebs off his coat which he had gotten on under the eaves +in the attic, and was up on a table nosing around when he thought he smelt +mice in a bandbox. He cocked his head to listen and, sure enough, he heard +the mice moving around inside. So he cautiously tried to open the lid. It +fitted loosely, so slipped off easily, and Zip peered in. What he saw made +him smile at the horror it was going to give Martha when she discovered +it. There in the crown of her best winter bonnet was a mouse nest, with +three tiny little mice in it, and the father and mother scampering around.</p> + +<p>At the sight of Zip, the old mice ran for the hole they had gnawed in the +side of the box, and tried to escape, but Zip saw them and gave chase. +They jumped from the table and tried to hide under a sofa. But Zip was on +their track and under he crawled after them. Then they dodged in and out +of some boxes and at last jumped into a cracker box, thinking to hide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +safely under the crackers. But Zip soon scratched the layer of crackers +off and again they had to run.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 370px;"> +<a href="images/illo_42.jpg"><img src="images/illo_42_th.jpg" width="370" height="176" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>This time they saw a nice big, black hole and into it they scampered, +thinking it too small a place for Zip to follow, but they did not know +Zip. The hole was black enough inside and out to suit anyone, for it was +nothing more or less than a long piece of stovepipe from the kitchen stove +which had been put there for Noah to clean out the soot when he was +through beating the carpets. It was a pretty tight squeeze for Zip, but he +never thought of that until he had himself wedged into it. Neither did he +think of his clean white coat. All he thought of was to catch the mice. So +in he rushed, but he had to crouch down and literally squeeze himself +through. And once or twice he thought he would suffocate from the amount +of soot he shook down. He grew so tired creeping with his legs doubled up +under him that when he was half way through he gave up and howled for +help.</p> + +<p>It was a long time before anyone heard him and when they did, they could +not for the life of them tell where the sound came from, for the pipe made +his howls sound so queer. When at last he heard Martha and Noah talking, +he barked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> and howled most dismally, as when a dog bays at the moon.</p> + +<p>They looked everywhere, under boxes and barrels, thinking he might have +turned one over on himself, and under piles of carpet and bedding. Still +they could not find him.</p> + +<p>"The sound seems to come from the earth, right down under my feet," said +Martha.</p> + +<p>The poor, simple-minded Noah with tears in his eyes, for he was very fond +indeed of Zip, replied, "He's done and gone and buried hisself!"</p> + +<p>Just then the doctor drove up the lane, and Martha ran to him to tell him +that Zip was fast under something somewhere and that they could not find +him. When the doctor reached the side yard, where all the household things +were piled, he began to look puzzled and moved the things just as the +others had done. Martha declared it was no use as they had already looked +under all of that stuff.</p> + +<p>"Do listen to him now! His cries are growing fainter! He surely is dying!" +she wailed, and threw her apron over her head and began to cry.</p> + +<p>At this moment the doctor stepped back and accidentally struck his foot +against the side of the stovepipe, which brought another howl of agony +from Zip. The doctor picked up the pipe and quickly disjointed it in the +middle and out fell the dirtiest but most delighted little dog you ever +saw, for he was free once more. And everyone was as pleased that he was +found as he was that he was rescued, and their tears were turned to smiles +at the comical picture he made, all covered with soot.</p> + +<p>After trying to jump up on the doctor to lick his hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> in thanks for his +freedom, he started for his usual bath tub, the watering trough.</p> + +<p>"Here, where are you going so fast, Zip? Better stay here until I get a +bucket of hot soapsuds to wash you off," called his master, but Zip did +not stop, and the doctor followed him. Imagine his surprise when he saw +him jump in the trough where he always watered his horses!</p> + +<p>"So <i>you</i> are the cause of my finding the water so often dirty and all +stirred up, are you? I have been wondering and wondering what caused it. +Well, you can just stop riling old Jim's drinking water."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 264px;"> +<a href="images/illo_44.jpg"><img src="images/illo_44_th.jpg" width="264" height="387" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>But to Zip's dismay, the soot would not come off as the mud and dough had. +It stuck and made him look greasy and black.</p> + +<p>"Here, you little rascal, come with me, and I will get soap and towels and +give you a good bath."</p> + +<p>And that is how it happened that when Tabby came home from her visit to +her cousin, the first thing she saw was the doctor sitting on the lower +step of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> side porch with scrubbing brush in one hand and a cake of +soap in the other, scrubbing Zip for all he was worth.</p> + +<p>"Well, whatever has happened to you, Zip?" asked Tabby.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go lie down and I'll tell you after awhile," barked Zip in a cross +voice, for he was not enjoying the scrubbing in the least, as every once +in a while a lot of soapsuds would run into his eyes, making them smart +dreadfully. But the doctor kept on rubbing, not knowing what was making +Zip squirm so. He thought it was just because he hated to be washed in +this way. At last Zip could stand it no longer, and he bounded from the +doctor's hands and shot out of the yard into the road and deliberately lay +down in the softest, dirtiest place he could find, and then rolled and +rolled, trying to dry himself. And though the doctor called and called and +whistled himself hoarse, Zip did not come back. He waited until it grew +dark, and then he sneaked in and jumped into the watering trough again. +This time he came out nice and clean, for the soft sand had acted as a +scrubbing brush and his coat was all shiny and glossy and clean when he +jumped out, and this time he managed to keep it so until the next day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip and Peter-Kins</span></p> + + +<div class="figright" style="width: 264px;"> +<a href="images/illo_47.jpg"><img src="images/illo_47_th.jpg" width="264" height="286" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>Several days after this Zip was asleep on the seat of the buggy in front +of the house of one of the doctor's patients who was so very ill that he +had been visiting there each day for a week. Consequently Zip, as usual, +had called on every dog and cat in this neighborhood. To-day he thought he +would sleep instead of running around to visit and making the doctor wait +and whistle for him to come back. But presently he was awakened by hearing +the doctor's whistle across the street. He was up in a moment looking in +all directions, for though he heard him, he could not see his master. He +leaped out of the buggy and ran across the street, from where the sound +seemed to come. As he ran the whistle was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> repeated loud and shrill, but +no doctor could Zip see.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;"> +<a href="images/illo1_48.jpg"><img src="images/illo1_48_th.jpg" width="150" height="133" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>"He must be hiding behind that thick bush in the yard," decided Zip. So he +crawled under the fence and went nosing around the shrubbery, but the +doctor was not there. He sniffed here and there, but could not get so much +as a tiny whiff of the doctor's scent. He stood still at last, with ears +standing up straight and one foot held off the ground, as he did when +listening intently.</p> + +<p>Again he heard the doctor whistle right over his head. He looked up to see +if the doctor was in an aeroplane, but all he discovered was the clear, +blue sky. Then a laugh sounded behind him and, turning quickly, he saw +Miss Belinda Simpkin's pet Poll-parrot swinging on the limb of a tree, +laughing at him.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 257px;"> +<a href="images/illo2_48.jpg"><img src="images/illo2_48_th.jpg" width="257" height="337" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>This was too much for Zip's dignity. To have a Poll-parrot make a fool of +him! So he ran to the tree where she sat and barked furiously up at her. +But to make Zip still more angry, Polly kept on whistling and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> laughing at +him. She had heard the doctor whistle for Zip every day and had learned to +imitate him perfectly. She really was a very smart bird, and everyone in +the village knew of Miss Belinda's parrot and monkey, for they were always +doing exceedingly smart, mischievous things, some of which I will tell you +about, but now I must finish relating what happened to Zip.</p> + +<p>He was still looking angrily at Polly when he heard a queer chattering and +squeaking noise up in a tree behind him and, turning to look, he saw a +gray object drop from one of the limbs. He looked down at the ground, +expecting to see whatever it was drop under the tree, but nothing landed. +Still he knew he had seen something start to fall. What could it be that +could stop in mid-air, for there was no other branch under the one from +which it had dropped on which it could catch. But when he glanced up, what +should he discover but Miss Belinda's pet monkey swinging by its tail from +the branch on which it had been sitting!</p> + +<p>Now Zip hated monkeys as a cat does rats. How as nice a little old maiden +lady as Miss Belinda could stand it to live all alone in a house with only +a parrot and a monkey for companions was more than he could understand.</p> + +<p>Zip ignored the monkey and began barking again at the parrot, telling her +just to wait until another day, that he would come back and get even with +her yet, and that the next time he left it would be with a mouthful of her +tail feathers.</p> + +<p>"Help! Help!" screeched Polly. And her voice was so nearly like that of a +human that the doctor, hearing it, hurried across the street to see who +was calling for aid. As he opened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> the gate to go into the yard, something +tore past him. Looking around to see what it was, he beheld Zip running +for all he was worth, with a little gray monkey perched on his back, +clinging to his silver collar which the Judge had given to him.</p> + +<p>The doctor was about to go to his rescue when Zip dove under the fence, +which knocked off the monkey, and he rolled over and over on the ground, +dazed for several seconds. He had hit his head on the fence so hard that +it had stunned him. The doctor took a step forward to pick him up when +again he heard that piercing scream, "Help! Help! Help!" that seemed to +come from the upper window of Miss Belinda's cottage.</p> + +<p>"Gracious!" exclaimed the doctor. "Someone must be trying to kill Miss +Belinda!" and he started for the cottage, intending to break down the door +if it should be locked. Before he had gone two steps, the voice he heard +before called once more, "Help! Help! Beat it! Beat it!" and then, looking +up, he saw Polly.</p> + +<p>"You rascal!" said the doctor, shaking his finger in a playful manner at +her. "You surely did fool me! But I must go and see if Zip has killed your +playfellow."</p> + +<p>When he reached the gate, he found the monkey sitting up rubbing his head +with his forefoot and running slowly toward home on three legs. Seeing he +was all right, the doctor whistled for Zip to come, but no Zip appeared. +So after calling him once or twice more, the doctor concluded he did not +wish to come back for fear the monkey would get him again and try to take +a free ride.</p> + +<p>"He probably has trotted home across lots," thought the doctor, "or else +he may be waiting for me part way home."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>On hearing the doctor whistle, the monkey ran to the side of the road, +jumped up on the fence and ran along its top until he reached Miss +Belinda's yard. Once there, he ran up a tall tree to a place of safety, +where no dogs could reach him, and there the doctor left him, rubbing his +head.</p> + +<p>As Zip trotted home across lots, he made up his mind that he would go to +Miss Belinda's every day until he had a chance to get even not only with +Polly, but with the monkey too. For I am sorry to say that Zip was a very +revengeful dog, and he never forgot an injury, at least not until he had +paid back in like coin anything he had suffered.</p> + +<p>"You may rest assured," he said to himself, "that I shall take one at a +time, however, and look around well before tackling either one, to see +that the other is nowhere about."</p> + +<p>Miss Belinda was out when all this happened, so was very much alarmed when +she returned to see Peter-Kins hopping around on two legs, holding his +head with his hands. And still more so when she took him in her arms and +saw that there was a big bump on his forehead the size of a hen's egg, +which was still swelling and by this time threatening to close one eye.</p> + +<p>"You poor darling little pet! Did you fall out of the tree and bump your +head? I is <i>so</i> sorry," and talking such baby talk to him, she carried him +off into the house to put witch hazel and a bandage on his head.</p> + +<p>All this time Polly kept screaming, "Help! Help! Help!"</p> + +<p>"Someone must have thrown a stone and hurt Peter-Kins," decided Miss +Belinda, "or Polly would not be calling for help. The next time I go out, +I will shut them in the house so nothing can happen to them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip, Peter-Kins and the Turkey Gobbler</span></p> + + +<p>Promptly at nine-thirty the next morning the doctor's carriage appeared in +front of his patient's house opposite Miss Belinda's cottage.</p> + +<p>Zip lay quietly on the seat until the doctor had disappeared in the house, +and then he quickly jumped out of the buggy, tiptoed across the street and +quietly slipped under the fence. Once under, he stood stock-still and +listened, eyes up and ears alert to catch any sound or see any movement of +his old enemies, the monkey and the parrot. All was quiet in the front +yard, and not even Polly's cage was to be seen swinging on its accustomed +hook beside the front door. Still Zip listened and looked in every tree +and bush, to make sure the monkey was not hiding under the leaves, ready +to pounce on him. He had just come to the conclusion that they had been +shut in the house when he heard a terrible commotion and cackling going on +in the chicken yard, and above it all Polly's voice screaming, "Help! +Help! Naughty Peter-Kinks! (This was Polly's name for Peter-Kins.) Spank! +Spank! Help! Help!"</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 305px;"> +<a href="images/illo_54.jpg"><img src="images/illo_54_th.jpg" width="305" height="285" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>Polly had heard Miss Belinda say this so many times that she had learned +to imitate her perfectly.</p> + +<p>"That monkey is up to some mischief," thought Zip. "I'll run and see what +he's up to, and maybe I'll have a chance to get even with him for running +his claws into my back when he was taking that ride!"</p> + +<p>Soon Zip was at the fence that divided the chicken yard from the lawn, and +looking through the pales, this is what he saw:</p> + +<p>Peter-Kins ran down the trunk of a big elm tree that shaded part of the +chicken yard, then he grabbed up a tiny little fluffy yellow chicken right +from under the old hen's very bill, and made off with it up the tree. This +made the old hen so angry and frightened that she cackled and carried on +just like people do when terrified. Then just when all the rest of the +chickens had quieted down a little and the old hen had gathered the rest +of her brood under her wings, Peter-Kins threw the little peep at mother +hen's head, which killed the little chicken instantly and upset all the +rest of the fowls in the barnyard once more.</p> + +<p>"I'll just keep hidden, and wait until he comes down," planned Zip, "and +then I will pounce out and grab him by the back of his neck and shake him +as if he were a rat."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 372px;"> +<a href="images/plate_2.jpg"><img src="images/plate_2_th.jpg" width="372" height="497" alt="PETER-KINS LEAPED ONTO A TURKEY GOBBLER THAT WAS STRUTTING AROUND THE YARD ALL SWELLED OUT WITH PRIDE" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">PETER-KINS LEAPED ONTO A TURKEY GOBBLER THAT WAS STRUTTING AROUND THE YARD ALL SWELLED OUT WITH PRIDE</span> +</div> + +<p class='right'>(<i>Page <a href="#Page_55">Fifty-Five</a></i>)</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>But instead of coming down the trunk as he had before, Peter-Kins ran out +on one of the long, slender, drooping limbs that reached nearly to the +ground, and when it bent within three feet of the earth, he dropped and +lit on the back of a rooster.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 240px;"> +<a href="images/illo_55.jpg"><img src="images/illo_55_th.jpg" width="240" height="441" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>Then the fun began, for the poor old rooster was beside himself with +fright, and ran around and around the yard, trying to get between the +palings of the fence, into holes no larger than his head, into chicken +coops and out, in amongst the other fowls, squawking and gurgling as he +went. Then all of a sudden he was relieved of his rider, for Peter-Kins +leaped from his back onto a turkey gobbler that was strutting around the +yard all swelled out with pride, every feather spread out to its fullest +extent. Now another race began, the turkey gobbling and the monkey +chattering as they made the rounds.</p> + +<p>Now while Peter-Kins had been riding the rooster, this very gobbler called +out, "You stupid fellow! Stop running round and round! Go under the fence +and scratch that beast off your back!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>But alas, for him! He could give advice, but not live up to it himself, +for while he was gobbling, Peter-Kins leaped from the rooster's back to +his own, and with shrunken feathers, he began running around and around +the yard, just as the rooster had done, too frightened to know what he was +doing, or to pay attention to his own advice, while all the chickens were +now cackling at him, "Run under the fence! Run under the fence and scratch +him off!"</p> + +<p>"Run under the fence and scratch him off!" quacked the ducks.</p> + +<p>"Run under the fence and scratch him off!" hissed the geese.</p> + +<p>"Run under the fence and scratch him off!" gobbled his wife, the old +turkey hen.</p> + +<p>But no; he was deaf to their cries, and with pride gone and feathers +clinging to his sides, he was running and jumping around the yard madly +and blindly, nearly knocking his head off as first he ran dizzily into +this and then into that.</p> + +<p>When Zip had watched the excitement as long as he cared to, he thought, +"Now is my time to grab Peter-Kins by the tail and pull him off that +turkey's back before it kills itself."</p> + +<p>So with one bound he was through the fence and had Peter-Kins' tail in his +mouth before he ever saw him coming. But the monkey did not drop from the +turkey's back as Zip thought he would. He only clung the tighter, and with +his arms around the turkey's neck and with his knees digging into the +turkey's sides, Zip could not dislodge him.</p> + +<p>Zip being too stubborn to let go the monkey's tail, the three queer +looking objects went running around and around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> the barnyard together, +under wagons, between coops, across the watering trough. Sometimes +running, sometimes jumping or half flying went the long-legged turkey with +the bobbing monkey on its back, whose tail was in the little dog's mouth.</p> + +<p>This was what Miss Belinda saw when she returned from market and looked +into her barnyard to see what was causing all her fowls to make such a +fuss.</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare, if there isn't a little dog chasing my chickens and +turkeys! But what is that on the big gobbler's back? Sure as I live, it is +Peter-Kins! Here, you horrid little dog, let go my darling Peter-Kins' +tail!" and Miss Belinda picked up a long-handled rake that was leaning +against the fence and went after Zip.</p> + +<p>All this time Polly had been screeching, "Help! Help! Naughty Peter-Kinks! +Spank! Spank!"</p> + +<p>Zip held on the monkey's tail until the rake appeared over his head, then +he let go quickly, giving an extra bite to the tip, which came off in his +mouth. He jumped back just in time to save himself from being hit on the +head, for the rake came down with such force that it laid both the turkey +and Peter-Kins out flat on their backs, where they lay kicking as if in +the throes of death.</p> + +<p>Miss Belinda thought she had killed her pets, and began to cry as she +picked them up.</p> + +<p>As for Zip, he slunk away and ran back to the doctor's buggy just in time +to jump in as the doctor started for home. So by the time Miss Belinda had +gathered up Peter-Kins and saw that the turkey was more frightened than +hurt, Zip was blocks away, laughing to himself at the whack the monkey +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> turkey had gotten instead of him, and at the funny spectacle the +three of them must have made as they ran around and around the yard.</p> + +<p>"And won't Tabby laugh when I tell her about it?" he thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip at the Candy Pull</span></p> + + +<p>That evening the doctor had no calls to make, so Zip was left to amuse +himself as best he could. He had finished telling Tabby about the monkey +and the turkey and was wondering what to do with himself when he heard +children laughing in the back yard of the house opposite. Looking up, he +saw that the house was lighted more than was usual, and he knew right away +that they must be having a little dance or a children's party of some +kind. Just then he thought he got a whiff of boiling molasses. He stuck +his nose up in the air and gave a long sniff. Yes, it was molasses he +smelled!</p> + +<p>"They are having a candy pull. That's what is going on! I'll just go over +and stick around until they have refreshments, and then perhaps I can +sneak into the kitchen and steal a piece of cake," thought Zip.</p> + +<p>But alas! He was so busy gazing up at the lighted windows to see what was +going on inside the house, that he neglected to look where he was +stepping, and the first thing he knew, he was standing with all four feet +in a pan of hot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> molasses candy. And he found himself sticking fast in an +entirely different way than he had meant when he left home. The candy was +just in that state of cooling when the top is a little hard and the bottom +is soft and sticky. So when he tried to lift his feet, the candy pulled up +from the bottom of the pan and made long, stringy ends, but did not leave +his feet. Instead it got between his toes and held him still faster. He +tried to bite it off, but instead of coming off, it only stuck to his +teeth and he found himself sticking to the pan with his mouth as well as +his feet. Indeed, he was held securely by the sticky, stringy candy. Just +then he thought he heard the children coming to see if their sweets were +cool.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 261px;"> +<a href="images/illo_60.jpg"><img src="images/illo_60_th.jpg" width="261" height="287" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>Yes, they were surely coming! He could not stand it to have these children +he saw every day find him in such a fix. He would never hear the last of +it. So he made a frantic effort to loosen himself. In doing this he pulled +backwards so far that his feet slipped somehow, and he sat down in the +candy. And now he <i>was</i> caught! For his four feet, mouth, one ear and tail +were all sticking to the pan of candy. As the children began to come down +the back steps, he gave one yelp, doubled himself up and began to roll, so +that what the children saw was a big ball of molasses candy rolling down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +the sloping walk. All they could see in the semi-darkness was the candy, +for Zip was too balled up to show a bit of dog sticking out of the soft +mess.</p> + +<p>The children ran after it, screaming with laughter, but when they caught +up to the rolling ball and discovered their well-known, mischievous Zip +rolled up so tight he was helpless, they clapped their hands with delight. +He looked so crestfallen and funny that they forgave him on the spot for +the loss of their candy. How they did shout with laughter as they were +trying to get the candy off him!</p> + +<p>"I know the best way to get the sticky stuff off," said Helen Hardway, the +little girl who was giving the party. "Let's put him in the bath tub and +soak it off."</p> + +<p>"Just the very thing!" one of the boys replied. "Wait till I get something +to wrap him in so I won't get all stuck up with the candy."</p> + +<p>On hearing this, Zip began to struggle and squirm, for he had visions of +hot water and soapsuds in his eyes, with each one of the children feeling +it was their duty to give him an extra scrub.</p> + +<p>"Here, you Zip, keep still, or you'll slip out of the apron you're wrapped +in and get my best suit all sticky," called the little boy who held him in +his arms and was carrying him up to the bathroom.</p> + +<p>By squeezing him tightly, the boy managed to get him to the room and was +just about to drop him in the tub from the apron when he discovered that +the apron was sticking to the candy. One of the boys gave it a jerk to +loosen it, but sad to relate, he gave too vigorous a pull and Zip dropped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +from the boy's arms, not into the tub, but at one side and by a mighty +effort he gave himself two rolls which brought him to the head of the +stairs. Another roll sent him tumbling bumpety-bump down the long flight +that led to the kitchen. On the way he hit a hamper of clothes on the +landing, and it joined him and went bumpety-bump, bangety-bang to the +bottom and out into the kitchen, hitting the waitress who was carrying a +tray of glasses filled with fruit lemonade to the little guests in the +parlors who had not joined in the dog hunt.</p> + +<p>The sudden appearance of a hamper apparently on legs coming toward her, +surprised her, but nothing like the queer thing that was rolling about her +feet, and which she could not see for the big tray in her hands. She could +not seem to escape it, and finally she stumbled and fell, sending the +glasses of delicious lemonade flying in all directions.</p> + +<p>Hearing a noise on the back stairs, as if the house was falling, Mrs. +Hardway went to see what the trouble was, and opened the kitchen door just +in time to receive a full glass of lemonade squarely on the chest.</p> + +<p>When the waitress stumbled, she fell on Zip, pinning him under her. In his +roll down the stairs, he had lost some of the candy, so that now his mouth +and nose were free, though he was minus a tooth and several of his long +smeller whiskers. Now he began to howl as if being killed. This brought +more of the guests to the spot, and you would have laughed could you have +seen their faces when first they peered into the kitchen, which looked as +if a cyclone had struck it.</p> + +<p>A few feet from the door was the maid, sitting with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> limbs outspread, too +dazed to move, while from under the corner of her skirt rolled a big, +sticky ball of some kind that howled as it rolled. Beyond him was an +overturned hamper of soiled clothes, with stockings, collars, sheets and +petticoats spilling out of it. At the other end of the room stood Mrs. +Hardway, wiping the lemonade off her dress, while all over the place were +slices of lemon and pieces of fruit and Maraschino cherries. When all the +children came from upstairs, they told Mrs. Hardway how it had all come +about from Zip getting in their candy and their trying to wash it off his +coat.</p> + +<p>As Zip was still in a ball and could not extricate himself, the same boy +who had carried him to the bathroom before, put the apron around him again +and took him back upstairs.</p> + +<p>This time they got him in the tub safely and began to turn the water in. +The tub was slippery, and so was the candy, and as the water crept up to +where Zip was tied, not hand and foot, but worse still, head, nose, ears +and all four legs as well as tail, he howled and howled until one could +have heard him a block away. He was so afraid of being drowned before the +water would soak off the candy and when the children tried to pull it off +it nearly killed him with pain, for it took all the little fine hairs of +his coat with it.</p> + +<p>The window of the bathroom was open and the doctor, coming out on his +front porch to look at the sky before retiring, heard Zip howling +somewhere across the street. He was crying in such a pitiful, frightened +manner that the doctor knew he must be fast somewhere or hurt so he could +not get home. Consequently he hurried across the street to see where his +pet was, with the worried Tabby close at his heels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>The doctor made the circuit of the house and stable yard but could find no +Zip. The howls seemed to come from up in the air somewhere as from the top +of the house, so finally the doctor rapped on the Hardway kitchen door to +ask the maid if Zip had not slipped in the house and gotten up on the +roof. He knocked repeatedly but no one answered. As he still heard Zip +howling and several people were talking all at once, he made bold to open +the door and step in. What he saw you already know. As by this time the +children had started to bathe Zip, the doctor was told to go right +upstairs. When he appeared in the door all the children stopped laughing +and stepped back to give him a chance to see Zip.</p> + +<p>And this is what he saw.</p> + +<p>Just one of Zip's eyes stuck out of a hole where the candy had dropped +off, and his poor little tail stuck out like a handle on the other side of +the ball. That was all that could be seen of Zip at that moment, for in +his numerous rolls, the candy had spread all over him until he was no +longer a dog with legs but just one round ball of molasses candy.</p> + +<p>Seeing the water was fast climbing up to where it would reach Zip's mouth, +and knowing it would drown him, the doctor turned off the spigot. The +children had never thought that the poor dog could not move his head to +keep out of the water. Now the doctor hurriedly took off his coat, rolled +up his sleeves, and in a jiffy had Zip and the molasses ball in his hands +and was holding it so that the water could not get to Zip's head. Then +with one hand he gently threw the water upon the candy until it began to +loosen and fall off. First he released the little dog's head, which had +been bent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> down between his fore legs. As the candy began to loosen and +drop off, first one black ear stood up and then the other, and last the +little legs began to shoot out. All this made the children laugh to see +what appeared to be a big ball of candy develop into a little dog. At last +when Zip was entirely clean and had been wrapped in a big bath towel to +dry, Doctor Elsworth apologized to Helen for his little dog spoiling her +candy pull. But she declared that he had given them more fun than if he +had not come over, and the molasses had cooled and they had had a regular +candy pull.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 182px;"> +<a href="images/illo_65.jpg"><img src="images/illo_65_th.jpg" width="182" height="338" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>But when it came to apologizing to Mrs. Hardway for the mess Zip had +caused in the kitchen, the doctor did not know what to say, he felt so +badly about it. But he could have saved himself all the worry, for Mrs. +Hardway was a sensible woman and knew that accidents will happen, and she +met with the doctor smilingly. Besides, the doctor had been her family +physician for years, and they were all very, very fond of him as well as +of Zip. It was hard to think of the doctor without Zip, as they were +always together. So when the doctor began to apologize, Mrs. Hardway +stopped him short, and told him to drink Zip's health in a glass of +freshly made lemonade, and say no more about it. The doctor, thanking her +from the bottom of his heart, drank not to Zip's health, but to hers, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +thus the exciting evening ended peacefully and everyone was happy, +including Zip, as the doctor gave him all the Maraschino cherries in his +glass, something he dearly loved, though you may think it was a queer +thing for a little dog to like.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip and Peter-Kins Have a Fight</span></p> + + +<p>For several days after the molasses candy episode, Zip stayed at home and +did not go snooking into anybody's back yard. But on the fifth day he felt +he needed a little excitement, so he decided to call at Miss Belinda's, +and see what Peter-Kins and Polly were doing and incidentally get a snap +at Peter-Kins. So about three o'clock in the afternoon when the doctor was +taking a little snooze in the hammock under the big maple, Zip sneaked off +across the gardens and down the side streets to Miss Belinda's.</p> + +<p>When he arrived everything was quiet. Not even a leaf on the trees +stirred, or a chicken crowed. The blinds were all down in the house, which +showed that Miss Belinda was either taking a nap or gone calling. Polly's +cage was nowhere in sight, so she must be indoors, thought Zip. And if +Polly was in the house, Peter-Kins was sure to be also, he reasoned.</p> + +<p>After making a tour of the garden and barnyard, he was about to return +home, when, chancing to raise his eyes to the kitchen window, whom should +he see but Peter-Kins perched on the back of a chair, looking out at him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So—so!" thought Zip. "Miss Belinda has gone out and for fear something +would happen to her pets, she has shut them in the house. Oh, what a +chance for some fun if I only could get in!"</p> + +<p>As he stood gazing at the monkey, Peter-Kins began making faces at him. +You have heard boys call out to one another, "Stop making monkey faces at +me!" haven't you? Well, I guess they get the habit from seeing some monkey +making faces. At any rate, the horrible faces Peter-Kins made at Zip were +enough to drive a boy crazy, much less a little dog with Zip's snappy +disposition, and he barked back, "Just you wait until I get hold of you +again, and I'll not only snip a piece off your tail, but I'll bite the +whole tail right off!"</p> + +<p>At this Peter-Kins ran his tongue out at Zip. Then Zip flew at the door +and barked and scratched as if he would tear the house down.</p> + +<p>Peter-Kins pressed his face close to the window-pane and grinned at him. +Right then the grocery boy came and seeing a little dog barking and +scratching on the door, thought he belonged there and was trying to get +in. So when he opened the door to put the groceries on the kitchen table, +he let Zip in, deposited his parcels on the table and left, shutting the +door after him, regardless of the fact that Polly was screeching, "Help! +Murder! Thieves! Fire!" at the top of her voice, and Peter-Kins was +jumping around wildly at the end of the string with which he was tied to a +chair.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 379px;"> +<a href="images/plate_3.jpg"><img src="images/plate_3_th.jpg" width="379" height="501" alt="THE MONKEY WAS TRYING TO HIT HIM WITH THE EMPTY DIPPER" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">THE MONKEY WAS TRYING TO HIT HIM WITH THE EMPTY DIPPER</span> +</div> + +<p class='right'>(<i>Page <a href="#Page_71">Seventy-One</a></i>)</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<p>Zip sat quietly in the middle of the kitchen floor, enjoying their fright +until the sound of the grocery wagon had died out down the street. Then he +barked, "Ha, ha! I've gotten you now just where I want you, and I am going +to bite your tail clear off! I see you have it done up in a white rag with +witch hazel on it, for I smell the stuff."</p> + +<p>Zip really did not intend to bite his tail off, but only pretended to do +so, giving it a good pinch between his teeth.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 258px;"> +<a href="images/illo_69.jpg"><img src="images/illo_69_th.jpg" width="258" height="323" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>With a shrill scream of fright, the monkey jumped onto the kitchen table +that stood beside his chair, and he pulled so hard that the string broke. +Its giving way so suddenly sent him flying off the table onto the floor, +but he was up in a minute and leaped to the stove. The fire was out, but +the stove was still warm, so he jumped upon the tea kettle. There he +perched, hanging to the handle until Zip, seeing there was no fire in the +stove, jumped on the hearth and from the hearth up on the stove. As Zip +landed there, Peter-Kins ran up the stove pipe, but he kept slipping back, +it was so smooth. From there he leaped to the top of the roller towel, but +horrors! it began to roll up and when he stuck his claws into the towel, +it unwound and took him nearly to the floor. He was afraid to let go and +drop to the floor. Still if he held on, Zip could reach him too. He was +wondering just where he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> could go to escape the dog when Zip jumped off +the stove and grabbed the end of his long tail. Peter-Kins gave a jerk and +tried to run up the towel, leaving his bandage in Zip's mouth. While Zip +was trying to get the cloth out of his mouth, Peter-Kins dropped to the +floor and climbed up on the kitchen table. Seeing a basket of eggs the +grocery boy had left, he began throwing them at Zip, who was having a hard +time getting rid of the bandage, for the more he pulled, the tighter it +wedged itself between his sharp teeth.</p> + +<p>Now Zip was in a pretty fix, for he could not bite with the wad of cotton +in his mouth, neither could he run and jump for in trying to get the +bandage from between his teeth, he had gotten it twisted around his legs +and fast between two of his toes, which made it only possible for him to +walk slowly.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 134px;"> +<a href="images/illo_70.jpg"><img src="images/illo_70_th.jpg" width="134" height="357" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>And all this time Peter-Kins kept pelting him with the eggs, which broke +and ran all over his back and down into his eyes, while Polly shrieked and +cried out all the names she had ever been taught without the least knowing +what they meant. Every time an egg would hit Zip, she would laugh and call +out, "Soak him, Jimmy!"</p> + +<p>Then Zip would glare at her and make as if going for her, which would +cause her to cry out, "Help! Fire! Murder! Thieves! Buttons! Polly want +cup coffee! Naughty boy, spank, spank! Tee-dull, dee-tee-dull-dum! +Catchum!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> Catchum! Crackers, crackers, pretty Polly!" all in a jumble.</p> + +<p>At last Zip managed to get his leg loose and he was working on the plug in +his mouth and not watching Peter-Kins when he had the surprise of his life +by getting a full dipper of water thrown all over him, for the monkey had +dipped it from the pail of water on the table.</p> + +<p>The sudden twist Zip gave his head when the water hit him full force, +loosened the cotton in his mouth, and out it flew. With a bound Zip was +now on the chair, then on the table, snapping and barking, while the +monkey was trying to hit him with the empty dipper, when the kitchen door +unexpectedly opened and in the doorway stood Miss Belinda. Without a +second's thought Zip jumped past her and ran for dear life toward home, +never stopping to look back even once until he was safe in his own +barnyard, standing beside the watering trough preparatory to jumping in +and washing the eggs off his coat.</p> + +<p>Again his encounter with the monkey had been unsatisfactory, and as for +what poor Miss Belinda thought when she saw the mess in her nice clean +kitchen it is beyond words to tell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Zip's Curiosity Is His Undoing</span></p> + + +<p>About a week after Zip's last visit to Miss Belinda's, he was out on one +of his midnight prowls, about which the doctor had scolded him time and +time again. In fact, he had forbidden him to leave the yard at night, +warning him that some day he would be shot while poking around in other +people's back yards, or that he would be poisoned by eating some meat that +had been prepared purposely for stray cats or dogs. But Zip thought he was +smart enough not to get caught, and he did not believe that anyone could +put poison on meat and he not be able to smell it.</p> + +<p>So this night he went with a rat terrier, a friend of his, down into a +poor quarter of the town, where they often went to kill rats, just for the +fun of it and to see who could kill the most.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 267px;"> +<a href="images/illo_78.jpg"><img src="images/illo_78_th.jpg" width="267" height="175" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>To-night there seemed to be no rats in sight, and while nosing around to +get on the track of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> some, Zip smelt meat and soon came upon a small piece +of fresh, juicy beefsteak, which he gobbled down without a thought. As he +swallowed the last bit, he thought he detected a queer taste to it, and +the thought flashed through his mind, "I have been poisoned! I might have +known no one would throw away so good a piece of meat as that without a +purpose. That meat was prepared for some cat, dog or rat to eat and die. +Oh, my! I am beginning to have fearful pains in my stomach now and I feel +myself beginning to swell already! Rats," he called, for that was his +friend's nickname, "I've eaten a piece of meat with rat poison on it, and +I must get home before I swell up so I can't walk at all. If I am able to +get to the doctor, he will help me, I know."</p> + +<p>"I thought you had more sense than to eat a piece of meat, cheese or +anything else you saw lying around in places where they have lots of rats. +You might have known it had rat poison on it!" replied his friend.</p> + +<p>"I know, but I did not think. For mercy's sake, don't scold me when I am +in such awful pain, but help me get home," wailed Zip.</p> + +<p>They made as good headway as they could, though Zip had to roll on the +grass every once in a while to relieve his pain, but he did not dare stop +often for his stomach was swelling so rapidly that he felt it would burst +before he reached his home. At last they reached the doctor's house, but +too late to find the doctor still up. He had gone to bed, so Zip told his +friend to howl as if he was being killed, and the doctor would hear him +and think it was his own dog, and come down to see what was the matter. +The rat terrier howled lustily,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> while Zip dropped down on the door mat +and groaned as loudly as he could. Rats barked, howled, and threw himself +against the front door, making a terrible noise generally.</p> + +<p>Presently the doctor stuck his head out of an upper window and called:</p> + +<p>"Zip, for mercy's sake, shut up! What is the matter with you?"</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 280px;"> +<a href="images/illo_75.jpg"><img src="images/illo_75_th.jpg" width="280" height="337" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>But when in the bright moonlight he saw it was not Zip, but a strange dog +instead, with Zip lying at his feet, and when he heard Zip groan, he +hurriedly stepped into his bathrobe and slippers and came downstairs. Then +he opened the front door, and saw Zip on the mat, all swollen up the size +of two pups. He knew at a glance, of course, that his pet had been +poisoned, so he picked him up tenderly in his arms and carried him up +straight to the bathroom and began pumping out the contents of his +stomach. This done, he heated some milk and made Zip drink a lot of it, as +milk is a very good thing to take when one has been poisoned. Besides, it +was warm and soothing to his poor stomach. Then he rolled him up in a big +blanket shawl and carried him to his own room, where he put him on the +cushion of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> big, cozy rocking-chair, and pulled it up close beside his +bed, where he could watch him the rest of the night and give him medicine +every once in a while.</p> + +<p>"You poor little fellow," said the doctor, "I am awfully sorry you are in +such pain, but I hope it will teach you a lesson to stay at home nights +and not disobey my orders and go gallivanting off into other people's +yards. Why, you are shaking as if you had a chill! Just a second now, and +I will get a hot-water bag and put it on your stomach!"</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 411px;"> +<a href="images/illo_76.jpg"><img src="images/illo_76_th.jpg" width="411" height="191" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, my! Oh, my! I believe I am going to die," wailed Zip to himself. "If +ever I get well I never will disobey the doctor again! He is so good to +me, and I am ashamed to think what a naughty dog I have been. But I do so +love to go snooking around and not stay at home nights like Tabby does. I +never saw such a good cat as Tabby is. She never goes prowling around, +though most cats do. And it isn't because she is not coaxed to go, either, +for nearly every night the neighbors' cats come and try to persuade her to +go with them to somebody's house or barn."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just then the doctor came back with a nice warm hot-water bag, which he +put close against Zip's stomach, and then he wrapped him up snugly in the +shawl once again.</p> + +<p>"There, little fellow, you will be all right in the morning. Go to sleep +now and forget all your trouble. But if you hadn't gotten to me when you +did, you would have been a little angel dog by this time. The poison was +working so fast that I could not have saved you had you come twenty +minutes later. By the way, that is a smart friend you have, and he has +good lungs, I think, by the noise he was making. He must have awakened all +our neighbors. If he is around in the morning, I will give him a good hot +breakfast. I never would have known you were home and sick if he had not +kicked up such a racket, for you were far too ill to make noise enough to +awaken me," and patting Zip on the head, the doctor crawled into his bed +and was soon fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Zip was about to fall into a doze when he heard a noise down on the front +porch. Listening intently, the voices of Tabby and his friend, Rats, came +floating in the window, and he knew by the soft murmur they made that they +were talking in a most friendly manner and not fighting with each other.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that Tabby found Rats, for now he can tell her all that has +happened to me," thought Zip.</p> + +<p>The warm milk and the hot-water bottle were beginning to soothe Zip and +make him feel comfortable, and in fifty winks he was fast asleep and +snoring.</p> + +<p>And so once more Zip's adventures ended happily for him.</p> + +<div class='bbox'> +<p class='center'> +THE BILLY WHISKERS SERIES<br /> +Trade Mark</p></div> + +<p class='center'>By FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY</p> + +<p>The wonderful tale of a wonderful goat. Billy Whiskers is full of pranks +and good fun. He makes hosts of friends wherever he goes. Every child +knows about his adventures told by Mrs. Montgomery in the popular Billy +Whiskers Books.</p> + + +<p><a name="Ads" id="Ads"></a></p> +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><big>TITLES</big></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>1.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>2.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers' Kids</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>3.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>4.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers' Travels</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>5.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers at the Circus</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>6.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers at the Fair</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>7.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers' Friends</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>8.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers, Jr. and his Chums</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>9.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers' Grandchildren</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>10.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers' Vacation</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>11.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers Kidnapped</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>12.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers' Twins</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>13.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers in an Aeroplane</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>14.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers in Town</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>15.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers in Panama</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>16.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers on the Mississippi</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>17.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers at the Exposition</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>18.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers Out West</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>19.</td><td align='left'>Billy Whiskers in the South</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>EACH VOLUME A QUARTO, WITH COVERS, JACKET AND SIX FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS +IN COLORS, SCORES OF TEXT DRAWINGS. BOUND SUBSTANTIALLY IN BOARDS.</p> + +<p class='center'>Per Volume . . . . . . . . . . $1.00</p> +<div class='bbox'> +<p class='center'> +THE<br /> +SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.<br /> +AKRON, OHIO</p></div> + +<div class='trnote'> +<p class='center'>Transcriber's notes:</p> +<p>Page <a href="#Page_64">64</a> Paragraph 1, wrapped corrected to rapped.</p> +<p>Page <a href="#Ads">Advertisements</a> Item 11, Kidnaped corrected to Kidnapped.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox +Terrier, by Frances Trego Montgomery + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZIP, ADVENTURES FRISKY FOX TERRIER *** + +***** This file should be named 24482-h.htm or 24482-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/8/24482/ + +Produced by Irma Spehar, Jason Isbell, Christine D. and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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b/24482-h/images/title_page_th.jpg diff --git a/24482.txt b/24482.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a4ff9f --- /dev/null +++ b/24482.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2207 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier, by +Frances Trego Montgomery + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier + +Author: Frances Trego Montgomery + +Illustrator: Violet Moore Higgins + +Release Date: January 31, 2008 [EBook #24482] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZIP, ADVENTURES FRISKY FOX TERRIER *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar, Jason Isbell, Christine D. and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: AS HE DUG, SPOONS, KNIVES, FORKS AND SUGAR-BOWL LIDS BEGAN +TO FLY OUT + +(_Page Twenty-Seven_)] + + +ZIP + +[Illustration] + + The Adventures + of a + Frisky + Fox Terrier + +by + +Frances Trego Montgomery + +Author of BILLY WHISKERS + + Illustrated by + Violet Moore Higgins + + The Saalfield Publishing Company + Chicago Akron, Ohio New York + + Copyright, 1917 + By The Saalfield Publishing Company + + + This story appeared serially in the + Detroit News Tribune + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I In Which Zip is Introduced to the Reader 9 + + II Zip's Exciting News 17 + + III Zip Unearths the Stolen Silver 25 + + IV Zip's Disastrous Jump 31 + + V Zip is Stuck in the Stovepipe 39 + + VI Zip and Peter-Kins 47 + + VII Zip, Peter-Kins and the Turkey Gobbler 53 + + VIII Zip at the Candy Pull 59 + + IX Zip and Peter-Kins Have a Fight 67 + + X Zip's Curiosity is His Undoing 73 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + As he dug, spoons, knives, forks and sugar-bowl lids + began to fly out Frontispiece + + There, sure enough, were five or six little boys and + girls having a picnic 20 + + Peter-Kins leaped onto a turkey gobbler that was + strutting around the yard all swelled out with pride 50 + + The monkey was trying to hit him with the empty dipper 68 + + +ZIP + +or + +The Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN WHICH ZIP IS INTRODUCED TO THE READER + +[Illustration] + +Zip belongs to Dr. Elsworth, who lives in the big, white house with the +green blinds on the edge of the village of Maplewood. And at the present +minute he is asleep on the front porch on a soft cushion in an +old-fashioned rocking-chair that is swaying gently to and fro, dreaming of +the days when he was a puppy chasing the white spot on the end of his +tail, thinking it was something following him. And how he would bark at it +and run around and around after it until he was so dizzy he would fall +over! Then when the ground stopped spinning round, he would get up and go +after it again, barking all the time for it to stop following him. Silly +little puppy that he was, not to know it was his own tail he was chasing! +Often he would bark so loudly in his sleep that it would awaken him, but +he would soon fall asleep again and go on dreaming. Sometimes he would be +chasing cows, holding on to their long tails; at others, squawking, +cackling chickens or anything else that happened to be in the road. + +One day when thus dreaming, he was just about to pull a mouthful of tail +feathers out of Parson Higgins' pet rooster when the latch on the front +gate clicked. Zip was awake in a minute, sitting up on the cushion with +ears sticking straight up and every nerve alert to see who was coming in +the doctor's yard. + +[Illustration] + +The first look showed him a ragged tramp with battered hat, unshaven face +and a bundle of clothes tied up in a dirty, faded red handkerchief strung +on a cane over his shoulder. That one look was enough, for if there was +one thing Zip despised and detested more than any other, it was a tramp. +And for this one to dare to try to come in the front gate--the gate he +never allowed anyone to enter unless they were well dressed--was more than +he could stand, and he flew at the fellow as if he were the size of a lion +and was going to devour him on the spot. + +As for the tramp, he hated dogs as much as they hated him. It had been his +experience that little dogs had just as sharp teeth as big ones and were +much harder to drive off, as they were so quick they could get around and +snap a piece out of one's shins before one could help himself. So when he +saw Zip bound off the chair and come running toward him with bristles +raised and teeth showing, he slammed the gate and started off down the +road. + +But here he did a silly thing. Instead of going off about his business, he +stooped, picked up a stone and threw it at Zip, hitting him squarely on +the side and hurting him dreadfully, as the stone was large and sharp. +This was too much. He, Zip, would have a piece of that tramp's leg or he +would know the reason why! The tramp thought he was safe in hitting the +dog as the gate was shut and the fence high. But whoever yet has succeeded +in shutting a little dog in a yard by a high fence? Not many people, I am +sure, for the dog will always find a hole to crawl through or a pale off +where he can squeeze through, or, not finding these, he will dig a hole +under the fence. And this is what Zip had done many weeks before, for he +found it necessary to have some place he could get through in a hurry to +go after the school children who delighted in teasing him. So now quick as +a flash he ran for this hole, which was well hidden by a big lilac bush, +and before the tramp even knew he was coming, Zip was through the hole and +had his little, sharp teeth buried in his shin. With a cry of surprise and +pain, the tramp turned to see what had hurt him. When he saw the little +dog, he raised his cane to strike him, but as it came down Zip let go his +hold and grabbed the bundle that was on the end of the cane and made off +with it. This infuriated the tramp and he hobbled after Zip, calling him +all sorts of bad names as he came. This Zip did not mind in the least, but +kept right on dragging the bundle along with him as he ran down the road. + +Now this bundle was round and heavy, and hard for such a small dog to +carry, and it kept tripping him up and rolling him over. But he hung on +with the tenacity of a bulldog until he saw the tramp was going to +overtake him. Then he decided not to try to carry it to the hole in the +fence, but to jump the ditch and drop it in the frog pond. The tramp was +almost upon him now and had his cane raised to hit him, but when it came +down, it hit the earth, not the dog, for just at that moment Zip had made +a flying leap over the ditch, taking the bundle with him. + +Once there, he dragged it along or held it up off the ground by stretching +his neck up high until he came to the edge of the frog pond. Then he let +go and watched it disappear under the water. + +[Illustration] + +By this time the tramp was simply furious and was threatening to catch and +kill him, while all the time the saucy little dog barked back, "Better +catch me before you kill me!" + +Splash! went a big stone in the water, and if it had hit Zip, it +certainly would have killed him as it was so big, but he jumped aside just +in time. Then what did this mischievous, daring little dog do but stand +perfectly still and watch the tramp come after him, wading through the +tall, wet marsh grass, stumbling as he came. He was within five feet of +Zip and was just thinking, "One more step and I can reach him!" when the +long tangle grass caught one foot and threw him face down in the soft, +oozy mud. + +Zip barked a bark that sounded more like a laugh than a bark, making the +tramp more determined than ever to kill him, even if he had to fall forty +times before he caught him. + +Had the tramp stopped to think, he might have known that the dog was going +to play some trick on him, for who ever heard of a dog standing still +while a man with a big, heavy cane was bearing down on him to brain him? +But the tramp was far too angry to reason. All he thought of was to kill +the dog that had bitten him and then ran off with his clothes. He picked +himself up as best he could, and made a spring at Zip, bringing his cane +down at the same time. But as before, when the cane came down there was no +dog under it. Zip had jumped into the frog pond and was quietly swimming +to the opposite shore. + +When he saw this the tramp tore his hair with rage, threw clods of mud at +him and fairly yelled with fury, while Zip walked out of the water as if +no one were near, shook himself dry and trotted off home down the other +side of the pond, leaving the tramp lying on his stomach trying to fish +his bundle of clothes out of the water. + +Suddenly Zip stopped short, pricked up his ears and listened. Yes, he was +right! He had heard the doctor's low, peculiar, penetrating whistle. That +meant he was about to start on his rounds to see his patients. He never +went without Zip sitting up on the seat beside him in his old-fashioned +buggy. + +Zip loved these daily trips, for he was a most active, nervous, curious, +little dog, and always wanted to know what was going on throughout the +village, and these rides gave him a splendid opportunity to find out. +While the doctor was in visiting his patients, Zip would jump out of the +buggy and go around to the back of the house to call on the family's cat +or dog, whichever it happened to be. And though you may not know it, these +animals in every household know what is going on in the home from garret +to cellar, as well as all the family secrets and neighborhood gossip. So +you see Zip was a regular news-gatherer, and he not only gathered the news +in that way, but he spread it as he went along with the doctor from house +to house, so that anyone hearing Zip talk did not need to read the +newspaper to find out all the village gossip. He knew of all the births, +weddings and funerals as well as the lovers' quarrels long before anyone +else, for generally he was on the spot when they happened. Neither did he +mind listening when he saw two young people of the opposite sex strolling +down some shady lane, or hanging over a garden gate. And like all gossips, +he was never happy until he had told someone all the latest news he had +gathered. + +The one to whom he enjoyed telling things the most was the big, yellow cat +that lived at the doctor's and was the special pet of the cook. The cat's +name was Tabby, and she was a big, comfortable, good-natured cat who +stayed at home and minded her own business. She was also a good listener, +which Zip considered one of her best qualities. Like all talkative people, +he would rather do the talking and have someone else do the listening. +Consequently Tabby just suited him. After he had come back with the doctor +from making his last call for the day, Zip and Tabby would curl up on the +front porch or on a garden seat and he would talk away into the night or +until time for him to make the rounds of the place. This as a watch dog he +felt it his duty to do once or twice during the night, while Tabby went to +the barn to catch mice. + +[Illustration] + +His especial bit of gossip this night was that two storks had brought +twins to Mrs. Brown's home the night before and that the sudden surprise +of two babies coming to her house in the middle of the night had made her +ill and she had taken to her bed and called the doctor. + +"Just like Mrs. Brown to do a thing like that--throw up her hands and give +up instead of hustling around heating some milk for the poor little things +who must have been hungry after their long journey down from the clouds," +sputtered Zip. + +To which sage remark Tabby assented. + +Another bit of news was that the ladies of the Episcopal Church were +going to give a strawberry festival in the Sunday School rooms on +Wednesday evening, and all were cordially invited to attend and to bring +their friends. Admission, twenty-five cents each. + +"This will be nice for us," remarked Zip, "for while Martha is away, we +can steal into the milk cellar and lick the cream off the pans. Of course +in the morning she will wonder why old Bess, the red cow, did not give as +rich milk as usual. But she will think that the chore boy did not feed her +enough bran, for she would never suspect Tabby, her pet, of doing such a +mean thing!" + +And of her own accord, Tabby never would, had not Zip put her up to it. + +The next was that Sophie Hooper and James Steadman were going to be +married at last. And he was glad of it, for one, for he had seen them +courting on the little bridge that crossed the creek in the valley for the +last year! + +Another was that Mr. Stubbins had a new dog, a red setter hunting dog, +which he believed he was going to hate as it had barked at him from its +kennel when he ran around the house to see their white cat and pass the +time of day with her while the doctor was making a call across the street. + +"And really, Tabby, from the way that dog barked and pulled on his chain, +I am sure he would have eaten me up could he have gotten at me! But just +wait until he finds who I am, and I guess he will quiet down!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ZIP'S EXCITING NEWS + + +"Why, Zip Elsworth! Where in the world have you been? You look all fagged +out and you are spattered with mud from head to foot! The doctor has been +whistling for you for half an hour, and I just heard him tell Martha to +save you a good dinner for you would be mighty hungry when you came in, as +you would have to come a good ten miles if you got left at the last place +he called, for it was away over at Mapleville. He said he never noticed +you were not in the buggy until he was nearly home, and then he thought +you must be running on behind, as you sometimes do so you can chase +chickens, dogs and cows that are in the road, just for the fun of it." + +"Tabby, don't talk to me until I have had a drink. I don't want anything +to eat. I am too excited to taste a morsel and it would stick in my throat +if I tried to swallow it." + +"Gracious, goodness, me! It must be something awful if it excites you this +way, for you generally love excitement and it doesn't tire you a bit." + +"Come with me until I get a drink and take a swim in the watering trough +to get off this mud, and then I will tell you my news. And be prepared for +a big surprise." + +"Land sakes!" exclaimed Tabby. "Who has gone and hung himself to the +rafters of his barn? Or has someone's house burned down with them in it?" + +"No, it is neither of those things, and you might as well stop guessing +and prepare to listen to what I tell you, for you will never know it +otherwise, as I am the only one in the whole village who knows all the ins +and outs of the thing." + +While they were talking, Zip was running from one end of the watering +trough to the other, trying to wash the mud off his white coat. Tabby +thought he never _would_ get clean, he stayed in so long, and she was +nearly bursting with curiosity to hear what he had to tell. + +At last he was through and, jumping out and giving himself a good shake, +they sought a sunny spot in the back garden where they would not be +disturbed, and Zip began his story. + +[Illustration] + +"In the first place, have you heard the doctor or anyone else talking +about the burglars that got in Judge Perkins' house last night, and stole +all the silver knives, forks, spoons and other things they could lay their +hands on, besides eating up the pies and the cold chicken that were on the +pantry shelf?" + +"Oh, do tell me about it! I'm all excitement! I just _love_ to hear about +burglars! It is so exciting it makes me feel all creepy! Just like I make +the mice feel when they smell me sitting outside their holes waiting for +them to come out so I may pounce upon them. Begin and tell me all about +it! Don't leave a thing out that you know. I want it all! How many were +there? How did they get in? What did they take, and have they been +caught?" + +"Go slow, Tabby! One question at a time, if you please. And now if you +will keep still, I'll tell you all I know from the very beginning. Do you +remember my telling you about a tramp I bit the other day--the one whose +bundle of clothes I dropped in the frog pond?" + +"Oh, bother the tramp! Who wants to hear about him now? I only want to +hear of the burglars," replied impatient Tabby. + +"Well, I have to tell you about this tramp to tell you the story, and if +you don't keep still and listen, I won't tell it at all." + +And Tabby, knowing he would keep his word, curled her tail more tightly +around her legs and sat up stiffly, prepared to listen. + +"To begin at the beginning," said Zip, "when the doctor and I got up town +this morning, he went into the drug store to get some medicines, and I +followed. When we were inside we heard a lot of excited men talking about +the burglars who had gotten in Judge Perkins' house and made off with the +silver without being caught. The Judge was in the midst of them, telling +all he knew, so I listened and got the news first-hand. And this is what +he said. + +"His wife awoke and thought she heard someone moving around downstairs. +Then she wakened the Judge and they both listened. Yes, there surely was +someone moving cautiously around under them, in the dining-room! Next they +heard whoever it was move to the hall door and begin to mount the stairs. +As the Judge had no fire-arms, he said he picked up a chair and tiptoed to +the head of the stairs, intending to bring it down on the burglar's head +when he came within hitting distance. The hall was as black as your hat +and he could hear nothing now but his wife's frightened whispers, begging +him to come back or the burglar would kill him. Then he heard the +burglar's soft step on the stairs. He had reached the first landing, for +the Judge could tell by the sound of his steps just where he must be. Then +a loud howl rent the air. The burglar had stepped on their pet cat, who +always sleeps on the stair landing! + +"This surprised the burglar so that he stepped back, lost his balance and +fell bumpety-bump to the bottom. The Judge rushed back into the bedroom, +lit a candle and, holding it high over his head, hurried down the stairs. +His wife followed behind with a big umbrella clasped in her hand, while +the Judge was armed with a big, black briarwood cane with a silver knob on +the end. And the Judge said that if he ever got a crack at that burglar +with that cane it would split his head open. When they reached the +dining-room, they heard the burglar stumbling down the cellar stairs. They +followed him, but were too late, for as they reached the foot of the +stairs the burglar was just climbing out of a window, the way he had +gotten in, propping it open with an old cane that had a bundle of clothes +tied on the end of it, all done up in a dirty, red handkerchief. + +[Illustration: THERE, SURE ENOUGH, WERE FIVE OR SIX LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS +HAVING A PICNIC + +(_Page Thirty-Four_)] + +"The minute the Judge got to this part of his story, I left, for at the +mention of the bundle done up in a dirty, red handkerchief on the end of a +cane, I thought of the tramp I had bitten yesterday. I felt sure it was he +that was the burglar. So I determined not to lose any time, but to go over +there and nose around and see if I could not track him by the scent of his +footsteps, even if I should not be fortunate enough to get a smell at the +bundle he had left behind, for I should know the dirty smell of that man's +shins and his old bundle anywhere." + +"And is that where you have been, chasing that tramp? Did you find him?" +asked Tabby. + +"Tabby, will you keep still and stop asking questions? You throw me all +off my story! If you will only keep quiet and let me stop long enough to +get my breath, I'll tell you all. But mind, it is going to be in my own +way!" + +"Very well, then; I will keep still, but I am so excited, I feel I _must_ +ask a question now and then or blow up!" + +So once again Tabby wrapped her tail tightly around her legs to keep from +tapping the end of it in her nervousness. And Zip proceeded with his +story. + +"Well, when I got out of the drug store, I ran just as fast as I could to +Judge Perkins' house across lots, through mud puddles and down lanes." + +"And you looked it when you got here!" broke in Tabby. + +To which remark Zip paid no attention, but went right on with his story. + +"When I reached the Judge's, I made straight for the cellar window, +hoping to find the cane with the bundle of clothes still on it propping up +the window. + +"Was it there? Was it there?" interrupted Tabby. + +[Illustration] + +"Yes, it was there, and I went up and smelt of it and no mistaking the +odor, it was the same dirty bundle I had dropped in the frog pond! I paid +no more attention to it, but began to look for footprints and smell around +on the ground by the window. Just as I thought, it was the same tramp! I +started on his scent, which was easy to follow, as his feet were big and +the scent strong. They led me down through the garden, past the barn and +into a thick clump of trees by the stone wall at the end of the Judge's +place. Here the fellow had stopped, dug a hole and buried the silver! He +had done it hurriedly and with his hands, for I could see finger marks on +the ground and the handle of one spoon sticking out. I waited for no more, +but ran along the wall trying to find a place to get through, but I could +not until I reached the gate. Then I crawled under and then ran back to +where the tramp had climbed the wall and dropped down on the other side. +Here I picked up his trail again and followed it to the railroad track +where the freight trains stand on a siding. I lost it here, so I think he +must have jumped on a freight and escaped that way. Now what do you think +of that for a story?" + +"I think you are a very clever dog. But isn't it too bad that they will +never find their silver and there it will be all the time buried in their +own back yard!" + +"Of course they will find it!" exclaimed Zip. + +"I would like to know how! For they won't be digging in that part of the +garden." + +"Well, they just will, for I am going to lead them to it!" Zip said. + +"How are you going to do that when you can't talk, I should like to know?" + +"No, I can't talk, but I can bark and make such a fuss that they will +follow me to the place and then I will scratch around and reveal the +silver." + +"My, but I should like to be there and see their faces when the first +spoon comes flying out of the earth when you scratch!" + +"You can be. I will tell you when I am going and you may go ahead and be +sitting on the fence when I bring them to the spot." + +"You are a dear, Zip! And I'll give you all the meat they give me for +dinner for three days!" + +"All right; it's a bargain." + +"When are you going?" + +"Right away, for I want to be there when the Judge gets home. Come ahead +and let's start!" + +And five minutes later you could have seen a little, spotted dog and a +big, yellow cat running side by side across lots and down lanes in the +direction of Judge Perkins' home. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ZIP UNEARTHS THE STOLEN SILVER + + +"Listen, Tabby! I hear the sound of wheels and of horses' feet on the +road," and stopping to look and listen, Zip spied the Judge's fat, white +horse trotting down the road toward home. And he also recognized the +village constable sitting beside the Judge. + +"See, Tabby, he has brought the constable along with him to help get a +clue to the burglar. Let us hurry along and we can get there first by +going across lots." + +This they did, so when the Judge arrived home and went to show the +constable the window where the burglar got in, he found Zip sitting +demurely beside it. + +"Hello, Zip! What are you doing here?" he asked. + +You may think it strange the Judge knew Zip's name, but not so in a little +village. Generally everyone knows the name of all the dogs and cats and +call them by name when they chance to meet them in any unlooked-for place, +as now. + +"Did you hear them talking of my burglar in town and come to see for +yourself where he got in?" asked the Judge. + +Zip stopped the Judge's questions by jumping up and down on the window +sill, smelling the bundle of clothes, jumping up and down, nosing around +the tracks and then running with nose to the ground, barking as he went. + +"What in the dickens does the dog mean by such behavior?" said the Judge. + +"Looks as if he were following the scent of some person," replied the +constable. + +"Perhaps he is!" from the Judge. + +"See, he is jumping upon the stone wall as if trying to get over it." + +"That would appear as if the person whose track he is on had climbed the +wall at that point." + +Here Zip came back with head up. + +"Well, what do you want, Zip?" asked the Judge, for Zip had caught his +trouser leg in his teeth and was trying to pull him after him. + +[Illustration] + +"I think he is trying to tell us to follow him," said the constable. + +At this Zip let go the Judge's trousers, jumped up and down on the +constable as much as to say, "That is just what I mean!" and then darted +off down the path again. Seeing the men did not follow him, he came back +and jumped up and down on the Judge and then ran down the path once more. + +"Surely that is what he wants," agreed the Judge, and so the two walked +just behind, following the dog until he stopped and began to scratch the +dirt away from the roots of a clump of trees. And as he dug spoons, +knives, forks and sugar-bowl lids began to fly out from under his feet. +When a big tablespoon landed at the Judge's feet, he exclaimed, "By all +that is wonderful, see this spoon! That dog has discovered where the +burglar hid my silver. Pretty clever work for a little dog!" + +"One would think he was a police dog and had been trained to hunt down +thieves," said the constable. + +"Well, Zip, you shall have a silver collar for this, made out of one of my +solid silver spoons," promised the Judge, as the men went to the hole Zip +was digging and helped push away the earth. Soon they counted the pieces, +and found they had recovered all that had been missing. + +"Hello!" exclaimed the constable. "Whose cat are you? I never saw such a +large cat in my life!" + +"Where is any cat?" asked the Judge. + +"Up there on the wall," replied the constable, pointing his finger at +Tabby, who was quietly sitting on top of the wall enjoying the unearthing +of the stolen property. + +"Oh, that is Zip's playfellow! I have often seen them playing together +when I have been at the doctor's," said the Judge. + +"Just like a smart dog to select a cat as a chum instead of another dog. +And I tell you what, I should like to own that dog myself, but I suppose +the doctor would not sell him at any price." + +"I should say not!" replied the Judge. "That little dog has been his +constant companion for three years when visiting his patients. Be the day +ever so hot or cold, it is never too hot, never too cold for Zip to go +along. In winter he sits up beside the doctor wrapped to the chin in a +big, warm robe, and in summer in a light one to keep the flies from biting +him. + +"Here comes my wife down the garden path. She must have heard us drive in +and our not coming to the house has aroused her curiosity and now she's +coming to see what we are doing. Won't she be surprised and delighted when +she sees we have found her silver?" + +And she surely was, but even more surprised at the way they had found it +than at the discovery. She looked around to pet Zip and take him to the +house and give him some cake and milk, of which he was very fond, but he +and Tabby had both disappeared. + +[Illustration] + +The next day it all came out in the Maplewood daily paper, telling how +Zip, Dr. Elsworth's little fox terrier, had tracked the burglar to the +spot where he had buried his booty, and that they had recovered it all, +not losing so much as a spoon. It also recounted how the Judge had ordered +the jeweler to make a solid silver collar for Zip with his name engraved +on it and what he had done to deserve this honor. + +When Zip and Tabby came trotting up the front path on their return from +the Judge's, the doctor was sitting on his front porch, reading the +afternoon paper. On seeing Zip, he put it down and exclaimed, + +"Well, you rascal, where have you been all this time? And what do you mean +by making me take all my rides alone? You look all draggled and dirty and +as if you had been in mischief. Perhaps you have been getting Tabby into +mischief too, for I see she is with you." + +"So you think he has been in mischief, do you?" mewed Tabby in a cross +voice, and she avoided his hand when he attempted to stroke her. She +thought to herself, "The doctor will feel badly when he reads in +tomorrow's paper that Zip, instead of being in mischief, has made himself +the hero of the town." + +But Zip did not mind. He knew his looks and behavior were against him, but +that on the morrow all would be explained and the doctor would be as proud +as Punch of him. So he quietly trotted around the corner of the house and +went for a swim in the horse trough. + +The next day when the doctor drove into town with Zip by his side, +everyone wanted to pet him and talk about how clever a dog he had been. +And they gave him so much candy, cakes and sweets that he had a high fever +the next day. However, he went with the doctor just the same, only instead +of running around visiting all the dogs and cats he knew wherever the +doctor stopped, he just lay still on the seat and slept. + +At last the doctor noticed and said, "Zip, I believe you feel sick today, +you are so quiet. Let me feel your nose!" + +This is what a doctor does for a dog, just as he feels the pulse in a +person. If the nose is hot, the dog is sick; if it is cold, he is all +right. + +Being a homeopathic physician, Dr. Elsworth opened his case and gave Zip +three little sugar pills, or so Zip thought, but they had medicine inside +of them, and he swallowed them just as if he had been a sick little boy. +Inside of two or three hours he felt better and before he went to bed that +night the doctor gave him another dose, so when Zip awoke the next day, he +was feeling as frisky as ever. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ZIP'S DISASTROUS JUMP + + +As the doctor's buggy came to a standstill before Mrs. Mason's house, Zip +smelt the delicious spicy odor of freshly baked gingersnaps wafted to his +nostrils around the corner of the house from the kitchen. + +Knowing Mrs. Mason's cook, Diana, to be considered the best cake and +cookie maker in the whole village of Maplewood, he decided to run to the +rear of the house and see if she would not give him one. Failing in this, +he determined to steal one if he could get it in no other way. So he +cautiously crept up the back kitchen steps so he could peek in the open +door to see if Diana was alone, but just as he reached the top step he had +a surprise, for the Mason's big, spotted cat was curled up asleep under +the window. She smelt dog, opened her eyes and without a moment's +hesitation bounded on his back. She hated dogs worse than rats, and being +nearly the size of Zip, and having long, sharp claws, she was not an enemy +to be sneezed at. Consequently it was either fight and arouse the +household and so lose his chance of a gingersnap, or get out of her way. +He decided on the latter. Seeing a kitchen window open, he gave one bound +and jumped through. But, horrors, what had he landed on? Not the kitchen +floor, as he thought he would, but on something soft and squashy. Not a +pillow either, for it was all soft and gooey, and he was sinking into the +soft, white stuff deeper and deeper every second! He tried to jump out, +but could not. The stuff was spongy and sticky and clingy, and he had now +sunk deep into it up to his stomach. + +"What ever shall I do?" he thought to himself, when horrors! the kitchen +door opened and Diana, a big, fat darky with a red and yellow spotted +turban on her head appeared in the doorway. + +[Illustration] + +On seeing a little head looking at her from the pan of dough, she threw up +her hands in fright, turned and fled down the hall, calling, "Mis' Mason! +Mis' Mason! Come heah quick! Someone done gone and left a little niggah +baby in my bread dough!" + +As she ran through the hall, Zip made an extra effort to jump out, but +instead of doing so, he upset the pan off the chair, and dog and dough +rolled on the kitchen floor together. Shaking off as much of it as he +could, Zip raced out the door, leaving a trail of dough behind him. He did +not dare get in the doctor's buggy in that mess, so he crawled under the +garden fence and ran down to the river, where he might wash himself off +before going home. + +When the Mason cat saw him disappear under the garden fence, she went into +the kitchen to see what he had done to make all the noise he had just +before he ran out all covered with the white stuff. As she stood by the +pan smelling the dough to discover what it was, Diana and Mrs. Mason came +hurrying into the room. Not seeing anyone there but their cat, who was +standing right beside the dough, they of course thought it was she that +had caused all this trouble. So Diana grabbed up a broom and would have +pounded her to a jelly in her anger at spoiling all her nice bread dough, +but pussy was too quick for her. She saw what was coming and flew out the +door and hid under the currant bushes in the garden, from which place she +could hear Diana scolding and talking to herself as she cleaned up the +mess. + +"I do declar' to goodness, I done goan to kill dat cat some of these days. +Just wait till I ketch her, I'll tie a peppah box to her tail!" + +"Hark!" said the cat. "I wonder who is giving that long, penetrating +whistle. Oh, I know now whose dog that was! It was Zip, Doctor Elsworth's +pet fox terrier that everyone thinks so smart and that everyone is talking +about in the village these last few days because he found the silver the +burglar had stolen from the Judge. If I had known it was he, I would not +have pounced on him, but I was only half awake when I saw a dog trying to +sneak into our kitchen. It is a law with me to jump on every dog I see +before he has time to pounce on me. Now I am awfully sorry about this, +for I have been wanting to meet Zip for ever so long, as I think I am the +only cat in town who doesn't know him." + +When Zip was nearly to the river he heard the voices of children playing +on the bank. So he crept carefully forward under the bushes until he came +to a place where he could peer through. There, sure enough, were five or +six little boys and girls having a picnic. Some were in wading, skirts and +trousers rolled up above the knees, while others were just spreading out a +tablecloth on the mossy bank preparatory to setting their table for +luncheon. + +While Zip was looking, one little girl took out of her basket some +delicious looking fried chicken, and as she piled the nicely browned +pieces on a plate, she put the breasts on top to make it look more +tempting. It made Zip's mouth water so for a taste that he decided to keep +well hidden and see if they would not leave the table for a moment so he +might jump out and steal a piece. As he waited another little girl lifted +out of her basket some nut cookies and big, thick slices of angel cake, +while a third arranged some stuffed eggs and big dill pickles. + +Now all these things Zip adored with the exception of the pickles, so he +lay down with nose stretched out in their direction as far as he could +without being seen, that he might at least smell the goodies while he +waited. But as he waited the bread dough on his back dried and hardened +and made his coat stick up in all sorts of queer shapes, though he never +once thought of it. _He_ was too much occupied deciding just which piece +of chicken he would take when he had the chance, and he was too delighted +to move when one of the boys began chasing all the others with his cup +full of water. And before he knew it, the boys trying to escape ran +straight into the bushes where Zip lay concealed and nearly stepped on +him. + +One boy looked down, caught sight of a queer looking animal with bright +eyes and funny hair that stuck up all over him. He gave one scream and +jumped back just in time to get the full cup of water in his face. But he +cared not. He just turned and fled, screaming, "A porcupine! A porcupine! +Look out or he will fill you full of quills!" + +This alarm made the girls jump up and run from their table of goodies in a +panic. + +The lad who had thrown the water thought the other boy was merely fooling +when he peered into the bushes and said he saw a white porcupine and fled. + +Now was Zip's chance. Not waiting for them to get out of sight, he boldly +rushed out and helped himself to the biggest piece of chicken he saw and +gulped it down in his haste to get another piece and to steal some cake +before the children should recover from their fright and return. + +As they ran, one little girl turned around to see if the porcupine was +chasing them. What she saw was some animal eating up their goodies, and +she began to cry, for she was terribly hungry and had been thinking of all +the good things they had to eat when lo! it was snatched out of their +mouths, one might say, for their fright had come so suddenly. + +One of the larger boys stopped running and looked back, and as he had once +seen a porcupine, he knew this animal now eating their luncheon had too +long legs and his nose was too thin to be a porcupine. Having gotten over +his first panic, and being very hungry, his courage began to come back, +and he called, + +"Here, let's stop running away and go back and kill that animal, whatever +it is! It won't eat us. It is too small!" + +So like frightened sheep, when their leader stopped, the children all +halted. "Get long sticks," he commanded, "and we'll drive him away." + +[Illustration] + +This was easily done, for there were lots of long, strong sticks about, +and each child got one. Armed with these, they came running back as +bravely as they had cowardly run away, all howling like Comanche Indians +on the warpath. + +Seeing this, Zip grabbed a leg of chicken in his mouth and, running to the +river, jumped in and swam to the opposite shore, where he soon disappeared +in the thick underbrush. + +Once in his safe retreat, he lay down and devoured his bone, then got up +and looked at himself. He was a sorry sight, for the quick swim across the +creek had not washed the dough off, but had merely softened it and now he +was a sticky mass from head to foot. + +"Whatever shall I do to get this stuff off?" he said to himself. "I'll try +rolling in the mud," which he did. But alas! it was not successful. It +only turned the dough black and made it stick all the tighter. + +"I see where I shall have to go stand in some water and let it soak off. +Guess I'll go home and get Tabby to come and talk to me while I am in the +trough, for it is stupid being all alone." So he trotted on home, taking +good care not to let anyone see him. And when he reached home, he hid +under the big leaves of the rhubarb plants in the garden just the other +side of the fence from the watering trough. Here he stayed until the +doctor had driven off on his afternoon round of visits to his patients, +and everyone else on the place was taking a nap. Then he barked three +quick, snappy barks for Tabby, but she did not come. He barked again. +Still she did not appear, and he was standing with drooping ears and tail +between his legs in a most dejected manner when he was aroused by Tabby +saying, + +"Why, Zip Elsworth! Where in the world have you been? You are as dirty as +a pig, I do declare, and your hair is all sticking up like a porcupine's +quills." + +At the word porcupine, Zip braced up and said, "Never mind about my looks! +If you will sit on the edge of the watering trough while I soak this stuff +off, I'll tell you how I got in this mess." + +So Tabby obediently jumped up on a board at one end and fixed herself +comfortably to hear of Zip's adventure. + +"But first I want to tell you that the doctor is very much displeased with +you," said Tabby. "I heard him tell Martha, the housekeeper, that he did +not know what had gotten into you lately, that you were never around to go +with him any more, and if you were here, that you disappeared somewhere on +the trip and he had to come back without you. He also said that unless you +were around more, he was going to take me." + +"He didn't say anything of the kind, I know." + +"Indeed he did! Ask Martha!" retorted Tabby. + +"You are safe in saying that, for you know I _can't_ ask Martha." + +"Well, he did, whether you believe me or not!" + +"I shan't give him the chance, for from today I shall be on hand to go +with him, and, what is more, I will stay with him and come back when he +does. I shall cut my visits short until he forgets all about my neglecting +him. Well, do you want to hear what I have been up to or not?" + +"I certainly do! Go ahead. I'm all ears," so while Zip walked up and down +in the trough to get clean, Tabby sat curled up on the board at the end, +purring contentedly as she listened to Zip's account of his morning's +doings. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ZIP IS STUCK IN THE STOVEPIPE + + +The next day at noon, when Zip came home with the doctor from making his +morning visits to his patients, he was surprised to see all the furniture +moved out into the side yard. At first he thought there must have been a +fire, but when he saw Martha with a towel wrapped around her head, and +Mrs. Huggins, the scrub-woman of the village, trying to squeeze a wide +table through a narrow door, while Noah, their half-witted chore-boy, was +beating carpets on the lawn, he knew it was spring house-cleaning. + +This the doctor vowed was worse than a fire and as bad as a moving, for +Martha never would do one room at a time, but must upset the whole house +at once and dump everything outdoors. And from the time the furniture was +moved out until it went back, all one could smell or see in the house was +soapsuds and bare, wet floors. If one wished to sit down, they had to +retire to the yard, and repose on a pile of carpets. If they wished to +eat, they had to do so off the kitchen table on the side porch. If they +wanted to dress, their clothes were in the yard, under chairs, pictures +and bedding, and the task was so trying that finally one did not want to +change so much as a collar. + +The doctor always groaned when he got the first glimpse of housecleaning, +and gave a sigh of relief when it was over. This was one time when he made +longer calls on his patients and idled his time away at the drug store. + +As for Martha, she went around with a frown on her face, and with a +nervous, jerky manner, all the while talking of the terrible amount of +hard work there was to do, and grumbling that she had never seen such a +dirty house in all her life. But down in her heart she enjoyed it, for she +liked nothing better than to scrub and clean. As for the dirty house, a +fly would have slipped and broken its neck, the rooms were so clean from +cellar to garret, there being only the doctor to keep house for, and no +children to clutter up things. But just the same, on the first of May and +first of September the house had to be upset from top to bottom and +cleaned thoroughly, for Martha was born in New England and lived up to the +rules of house-keeping she had learned in her girlhood. + +As for Zip, he loved it for it gave him such a chance to nose into +everything. And you can rest assured he did it. There was not a bandbox of +any kind that he did not push the lid off with his nose and look into it, +or a bag of any kind that he did not smell and smell until he discovered +what was in it. He got under everyone's feet and nearly tripped them when +their arms were full of things and they could not see where they were +stepping. He was kicked by Noah, hit with the mop by Martha and had the +scrubbing brush thrown at him by the scrub-woman. But these things did not +disconcert him in the least. They only added to the excitement. + +As for Tabby, she hated it as much as the doctor did, and generally took +advantage of these times to go to visit her cousin who lived across the +fields a mile and a half away. + +[Illustration] + +Zip had just come from the watering trough where he had been trying to get +the dirt and cobwebs off his coat which he had gotten on under the eaves +in the attic, and was up on a table nosing around when he thought he smelt +mice in a bandbox. He cocked his head to listen and, sure enough, he heard +the mice moving around inside. So he cautiously tried to open the lid. It +fitted loosely, so slipped off easily, and Zip peered in. What he saw made +him smile at the horror it was going to give Martha when she discovered +it. There in the crown of her best winter bonnet was a mouse nest, with +three tiny little mice in it, and the father and mother scampering around. + +At the sight of Zip, the old mice ran for the hole they had gnawed in the +side of the box, and tried to escape, but Zip saw them and gave chase. +They jumped from the table and tried to hide under a sofa. But Zip was on +their track and under he crawled after them. Then they dodged in and out +of some boxes and at last jumped into a cracker box, thinking to hide +safely under the crackers. But Zip soon scratched the layer of crackers +off and again they had to run. + +[Illustration] + +This time they saw a nice big, black hole and into it they scampered, +thinking it too small a place for Zip to follow, but they did not know +Zip. The hole was black enough inside and out to suit anyone, for it was +nothing more or less than a long piece of stovepipe from the kitchen stove +which had been put there for Noah to clean out the soot when he was +through beating the carpets. It was a pretty tight squeeze for Zip, but he +never thought of that until he had himself wedged into it. Neither did he +think of his clean white coat. All he thought of was to catch the mice. So +in he rushed, but he had to crouch down and literally squeeze himself +through. And once or twice he thought he would suffocate from the amount +of soot he shook down. He grew so tired creeping with his legs doubled up +under him that when he was half way through he gave up and howled for +help. + +It was a long time before anyone heard him and when they did, they could +not for the life of them tell where the sound came from, for the pipe made +his howls sound so queer. When at last he heard Martha and Noah talking, +he barked and howled most dismally, as when a dog bays at the moon. + +They looked everywhere, under boxes and barrels, thinking he might have +turned one over on himself, and under piles of carpet and bedding. Still +they could not find him. + +"The sound seems to come from the earth, right down under my feet," said +Martha. + +The poor, simple-minded Noah with tears in his eyes, for he was very fond +indeed of Zip, replied, "He's done and gone and buried hisself!" + +Just then the doctor drove up the lane, and Martha ran to him to tell him +that Zip was fast under something somewhere and that they could not find +him. When the doctor reached the side yard, where all the household things +were piled, he began to look puzzled and moved the things just as the +others had done. Martha declared it was no use as they had already looked +under all of that stuff. + +"Do listen to him now! His cries are growing fainter! He surely is dying!" +she wailed, and threw her apron over her head and began to cry. + +At this moment the doctor stepped back and accidentally struck his foot +against the side of the stovepipe, which brought another howl of agony +from Zip. The doctor picked up the pipe and quickly disjointed it in the +middle and out fell the dirtiest but most delighted little dog you ever +saw, for he was free once more. And everyone was as pleased that he was +found as he was that he was rescued, and their tears were turned to smiles +at the comical picture he made, all covered with soot. + +After trying to jump up on the doctor to lick his hands in thanks for his +freedom, he started for his usual bath tub, the watering trough. + +"Here, where are you going so fast, Zip? Better stay here until I get a +bucket of hot soapsuds to wash you off," called his master, but Zip did +not stop, and the doctor followed him. Imagine his surprise when he saw +him jump in the trough where he always watered his horses! + +"So _you_ are the cause of my finding the water so often dirty and all +stirred up, are you? I have been wondering and wondering what caused it. +Well, you can just stop riling old Jim's drinking water." + +[Illustration] + +But to Zip's dismay, the soot would not come off as the mud and dough had. +It stuck and made him look greasy and black. + +"Here, you little rascal, come with me, and I will get soap and towels and +give you a good bath." + +And that is how it happened that when Tabby came home from her visit to +her cousin, the first thing she saw was the doctor sitting on the lower +step of the side porch with scrubbing brush in one hand and a cake of +soap in the other, scrubbing Zip for all he was worth. + +"Well, whatever has happened to you, Zip?" asked Tabby. + +"Oh, go lie down and I'll tell you after awhile," barked Zip in a cross +voice, for he was not enjoying the scrubbing in the least, as every once +in a while a lot of soapsuds would run into his eyes, making them smart +dreadfully. But the doctor kept on rubbing, not knowing what was making +Zip squirm so. He thought it was just because he hated to be washed in +this way. At last Zip could stand it no longer, and he bounded from the +doctor's hands and shot out of the yard into the road and deliberately lay +down in the softest, dirtiest place he could find, and then rolled and +rolled, trying to dry himself. And though the doctor called and called and +whistled himself hoarse, Zip did not come back. He waited until it grew +dark, and then he sneaked in and jumped into the watering trough again. +This time he came out nice and clean, for the soft sand had acted as a +scrubbing brush and his coat was all shiny and glossy and clean when he +jumped out, and this time he managed to keep it so until the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ZIP AND PETER-KINS + + +[Illustration] + +Several days after this Zip was asleep on the seat of the buggy in front +of the house of one of the doctor's patients who was so very ill that he +had been visiting there each day for a week. Consequently Zip, as usual, +had called on every dog and cat in this neighborhood. To-day he thought he +would sleep instead of running around to visit and making the doctor wait +and whistle for him to come back. But presently he was awakened by hearing +the doctor's whistle across the street. He was up in a moment looking in +all directions, for though he heard him, he could not see his master. He +leaped out of the buggy and ran across the street, from where the sound +seemed to come. As he ran the whistle was repeated loud and shrill, but +no doctor could Zip see. + +[Illustration] + +"He must be hiding behind that thick bush in the yard," decided Zip. So he +crawled under the fence and went nosing around the shrubbery, but the +doctor was not there. He sniffed here and there, but could not get so much +as a tiny whiff of the doctor's scent. He stood still at last, with ears +standing up straight and one foot held off the ground, as he did when +listening intently. + +Again he heard the doctor whistle right over his head. He looked up to see +if the doctor was in an aeroplane, but all he discovered was the clear, +blue sky. Then a laugh sounded behind him and, turning quickly, he saw +Miss Belinda Simpkin's pet Poll-parrot swinging on the limb of a tree, +laughing at him. + +[Illustration] + +This was too much for Zip's dignity. To have a Poll-parrot make a fool of +him! So he ran to the tree where she sat and barked furiously up at her. +But to make Zip still more angry, Polly kept on whistling and laughing at +him. She had heard the doctor whistle for Zip every day and had learned to +imitate him perfectly. She really was a very smart bird, and everyone in +the village knew of Miss Belinda's parrot and monkey, for they were always +doing exceedingly smart, mischievous things, some of which I will tell you +about, but now I must finish relating what happened to Zip. + +He was still looking angrily at Polly when he heard a queer chattering and +squeaking noise up in a tree behind him and, turning to look, he saw a +gray object drop from one of the limbs. He looked down at the ground, +expecting to see whatever it was drop under the tree, but nothing landed. +Still he knew he had seen something start to fall. What could it be that +could stop in mid-air, for there was no other branch under the one from +which it had dropped on which it could catch. But when he glanced up, what +should he discover but Miss Belinda's pet monkey swinging by its tail from +the branch on which it had been sitting! + +Now Zip hated monkeys as a cat does rats. How as nice a little old maiden +lady as Miss Belinda could stand it to live all alone in a house with only +a parrot and a monkey for companions was more than he could understand. + +Zip ignored the monkey and began barking again at the parrot, telling her +just to wait until another day, that he would come back and get even with +her yet, and that the next time he left it would be with a mouthful of her +tail feathers. + +"Help! Help!" screeched Polly. And her voice was so nearly like that of a +human that the doctor, hearing it, hurried across the street to see who +was calling for aid. As he opened the gate to go into the yard, something +tore past him. Looking around to see what it was, he beheld Zip running +for all he was worth, with a little gray monkey perched on his back, +clinging to his silver collar which the Judge had given to him. + +The doctor was about to go to his rescue when Zip dove under the fence, +which knocked off the monkey, and he rolled over and over on the ground, +dazed for several seconds. He had hit his head on the fence so hard that +it had stunned him. The doctor took a step forward to pick him up when +again he heard that piercing scream, "Help! Help! Help!" that seemed to +come from the upper window of Miss Belinda's cottage. + +"Gracious!" exclaimed the doctor. "Someone must be trying to kill Miss +Belinda!" and he started for the cottage, intending to break down the door +if it should be locked. Before he had gone two steps, the voice he heard +before called once more, "Help! Help! Beat it! Beat it!" and then, looking +up, he saw Polly. + +"You rascal!" said the doctor, shaking his finger in a playful manner at +her. "You surely did fool me! But I must go and see if Zip has killed your +playfellow." + +When he reached the gate, he found the monkey sitting up rubbing his head +with his forefoot and running slowly toward home on three legs. Seeing he +was all right, the doctor whistled for Zip to come, but no Zip appeared. +So after calling him once or twice more, the doctor concluded he did not +wish to come back for fear the monkey would get him again and try to take +a free ride. + +"He probably has trotted home across lots," thought the doctor, "or else +he may be waiting for me part way home." + +On hearing the doctor whistle, the monkey ran to the side of the road, +jumped up on the fence and ran along its top until he reached Miss +Belinda's yard. Once there, he ran up a tall tree to a place of safety, +where no dogs could reach him, and there the doctor left him, rubbing his +head. + +As Zip trotted home across lots, he made up his mind that he would go to +Miss Belinda's every day until he had a chance to get even not only with +Polly, but with the monkey too. For I am sorry to say that Zip was a very +revengeful dog, and he never forgot an injury, at least not until he had +paid back in like coin anything he had suffered. + +"You may rest assured," he said to himself, "that I shall take one at a +time, however, and look around well before tackling either one, to see +that the other is nowhere about." + +Miss Belinda was out when all this happened, so was very much alarmed when +she returned to see Peter-Kins hopping around on two legs, holding his +head with his hands. And still more so when she took him in her arms and +saw that there was a big bump on his forehead the size of a hen's egg, +which was still swelling and by this time threatening to close one eye. + +"You poor darling little pet! Did you fall out of the tree and bump your +head? I is _so_ sorry," and talking such baby talk to him, she carried him +off into the house to put witch hazel and a bandage on his head. + +All this time Polly kept screaming, "Help! Help! Help!" + +"Someone must have thrown a stone and hurt Peter-Kins," decided Miss +Belinda, "or Polly would not be calling for help. The next time I go out, +I will shut them in the house so nothing can happen to them." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ZIP, PETER-KINS AND THE TURKEY GOBBLER + + +Promptly at nine-thirty the next morning the doctor's carriage appeared in +front of his patient's house opposite Miss Belinda's cottage. + +Zip lay quietly on the seat until the doctor had disappeared in the house, +and then he quickly jumped out of the buggy, tiptoed across the street and +quietly slipped under the fence. Once under, he stood stock-still and +listened, eyes up and ears alert to catch any sound or see any movement of +his old enemies, the monkey and the parrot. All was quiet in the front +yard, and not even Polly's cage was to be seen swinging on its accustomed +hook beside the front door. Still Zip listened and looked in every tree +and bush, to make sure the monkey was not hiding under the leaves, ready +to pounce on him. He had just come to the conclusion that they had been +shut in the house when he heard a terrible commotion and cackling going on +in the chicken yard, and above it all Polly's voice screaming, "Help! +Help! Naughty Peter-Kinks! (This was Polly's name for Peter-Kins.) Spank! +Spank! Help! Help!" + +Polly had heard Miss Belinda say this so many times that she had learned +to imitate her perfectly. + +"That monkey is up to some mischief," thought Zip. "I'll run and see what +he's up to, and maybe I'll have a chance to get even with him for running +his claws into my back when he was taking that ride!" + +Soon Zip was at the fence that divided the chicken yard from the lawn, and +looking through the pales, this is what he saw: + +Peter-Kins ran down the trunk of a big elm tree that shaded part of the +chicken yard, then he grabbed up a tiny little fluffy yellow chicken right +from under the old hen's very bill, and made off with it up the tree. This +made the old hen so angry and frightened that she cackled and carried on +just like people do when terrified. Then just when all the rest of the +chickens had quieted down a little and the old hen had gathered the rest +of her brood under her wings, Peter-Kins threw the little peep at mother +hen's head, which killed the little chicken instantly and upset all the +rest of the fowls in the barnyard once more. + +[Illustration] + +"I'll just keep hidden, and wait until he comes down," planned Zip, "and +then I will pounce out and grab him by the back of his neck and shake him +as if he were a rat." + +[Illustration: PETER-KINS LEAPED ONTO A TURKEY GOBBLER THAT WAS STRUTTING +AROUND THE YARD ALL SWELLED OUT WITH PRIDE + +(_Page Fifty-Five_)] + +But instead of coming down the trunk as he had before, Peter-Kins ran out +on one of the long, slender, drooping limbs that reached nearly to the +ground, and when it bent within three feet of the earth, he dropped and +lit on the back of a rooster. + +[Illustration] + +Then the fun began, for the poor old rooster was beside himself with +fright, and ran around and around the yard, trying to get between the +palings of the fence, into holes no larger than his head, into chicken +coops and out, in amongst the other fowls, squawking and gurgling as he +went. Then all of a sudden he was relieved of his rider, for Peter-Kins +leaped from his back onto a turkey gobbler that was strutting around the +yard all swelled out with pride, every feather spread out to its fullest +extent. Now another race began, the turkey gobbling and the monkey +chattering as they made the rounds. + +Now while Peter-Kins had been riding the rooster, this very gobbler called +out, "You stupid fellow! Stop running round and round! Go under the fence +and scratch that beast off your back!" + +But alas, for him! He could give advice, but not live up to it himself, +for while he was gobbling, Peter-Kins leaped from the rooster's back to +his own, and with shrunken feathers, he began running around and around +the yard, just as the rooster had done, too frightened to know what he was +doing, or to pay attention to his own advice, while all the chickens were +now cackling at him, "Run under the fence! Run under the fence and scratch +him off!" + +"Run under the fence and scratch him off!" quacked the ducks. + +"Run under the fence and scratch him off!" hissed the geese. + +"Run under the fence and scratch him off!" gobbled his wife, the old +turkey hen. + +But no; he was deaf to their cries, and with pride gone and feathers +clinging to his sides, he was running and jumping around the yard madly +and blindly, nearly knocking his head off as first he ran dizzily into +this and then into that. + +When Zip had watched the excitement as long as he cared to, he thought, +"Now is my time to grab Peter-Kins by the tail and pull him off that +turkey's back before it kills itself." + +So with one bound he was through the fence and had Peter-Kins' tail in his +mouth before he ever saw him coming. But the monkey did not drop from the +turkey's back as Zip thought he would. He only clung the tighter, and with +his arms around the turkey's neck and with his knees digging into the +turkey's sides, Zip could not dislodge him. + +Zip being too stubborn to let go the monkey's tail, the three queer +looking objects went running around and around the barnyard together, +under wagons, between coops, across the watering trough. Sometimes +running, sometimes jumping or half flying went the long-legged turkey with +the bobbing monkey on its back, whose tail was in the little dog's mouth. + +This was what Miss Belinda saw when she returned from market and looked +into her barnyard to see what was causing all her fowls to make such a +fuss. + +"Well, I declare, if there isn't a little dog chasing my chickens and +turkeys! But what is that on the big gobbler's back? Sure as I live, it is +Peter-Kins! Here, you horrid little dog, let go my darling Peter-Kins' +tail!" and Miss Belinda picked up a long-handled rake that was leaning +against the fence and went after Zip. + +All this time Polly had been screeching, "Help! Help! Naughty Peter-Kinks! +Spank! Spank!" + +Zip held on the monkey's tail until the rake appeared over his head, then +he let go quickly, giving an extra bite to the tip, which came off in his +mouth. He jumped back just in time to save himself from being hit on the +head, for the rake came down with such force that it laid both the turkey +and Peter-Kins out flat on their backs, where they lay kicking as if in +the throes of death. + +Miss Belinda thought she had killed her pets, and began to cry as she +picked them up. + +As for Zip, he slunk away and ran back to the doctor's buggy just in time +to jump in as the doctor started for home. So by the time Miss Belinda had +gathered up Peter-Kins and saw that the turkey was more frightened than +hurt, Zip was blocks away, laughing to himself at the whack the monkey +and turkey had gotten instead of him, and at the funny spectacle the +three of them must have made as they ran around and around the yard. + +"And won't Tabby laugh when I tell her about it?" he thought. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ZIP AT THE CANDY PULL + + +That evening the doctor had no calls to make, so Zip was left to amuse +himself as best he could. He had finished telling Tabby about the monkey +and the turkey and was wondering what to do with himself when he heard +children laughing in the back yard of the house opposite. Looking up, he +saw that the house was lighted more than was usual, and he knew right away +that they must be having a little dance or a children's party of some +kind. Just then he thought he got a whiff of boiling molasses. He stuck +his nose up in the air and gave a long sniff. Yes, it was molasses he +smelled! + +"They are having a candy pull. That's what is going on! I'll just go over +and stick around until they have refreshments, and then perhaps I can +sneak into the kitchen and steal a piece of cake," thought Zip. + +But alas! He was so busy gazing up at the lighted windows to see what was +going on inside the house, that he neglected to look where he was +stepping, and the first thing he knew, he was standing with all four feet +in a pan of hot molasses candy. And he found himself sticking fast in an +entirely different way than he had meant when he left home. The candy was +just in that state of cooling when the top is a little hard and the bottom +is soft and sticky. So when he tried to lift his feet, the candy pulled up +from the bottom of the pan and made long, stringy ends, but did not leave +his feet. Instead it got between his toes and held him still faster. He +tried to bite it off, but instead of coming off, it only stuck to his +teeth and he found himself sticking to the pan with his mouth as well as +his feet. Indeed, he was held securely by the sticky, stringy candy. Just +then he thought he heard the children coming to see if their sweets were +cool. + +[Illustration] + +Yes, they were surely coming! He could not stand it to have these children +he saw every day find him in such a fix. He would never hear the last of +it. So he made a frantic effort to loosen himself. In doing this he pulled +backwards so far that his feet slipped somehow, and he sat down in the +candy. And now he _was_ caught! For his four feet, mouth, one ear and tail +were all sticking to the pan of candy. As the children began to come down +the back steps, he gave one yelp, doubled himself up and began to roll, so +that what the children saw was a big ball of molasses candy rolling down +the sloping walk. All they could see in the semi-darkness was the candy, +for Zip was too balled up to show a bit of dog sticking out of the soft +mess. + +The children ran after it, screaming with laughter, but when they caught +up to the rolling ball and discovered their well-known, mischievous Zip +rolled up so tight he was helpless, they clapped their hands with delight. +He looked so crestfallen and funny that they forgave him on the spot for +the loss of their candy. How they did shout with laughter as they were +trying to get the candy off him! + +"I know the best way to get the sticky stuff off," said Helen Hardway, the +little girl who was giving the party. "Let's put him in the bath tub and +soak it off." + +"Just the very thing!" one of the boys replied. "Wait till I get something +to wrap him in so I won't get all stuck up with the candy." + +On hearing this, Zip began to struggle and squirm, for he had visions of +hot water and soapsuds in his eyes, with each one of the children feeling +it was their duty to give him an extra scrub. + +"Here, you Zip, keep still, or you'll slip out of the apron you're wrapped +in and get my best suit all sticky," called the little boy who held him in +his arms and was carrying him up to the bathroom. + +By squeezing him tightly, the boy managed to get him to the room and was +just about to drop him in the tub from the apron when he discovered that +the apron was sticking to the candy. One of the boys gave it a jerk to +loosen it, but sad to relate, he gave too vigorous a pull and Zip dropped +from the boy's arms, not into the tub, but at one side and by a mighty +effort he gave himself two rolls which brought him to the head of the +stairs. Another roll sent him tumbling bumpety-bump down the long flight +that led to the kitchen. On the way he hit a hamper of clothes on the +landing, and it joined him and went bumpety-bump, bangety-bang to the +bottom and out into the kitchen, hitting the waitress who was carrying a +tray of glasses filled with fruit lemonade to the little guests in the +parlors who had not joined in the dog hunt. + +The sudden appearance of a hamper apparently on legs coming toward her, +surprised her, but nothing like the queer thing that was rolling about her +feet, and which she could not see for the big tray in her hands. She could +not seem to escape it, and finally she stumbled and fell, sending the +glasses of delicious lemonade flying in all directions. + +Hearing a noise on the back stairs, as if the house was falling, Mrs. +Hardway went to see what the trouble was, and opened the kitchen door just +in time to receive a full glass of lemonade squarely on the chest. + +When the waitress stumbled, she fell on Zip, pinning him under her. In his +roll down the stairs, he had lost some of the candy, so that now his mouth +and nose were free, though he was minus a tooth and several of his long +smeller whiskers. Now he began to howl as if being killed. This brought +more of the guests to the spot, and you would have laughed could you have +seen their faces when first they peered into the kitchen, which looked as +if a cyclone had struck it. + +A few feet from the door was the maid, sitting with limbs outspread, too +dazed to move, while from under the corner of her skirt rolled a big, +sticky ball of some kind that howled as it rolled. Beyond him was an +overturned hamper of soiled clothes, with stockings, collars, sheets and +petticoats spilling out of it. At the other end of the room stood Mrs. +Hardway, wiping the lemonade off her dress, while all over the place were +slices of lemon and pieces of fruit and Maraschino cherries. When all the +children came from upstairs, they told Mrs. Hardway how it had all come +about from Zip getting in their candy and their trying to wash it off his +coat. + +As Zip was still in a ball and could not extricate himself, the same boy +who had carried him to the bathroom before, put the apron around him again +and took him back upstairs. + +This time they got him in the tub safely and began to turn the water in. +The tub was slippery, and so was the candy, and as the water crept up to +where Zip was tied, not hand and foot, but worse still, head, nose, ears +and all four legs as well as tail, he howled and howled until one could +have heard him a block away. He was so afraid of being drowned before the +water would soak off the candy and when the children tried to pull it off +it nearly killed him with pain, for it took all the little fine hairs of +his coat with it. + +The window of the bathroom was open and the doctor, coming out on his +front porch to look at the sky before retiring, heard Zip howling +somewhere across the street. He was crying in such a pitiful, frightened +manner that the doctor knew he must be fast somewhere or hurt so he could +not get home. Consequently he hurried across the street to see where his +pet was, with the worried Tabby close at his heels. + +The doctor made the circuit of the house and stable yard but could find no +Zip. The howls seemed to come from up in the air somewhere as from the top +of the house, so finally the doctor rapped on the Hardway kitchen door to +ask the maid if Zip had not slipped in the house and gotten up on the +roof. He knocked repeatedly but no one answered. As he still heard Zip +howling and several people were talking all at once, he made bold to open +the door and step in. What he saw you already know. As by this time the +children had started to bathe Zip, the doctor was told to go right +upstairs. When he appeared in the door all the children stopped laughing +and stepped back to give him a chance to see Zip. + +And this is what he saw. + +Just one of Zip's eyes stuck out of a hole where the candy had dropped +off, and his poor little tail stuck out like a handle on the other side of +the ball. That was all that could be seen of Zip at that moment, for in +his numerous rolls, the candy had spread all over him until he was no +longer a dog with legs but just one round ball of molasses candy. + +Seeing the water was fast climbing up to where it would reach Zip's mouth, +and knowing it would drown him, the doctor turned off the spigot. The +children had never thought that the poor dog could not move his head to +keep out of the water. Now the doctor hurriedly took off his coat, rolled +up his sleeves, and in a jiffy had Zip and the molasses ball in his hands +and was holding it so that the water could not get to Zip's head. Then +with one hand he gently threw the water upon the candy until it began to +loosen and fall off. First he released the little dog's head, which had +been bent down between his fore legs. As the candy began to loosen and +drop off, first one black ear stood up and then the other, and last the +little legs began to shoot out. All this made the children laugh to see +what appeared to be a big ball of candy develop into a little dog. At last +when Zip was entirely clean and had been wrapped in a big bath towel to +dry, Doctor Elsworth apologized to Helen for his little dog spoiling her +candy pull. But she declared that he had given them more fun than if he +had not come over, and the molasses had cooled and they had had a regular +candy pull. + +[Illustration] + +But when it came to apologizing to Mrs. Hardway for the mess Zip had +caused in the kitchen, the doctor did not know what to say, he felt so +badly about it. But he could have saved himself all the worry, for Mrs. +Hardway was a sensible woman and knew that accidents will happen, and she +met with the doctor smilingly. Besides, the doctor had been her family +physician for years, and they were all very, very fond of him as well as +of Zip. It was hard to think of the doctor without Zip, as they were +always together. So when the doctor began to apologize, Mrs. Hardway +stopped him short, and told him to drink Zip's health in a glass of +freshly made lemonade, and say no more about it. The doctor, thanking her +from the bottom of his heart, drank not to Zip's health, but to hers, and +thus the exciting evening ended peacefully and everyone was happy, +including Zip, as the doctor gave him all the Maraschino cherries in his +glass, something he dearly loved, though you may think it was a queer +thing for a little dog to like. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ZIP AND PETER-KINS HAVE A FIGHT + + +For several days after the molasses candy episode, Zip stayed at home and +did not go snooking into anybody's back yard. But on the fifth day he felt +he needed a little excitement, so he decided to call at Miss Belinda's, +and see what Peter-Kins and Polly were doing and incidentally get a snap +at Peter-Kins. So about three o'clock in the afternoon when the doctor was +taking a little snooze in the hammock under the big maple, Zip sneaked off +across the gardens and down the side streets to Miss Belinda's. + +When he arrived everything was quiet. Not even a leaf on the trees +stirred, or a chicken crowed. The blinds were all down in the house, which +showed that Miss Belinda was either taking a nap or gone calling. Polly's +cage was nowhere in sight, so she must be indoors, thought Zip. And if +Polly was in the house, Peter-Kins was sure to be also, he reasoned. + +After making a tour of the garden and barnyard, he was about to return +home, when, chancing to raise his eyes to the kitchen window, whom should +he see but Peter-Kins perched on the back of a chair, looking out at him. + +"So--so!" thought Zip. "Miss Belinda has gone out and for fear something +would happen to her pets, she has shut them in the house. Oh, what a +chance for some fun if I only could get in!" + +As he stood gazing at the monkey, Peter-Kins began making faces at him. +You have heard boys call out to one another, "Stop making monkey faces at +me!" haven't you? Well, I guess they get the habit from seeing some monkey +making faces. At any rate, the horrible faces Peter-Kins made at Zip were +enough to drive a boy crazy, much less a little dog with Zip's snappy +disposition, and he barked back, "Just you wait until I get hold of you +again, and I'll not only snip a piece off your tail, but I'll bite the +whole tail right off!" + +At this Peter-Kins ran his tongue out at Zip. Then Zip flew at the door +and barked and scratched as if he would tear the house down. + +Peter-Kins pressed his face close to the window-pane and grinned at him. +Right then the grocery boy came and seeing a little dog barking and +scratching on the door, thought he belonged there and was trying to get +in. So when he opened the door to put the groceries on the kitchen table, +he let Zip in, deposited his parcels on the table and left, shutting the +door after him, regardless of the fact that Polly was screeching, "Help! +Murder! Thieves! Fire!" at the top of her voice, and Peter-Kins was +jumping around wildly at the end of the string with which he was tied to a +chair. + +[Illustration: THE MONKEY WAS TRYING TO HIT HIM WITH THE EMPTY DIPPER + +(_Page Seventy-One_)] + +Zip sat quietly in the middle of the kitchen floor, enjoying their fright +until the sound of the grocery wagon had died out down the street. Then he +barked, "Ha, ha! I've gotten you now just where I want you, and I am going +to bite your tail clear off! I see you have it done up in a white rag with +witch hazel on it, for I smell the stuff." + +Zip really did not intend to bite his tail off, but only pretended to do +so, giving it a good pinch between his teeth. + +[Illustration] + +With a shrill scream of fright, the monkey jumped onto the kitchen table +that stood beside his chair, and he pulled so hard that the string broke. +Its giving way so suddenly sent him flying off the table onto the floor, +but he was up in a minute and leaped to the stove. The fire was out, but +the stove was still warm, so he jumped upon the tea kettle. There he +perched, hanging to the handle until Zip, seeing there was no fire in the +stove, jumped on the hearth and from the hearth up on the stove. As Zip +landed there, Peter-Kins ran up the stove pipe, but he kept slipping back, +it was so smooth. From there he leaped to the top of the roller towel, but +horrors! it began to roll up and when he stuck his claws into the towel, +it unwound and took him nearly to the floor. He was afraid to let go and +drop to the floor. Still if he held on, Zip could reach him too. He was +wondering just where he could go to escape the dog when Zip jumped off +the stove and grabbed the end of his long tail. Peter-Kins gave a jerk and +tried to run up the towel, leaving his bandage in Zip's mouth. While Zip +was trying to get the cloth out of his mouth, Peter-Kins dropped to the +floor and climbed up on the kitchen table. Seeing a basket of eggs the +grocery boy had left, he began throwing them at Zip, who was having a hard +time getting rid of the bandage, for the more he pulled, the tighter it +wedged itself between his sharp teeth. + +Now Zip was in a pretty fix, for he could not bite with the wad of cotton +in his mouth, neither could he run and jump for in trying to get the +bandage from between his teeth, he had gotten it twisted around his legs +and fast between two of his toes, which made it only possible for him to +walk slowly. + +[Illustration] + +And all this time Peter-Kins kept pelting him with the eggs, which broke +and ran all over his back and down into his eyes, while Polly shrieked and +cried out all the names she had ever been taught without the least knowing +what they meant. Every time an egg would hit Zip, she would laugh and call +out, "Soak him, Jimmy!" + +Then Zip would glare at her and make as if going for her, which would +cause her to cry out, "Help! Fire! Murder! Thieves! Buttons! Polly want +cup coffee! Naughty boy, spank, spank! Tee-dull, dee-tee-dull-dum! +Catchum! Catchum! Crackers, crackers, pretty Polly!" all in a jumble. + +At last Zip managed to get his leg loose and he was working on the plug in +his mouth and not watching Peter-Kins when he had the surprise of his life +by getting a full dipper of water thrown all over him, for the monkey had +dipped it from the pail of water on the table. + +The sudden twist Zip gave his head when the water hit him full force, +loosened the cotton in his mouth, and out it flew. With a bound Zip was +now on the chair, then on the table, snapping and barking, while the +monkey was trying to hit him with the empty dipper, when the kitchen door +unexpectedly opened and in the doorway stood Miss Belinda. Without a +second's thought Zip jumped past her and ran for dear life toward home, +never stopping to look back even once until he was safe in his own +barnyard, standing beside the watering trough preparatory to jumping in +and washing the eggs off his coat. + +Again his encounter with the monkey had been unsatisfactory, and as for +what poor Miss Belinda thought when she saw the mess in her nice clean +kitchen it is beyond words to tell. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ZIP'S CURIOSITY IS HIS UNDOING + + +About a week after Zip's last visit to Miss Belinda's, he was out on one +of his midnight prowls, about which the doctor had scolded him time and +time again. In fact, he had forbidden him to leave the yard at night, +warning him that some day he would be shot while poking around in other +people's back yards, or that he would be poisoned by eating some meat that +had been prepared purposely for stray cats or dogs. But Zip thought he was +smart enough not to get caught, and he did not believe that anyone could +put poison on meat and he not be able to smell it. + +So this night he went with a rat terrier, a friend of his, down into a +poor quarter of the town, where they often went to kill rats, just for the +fun of it and to see who could kill the most. + +[Illustration] + +To-night there seemed to be no rats in sight, and while nosing around to +get on the track of some, Zip smelt meat and soon came upon a small piece +of fresh, juicy beefsteak, which he gobbled down without a thought. As he +swallowed the last bit, he thought he detected a queer taste to it, and +the thought flashed through his mind, "I have been poisoned! I might have +known no one would throw away so good a piece of meat as that without a +purpose. That meat was prepared for some cat, dog or rat to eat and die. +Oh, my! I am beginning to have fearful pains in my stomach now and I feel +myself beginning to swell already! Rats," he called, for that was his +friend's nickname, "I've eaten a piece of meat with rat poison on it, and +I must get home before I swell up so I can't walk at all. If I am able to +get to the doctor, he will help me, I know." + +"I thought you had more sense than to eat a piece of meat, cheese or +anything else you saw lying around in places where they have lots of rats. +You might have known it had rat poison on it!" replied his friend. + +"I know, but I did not think. For mercy's sake, don't scold me when I am +in such awful pain, but help me get home," wailed Zip. + +They made as good headway as they could, though Zip had to roll on the +grass every once in a while to relieve his pain, but he did not dare stop +often for his stomach was swelling so rapidly that he felt it would burst +before he reached his home. At last they reached the doctor's house, but +too late to find the doctor still up. He had gone to bed, so Zip told his +friend to howl as if he was being killed, and the doctor would hear him +and think it was his own dog, and come down to see what was the matter. +The rat terrier howled lustily, while Zip dropped down on the door mat +and groaned as loudly as he could. Rats barked, howled, and threw himself +against the front door, making a terrible noise generally. + +Presently the doctor stuck his head out of an upper window and called: + +"Zip, for mercy's sake, shut up! What is the matter with you?" + +[Illustration] + +But when in the bright moonlight he saw it was not Zip, but a strange dog +instead, with Zip lying at his feet, and when he heard Zip groan, he +hurriedly stepped into his bathrobe and slippers and came downstairs. Then +he opened the front door, and saw Zip on the mat, all swollen up the size +of two pups. He knew at a glance, of course, that his pet had been +poisoned, so he picked him up tenderly in his arms and carried him up +straight to the bathroom and began pumping out the contents of his +stomach. This done, he heated some milk and made Zip drink a lot of it, as +milk is a very good thing to take when one has been poisoned. Besides, it +was warm and soothing to his poor stomach. Then he rolled him up in a big +blanket shawl and carried him to his own room, where he put him on the +cushion of a big, cozy rocking-chair, and pulled it up close beside his +bed, where he could watch him the rest of the night and give him medicine +every once in a while. + +"You poor little fellow," said the doctor, "I am awfully sorry you are in +such pain, but I hope it will teach you a lesson to stay at home nights +and not disobey my orders and go gallivanting off into other people's +yards. Why, you are shaking as if you had a chill! Just a second now, and +I will get a hot-water bag and put it on your stomach!" + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, my! Oh, my! I believe I am going to die," wailed Zip to himself. "If +ever I get well I never will disobey the doctor again! He is so good to +me, and I am ashamed to think what a naughty dog I have been. But I do so +love to go snooking around and not stay at home nights like Tabby does. I +never saw such a good cat as Tabby is. She never goes prowling around, +though most cats do. And it isn't because she is not coaxed to go, either, +for nearly every night the neighbors' cats come and try to persuade her to +go with them to somebody's house or barn." + +Just then the doctor came back with a nice warm hot-water bag, which he +put close against Zip's stomach, and then he wrapped him up snugly in the +shawl once again. + +"There, little fellow, you will be all right in the morning. Go to sleep +now and forget all your trouble. But if you hadn't gotten to me when you +did, you would have been a little angel dog by this time. The poison was +working so fast that I could not have saved you had you come twenty +minutes later. By the way, that is a smart friend you have, and he has +good lungs, I think, by the noise he was making. He must have awakened all +our neighbors. If he is around in the morning, I will give him a good hot +breakfast. I never would have known you were home and sick if he had not +kicked up such a racket, for you were far too ill to make noise enough to +awaken me," and patting Zip on the head, the doctor crawled into his bed +and was soon fast asleep. + +Zip was about to fall into a doze when he heard a noise down on the front +porch. Listening intently, the voices of Tabby and his friend, Rats, came +floating in the window, and he knew by the soft murmur they made that they +were talking in a most friendly manner and not fighting with each other. + +"I am glad that Tabby found Rats, for now he can tell her all that has +happened to me," thought Zip. + +The warm milk and the hot-water bottle were beginning to soothe Zip and +make him feel comfortable, and in fifty winks he was fast asleep and +snoring. + +And so once more Zip's adventures ended happily for him. + + + THE BILLY WHISKERS SERIES + Trade Mark + + By FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY + +The wonderful tale of a wonderful goat. Billy Whiskers is full of pranks +and good fun. He makes hosts of friends wherever he goes. Every child +knows about his adventures told by Mrs. Montgomery in the popular Billy +Whiskers Books. + + TITLES + + 1. Billy Whiskers + 2. Billy Whiskers' Kids + 3. Billy Whiskers, Jr. + 4. Billy Whiskers' Travels + 5. Billy Whiskers at the Circus + 6. Billy Whiskers at the Fair + 7. Billy Whiskers' Friends + 8. Billy Whiskers, Jr. and his Chums + 9. Billy Whiskers' Grandchildren + 10. Billy Whiskers' Vacation + 11. Billy Whiskers Kidnapped + 12. Billy Whiskers' Twins + 13. Billy Whiskers in an Aeroplane + 14. Billy Whiskers in Town + 15. Billy Whiskers in Panama + 16. Billy Whiskers on the Mississippi + 17. Billy Whiskers at the Exposition + 18. Billy Whiskers Out West + 19. Billy Whiskers in the South + +EACH VOLUME A QUARTO, WITH COVERS, JACKET AND SIX FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS +IN COLORS, SCORES OF TEXT DRAWINGS. BOUND SUBSTANTIALLY IN BOARDS. + +Per Volume $1.00 + + THE + SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO. + AKRON, OHIO + + + Transcriber's notes: + + Page 64 Paragraph 1, wrapped corrected to rapped. + Page Advertisements Item 11, Kidnaped corrected to Kidnapped. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox +Terrier, by Frances Trego Montgomery + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ZIP, ADVENTURES FRISKY FOX TERRIER *** + +***** This file should be named 24482.txt or 24482.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/8/24482/ + +Produced by Irma Spehar, Jason Isbell, Christine D. and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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