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diff --git a/41514-0.txt b/41514-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f54912a --- /dev/null +++ b/41514-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2610 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41514 *** + + BRUNO + + + + +[Illustration: The Old City Gates, St. Augustine.--_Frontispiece._] + + + + + BRUNO + + BY + BYRD SPILMAN DEWEY + + New Edition + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + CALVERT SMITH + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1908 + + + + + _Copyright, 1899, 1908,_ + BY BYRD SPILMAN DEWEY, + + _All rights reserved._ + + Printers + S. J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. + + + + + THIS LITTLE SKETCH + Is dedicated + TO ALL WHO HAVE EVER LOVED ONE OF THOSE FAITHFUL + CREATURES OF WHOM WE, IN OUR IGNORANCE + AND VANITY, ARE WONT TO SPEAK AS + "THE LOWER ANIMALS." + + B. S. D. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + THE OLD CITY GATES, ST. AUGUSTINE _Frontispiece._ + + "I FELL ON MY KNEES TO HUG HIM" Page 25 + + "HE WAS HISSING AT BRUNO" " 62 + + CHASING CRABS AND SEA-BIRDS " 111 + + + + +BRUNO + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +We do not count the first half-year of our married life, because, during +that time we did not live, we boarded. + +Then we found we had developed a strong appetite for housekeeping, so we +began to look about us for a house. + +In the small northern village where we must live, it was not possible to +rent anything that suited us; so we decided to take what we could get +until we could manage to build what we wanted. + +The house we took was one which had originally been built out in the +country, but the town had crept around it until it now seemed to be +almost in the heart of the village. + +While we were furnishing and embellishing this our first home, was, I +think, the most entirely happy time of our lives. + +Julius often said, "I know now why the birds always sing so joyously +when they are building their nests." + +We were just beginning to feel settled, when a letter came to Julius +from his only sister, who lived in a city. It was not unusual for him to +have letters from her, but this particular letter stands by itself. + +It had a postscript! + +The postscript said: "Would you like a nice dog? The children have had a +valuable puppy, seven months old, given to them, and we cannot keep him +here, in a flat. He is half setter and half water-spaniel; pure on both +sides. We call him 'Bruno.'" + +How our dignity increased at the idea of owning live-stock! So far we +had only achieved a cat, who had by this time achieved kittens. But a +dog! That was something like! It did not take us long to decide and send +off an enthusiastic acceptance. Then another letter came, saying that +Bruno had started on the journey us-ward. + +The next afternoon a colored car-porter walked into Julius's place of +business escorting a shaggy brown dog by a chain fastened to his collar. +We have never known just what transpired during that eighteen hours' +journey; but something notable there certainly was, for Bruno could +never endure the sight or presence of a negro from that time as long as +he lived. He seemed utterly humiliated and dejected when he was led in. + +Julius looked up from his day-book, and exclaimed,-- + +"Is that you, Bruno? How are you, old fellow?" At the sound of his name, +Bruno raised his ears, wrinkled his forehead, and cocked his head on one +side inquiringly. Julius stroked and patted him, and Bruno was won. + +I was sitting at home busily sewing, when I was startled by a great +clatter out on the sidewalk. I looked, and there came Julius +leading--puppy, indeed! A dog nearly as big as a calf! I had expected a +baby-dog in a basket! + +He was a beauty,--his hair just the color that is called auburn or red, +when humans have it. He sniffed me over approvingly, and let me hug his +beautiful head. + +We took off the chain, and watched him roll and bathe himself in the +high grass of the back yard. He had probably never seen such grass +before, and he could not express his delight with it. + +There was a three-cornered discussion at bedtime about where our new pet +was to sleep. Julius and I did the talking, while Bruno sat upright--I +called it "standing up before, and sitting down behind," his ears cocked +up, looking from one to the other as we spoke, seeming to understand all +that was said. It was finally decided to make him a bed on the floor +beside ours, so that he would not be lonesome. + +Several times in the night we were startled by his cries. He moaned and +whined in his sleep,--evidently having bad dreams. Julius would call to +him until he was broad awake, then reach down and pat him till his tail +began to thump the floor, and he would rise and wind himself up by going +round and round on his bed, then drop, to go off again into an uneasy +snooze. We did not sleep much. Towards morning we were awakened from a +first sound nap, finding ourselves violently crowded and pushed. Julius +sprang out of bed and lighted a candle. There was Bruno monopolizing +half of our bed. + +It was daylight before we could convince him that his bed was on the +floor and that he was expected to occupy it. + +The next afternoon, I ventured to take Bruno for a walk. I had tied a +broad light-blue ribbon in a big bow round his neck, which contrasted +beautifully with his auburn curls. I felt very proud of his appearance, +and he also eyed me with a look of satisfaction. Alas! "Pride goeth +before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction." + +As we crossed a street that ran at right angles with the one we were +gracing, Bruno, looking down its vista, caught sight of what was +probably the first flock of hens he had ever seen. + +All the setter in him sprang to the fore, and in a flash he was off +after them. Without a thought, I followed. Up and down the street we +sped,--he after the one speckled hen he had singled out, and I after +him, shrieking to him, and making lunges at him with my parasol, as he +and the hen rushed by me. + +Finally the distracted Biddy, squawking, cackling, and with outspread +wings, found the hole under the fence through which the others had +escaped and disappeared, leaving us to view the ruins, heated and +dishevelled, with smashed parasol, muddy feet, draggled ribbon, and +vanished dignity. + +After some half-hysterical reproaches from me, which Bruno listened to +with drooping ears and tail, we turned, demoralized and dejected, to +wend our way homeward, I mentally congratulating myself that the streets +were deserted. I shuddered to think of the probable consequences if it +had happened after school hours when the small boy was abroad. + +So far we had managed to prevent a meeting between Bruno and Rebecca. + +Bruno was to us such an uncertain quantity that we feared the result of +their first glimpse of each other. So the box containing Rebecca's +kittens had been kept out in the stable, and her food carried out to her +to prevent the dreaded meeting. I wearied of the daily forced marches +stable-ward, though, and longed to have them within reach. So, one +evening after Julius came home from the office, we, in fear and +trembling, brought in the box, and mounted guard to watch developments. + +Bruno looked curious, sniffed, and then drew nearer. I sat down on the +floor to be ready to defend them, while Julius stood behind Bruno. + +As soon as he spied the kits, his ears rose and he was all alert. Then +gradually he seemed to realize, from our way of proceeding, that they +were not fair game. His ears drooped forward, his tail began to wag, +and I drew back from the protecting attitude I had instinctively +assumed. His tail continued to wag, his ears drooped lower and lower, +until presently he was licking the little kits and rooting them over +with his nose regardless of their ineffectual clawing and spitting. + +At this stage of the game, who should arrive on the scene but Rebecca! +She came dashing in, having returned from a hunting excursion to find +her nest of babies gone; coming, as she always did when anything went +wrong, for our help and comfort. As soon as she saw Bruno, her back went +up as if a spring had been touched; she stood at bay, growling and +spitting. + +He started towards her, but Julius grasped his collar. Then Rebecca +caught sight of her kits. She darted to them, sprang into the box, and +covered them with her body. + +Julius loosened his hold of Bruno, who advanced eagerly. + +Rebecca received him with a flash of her paw which left a long deep +scratch on his nose. He retreated whining and growling. Julius comforted +him, while I took Rebecca in hand. For some time we reasoned and +experimented with them, until finally we had the satisfaction of seeing +Rebecca let down her bristles and begin to purr while Julius smoothed +her head and back with Bruno's paw. + +After that they kept the peace fairly well, though Rebecca always boxed +his ears when she came in and found him licking and nosing her kittens. + +We tried to keep him away from them, but he did love them so. He would +watch Rebecca out of one eye as he lay dozing, and as soon as she +started on a hunt, he would go tiptoeing to the kitten-box for a frolic. + +Soon they grew quite fond of playing with his big curly ears, and forgot +to spit and scratch. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +One morning when Julius got up, he could find only one of his slippers. +After a long search the other was found under the edge of the +washing-stand, but in a decidedly dilapidated condition. + +It had evidently been gnawed. + +We gravely discussed the misfortune of having our premises invaded by +rats, and when on the following morning one of my overshoes was likewise +discovered to be a wreck, matters began to look serious, and Julius +hastened to procure a trap. + +That night I was awakened from my first doze by a sound of gnawing, and +on hastily lighting a candle, Bruno was seen with a conscious, +shamefaced expression--just like a big boy who is caught enjoying a +nursery-bottle--chewing a shoe! + +It was quite a revelation of dog-character to find such a big fellow +chewing up things, but we were relieved on the score of rats. Bruno was +furnished with an old shoe for his very own on which to exercise his +jaws, and we formed the habit of arranging our shoes on the mantelpiece +every night before retiring. + +We exchanged the trap for some boxes of tacks, which are always "handy +to have in the house." + +About this time our neighbors, the Crows, became possessed of a large +setter dog, by name Leo. + +This dog was deficient in morality, and at once developed thieving +propensities. + +Bruno soon understood that we did not want Leo to come to our house, nor +even into the yard; still, he personally formed a dog-friendship for +him. While this seemed at the time very strange to us, I have since +explained it to my own satisfaction. + +I think Leo must have confided to Bruno the fact that he was not well +cared for by his owners. + +Many people seem to think it is unnecessary to give a dog regular meals. +They think he ought to "pick up a living." The Crows seemed to have this +idea; so Bruno doubtless felt that Leo was not altogether to blame for +being a thief, and after fiercely driving him outside of our gate, he +would follow, and they would have romps and races until both were +exhausted. + +Leo was the only real dog-friend Bruno ever had. All his other friends +were either humans or cats. + +The crowds of dogs that sometimes go yelping and tearing through the +streets were to him objects of the loftiest scorn. From front window or +porch he would look down his nose at them, then turn, stepping high, to +march off and lie down in some remote corner where only the faintest +echoes of their din could reach him. + +One evening, while Julius and I were at choir-practice, we heard +something that distressed me greatly. I felt that I could not stay, so +we slipped out and hurried home. As soon as we were inside of our own +door I threw myself into Julius's arms with childlike sobbing. + +He tried to comfort me, but I could only hear my own heart-throbs. All +at once he exclaimed,-- + +"Look, Judith, look at Bruno!" + +His tone was so strange, it penetrated even my grief. I raised my head +and there was Bruno, standing upright, his head against Julius's +shoulder, as close to me as he could get, his eyes full of tears, the +picture of woe. + +"You see Bruno is crying too," said Julius. + +As soon as Bruno saw me look up, he threw back his head and wagged his +tail as if to say,-- + +"Come now, that's better, much better." + +My tears still fell, but they were no longer bitter. There was something +about the sympathy of that dumb creature which touched a chord not to be +reached by anything human. It was so unlooked for and so sincere. + +It was wonderful how he entered into all our feelings. In those days I +was very much afraid of thunder-storms. In some subtle way Bruno divined +this and kept the closest watch for clouds. If the heavens began to be +overcast, he would go from window to window, noting developments, coming +to me every few minutes to look into my face and wag his tail +reassuringly. + +When our fears were verified and the storm broke, he would come to rest +his head on my knee, wincing with me at the thunders and flashes. When +the worst was over, and big scattering drops showed the end of the storm +to be near, he would drop at my feet with a huge sigh of relief that +showed what a nervous strain he had been enduring. + +He also discovered a strong aversion I had for spiders, and went about +killing every one he could find. Chancing to be at my side one day when +I dodged and exclaimed at the too familiar dartings of a wasp that was +flying around me, he from that time made it a rule to destroy flying +bugs of all kinds, often jumping high in the air to catch them. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Now approached a troublous time in Bruno's career. He fell into bad +ways. We always thought it was Leo who tempted him. + +It developed in this way. Soon after dark Bruno would ask to have the +door opened for him to go out. He would look as innocent as if he only +meant to step around to the well for a fresh drink. At bedtime we would +suddenly remember that we had heard nothing of him since he had been let +out. Julius would open the door expecting to find him lying on the +porch. Disappointed in this, he would whistle, call, whistle again, but +there would be no answer. At last we would give him up and go to bed. At +gray dawn there would be a sound of scratching on the door, and when it +was opened Bruno would come in, muddy, draggled, and exhausted. After +drinking with evident relish from his water-bowl, he would curl up on +his bed and sleep till noon. + +We scolded him about these "tears," as we called them, until he would in +spite of his fatigue go through with his tricks on being admitted in the +morning: he would "sit up" and offer to "shake hands" with first one +paw, then the other; trying to propitiate whichever of us opened the +door for him. But he would not give up the "tears." Then we tried +chaining him for the night. This kept him at home for nearly a week, +until he finally succeeded in pulling out the staple that held the +chain. In the morning Bruno, chain, and all had vanished; for it was +summer-time and we had chained him outside, under an open shed. The +hours crept on towards afternoon, and still he came not. I had heard at +intervals all day the distant yelping of a dog, but had only noticed it +to suppose that a neighbor some few blocks away had had occasion to tie +up his watch-dog. As evening approached, I anxiously awaited the return +of Julius from his office that he might go in search of our missing +Bruno. + +While I was waiting, the milkman came along. + +"Where's your dog?" he asked, as he poured out the milk. + +Bruno and Rebecca always watched for the milkman and were first to +greet him; this day only Rebecca was there. + +"I wish I knew," I answered; "he ran off in the night dragging his +chain, and we don't know what has become of him." + +"There's a big brown dog that looks just like yours chained to the +sidewalk over yonder beyond Mr. Black's." + +He jerked his head in the direction whence the yelping sounds had come. + +Uncle Edwards was then spending a few days with us. He was one of those +people who believe that sooner or later all dogs go mad, and that it is +as much as one's life is worth to come within ten feet of them. He and +Bruno were on the most distant terms of mutual toleration. + +But I was desperate. Julius had not come, and I must be at home in case +Bruno did arrive hungry, thirsty, and footsore. There was no help for +it; I must ask assistance from Uncle Edwards. + +He was a gentleman of the old school, always obliging and courteous. He +would bow politely and pick up a loaded shell with burning fuse +attached, if asked to do so by a lady. + +He readily agreed to go round by Mr. Black's to see if by any chance the +"big brown dog chained to the sidewalk" could be ours. He shortly +returned, leading by the extreme end of his chain a very crestfallen +Bruno; tired, hungry, thirsty, his throat raw with ineffectual yelpings. + +Delighted and relieved as I was to see him, I still had room for a +smothered laugh at his and Uncle Edwards's attitude to each other as +they approached. Uncle regarded Bruno out of the tail of his eye, as if +he were some infernal machine, liable at any moment to do things unheard +of; while Bruno, perfectly aware of his distrust, threw tired, meekly +humorous glances out of the tail of _his_ eye. It was comical. + +His chain had caught in a cleft board of the sidewalk, and he had been +held there, struggling and yelping, part of the night and all day! All +who had happened to see him thought he had been fastened there for some +purpose or other. + +This was a pretty severe lesson for Bruno, and it kept him at home for +several nights. At last temptation again overcame him, and at bedtime +one night he was missing. When he returned at dawn, his side was +peppered with small bloody wounds. He had been shot! + +"That settles it," said Julius; "he has been chasing sheep!" + +We were extremely troubled at this discovery, and Julius said,-- + +"Our life is too quiet for him. His instincts are all for chasing +something. Our little promenades are but an aggravation to a dog who is +longing to stretch his legs over miles of country." + +We knew he must go at least six miles to find sheep. + +For the first time we now began seriously to consider the idea of giving +Bruno away. + +A young hunter, whom we will call Mr. Nimrod, had long been wanting him. +He told us it was a shame to turn such a splendid fellow into a +drawing-room dog. He would hold forth indefinitely on Bruno's points, +especially certain extra toes on his various legs. He said a dog with +such toes was built for a "lightning-express" runner, and that it was +outraging nature to try to keep him cooped up in a village lot. After +many discussions we at last decided we ought to give him up to the life +for which he so evidently longed. + +We were about to move into the house we had been building, and we +thought the best way to make the dog-transfer would be for Julius to +take him to Mr. Nimrod's the last day before we moved, so that if he +ran away and came to find us, there would be only the deserted house. + +It did not occur to us that this would be cruel. We knew we were giving +him up for his own good, and we felt sure he would soon get wonted to +his new home, where he could live the life for which he was created. So, +on the last evening in the old home, Julius took up his hat, which was +always a signal to Bruno, who came and sat up before him, with ears at +"attention," which was his way of asking,-- + +"May I go?" + +"Yes, Boonie can go," answered Julius. + +Then Bruno, who had long since learned to understand the difference +between "go" and "stay," went bounding down the walk, leaped over the +gate, and began rushing back and forth along in front of the lot, giving +short barks of delight. Julius called him back, and he came rather +crestfallen, thinking he was, after all, to "stay;" but it was only that +I might hug him and tell him, "Good-bye, you must be a good doggie!" + +This puzzled him; but his bewilderment was soon forgotten in the fact +that he was really and truly to "go." When Julius returned an hour +later, he told me he had slipped away while Mr. and Mrs. Nimrod were +petting Bruno, and so had escaped a formal leave-taking. I was glad of +this, for I had dreaded their parting. + +In spite of the fact that I was the one to attend to Bruno's wants--that +he always came to me when hungry or thirsty, and that I never +disciplined him as Julius sometimes did,--still he showed in many ways +that Julius's place in his heart was far above mine. So I was relieved +that there had been no good-byes. + +We were both entirely engrossed for the next few days by getting moved +and settled. In spite of busy hands, I had many times felt a tugging at +the heart-strings for the absent Bruno. I said nothing about it, though; +and Julius afterwards confessed that he too had felt longings, but had +suppressed them for fear of upsetting me, just as I had concealed my +feelings on his account. + +On the afternoon of the fourth day Julius could stand it no longer; he +must have some news of Bruno. So he looked up Mr. Nimrod. + +Before he could ask any questions, Mr. Nimrod began,-- + +"What did you feed that dog, anyway?" + +"Why, the same things we ate," answered Julius, in surprise; "whatever +there was on the table." + +"Well, he won't eat anything for us. We've tried everything we could +think of. What does he like best?" + +"Well," said Julius, "he likes biscuit and toast and fried mush,--all +sorts of crisp and crackly things; and bones,--little ones that he can +bite,--and meats of course." + +"We've tried everything except the toast and mush. We'll try him on +those. I'll go right home now and see about it." + +When Julius came home and repeated this conversation to me, it produced +what may without exaggeration be called a state of mind. I was half +wild. All the emotions I had been struggling to conceal since Bruno's +departure now held sway. Julius was deeply moved too. We could only +comfort each other by recalling all the trouble we had had with Bruno, +from the anxious night of his first "tear," to that last morning when he +had returned wounded and bloody. + +We assured each other that he would soon consent to be happy in such a +good home, and that it would be wrong for us to indulge our feelings to +his ultimate hurt. We dwelt especially on the fact that if he should +again go sheep-chasing and be shot at, he stood at least a chance of +being fatally wounded. + +Thus we talked ourselves into a reasonable frame of mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +I knew, without anything being said about it, that Julius would lose no +time the next day in finding out if Bruno had consented to eat his +supper. When he started down town a whole hour earlier than usual, I +knew, as well as if he had said so, that it was in order to have time to +hunt up Mr. Nimrod before office hours. + +"It's no use," began Mr. Nimrod, as soon as Julius appeared; "wouldn't +touch a thing. Never saw such a dog. I believe he's trying to starve +himself." + +"Don't you think," ventured Julius, "it would be well to bring him out +to our house for a little visit, to cheer him up?" + +"Not much!" answered Mr. Nimrod, promptly. "I never could break him in +then. He has run away twice already, and both times I followed him and +found him hanging around the house you moved from. Lucky the trail was +cold. If he once finds out where you are, the jig's up." + +When Julius came home at noon, we sat at the table listless and +dejected, now and then making fitful attempts to converse. The dainty +noon meal had suddenly lost flavor after we had exchanged a few +sentences about "Poor, hungry Bruno!" + +Were we to eat, drink, and be merry, while our faithful friend starved +for love of us! + +After Julius had returned to the office, there was such a tugging at my +heart-strings that I--well, yes, I did, I cried! How I regretted that I +had never cultivated an intimacy with Mrs. Nimrod, so that I might have +"run in" to call, and thus have an opportunity to comfort the poor +homesick fellow! + +Julius saw the tear-traces when he returned towards evening, and +proposed a stroll down town; thinking, I suppose, that if we sat at home +we should be sure to talk of Bruno and be melancholy. + +We walked through all the principal streets of the town, meeting and +greeting friends and acquaintances, stopping to glance at new goods in +several of the shops; bringing up at last in the town's largest +bookstore. + +[Illustration: "I fell on my knees to hug him."--PAGE 25.] + +We were just starting for home, when on the sidewalk there was a sudden +flurry and dash, and Bruno, stomach to earth, was crawling about us, +uttering yelps and whines that voiced a joy so great it could not be +told from mortal agony. + +Regardless of the fact that we were on the most public thoroughfare of +the town, I fell on my knees to hug him, and could not keep back tears +of mingled joy and pain. His poor thin sides! His gasps of rapture! Oh, +Boonie, Boonie! + +The first excitement over, we looked about us for Mr. Nimrod. He was +nowhere to be seen. Bruno had evidently escaped, and was running away to +look for us when he had chanced to strike our trail and so had found us. + +We were glad he was alone. We both felt that if he had been torn from us +at that supreme moment he would have died; he was so faint with fasting +and grief, and then the overwhelming joy at finding those he had thought +to be forever lost to him! He squeezed himself in between us, and kept +step as we went homeward in the gathering twilight. + +As soon as we reached home, we hurried him to the kitchen to enjoy the +sight of the poor fellow at his trencher. How we fed him! I ransacked +the pantry for the things he liked best, till his sides began to swell +visibly. He paused between mouthfuls to feast his loving eyes on first +one, then the other of us, and his tail never once stopped wagging. +Rebecca came purring in to rub against his legs, and even submitted with +shut eyes to a kiss from his big wet tongue. He must have felt that such +an hour repaid him for all his sufferings. + +After he had eaten until he evidently could not take another morsel, we +drew him in front of us as we sat side by side, for a three-cornered +talk. He sat on end, waving his tail to and fro on the floor, wrinkling +his forehead and cocking up his ears, while we explained the situation +to him. + +We told him how kind Mr. Nimrod meant to be to him, how he would train +him to hunt and take him on long daily runs. Then we reminded him how +impossible it was for Julius to go on such excursions with him, and of +how many scrapes he had got into by going alone,--he seeming to take it +all in and to turn it over in his mind. + +Then we told him that since he had found our new home he could come +often to see us, and he would always find us glad to see him,--yes, more +than glad! + +Then Julius got his hat and said,-- + +"Come on, Boonie; now we're going home." + +He seemed quite willing to go. I told him good-by with a heart so light +I could scarcely believe it the same one I had felt to be such a burden +when I had set off for our walk two hours earlier. I busied myself then +preparing a little supper against Julius's return; for we had not been +able to eat since breakfast, and I knew by my own feelings that Julius +would welcome the sight of a well-spread smoking table; and he said on +his return that I "guessed just right." + +He and Bruno had found the Nimrods very much disturbed over their dog's +disappearance. Mr. Nimrod had just returned from an unsuccessful search, +and they were wondering what to do next. They welcomed the wanderer, but +were concerned, too, that he had discovered our dwelling-place. + +"I'm afraid we'll have to keep him tied up now," said Mr. Nimrod. + +Julius thought not, and said,-- + +"Now that he knows where we are, and can come for a glimpse of us now +and then, I believe he'll be better contented than he was when he +thought we'd left the country." + +Better contented he certainly was, but he positively refused to stay at +home. It soon came to be a regular thing for Julius to escort him back +every evening. + +The Nimrods lived nearly a mile from us, so Julius did not lack for +exercise. + +Mr. Nimrod finally came to remonstrate with us. + +"You ought to shut him out," he cried, "then he'd have to come back +home." + +For answer, Julius showed him certain long, deep scratches on our +handsome new doors, adding,-- + +"Don't you see? It's as much as our doors are worth to shut him out, and +he leaps that four-foot fence as if it were but four inches." + +There was obviously no possible reply to such logic as this; so he +continued to come,--dragging sometimes a rope or strap, or some other +variety of tether, triumphantly proving that love laughs at locksmiths! + +The Nimrods at last lost heart. Bruno never would eat there, and he +never stayed when he could manage to escape. One night it was raining +hard when the time came for him to be taken "home," so they did not go; +and that seemed to settle it. + +He was our dog. + +We had given him away without his consent, and he refused to be given; +so the trade was off. He stayed closely at home now, seeming to think we +might disappear again if he did not watch us. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Unless there were guests in the house, we usually slept with all the +inner doors wide open for better circulation of air. + +One night we were awakened by tremendous barkings and growlings from +Bruno. Julius spoke to him, and he answered with a whine. Then we could +hear his feet pad-padding on the carpet as he went from our room, +tap-tapping on the oil-cloth in the hall, pad-padding again through the +sitting-room and the dining-room, then tap-tapping on the painted +kitchen floor, with more loud barks and deep growls. + +Julius tried again to quiet him, but he refused to be quieted. + +"Something disturbs him," I said. "Maybe we'd better let him out." + +"No," said Julius, "it is probably that wretched Leo lurking around, +trying to toll him off. He's better inside." + +I did not think he would seem so fierce if it were Leo, but I was too +sleepy to argue; so we dozed off, leaving him still on the alert. + +Deep was our surprise next morning to find that a band of thieves had +raided the town during the night, and that the houses on both sides of +us had been entered! How we petted and praised Bruno, our defender! He +was quite unconcerned, though, and seemed as if he would say to us,-- + +"Oh, that was nothing. I only barked and made a racket!" + +Truly, it was only necessary for him to bark and make a racket. There +was never any occasion for him to go further. His voice was so loud and +deep it always conveyed the impression of a dog as big as a house,--one +that could swallow a man at one mouthful without winking. + +People were always ready to take the hint when he gave voice to his +emotions. They never undertook to argue with him. + +After that night we never slept with such comfortable feelings of +perfect security as we felt at those times when we were half aroused by +Bruno's barks and growls. + +For a while the days passed uneventfully in our little home. Julius and +I were interested in beautifying and improving our grounds, so time +never dragged with us. Rebecca rejoiced in several successive sets of +kittens. They and Bruno frolicked through the days, with exciting +interruptions in the shape of the milkman's calls, Julius's returns from +the office, and occasional visits from the neighbors' children. + +For greater convenience we always spoke collectively of Bruno, Rebecca +and her kits, as "the cattle." + +The milkman's daily calls never grew stale to them. They generally heard +his bell before Julius or I suspected he was near, and would all go to +the sidewalk to meet him. Bruno would leap the fence; Rebecca and her +kits would creep through. As soon as the milk was poured out, they all +raced to the back piazza to wait for their share of it. When the dish +was filled and placed before them on the floor, Bruno stood back with +drooping ears, watching them drink. He seemed to feel that it would not +be fair to pit his great flap of a tongue against their tiny +rose-leaves. They always left some for him, which he devoured in two or +three laps, while they all sat about washing their faces. I don't think +he cared for the milk; he took it to be sociable, and seemed to be as +well satisfied with a swallow or two as he was after drinking the +dishful I sometimes offered him. He often tried to chew the grain on +which the chickens were fed, and would eat anything he saw us taking, +including all kinds of fruit, nuts, candies, and ices. Of course the +chief of his diet was the various preparations of cereals and meats, but +he seemed to want a taste of all that was going. + +Once, much to his own ultimate disgust, he coaxed me to give him a sniff +of a smelling-bottle he thought I seemed to be enjoying. After that, he +regarded all bottles with the deepest suspicion and aversion. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +It is hard to remember just when we first began to talk Florida. Then a +neighbor went down there on a prospecting tour, and returned bringing +enthusiastic accounts of the climate and opportunities. We were greatly +interested, and at once sent off for various Florida papers, pamphlets, +and books. + +Julius had always dreaded the bleak northern winters, having some +chronic troubles,--a legacy of the Civil War. It is only in literature +that a delicate man is interesting; practically, it subjects him to +endless trials and humiliations, so we never gave his state of health as +a reason for the proposed change. Instead, we flourished my tender +throat. A woman may be an invalid without loss of prestige, so not one +of our friends suspected that our proposed change of climate was not +solely on my account. + +We decided that as soon as our northern property could be disposed of, +we would turn our faces southward and try pioneering. + +Some children in a neighboring family had formed an enthusiastic +friendship with Bruno, and as soon as our plans were announced, their +parents asked us to give him to them when we were ready to start South. +In spite of our former experience in giving him away, this seemed +entirely feasible to us. + +In the first place, we thought it would be utterly impossible to take +him with us to Florida. Then he was really and truly attached to the +children who wanted him; so we readily consented; and we encouraged them +to monopolize him as much as possible, so that we might see him +comfortably settled before we started. They lived next door to us, and +Bruno was always ready to join them in a game of romps. He even ate from +their hands. It seemed a perfect arrangement. + +Our pretty little home was soon sold and dismantled, and we went to +board in another part of town while preparing for the long journey, +which then seemed almost as difficult as a trip to the moon. We locked +up the empty house and slipped away to our boarding-place, while Bruno, +all unconscious of what was going on, was barking and tearing about in a +game of tag on the other side of our neighbor's large grounds. + +Old Aunt Nancy, a colored woman who had belonged to one of my aunts +before the war, and who had been our stand-by in domestic emergencies, +had taken Rebecca and her family, promising them "Jes' as good a home as +I can gib'm, Miss Judith." It was a sad breaking up, but we felt that +our pets were well provided for, and that we should feel worse for +leaving them than they would at being left. + +Vain thought! + +Two evenings after leaving our home, while I was busy in our room, +making ready to begin packing, I heard Julius's step on the stairs, +accompanied by a familiar clatter that made my heart stand still. The +door burst open, and, before I could rise from my kneeling position, +surrounded by piles of folded things, I was knocked over sideways by a +rapturous onslaught from Bruno. + +"What does this mean!" I exclaimed, as soon as I could speak. + +"I don't know," answered Julius. "I found him waiting for me at the +office door when I came out. He seemed half wild with delight at seeing +me again. I rather think it is a repetition of the Nimrod experiment." + +"Poor old fellow!" I cried. "See how his sides have fallen in just in +these two days! He has been starving again, and we have nothing to give +him!" + +"That's so," said Julius. "I'd better go and get something for him, +hadn't I?" + +"Yes, indeed," I answered. "At once, poor old doggie!" + +So they went clattering down the stairs again, and soon returned with +some promising-looking paper bags. + +We spread a newspaper on the hearth to receive his feast, then sat +watching him and returning his glances of affection while he ate. When +he had eaten to his satisfaction and dropped into a happy snooze, Julius +said,-- + +"Well, I suppose I might as well try to find out if it would be possible +to take him with us. I'll see the agent to-morrow. We must either take +him, or have him killed; for I see plainly that it won't do at all to +try to leave him." + +"If we could just have him go along in the car with us, it would be all +right," answered I. "He is such a knowing old fellow he would understand +things perfectly." + +"That's impossible, I know," cried Julius. "If he goes at all, he must +ride in baggage-cars, and we'll be in a sleeper. I don't see how we can +manage it." + +I began to think that a way would open, and my heart felt lighter than +it had at any time since we first began to talk Florida. If we could +have Bruno with us, I no longer dreaded going to a land which, in my +imaginings, had appeared to be teeming with unknown dangers. + +The next morning Julius went promptly to interview the agent, and found +that, after all, it would be possible to take Bruno with us to Florida. +It would be some trouble and some expense. Besides his passage as +baggage, the porters in each car must be feed; and while we in the +sleeper should be in a through car, he would have a number of changes to +make,--one of them at early dawn, and another in the night. It would be +necessary for Julius to see to these changes in person, in case Bruno +proved to be unruly, which was quite probable. We decided to undertake +it, and Bruno's outfit for the journey was at once purchased. This +consisted of a strong new collar and chain, with a big tin cup fastened +to the chain for plenty of drinks, and a lunch-basket full of biscuit. + +The memorable day came, and we were escorted to the train by kind +neighbors and friends full of good-byes and good wishes for us all, +Bruno receiving a full share of their attentions. + +We knew well that they considered the whole affair to be a wild-goose +chase, and that they expected to see us return, sadder and wiser, in a +year at furthest. + +As soon as the train was under way, Julius went forward to see how Bruno +was taking it. He found him in a state of the utmost excitement, howling +and dragging at his chain, probably remembering his other journey on the +cars, when he had left his first home to come alone to us in his +puppyhood. When he saw Julius and realized that we were with him, his +joy and relief were touching. Julius stayed awhile with him, and got him +some water,--he was always thirsty after "crying,"--then came back to +report to me. + +I felt so relieved to know that we had really got off with Bruno in good +shape, it almost made me forget a small ache in the corner of my heart +for something that had happened a day or two before. I had gone up by +the old home to say good-by to an invalid neighbor, and there, on the +sidewalk, by the gate, sat Rebecca. Thin, scrawny, and alert, she sat +watching for somebody,--easy to guess what "somebody." How glad she was +to see me! + +I sat down on the gate-step, and took her in my arms, wishing with all +my heart that we could take her with us too. Still, I knew we couldn't. +She, a sober, middle-aged cat, to be carried all those many miles! Then +it might be weeks after we reached Florida before we decided where to +settle. A dog, once there, could trot around after us, but what could we +do with a cat? She had never learned to follow for any distance, and she +was always nervous about being carried. + +No, it wasn't to be thought of. + +I stayed, petting her as long as I could; then, after urging her to go +back and be contented with Aunt Nancy, I bade her a tearful good-by, and +carried away an ache in my heart that I sometimes feel yet. + +Dear old Rebecca! + +Some day I hope to go across into cat-heaven and hunt her up. Then she +can be made to understand why I was seemingly so hard-hearted as to go +off and leave her looking mournfully after me on that sad day so long +ago. Maybe she knows now; I hope she does. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was late forenoon when we set off Florida-ward. Just after dark we +reached a big city where we were to take the through sleeper to +Jacksonville. In those days there was no Union Depot there, and it was +necessary to cross the city in order to get started on the road South. + +This transfer had worried us all along, for the time was limited, and +there was all our baggage to see to and recheck, and Bruno. We arranged +that I was to take Bruno and go with him in the regular transfer +omnibus, while Julius crossed with the baggage. We thought that Bruno +and I could take care of each other, though I confess I was not willing +to have a private cab. In the well-lighted, comfortably filled 'bus I +felt safe enough, even though I was crossing a strange city at +nightfall, with only a dog for escort. + +Bruno looked wistfully at the door as the 'bus started, but seemed +satisfied when I assured him it was all right. + +Julius was waiting for us at the other station with tickets and checks. + +When he returned from escorting Bruno to the baggage car, reporting, +"All's well," we both fairly laughed, in the relief of having passed the +most puzzling part of the journey. + +I did not see Bruno again until the next morning. It was gray dawn. The +train was standing, puffing and snorting like a restless horse, on the +track under the shadow of Lookout Mountain. + +On inquiry, Julius had learned that there would be a delay of a quarter +of an hour or so there, and, as he had to be up, anyway, to transfer +Bruno to another baggage car, he had planned to give him a little run; +so, as I leaned out of the car window, I saw Julius with Bruno's chain, +cup, etc., bunched in his hands, while the happy dog was galloping up +and down the roadside. He performed leaps and antics expressive of +extreme joy when I leaned out and called to him, saying to me as plainly +as possible,-- + +"Here we are again! Isn't it jolly?" + +And I assured him that it was. + +After that glimpse I saw no more of Bruno till we reached Jacksonville; +but Julius reported, from time to time, that he seemed to comprehend +the meaning of our plan of travel, and trotted along from old to new +baggage car, so eager not to be left that he tried to enter every one he +came to with doors standing open. + +Early on the next morning after our stop by Lookout Mountain, we entered +the "Florida Metropolis." And now, behold, a great surprise! We had +brought thinner clothing in our hand-bags, thinking that, as we +journeyed southward, our heavy garments, built for northern winters, +would prove to be oppressive. How startling, then, to feel our features +pinched by nipping breezes as we stepped from the cars at last in the +Sunny South! True, as we passed residences on our way to the hotel, we +saw green trees and blooming flowers; but where were the balmy airs that +in our dreams were always fanning the fadeless flowers in this Mecca of +our hopes? + +After leaving the cars, the most welcome sight that greeted our eager +eyes was a roaring open fire in the hotel reception-room. We thought +this a most excellent joke. They were very good to Bruno (for a +consideration) at the hotel, but it was against their rules to allow +dogs in the rooms, so he was installed in comfortable quarters outside. +Julius went with him to make sure he was satisfied, and to see that he +was watered, fed, and in good spirits before we had our own breakfast. +On the way down, as ever before, Bruno had attracted much favorable +notice. Women and girls exclaimed, "Oh, see that lovely dog!" And a +number of men scraped acquaintance with Julius by admiring notice of his +"Mighty fine dog!" + +Bruno shrank from their attentions. He never made friends with +strangers, no matter how much they tried to pet him; and he never ate +anything offered to him by others unless we told him to. In fact, he was +always very particular about appropriating food. Sometimes at home, when +in a brown study, I placed his dish of food on the floor without saying +anything; but he would never begin to eat until he had gained my +attention by thrusting his nose into my hand, asking, "Is that mine?" by +questioning glances directed from me to the dish; then, when I answered, +"Yes; that's Boonie's; that's for Boonie," he would fall to and enjoy +it. + +We were glad of this trait; and we often thought that but for it he +would, very early in his career, have fallen a victim to poison, for he +was greatly feared by many timid people, especially by various grocer +and butcher boys, who approached our premises with so many absurd +precautions that it seemed to afford Bruno the greatest delight to keep +them in a state of terror. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +We made but a short stay in Jacksonville, then hurried on to St. +Augustine, where a former acquaintance of Julius's was living with his +family. We had to take a river steamer to Tocoi,--called Decoy by many, +for obvious reasons,--then journey across to the coast on a tiny +railway. + +The steamboat on the St. John's was a first experience of the kind for +Bruno, who seemed to enjoy it greatly, for the boat had but few +passengers beside ourselves, and we went up and down stairs at will, +making him several visits in his quarters on the lower deck. + +Things were even more informal on the little railway. There was no one +about when we boarded the train; so Bruno followed us into the passenger +coach, crept under the seat, doubling himself up like a shut knife, and, +totally effaced by the time the conductor came around, rode first-class +for once. It seemed such a treat for us all to be together as we +journeyed, that our short ride across from "Decoy" to the coast stands +out in memory as the pleasantest part of the journey. + +We were met at St. Augustine by Julius's friend, and, as he bore a +pressing invitation for us from his family, we stopped that first day +with them, so that they might have their fill of news from their friends +and relatives whom we had seen just before starting to Florida. + +They kindly urged us to stay longer, but we thought that two people and +a dog made a formidable party to entertain as visitors; so we hunted up +a pleasant boarding-house, and settled ourselves for a two weeks' stay. + +All three of us found much to surprise us in the old town; but by far +the greatest sensation was Bruno's when we first took him out for a run, +and he promptly made a dash into one of the creeks as the tide was +flowing in, and took a big drink. He was warm with running, and the +water looked so inviting that he had taken a number of swallows before +he tasted it. Then his antics were most comical. He snorted and shook +his head till his ears flapped again, and rubbed at his nose, first with +one paw and then with the other. After that one lesson he never again +drank from a strange pool or stream without first tasting it very +gingerly, then waiting a few seconds to make sure of the after-taste. +But if he objected to the taste of salt water, he found no flaw in the +feeling of it. + +There is no memory of him on which I so much love to dwell as on the +picture he made with his tawny curls streaming backwards in the breakers +when we took him out to the beach. The green-curling, foam-tipped waves +were to him a perfect delight. Even his dashing out in our midst and +shaking himself so that we were all drenched in an impromptu shower-bath +is pleasant,--as a memory,--though at the time we scolded him, and tried +to respond sternly to his waggish glances, as he gambolled about and +rolled in the sand. + +The salt water was new to all of us, so we spent as much time as +possible on the island and the beaches. + +On those days when we were confined to the mainland by showers, or by +the business we were attending to between times, we used to go, towards +evening, to promenade on the seawall. Then Bruno always got down in one +of the basins for a swim before we returned to our temporary home. + +Although it seemed like northern spring weather, some days being quite +chilly, and others warm enough for summer clothes, we awoke one morning +to the fact that to-morrow would be Christmas. It had seemed to us, +since our arrival in St. Augustine, as if we were in a foreign country, +the Spanish element was so large in proportion to the rest of the town, +both in the people and their customs and in the arrangement and the +construction of the city. We heard of the celebration of midnight Mass +in the old Cathedral, and resolved to "assist;" but, as the evening came +on crisp and chilly, our enthusiasm cooled with it. The tonic qualities +of the unaccustomed salt air had inspired us with a keen interest in +food and sleep; so, after fully deciding to sit up for the Mass, we were +ready by half-past nine to declare that there was not a sight in the +world worth the sacrifice of such a night's sleep as that for which we +felt ready. So we embarked for dreamland, whence we were recalled at +daylight by Bruno's excitement over a perfect din of tin trumpets and +toy drums. + +As we dressed, we peeped through the blinds at the processions of small +boys marching by in the narrow streets below, blowing trumpets and +pounding drums. The daily drills at the barracks in the old city made +all the small boys of the town even more ambitious than small boys +usually are to be soldiers. Apparently, every one of them had sent Santa +Claus a petition to bring him something warlike for a Christmas present. + +Julius delighted Bruno by taking him out and buying him a paper of +candy, which he ate with much relish; then we three sat on the upper +piazza on which our room opened, listening to the music and watching the +processions. + +It was a very strange Christmas to all three of us. The air was +pleasantly warm, and green things, with roses and other flowers, were in +sight in all directions. + +As soon as Christmas had passed, we, with that feeling of having turned +a corner, common at such times, began to hasten our preparations to go +on South. We had inspected various tracts of land around St. Augustine, +but had not found anything to which we felt particularly drawn. It +seemed rather odd, too, to come South intending to pioneer, and then to +settle in or near what the old sergeant at the Fort assured us was the +oldest city in the Union. + +We felt that we must, at all events, see what the wilder parts of the +State were like before deciding; so we soon found ourselves speeding +away again towards "Decoy," to catch the boat for a little station away +down South, up the river, which was then the only route to a small +settlement in the mid-lake country, where a relative was living, who had +urged us to see his part of Florida before deciding on anything. + +It seems odd now to think how remote south middle Florida was in those +days. The point we were then trying to reach is now less than twelve +hours from Jacksonville by rail. Then we travelled all night by boat, +and took train at breakfast-time across to a big lake, where a tiny +steamer awaited us; on this we crossed the lake, then stopped at a town +on the other side, to wait for a wagon which was to come a half-day's +journey to meet us. + +Our message was delayed, so we spent two days at an English inn, near +the big lake, where we made some friends we have kept on our list ever +since. And besides these friendships, we have treasured many pleasant +memories of this inn. We approached it in the twilight of a chilly, +blustering day, and on entering it we were greeted by an immense open +fire of light-wood, which glorified the polished floor, strewn with the +skins of wild creatures killed in the near-by thickets, called hammocks +or hummocks. The firelight gave fitful glimpses of old-fashioned chairs, +tables, etc., and lighted up a number of large gilt-framed paintings +which adorned the walls;--in short, it was a complete picture of +artistic comfort. Nor was our satisfaction lessened by the fragrant odor +of frying ham and hot muffins, wafted to us as we crossed the hall. + +They gave us a ground-floor room in an L opening on one of the side +piazzas. This arrangement suited Bruno perfectly, and therefore it +pleased us. There was a small lake behind the house, and the next day +Julius proposed a row. The boat was quite small, and he was then rather +unskilled in the use of oars; so we coaxed Bruno to sit on the tiny +wharf and see us go by. + +He seemed quite willing; so we pushed off. As we floated outward, Bruno +lost heart. It was too much like being left behind; so he whined and +plunged in after us. + +"It isn't far across," said Julius, "and a swim won't hurt him!" + +So we went on, letting him follow. + +Suddenly he gave a strange cry, and Julius looked around, exclaiming,-- + +"See, he's cramping!" + +We went to him as rapidly as possible, and were just in time. At the +risk of upsetting us all in the deepest part of the lake--probably about +fifteen feet--Julius dragged him into the boat. We then hurried back to +the landing, where poor Bruno had to be helped out, and we laid him on +the grass in a state of exhaustion which alarmed us greatly. + +It was some hours before he was himself again, and many months before he +lost a great fear of the water,--in fact, he was never afterwards the +fearless water-dog of his youth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +I see us next at the little inland settlement surrounding two small +lakes for which we had started. + +It had been long years since we had seen the relative who was living +there, and childish memories did not tell us that he was the most +visionary and unpractical of men. We could not trust our own judgment in +such a topsy-turvy country as Florida, where the conditions were all so +new to us; so it is no wonder that we took his word for a number of wild +statements and decided to buy and settle there. We bought a tract of +land from a friend and client of his, who offered us the use of a small +homestead shanty near our land, to live in while we were building. This +shanty looked decidedly uninviting, but the alternative was a room in +the house of our relative, a full mile away from our place; so we +decided in favor of the shanty. It was built of rived boards, slabs +split out of the native logs. It had one door and no windows. In fact, +it needed none; for the boards lapped roughly on each other, leaving +cracks like those in window-blinds, so we could put our fingers through +the walls almost anywhere. Besides affording a means of light and +ventilation, this was vastly convenient for various flying and creeping +things. The floor was of rough ten-inch boards, with inch-wide cracks +between them. Julius escorted me over to inspect it, saying,-- + +"If we try to live in this excuse for a house, we shall be pioneering +with a vengeance." + +After a searching glance around the premises, I answered,-- + +"The pioneering is all right, if we can just make it clean." + +"Oh, that's easy enough!" exclaimed Julius, in a relieved tone. "If you +think we can stand its other short-comings, I can whitewash the whole +thing, and make it so fresh and sweet you won't know it." + +We sent a message for our freight, which we had left at Jacksonville, +and Julius took a team to the nearest town to buy a few necessaries. We +had brought no furniture South with us, knowing that what we had in our +Northern home would be unsuitable for pioneering. Our freight, +therefore, was mostly books and pictures, with a few boxes of clothes, +bedding, etc. The shanty was wonderfully improved by a coat or two of +whitewash, and after an old tapestry carpet had been put down to cover +the cracks in the floor, extending up on the walls to form a dado, it +began to look quite livable. + +The bed and a row of trunks filled one end, there being just room to +squeeze in between them. At the foot of the bed was a table, used by +turns as kitchen, dining, and library table; there was also a box +holding a kerosene stove, with shelves above it for dishes and supplies. + +We had two wooden chairs, and a bench which we put to various uses. When +these things were all in place, and our books arranged on boards which +were laid across the rafters overhead, we felt as snug as was Robinson +Crusoe in his cave. + +As soon as we were comfortable, Julius got a man to help him, and began +to improve our land. A few of the large pine-trees had to be felled, and +this performance filled Bruno with the wildest excitement. His natural +instincts told him there was only one reason for which a tree should +ever be cut,--to capture some wild creature which had taken refuge in +its top. At the first blow of the axe he would begin to yelp and dance, +breaking into still wilder antics when the tree began to sway and +stagger, finally rushing into the top as it fell, in a state of +excitement that bordered on frenzy. + +As he, of course, found nothing there, he seemed to think he had not +been quick enough, and that the creature had escaped; so he became more +and more reckless, until Julius was alarmed for his safety, and said I +must keep him shut in-doors till the trees were down, or he would surely +end by being crushed. + +I had my hands full. I would coax him in, and shut the door. As soon as +he heard the chopping begin, he would whine and bark, coaxing to be let +out. I always temporized until I heard the tree falling, then off he +would dash, and bounce into its top to yelp and explore. + +He never found anything in the trees, but he never grew discouraged. He +"assisted" at the felling of every one. + +Bruno was much happier in Florida than he had been in our Northern home. +He had all the woods to stretch his legs in, and for amusement he had +the different kinds of wild creatures. + +One moonlight night we three had walked over to the post-office for the +mail. As Julius and I were slowly sauntering homeward, enjoying the +night air, while Bruno made little excursions in all directions, he +suddenly came up in front of us, and paused in that questioning way +which showed he had found something of which he was not quite sure. + +"What is it, Boonie?" asked Julius. + +Bruno made a short run, then came back, pausing as before, and glancing +first in the direction he had started to go, then at Julius. + +"It is probably a 'possum," I suggested. + +Bruno had shown himself to be very careful about attacking strange +animals. He seemed to remember our adventure with the hens, his first +meeting with Rebecca, and some of his other experiences. + +Julius answered his evident question with,-- + +"Yes. It's Boonie's 'possum. Go get him!" + +Off he sprang, dashing into a little clump of trees, about a bow-shot +from us, then with a yelp retreated, throwing himself on the ground, +uttering short cries, rubbing and rooting his nose down into the grass +and sand. Alas, poor Bruno! We knew what it was. We did not see it, we +did not hear it, but we knew. He felt that he had been a victim of +misplaced confidence; but we suffered with him, for it was days before +he got rid of the "bouquet." Then it was as if by an inspiration. He +seemed, all at once, to remember something. There was a tiny lake near +our place, that was going dry. Day by day its waters had receded, until +it was a mere mud-hole. Bruno went down to it, and buried himself up to +the eyes in the black mud. + +He lay there until late afternoon, then trotted off to a wet lake near +by, and took a thorough bath. With this, he regained his lost +self-respect, but he never forgot the experience. It was only necessary +to say,-- + +"Kitty, kitty, where's kitty?" to make his ears and tail droop in the +most dejected manner; then he would creep away, out of sight, till some +more agreeable topic of conversation was broached. + +It was not strange, after such a trying adventure, that Bruno was rather +timid about approaching "Br'er 'Possum" when he did meet him. One night, +he was found lurking around outside, sniffing some odds and ends that +Bruno had disdained. After a little urging, Bruno was induced to seize +him. Finding that nothing unpleasant followed, he became from that +moment an enthusiastic 'possum-hunter, and used to bring one in every +night or two. I usually cooked them for him, and he ate them with a +relish, which we thought was fortunate, as we were about twelve miles +from a butcher. Another substitute for beef we found in the Florida +gopher. This is a grass-eating tortoise, which digs a house for itself +in the sand. + +Bruno soon became a most ardent gopher-hunter. Their hard shells make +them difficult to handle, as they promptly draw in the head and legs on +being approached; so Bruno would nose one over until he could seize the +shovel, a protruding piece of the lower shell. Getting this small bit +between his side-teeth, he balanced the weight by holding his head +stiffly sideways, and came trotting in. The shadow of the house reached, +he dropped the gopher, carefully turning it over on its back, and lay +down beside it, to cool off and rest. Then off he would go for another. + +He kept this up day after day, sometimes having as many as a dozen +around the place at once. As often as the creatures managed to flop over +so they could use their feet again and start to escape, Bruno, yelping +and barking, brought them back, and turned them on their backs. + +Sometimes, when he returned after a protracted hunt, bringing in a fresh +victim, he found several of them escaping at once. Then he would +hurriedly drop his latest catch, to speed away, tracking the truants +until they were all found and recaptured, to be brought back and nosed +over again. + +He never wearied of this sport, and after our house was finished, and a +well-stocked "chicken-park" was added to our estate, we bought a large +camp-kettle, which we arranged on bricks in a secluded place; in this we +would heat water and cook Bruno's gophers, so that he and the hens had +constant feasts of them and throve apace. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Julius and I always like to experiment with new articles of food. We +have no sympathy with the kind of fussiness that travels around the +world with its own lunch-box, disdaining everything strange or new. It +is to us part of the charm of changed surroundings to test the native +articles of diet. + +[Illustration: He was hissing at Bruno.--PAGE 62.] + +We had tried roast 'possum and stewed gopher; we now began to long for a +taste of alligator steak. We had heard that to be at all eatable the +steak must be taken from the fleshy part of the tail of a young animal +before the creature grows large enough to lose its shiny skin; so we +were quite delighted one day when we found that Bruno had cornered a +young one about four feet long. It was in a little glade about three +hundred yards from the house; and as soon as Julius found the cause of +Bruno's excitement, he hurried to the house for the axe, and soon put a +stop to the creature's demonstrations. He was hissing at Bruno like a +whole flock of geese, the while snapping at him with his teeth and +striking at him with his tail, which he had a most astonishing way of +flourishing around. + +When the steak was cut the meat looked white and fine-grained, like the +more delicate kinds of fish. When cooked it was very inviting, being a +compromise between fish and the white meat of domestic fowls. + +We enjoyed it very much and were loud in our praises of alligator steak, +but--we didn't want any more! + +I cooked the rest of it for Bruno, and he ate one more meal of it; then +he struck. We have since heard that most people who try alligator steak +have the same experience. A first meal is thoroughly enjoyed, but one +not brought up on such a diet never gets beyond the second. It is a +useful article of food in southern camp-life, because it makes the +campers go back to bacon and beans with renewed relish. The same may be +said of roast 'possum and stewed gopher,--that is, for the human +campers. + +Just before our house was ready for us, while we were still living in +the little shanty, I noticed one night when Julius came in that he was +empty-handed. He had been in the habit of bringing his tools home every +evening; so I asked,-- + +"What have you done with the saws and things?" + +"I left them under the building," he answered, "wrapped in an old coat I +had there. They will be perfectly safe, and I am tired of carrying +them." + +I was always glad when he had discovered an easier way of doing things; +so I made no objection to this, and went on preparing the evening meal, +for which we three were ready. Bruno had been over at the new house all +the afternoon; so I waited on him first, seeing that his water-basin was +full to the brim and heaping a plate with food for him. Then Julius and +I sat down with keenest enjoyment to such a meal as we would have +scorned in our old home, but which our open-air life in the pine-woods +made exceedingly welcome. Afterwards I cleared the table, and we sat +down to our usual evening of reading, interrupted with occasional +snatches of conversation. + +Bruno lay at our feet--dozing when we were quiet, thumping the floor +with his tail whenever we spoke. Towards nine o'clock he got up, shook +himself, sighed deeply, then asked me in his usual manner to open the +door for him. This was the way he asked. He rested his head on my knee +until I looked up from my book. Then his tail began to wag, and he +glanced quickly from me to the door, then back at me again. I asked,-- + +"Boonie want to go?" + +At this his tail wagged faster than ever, and he went to the door and +stood waiting. Julius got up and opened the door for him; standing for a +few moments after Bruno had disappeared in the darkness, looking at the +stars and listening to that sweet sound the pine-needles make when the +wind blows through them. + +The night was rather cool, and it was not long before we both began to +feel sleepy. Bruno had not returned; so Julius went to the door, +whistling and calling to him. + +But there was no answer. + +We waited a little while; then Julius said: + +"He will probably be here by the time we are ready to put out the lamp; +so let's to bed." + +I felt troubled. It reminded me of the old days in Bruno's giddy youth +when he was off sheep-chasing. As I brushed out my hair, I was turning +over in my mind all those vague fears I had felt when I had formerly +dreamed of Florida as a country full of unknown dangers. At last I +spoke,-- + +"Julius, do you think a big alligator could have caught Bruno?" + +"I don't know," answered Julius, slowly. + +Then I knew that he was worried too. + +When the lamp was out, Julius went to the door again and stood for some +minutes whistling, calling, and listening; but no sound came except the +pine murmurs and the mournful notes of a distant "Whip-Will's-Widow." + +It was impossible for us to sleep. Having always had Bruno at our +bedside, we had never before felt uneasy, and had provided no way to +lock our shanty. There was just an old-fashioned string-latch with a +padlock outside; and here we were, deserted by our protector! + +Again and again through the night Julius got up to call and listen. + +Towards dawn we both slept heavily, worn out with anxious surmises. We +were awakened by a well-known whining and scratching at the door, and +when we both sprang up to open it, in walked Bruno, looking just as he +usually did in the morning,--lively, glad to see us awake, and ready for +his breakfast. + +We gave him a welcome so warm it surprised and delighted him, while we +vainly questioned him for an explanation of his desertion of us for the +night. It was of no use. We could see that he had not been running, but +where _had_ he been? We gave it up. + +Julius said his troubled night had left him without much appetite for +work; but the man who was helping him would be there, so he thought it +best to go over to the building, anyway. + +He surprised me by returning almost immediately. His face was lighted up +and his eyes were dancing. + +"I came back to tell you where Bruno slept last night," he exclaimed. +"You can't guess!" + +"No," I answered; "I have already given it up." + +"He went back to watch those tools I left over at the building. He dug +himself a nest right beside them, drawing the edge of my old coat around +for his pillow. The prints are all there as plain as can be!" + +We were amazed and delighted at this performance; the reasoning seemed +so human. He had watched Julius arranging and leaving the tools, the +while making up his own mind that it was an unwise thing to do, and +evidently deciding to see to it later. His sitting with us till +bedtime, keeping in mind his mental appointment, and then going forth +without a word from any one to keep it, seemed to us to be a truly +wonderful thing, and so it seems to me yet. + +From the first, we had made a constant companion of Bruno, talking to +him always as if he could speak our language; and we have since thought +that this must have been a sort of education for him, drawing out and +developing his own natural gifts of thought and reason. He often +surprised us by joining in the conversation. He would be lying dozing, +and we talking in our usual tones. If we mentioned Robbie or Charlie, +the two children who were his friends in his puppy days before he was +our dog, or spoke of Leo, or of going somewhere, he would spring up all +alert, running to the door or window, and then to us, whining and giving +short barks of inquiry or impatience. + +Always, after that first time we had tried to give him away, he was +subject to terrible nightmares. In his sleep he would whimper and sigh +in a manner strangely like human sobbing. We thought at such times that +he was going through those trying days again, in his dreams. So we +always wakened him, petting and soothing him till he fully realized that +it was only a dream. + +He had other ways which we thought noteworthy. Although he loved Julius +better than he did me, yet he always came to me with his requests. If +hungry or thirsty, he would come to me wagging his tail and licking his +lips. + +Like "Polly," his general term for food was cracker. If I asked, "Boonie +want a cracker?" and if it was hunger, he would yawn in a pleased, +self-conscious manner, and run towards the place where he knew the food +was kept. If I had misunderstood his request, he continued gazing at me, +licking his lips and wagging his tail till I asked, "Boonie want a +drink?" Then he would yawn and run towards his water-cup, which I would +find to be empty. + +Often, when he had made his wants known to me, I passed them on to +Julius, who would wait on him; but it made no difference: the next time +he came to me just the same. He seemed to have reasoned it out that I +was the loaf-giver, as the old Saxons had it, or else he felt that I was +quicker to enter into his feelings and understand his wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Not long after Bruno's self-imposed night watch we found ourselves +settled on our own estate, ready to carry out our plans for the future. +Briefly they were as follows. We had intended to make an orange-grove, +and while it was coming to maturity, we expected to raise early +vegetables to ship to northern markets. We brought with us only money +enough to make our place and live for a year: by that time we had fully +expected to have returns from vegetable shipments which would tide us +over till another crop. We had plenty of faith and courage, and were +troubled by no doubts as to the feasibility of our plans. Nor need we +have been, if only our land had contained the proper elements for +vegetable growing. It was good enough orange land, but it would be a +long time before we could depend on oranges for an income. + +All this time we had been learning many things, taking care, as we began +to understand the situation, to go to practical doers for advice +instead of to visionary talkers. + +There began to be serious consultations in our little home circle. The +year was drawing to a close, and our whole crop of vegetables would not +have filled a two-quart measure. We had gone on with our planting, even +after we felt it to be hopeless, because we did not dare to stop and +listen to our fears. It is not strange that we felt depressed and +disappointed. We could see that our plans could easily have been carried +out, had we only known just what sort of land to select. The whole State +was before us to choose from, but we had been misled through the +romances of a dreamer of dreams. All we had to show for our money, time, +and labor was a small house surrounded by trees so young that they were +at least five years from yielding us an income, and there was no more +money for experiments. + +For a while we felt rather bitter towards our misleading adviser, but I +know now that we were wrong to feel so. A man can give only what he has. +"Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh." A dreamer of +dreams has only visions to offer to his followers, surely landing them +either in the briers of difficulty or the mires of discouragement. + +One day Julius returned from the nearest large town, where he had been +for supplies, with an unusually thoughtful countenance. As soon as his +purchases were unloaded and the horse had been attended to, he came in +and, drawing a chair beside my work-table, opened the conversation with +these memorable words: + +"Judith, how would you like to go up to Lemonville to live?" + +"What makes you ask?" questioned I. "It depends altogether on the +circumstances how I'd like to live there." + +"Well, Hawkes bantered me to-day to come up and keep his books for him, +and I have been considering it all the way home. It looks like a way +out, and I'll declare I don't see any other!" + +"Go back to office work!" I exclaimed; "I thought you were done with +that sort of thing!" + +"I thought so, too; but after a year of this sort of thing, it begins to +look quite different." + +We sat up late, discussing this plan in all its bearings. Bruno seemed +to know that it was a crisis in our affairs, and sat on end facing us, +wrinkling his brows and looking from one to the other as each spoke. We +finally decided that Julius was to go back to town in a day or two, and +investigate further. + +When Julius returned from Lemonville three days later, he brought us the +news that he had promised to give the position a trial, and that he had +engaged temporary quarters for us in a new house near the office. +Moreover, we were to move up there the following week, as Mr. Hawkes was +impatient for his help. + +While we felt relieved at this decision, there was still something very +sad about the breaking up. We had builded so many hopes into our +pine-woods home, which had seemed to us to be guarded by a "standing +army" of giants carrying silver banners, especially imposing on +moonlight nights when the wind kept the banners of moss swaying under +the immense pine-trees. + +We had seen it in imagination blossoming as the rose, a quiet little +nest, far from the madding crowd. And now to abandon it at the beginning +and go back to village life,--it was leaving poetry for the flattest of +prose. + +The first step towards breaking up was to dispose of our fowls. This was +soon arranged, and when the cart came to carry them off, Bruno watched +the loading of them with the keenest interest, turning his head +sideways, with alert ears, and catching his lip between his side-teeth +when a hen squawked, as was his way when nervous. At last they were all +in the coop. The driver mounted to his seat, and started off. Bruno +trotted along after him, evidently not understanding that they were no +longer our chickens. He thought it was the beginning of the move he had +heard us discuss. He followed along for perhaps a quarter of a mile. All +at once he stopped and looked back; he saw us standing and looking after +him. It was a dilemma. He looked after the receding wagon, then back at +us, then at the wagon again. Then he turned and galloped back, stomach +to earth, and bounded up to us, yelping and panting, while we explained +that they were not our chickens any more; they were sold, and had gone +away to live in another home. + +The poultry disposed of, we began hurriedly to make ready for our own +departure. It took a whole long day to pack our books, but we soon +stowed our other things, and inside of the agreed time we were +transferred and settled in the three rooms Julius had engaged. + +There was a sitting-room below, which we used also as a dining-room, +with a small kitchen behind it. Over the sitting-room we had a large +chamber. The front windows of this room gave on the sloping roof which +covered a lower porch. This seemed to meet Bruno's views; he at once +sprang through one of the windows, and took possession of it as a +lounging-place--airy and cool. + +Again and again friends we had made in our sylvan retreat, who came up +to town to visit us, said,-- + +"I found where you lived by seeing your dog on the porch-roof." + +The house stood on rising ground and could be seen from almost any part +of the village; so we found Bruno quite useful as a door-plate in a town +where there were as yet no street names nor numbers. + +We do not like living in the homes of other people, so as soon as +possible we made arrangements for two town lots, and put up a little +cottage. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +One day Julius came home with invitations for a ball in honor of the +Governor, to be given in an ambitious embryo city across the lake. He +had learned that the little steamer was to make an extra night-trip +across on purpose to accommodate those who wished to attend, and that +some of our friends had planned to go in company, and wished us to join +their party. We had long intended to take the steamer trip across the +lake; the Governor's ball sounded inviting, also the night crossing with +our friends. We decided to accept. + +The evening fell rather threatening, with flurries of wind and rain. +Still we were undaunted, and kept hoping it would clear off. + +I filled Bruno's basin and platter, telling him he must take care of the +house and be a good dog. He seemed to understand all about it, and stood +at the window after we had locked him in, watching us go with perfect +composure. + +It was still twilight when we started, and we could see his eyes shining +through the glass, as long as the house was in sight. + +The weather, meantime, had not improved, and had we not promised to go, +we should certainly have given it up. + +When we reached the wharf, we found that the little steamer's cabin was +in the sole possession of our party, all the others having backed out on +account of the weather. + +We kept up each other's spirits with all sorts of absurdities, and the +boat was soon ploughing a foamy track across the big waves. + +As soon as we steamed out from behind a point of land that sheltered the +wharf, we were met by a gale of wind that made the little steamer reel +and tremble as if from the shock of a collision. The lights were all +promptly extinguished, as the doors were forced open by fierce winds, +while we huddled together in a corner, and laughingly reminded each +other that it was a "pleasure exertion." + +I shudder now whenever I think of that night, though at the time we did +not know enough about the possibilities to be frightened. + +How the little boat pitched and tossed! The waves washed its lower +decks, again and again putting out the engine fires; we meanwhile +rolling in the trough of the sea until they could be rekindled. We had +expected to cross in about three-quarters of an hour, and return soon +after midnight; but it was along towards the wee sma' hours when we +reached the other shore. Then, when we heard the crew congratulating +each other, exchanging experiences, and telling what they had expected +to see happen to all concerned every time big waves had washed out the +fire, we for the first time fully realized the risks we had taken in +crossing. + +We were weary enough not to be sorry that the ball was already over. We +looked in at its departed glories for a few minutes; and then, finding +it would be impossible to start back home before broad daylight, began +to look for a lodging-place. + +The town was filled with people who had driven in from the surrounding +country for the ball, but we succeeded in getting two small top-story +rooms in the hotel, which were vacated for us by some sort of +"doubling-up" among the good-natured guests. The three men of our party +took one, and we three women the other. + +It was about three o'clock when we retired to our room, and while the +other two slept on the one bed, I sat by the window trying to hurry the +dawn; wondering what Bruno was thinking, and how we should look, a party +of people clothed in evening array, returning home in broad daylight. As +if we had made a night of it, surely! I chuckled to myself as I compared +our plight with that of Cinderella. + +We met at breakfast in the hotel dining-room, a queer-looking crowd. As +we laughed at each other's appearance, it was hard for each to realize +that he or she looked just as absurd; but an unprejudiced observer would +have found little to choose between us. As soon as the meal was over, +the three men started out to find a way to get us all home again. +Everything seemed to conspire to delay us, and it was half-past twelve +at noon when we entered our own gate, the click of the latch bringing +Bruno's face to the window with a series of joyful barks. + +Poor fellow! His long confinement to the house, his empty plate and +bowl, his joyful reception of us, and then his springing out to dash +round and round the lot, filled our hearts with compassion. + +As soon as his first burst of enthusiasm was over, he came in, and crept +up to me with dejected ears and tail, which in his language meant "mea +culpa." I asked,-- + +"What is it, Boonie? What's Boonie been doing?" + +Still lower sank head and tail, and his knees began to weaken. I made a +hasty survey of the sitting-room, and then I understood. He had slept on +the lounge, a thing he was strictly forbidden to do. + +"Oh, Boonie!" I cried, "you naughty dog! Judith thought she could trust +you!" + +At this his knees gave way, and he sank to the floor utterly dejected. +He would not rise, nor even look up, until I had forgiven and comforted +him. + +The next time we had to leave him alone in the house, I built a +"booby-trap," with two light chairs on the lounge, which left him +looking so utterly crushed that I never had the heart to do it again. +But he never more transgressed in that way, so I felt that I had dealt +wisely with him. + +It was a hard necessity which forced us to shut him up when we were +going where it would not do to take him. At first we had tried leaving +him outside; but we found that after we had been gone awhile, his heart +was always sure to fail him, and he would track us, turning up +invariably just in time to cover us with confusion, his own dejected +mien saying plainly,-- + +"I know this is against orders, but I just _had_ to do it." + +He had a wonderful development of conscience. We sometimes thought that +this, as well as the other mental gifts of which he showed himself to be +possessed, were due to the shape of his head. His nose was very short, +and his forehead unusually high and well-rounded. Of course his life as +a close companion to humans and as a full member of a family circle, was +calculated to foster these mental gifts; but they were surely there, to +begin with. We might treat dozens of dogs just as we treated Bruno, +without developing another that would compare with him. He was unique; +and I shall always glory in the fact that he loved and trusted us. His +was a love not to be lightly won, nor, once given, ever to be recalled. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +In spite of our snug little home in Lemonville, we never felt quite +settled there. We were not built for village life. Country life is good, +and city life is good; but in a village one has all the drawbacks of +both, with the rewards of neither. So it was not long before we resolved +on another change. + +We sold our little home furnished, packed up our books, with a few other +personal belongings, and turned our faces towards St. Augustine, to +investigate several openings there, of which we had chanced to hear. We +were so fortunate as to be able to rent a small cottage, and at once +took possession, furnishing it from our trunks, only buying a few +necessary articles of the plainest kind. + +Just as we had settled ourselves in these temporary quarters, a matter +of business came up, making necessary a return to Lemonville for a day +or two. The trip was both tedious and expensive, so after some +discussion we decided that Bruno and I should stay and keep house, +while Julius made the trip alone "light weight." + +I had some trouble in persuading Julius that I should be perfectly safe +in Bruno's care. He wished us to close the cottage, and go to some one +of the many pleasant boarding-places, where we had friends or +acquaintances stopping. This I should certainly have done, had I been +alone; but I reminded Julius how more than able Bruno was to take care +of me, and how much trouble he always gave in a strange house. So he was +finally persuaded that it would be best for us to stay in the cottage. + +Julius left on a noon train, carrying only a small hand-bag. When he +said good-by to us, he impressed this on Bruno's mind,--"Take good care +of Judith." + +Bruno stood at the door with me, watching him out of sight, then +breathed a deep sigh, and crept off under the bed to have it out with +himself alone and unseen. I busied myself picking up the articles which +had been scattered in the confusion of packing, then sat down to drown +thought in a book. + +Towards evening I had a caller. One of our friends, who had seen Julius, +bag in hand, at the station, and had thus learned that I was alone, +sent a message by her little son that I was to "come right around" to +their house for the night. I sent our thanks, with further message that +Bruno and I had agreed to take care of each other. The child went home; +then his mother came. She thought I "must be crazy" to think of staying +alone. She "wouldn't do it for any money." I assured her I was not +staying alone, and had some trouble to convince her that I could not +possibly be more safely guarded than by Bruno. I assured her, further, +that nothing would now induce me to lock up the house and leave it, for +it would be impossible to know just when Julius would return; he would +be sure to catch the first boat and train after his business was +finished, and I would not for anything have him return to find his nest +deserted. + +I succeeded, at last, in quieting all of her kind objections, and was +left in peace. + +Darkness came on, and then Bruno lost courage. As I was preparing his +evening meal, he ran to meet me as I crossed the room, and raising +himself to an upright position, he rested his paws on my shoulders and +gazed with mournful questioning into my eyes. I knew what he would say, +and sitting down, I drew his head to my knee, and told him all about +it,--that Julius would only stay a "little, little while," then he would +come back and "stay--stay--stay always with us." His ears rose and fell, +his forehead wrinkled and unwrinkled as I talked to him. Then he seemed +comforted, and ate a good supper. + +I sat reading far into the night, until the letters began to blur. Bruno +sat beside me, sometimes with his head on my knee while I stroked his +silken ears,--which always suggested the wavy locks of a red-haired +girl,--and sometimes he lay at full length on the floor, with his head +against my feet. + +As midnight tolled, I closed my book, covered up the fire, and tried to +go to sleep, with Bruno lying on the rug beside my bed. Whenever I +stirred, he got up, and putting his forefeet on the side of the bed, +reached his head over for me to stroke it. It was the first time I had +ever spent a night in a house with no other humans, and Bruno seemed to +enter thoroughly into my feelings. + +I lay listening to the breakers booming on the outer bar, wondering how +far on his journey Julius could be. + +Dawn looked in at me before I fell asleep; then I knew nothing until +aroused by Bruno's barks, to find that some one was rapping on the front +door. + +After hastily putting on a dressing-gown, I investigated through a crack +made by holding the door slightly ajar, and found that the same kind +friends had sent to see how I had spent the night. I gave a glowing +account of our comfort and security, for my morning nap had thoroughly +rested and refreshed me; then I hastened to prepare some breakfast for +Bruno, meanwhile letting him out for a run in the lot. + +After the small household duties were attended to, I had sat down to +finish some souvenirs I was painting for one of the shops, when I heard +a great din and clatter outside. Bruno, who was sitting beside me, +gravely watching my work, while now and then he gave a disgusted snort +as he got a good whiff of the turpentine I was using to thin my paints, +started up, barking and bounding towards the closed door. I sprang to +open it, and was met on the very threshold by a trembling, half-grown +deer. The gate was open, showing how it had entered, and there, +hesitating at the sight of Bruno and me, was a motley crowd of boys and +dogs. I at once grasped the situation. Many people in St. Augustine had +such pets, and I was sure this one must have escaped from the grounds of +its owner, to fall into the hands of the rabble. + +I hurried out to shut the gate. Most boys are more or less cruel; but +Spanish boys are intensely so. When I returned to the porch, Bruno and +the deer were regarding each other with mutual doubts. I settled Bruno's +at once by laying my hand on his head while I stroked our gentle +visitor, saying,-- + +"Pretty deer, Boonie mustn't hurt it!" + +The deer seemed satisfied too, and to feel that danger was past. I +brought water, and everything I could think of to offer it to eat. It +was too warm with running to want food, though, and only took a few +swallows of water. Its lovely, deep eyes suggested all sorts of romantic +thoughts. Of course I quoted, "Come rest in this bosom," and "I never +nursed a dear gazelle." I was sure its name should be Juanita, after the +girl in the sweet Spanish song. + +All day the pretty creature roamed about our little enclosure, Bruno and +I attending to its wants as best we could, having had no experience in +catering for such guests. + +It turned quite chilly towards evening. When I had shut all the doors +and built up the fire, I heard a clatter of small hoofs on the +porch-floor, and there stood Juanita, looking wistfully in through the +window. Bruno and I looked at each other, thoroughly perplexed. We were +not prepared for such a hint. I thought afterwards it must have been +taken as a baby-deer, and raised in-doors "by hand." + +We went out and prepared a warm bed for it in the wood-shed back of the +house. It seemed quite satisfied with this arrangement, and settled down +cosily as we left it and returned to our fireside. We spent this evening +and night as we had the previous one, and were aroused very early in the +morning by the sound of Juanita's impatient little hoofs on the porch +floor. I had just finished feeding her and Bruno, when I heard the +gate-latch click. I looked out. A colored girl was coming up the walk. + +"Mawnin', Lady," she said; "ole Miss hyud our deer was hyuh. _Dah_ you +is, you good-f'-nuffin' ole runaway! Thanky, Lady. Come on, Billy!" And +hitting _him_ a resounding slap on the back, she went off, accompanied +by our romantic Juanita, transformed into meek and prosy Billy. + +Thus perish our illusions! + +Bruno was inclined to resent this unceremonious taking off of our pet, +and began to growl; but as soon as I recovered from the mingled emotions +which at first had rendered me speechless, I realized from Billy's +actions that he and the colored girl were old friends; so I silenced him +by saying,-- + +"Never mind, Boonie, it wasn't our deer; it only came for a little +visit, and now it's going home." Then we stood watching graceful Billy +and his uncouth companion till they disappeared through the old City +Gates. + +Late that evening, Bruno having had his supper, I sat by the fire +sipping a cup of chocolate, and thinking those tender, half-melancholy +thoughts we are apt to have at twilight when separated from those +beloved. + +All at once I heard the gate click. Bruno sprang up, thrilled and alert. +A footstep on the walk--ah, Bruno knew it, even before I did, and was so +eager to get out that he almost held the door shut in his excitement. We +finally got it open, and there, weary, eager, and travel-stained, was +Julius! Before his lips reached my face, I mentally exclaimed,-- + +"How glad I am that Bruno and I have stayed here, instead of leaving a +shut-up house, where he would have to drop his bag and start out to look +for us!" + +That moment, when I felt his arms around me and heard his words of joy +mingled with Bruno's ecstatic yelps, paid for all of our endless, lonely +hours. I dare say there was not in all the world a happier group of +three than sat before our open fire that night. + +Every time Bruno dozed, he would awaken with a start, and go to sniff +and paw at Julius to make sure it wasn't a dream, that he really had +come back to us. + +Julius reported his business successfully concluded; a change in one of +the time-tables had enabled him to get back sooner than we had dared to +hope. + +The next day I received his letter, telling me to look for him by the +train on which he had come the night before! + +In those days our mail not infrequently took an ocean voyage on its way +from one Florida town to another quite near by, so we were never +surprised at anything in the mail line,--except a prompt delivery! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +It was shortly after the events related in the last chapter that we came +to a final decision against the various business openings we had been +investigating in St. Augustine, and concluded to go on to Jacksonville. +We disposed of the few things we had bought for our little cottage, and +when we again found ourselves on the train with our household goods, I +gave us both a fit of merriment by quoting the words of poor little Joe +in "Bleak House,"-- + +"Wisht I may die if I ain't a-movin' on." + +It was by this time mid-season, and Jacksonville was full of tourists. +It was then very popular as a winter resort, Southern Florida was not +much known; so we had some difficulty in finding a place to live. + +We decided to get just one room somewhere, and board at a restaurant +till the city emptied so we could secure a cottage. + +The first room we found that would do, was too far from the business +part of town; so we took it for only a month, and kept on looking. We +heard of one, at last, which seemed close to everything. It proved to be +large, lofty, and pleasant, with a glimpse of the river from its front +windows. + +The house was well recommended to us by the few business acquaintances +Julius had made, though they all confessed that such places were +constantly changing hands and inmates and that it was hard to keep up +with them. Time pressed, and nothing better offered; so we moved in. It +was entirely bare; so we bought some furniture, and, as it was rather a +long room for its breadth, we managed, with a screen or two, to make it +seem like three rooms. + +When all was in place, it was really quite inviting. I had a small lamp +stove, so we need only go out for dinners. We began to feel more settled +than for a long time, especially, as Julius had in the meantime found a +business opening which was entirely satisfactory. We saw nothing at all +of the other lodgers; but this did not disturb us, as we were in no +hurry to make acquaintances. We felt that it was best to be circumspect +in a city of this size and make-up. + +Our evenings were our pleasantest times, sitting on either side of the +reading-lamp, with Bruno stretched at our feet; so I was inclined to +object one evening, when Julius announced at dinner that he had promised +to give a few hours to helping a young friend of his to straighten out +his accounts. He had promised, though; so I had to yield. He set off +betimes, so as to be home earlier. I locked the door after him, as I +always did, and began to make myself as comfortable as possible for a +quiet hour or two, with a new magazine. + +Before I had finished cutting the leaves, I was struck with surprise at +Bruno's actions. He crept in a very stealthy manner to the door, and +stood there in an attitude of listening, with every nerve and muscle +tense. + +I watched him a minute, and then asked,-- + +"What is it, Boonie?" + +He did not look around; he waved his tail once or twice, then resumed +his tense pose. Thoroughly surprised, I went softly to him, and stood +also listening. I could hear nothing but a faint rustling, a suppressed +whispering, and the soft click of a latch. I touched Bruno's head; he +looked up at me, and I saw he was holding his lip between his +side-teeth, as he had a way of doing when he was very much puzzled or +excited. + +I tried to coax him away from the door, but he refused to come. I made +sure the bolt was shot, and then sat down at a little distance to watch +him. There was a door in the middle of one side of the room, which, when +we took possession, we had found to be nailed up. We utilized the recess +with the aid of some draperies, as a place to hang clothing. Bruno went +to this door, thrusting his head in among the clothes. + +He listened there for a long time, probably ten minutes; he returned +again to the other door; then he gave a low growl, followed by several +half-suppressed barks, and lay down against it. + +I forgot all about my book, and sat watching to see what he would do +next. The evening seemed endless. At last I heard Julius below in the +hall; Bruno sprang up when I opened the door, and went clattering down +the stairs to escort him up. It was not late, only about ten. I at once +told Julius of the queer evening we had spent, and had the satisfaction +of seeing him as thoroughly puzzled as I had been. We sat until a late +hour discussing it, then gave it up as something quite beyond us. + +About three o'clock in the morning we were awakened by an alarm of +fire. The room was full of light, and when we looked out of the window +we found that it was close by--only about two squares away. It was a big +blaze and, as it was on the opposite side of the street, we had a fine +view of it. I was terribly frightened. My uneasiness earlier in the +evening had unnerved me, and this terrible fire so near us upset me +completely. A fire fills me with horror, especially if it breaks out in +the night: it always reminds me of the burning of a big steamer that +happened one awful night in my tenth year. + +I watched the flames, fascinated by their lurid splendor;--imagining +that the three white pigeons which had been awakened by the light and +were circling around the tower of smoke--now hidden by it, and now +silhouetted against it--were the souls of those who had perished in the +flames. Overcome by horror, I finally exclaimed:-- + +"Suppose it had been this big building that had caught fire!" + +"But it wasn't," said Julius. + +"No: but it might have been. I don't like this at all. I want to be in a +little house by ourselves, close to the ground." + +"Yes, it would be better," said Julius, who saw by the light of the +flames how pale I had become, and noted how I was trembling. "It will +not do to have you so terrified: we'll make a change at once. But it +will be difficult to find a house until the tourists begin to scatter." + +We thoroughly discussed the situation, and by breakfast-time had reached +a decision. + +I was to return to Lemonville for a stay of a week or two, and while +there to see to the packing and shipping of a piano we had left in +storage. Julius meanwhile was to find a cottage, and have our belongings +transferred to it. We did not like the arrangement very well, but it +seemed to be the only thing we could do. + +Thus ended our experience as lodgers. + +I was gone two weeks. It was pleasant to meet old friends, after a +separation long enough to have plenty of news to exchange, without +having had time to lose interest in each other's affairs, but my heart +was back in Jacksonville. + +Julius and I wrote to each other every day, but the mails were so +tedious and uncertain that we usually got each other's letters by threes +or fours, with days full of anxiety and heart-ache between. + +I still have the package of letters received then. I have just been +reading them over again. Bruno pervades them all. It is-- + +"Took Bruno with me to the office to-day, he begged so hard when I +started to leave him; it's lonely for him, poor fellow!" + +And-- + +"While I ate breakfast, I had the waiter put up a good lunch for Boonie; +he's getting tired of biscuit, and I don't like to give him raw bones." + +On Sunday,-- + +"I took Bruno a long walk in the suburbs to-day. It did him a lot of +good." + +A letter written just before I returned says,-- + +"Bruno seems down-hearted to-night; I think he misses somebody." + +I returned as soon as Julius wrote that he had procured a house. The +welcome I received told me that Bruno was not the only one who had +missed "somebody." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +All that season we lived in a rented cottage, but before the next summer +came we were planting roses in our own grounds. We had been renting just +about a year, when we bought our little home in one of the suburbs; so +we could fully appreciate the joys of being on our own place again. + +We found a kitten, the "very moral" of Rebecca, striped black and +blue-gray. She was a dear little thing, and she and Bruno soon became +fast friends. + +The only creature we ever knew him to bite--except, indeed, wild +animals, which he considered fair game--was in defending Catsie. + +His victim was a handsome coach-dog, following some friends who one day +drove out to call on us. He was a thoroughbred dog, but he had not +Bruno's gentlemanly instincts. The first thing he did was to go trotting +around to the back porch, where he spied Catsie enjoying a fine meaty +bone. He sneaked up behind her, and snatching it in his teeth, made off +with it. + +Bruno could not stand that. It seemed to make a perfect fury of him. I +think he felt that the fault was worse, because the coach-dog was so +sleek and plump; there was not even the excuse of hunger. + +Poor fellow! Bruno sent him howling and limping from the yard. + +The call came to an untimely end, our visitors declaring,-- + +"That great savage brute of yours has almost killed our beautiful dog!" + +I am afraid we did not feel very contrite. We never took our "great +savage brute" anywhere to visit, except when he was especially invited; +and besides, we had our own opinion, which was similar to Bruno's, of +big dogs that robbed little cats. + +It took a great deal to rouse Bruno, so much that we sometimes mistook +his amiability for lack of courage. + +We had often watched him chasing the animals that lax town laws had +allowed to roam the streets of the only two villages we had ever known. +He would go dashing after a pig or a cow. If the creature ran, he would +chase it until he was exhausted; but if it stood its ground and calmly +returned his excited gaze, he would stop, look at it for a minute, then +turn and come trotting back, with an air that said plainly,-- + +"I was only in fun; I wanted to see what it would do." + +There was a big watch-dog which lived in an enclosure we had to pass on +our way to town. When we took Bruno that way for a stroll, as soon as he +reached this lot, he and the other dog would greet each other through +the picket-fence with the most blood-curdling growls and snarls. They +seemed fairly to thirst for each other's life-blood. Then, each on his +own side of the fence, they would go racing along, keeping up their +growls and snarls, till they reached a place where there were half a +dozen pickets broken out, so that either could have leaped through with +ease. + +Then what a change! + +Their ears would droop, and their coats and tempers smooth down to the +most insipid amiability. But at their next meeting they were quite as +savage, till they again reached the opening in the fence. It was the +same program, over and over. + +Bruno liked to play at anger just for a little excitement, but when he +found anything really worth a spell of the furies, it was quite another +story. + +The butcher-boy, who came every other day, took Bruno's tragic +demonstrations for the real thing, and was terribly afraid of him. He +used to shout to me, "Come out and hold the dog!" until he could run to +the kitchen and get safely back outside the gate. + +It was all in vain for me to assure him there was no danger. He thought +I did not know what I was talking about. His terror was so real, I +pitied the child--he was not more than twelve or fourteen--so I used to +shut Bruno up in the front hall on butcher-boy days until after he had +made his call. + +Our colored woman used to spend her nights in the bosom of her family, +coming back every morning in time to get breakfast. One morning she +failed to appear. It was butcher-boy morning, and the weather was quite +chilly. When I called Bruno in to shut him up, I noticed that the house +next to ours was closed. Our neighbors were off for the day. There were +two vacant lots opposite our place, and on the other side, a church. So +when our neighbors went off for a day's jaunt, as they frequently did, +we were quite isolated. + +After I had shut Bruno in the hall, I sat down by the kitchen fire to +toast my toes and wait for the butcher-boy. I was impatient for him to +come, so I could release Bruno, who did not like being shut up. He was +perfectly willing to lie in the hall,--in fact, it was a favorite +dozing-place with him,--but, like some people, he did not enjoy the idea +of being forced to do even what he liked best. I was glad when I heard a +step on the back porch, and sprang eagerly to open the door. There stood +the dirtiest, most evil-looking tramp I had ever seen. He was so taken +aback at the way the door flew open, that I had slammed it and shot the +bolt before he recovered. I hurried in for Bruno, who had heard the +strange step and was eager to investigate. As soon as I returned and +unfastened the bolt, the tramp threw his weight against the door to +force it open. Bruno sprang to the opening with a whole volley of barks +and growls. I caught his collar, saying to the tramp,-- + +"You'd better run; I can't hold him long!" + +I never saw a man make better time. I gave him a minute's start, then +loosed Bruno. He reached the fence just as the tramp had fallen over it +without stopping to open the gate. When I saw all was safe, I felt so +limp I fell back in a chair weak and nerveless. Bruno watched the tramp +around the corner, then returned to look after me. He was much exercised +to find me in such a state, and relieved his feelings by alternately +trying to lick my face, and dashing out to bark again after the vanished +tramp. + +After that, Bruno seemed to feel more than ever responsible for me. He +had all along been my especial protector, but seeing me overcome with +fright seemed to make a deep impression on him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Julius and I had been in the habit of taking evening walks, and as Bruno +stayed with me through the day when Julius was gone, it was his only +chance for a run. + +One evening, when Julius came home, it had been raining, and I felt that +it would not do for me to go out. + +"You'd better take Boonie for a little run, though," I said; "he has +been in the house all day." + +"I have an errand down at the corner," answered Julius, "and he can race +around the square while I am attending to it. You won't be afraid?" + +"Not for that little while; you will be back again before I have time to +miss you." + +Julius went into the hall for his overcoat and hat. + +"Come on, Boonie," he said; "Boonie can go." + +Bruno bounced up, all excitement, showing how he had felt the +confinement. He dashed into the hall, where Julius was putting on his +overcoat, then came trotting back into the sitting-room and stood, ears +erect, looking at me and wagging his tail. I understood him, and +answered,-- + +"No, Boonie; Judith must stay. Just Julius and Boonie are going." + +He knew us only by the names he heard us call each other. + +He sat down at my feet, all his excitement gone. + +"Come, Boonie," called Julius from the door. "Come on, Boonie's going!" + +Bruno looked at him, wagged his tail, looked at me, and refused to stir. + +"Don't you see?" I said; "he thinks I ought not to be left alone." Then +to him, "Go on, Boonie; Boonie must go. Judith isn't afraid." + +He looked gratefully at me, and wagged his tail, saying plainly, in his +dog-fashion,-- + +"Thank you, but I'd rather not." + +Julius waxed impatient. + +"You Boon! come along, sir! come on!" he thundered. Bruno's ears and +tail drooped. He looked up sideways in a deprecating manner at Julius, +then came and laid his head on my knee. It was of no use. Neither +threats nor coaxing could move him. Noble creature! His ideas of +chivalry were not to be tampered with, even by those who were his gods, +his all! + +The next morning at breakfast I said to Julius,-- + +"I am afraid Bruno will be ill staying in-doors so closely. Can't you +take him for a little run before you go to the office?" + +"Yes," answered Julius, "I'll take him if he'll go." + +"Oh, he'll go fast enough. Dinah is here, and he will think it safe to +leave me." + +Bruno was delighted at the invitation, and went tearing around the +square four times while Julius walked it once; then came in, hot and +happy, to tell Catsie and me all about it. + +There was something so peculiarly tender about our feelings for Bruno +and his for us. He was at once our protector and our dependent. It is +not strange that we never failed to be thoroughly enraged when +dog-lovers tried, as they sometimes did, to coax us to sell him. Sell +our Bruno! True, we had tried to give him away, but that was for his own +good. But to take money for him! To sell him!! Unspeakable!!! + +Three times we had nursed him through trying illnesses,--twice the +blind staggers, and once the distemper; and when either of us was ill, +he could not be coaxed from the bedside. No matter who watched at night, +Bruno would watch too, and no slightest sound nor movement escaped his +vigilance. + +How often since he left us have I longed in weary vigils for the comfort +of his presence! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +In looking back at that winter, most of its evenings seem to have been +spent before the open fire, the room lighted only by its blaze. + +Sometimes Little Blossom lay across my knees, the firelight mirrored in +her thoughtful eyes, her pink toes curling and uncurling to the heat. +Sometimes she lay cradled in Julius's arms, while he crooned old ditties +remembered from his own childhood. + +Bruno never seemed to tire of studying this new-comer to our home +circle. He would stand with ears drooped forward, watching me bathe and +dress her, so absorbed in contemplation that he would start when I +spoke, as if he had forgotten my existence. + +He had always before seemed intensely jealous when Julius or I had +noticed children, but with Little Blossom it was different; he seemed to +share our feelings,--she was _our_ baby. + +At first he showed a disposition to play with her as he had long ago +romped with Rebecca's kittens, but after I had once explained to him +that she was too little and tender for such frolics, that he must wait +till she could run about, he seemed quite satisfied, and constituted +himself her guardian, as he had always been mine. While she slept, he +would lie beside her crib. When she took an airing, it was his delight +to walk proudly beside the carriage. When I held her, he sat at my +elbow; and when she laughed and cooed in her romps with Julius, he would +make short runs around the room, barking his delight. + +Happy hours, all too short! + +As spring advanced, our Little Blossom drooped. Her brain had always +been in advance of her physical development. She had never the +meaningless stare seen in normal babies. Instead, there was a wistful, +pensive expression as she gazed into the fire or through the window, +with always a quick dimpling smile when either of us spoke to her. There +was much sickness in town, especially among young children. We decided +to spend the summer months at the seashore. A cottage was leased, and +trunks were packed full of summer clothes, draperies, and other joys and +comforts. + +When the time came to start, the cry arose,-- + +"Where is Bruno?" + +No one knew. None remembered seeing him since breakfast. It was now +half-past ten. The train was to go at eleven, and we were three-quarters +of a mile from the station! We felt utterly lost. It was impossible to +leave Bruno, and yet we must go. + +Julius looked in all directions, calling and whistling. No answer. Our +baggage had gone, a wagon full of it. The tickets were bought, and +everything was arranged. + +Julius came in from an unsuccessful search, a look of desperation on his +face. + +"There's no help for it," he said; "we must start, Bruno or no Bruno." + +We locked up the house and set off. As we drove along, I kept looking +out, hoping to see the familiar form come dashing after us, but in vain. +Julius was to come into town each morning to the office, returning to us +at the seashore on the afternoon train. I began to think I could not +know Bruno's fate (for I feared something serious must have happened) +until the afternoon of the next day. We had been so delayed it was +necessary to make all speed. + +[Illustration: Chasing Crabs and Sea-Birds.--PAGE 111.] + +We hurried into the station, and there, standing beside our heap of +luggage, one eye for the packages and the other on the lookout for +us, stood Bruno! + +He greeted us with such extravagant delight, and we felt so relieved at +seeing him, that we found no reproaches ready. Besides, although he had +so delayed us, it was quite evident that he had thought we had our hands +over-full, and that by keeping his eye on the things he would be helping +us. So he had followed the wagon, overlooked the unloading, and +evidently had kept tally of every package. Our man who had driven the +wagon was to go on with us to help in the transfer at the other end, and +to make all ready for comfort in the cottage. He told us that Bruno had +mounted guard over him as well as our effects, and while rather +overdoing it, had been quite helpful. + +It is hard to write of the weeks that followed. + +I see Bruno racing up and down the beach and swimming out through the +breakers, while Julius and I sit on either side of a little wicker wagon +drawn up beyond the reach of the tide, watching him. + +I see him chasing crabs and sea-birds, or limping up to show us his foot +stung by a stranded jelly-fish. + +Then--darkness. + +It is night in a long white-draped room. + +One end of it is lighted by a lamp having a rose-colored shade. + +In the middle of the lighted end stands a crib. A little white-robed +form lies within. + +The pink light so simulates a glow of health that the mother, sitting +beside the crib, bends low, thinking the little breast heaves. + +But no. The waxen cheeks chill her lips. + +Still she bends and gazes on that loved little form. + +Bruno lies at the mother's feet. When she moves he rises, looking +mournfully into the crib, then turns to rest his head on her knee. + +On a lounge, in the end of the room where shadows lurk, the father lies +asleep, exhausted with grief. + +The curtains sway in the open windows, as if the room were breathing. +All else is still. + +I see all this as if it were a scene in a dream or as a +picture,--something in which I have no part; and yet I feel that my +heart throbbed in that mother's bosom. + +I know that after she had sent away all kind friends, to watch alone +that last night, it was literally and truly a "white night" to her. + +She felt neither sorrow nor grief. + +Yesterday her heart was torn with anguish, when those heavenly eyes grew +dim with the death-glaze. + +To-morrow it will be rent again, when the little form is hidden from her +in its white casket; and again--at that bitterest moment Life can +give--when the first handful of earth makes hollow echo above it. + +But to-night there is the uplifted feeling of perfect peace. + +Although it is the third sleepless night, there is no thought of +weariness. All through the short hours she sits and feasts her eyes on +the angelic face with its look of joy unutterable. + +And Bruno watches with her. + + * * * * * + +The next day Bruno does not ask to join the sad procession leaving the +cottage. + +He has no thought for self at such a time. + +As it turns the corner, his mournful eyes are seen at the window, gazing +after his little playmate who is being carried away. + +Or does he realize it is only the beautiful body they are taking, which +was all too frail for the bright spirit now flown these two days since! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Again the mother is in the city home. No crib stands by the fireplace; +no tiny garments are spread out to air. All is orderly as in the years +that now seem so far away. + +She sits with book or needle. + +The book falls to her knee, the work slips to the floor; tears steal +down her cheeks. + +Bruno presses near, his head against her arm. With his uplifted, +pleading eyes, he seems to say,-- + +"Don't cry, Judith, please don't cry." + +Oh, matchless comforter! + +After a time we notice that Bruno is growing old and feeble. + +Do we grieve at this? Far from it. We feel that life is over for us; our +only thought is to escape its grasp and join our Little Blossom. + +We could never leave Bruno alone; he would grieve himself to death, and +meanwhile, perhaps, be abused as a stupid brute for refusing to be +comforted. + +So it is with a feeling of sad resignation that we realize how his hold +on life is weakening. At least he will die in comfort, ministered to by +his loved ones. + +We sit alone, we three, in the twilight,--Julius and I, with Bruno at +our feet,--talking of the future. We speculate on the Beyond, hoping it +will not be the conventional Heaven, with harps and crowns. + +We long for a sheltered nook, near the River of Life, where we and +Little Blossom can resume the life so happily begun here, going over to +the Happy Hunting Grounds to get Bruno, and to the Cat Heaven for +Rebecca and Catsie. + +Then, our family circle complete, we would settle down to an eternity of +HOME. + +Can Heaven itself offer anything sweeter than home,--the wedded home, +where love abides! + +One morning Bruno seemed not to care for his breakfast. He sniffed +daintily at it, and turned away, though I tried to tempt him with +everything he liked best. + +He rested his head on my knee, looking gratefully into my eyes, while +his tail waved his thanks. + +Then he went to his bed, and lying down upon it, he fell asleep,--not a +short uneasy nap, with ears open for every sound, but a deep, dreamless +sleep. + +There was a beautiful young fig-tree in our lot. Under this his grave +was dug. His bed was laid in, he on it, with his blanket wrapped around +him. + + "Arise against thy narrow door of earth, + And keep the watch for me!" + + + + + THE END + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER NOTES: + + + Missing punctuation has been added and obvious punctuation errors + have been corrected. + + Printer errors, misspelled and archaic words have been retained + with the exception of that noted below. + + Page 91: "gods" changed to "goods" (and we again found ourselves on + the train with our household goods). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bruno, by Byrd Spilman Dewey + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41514 *** |