DON, A RUNAWAY DOG

HIS MANY ADVENTURES

BY

RICHARD BARNUM

Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel,” “Mappo, the Merry Monkey,” “Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant,” etc.

ILLUSTRATED BY

HARRIET H. TOOKER

NEW YORK BARSE & HOPKINS PUBLISHERS

KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES

By Richard Barnum

Illustrated.

(Other volumes in preparation)

BARSE & HOPKINS Publishers New York

Copyright, 1915 by Barse & Hopkins

Don, A Runaway Dog

MADE IN U.S.A.

ILLUSTRATIONS

[7]

DON, A RUNAWAY DOG

CHAPTER I DON FALLS IN

Don was one of five little puppies. With his brothers and sisters he cuddled up close to Mrs. Gurr, the mother dog, to keep warm, for it was rather cool for little dogs, even though there was plenty of straw in the kennel, or house, where they lived. Don shivered and trembled, but when his mother put her soft, warm paw over him and the other little dogs, Don felt better.

Don was such a little puppy that, as yet, his eyes were not open. I suppose they were made to stay closed until he grew to be a little stronger, for the sunlight was very bright outside of the kennel, and Don might have squinted, had his eyes been open.

But then Don and his brothers and sisters did not need to see much when they were so little.

[8]

“I can tell you everything that happens,” said Mrs. Gurr, the mamma dog. “You little puppies just stay close together when I go out to get a bone, or something else to eat, and you will keep warm, and nothing will happen to you.

“Humm! Humm! Humm!” whined Don. He really was the largest and strongest of the litter of puppies, and perhaps that is why he seemed to come first.

“What’s that you’re saying?” asked his mother. For you know, doggies have a language of their own. They cannot speak as we do, but they can understand when we speak to them. Dogs are smarter in some ways than we are. They can understand, and know, what we say to them, but we can only guess at what they say, when they bark, growl or whine.

“What’s that you say?” asked Mrs. Gurr, of Don.

“Humm! Umph! Wee-wee!” went Don.

“Oh, you’re cold, are you?” asked Mrs. Gurr, who had this name because she sometimes made a noise that sounded that way—“gurr”—away down in her throat.

“Yes, I’m cold,” said Don, shivering.

“Well, cuddle up close to me, and you’ll soon be warm,” said the mamma dog. So Don, and his brothers Spot and Prince, and his sisters Violet and Ruby, crept still closer to their[9] mother, for she was a big dog, and her hair was very warm.

For over a week Don and the other little dogs could see nothing, because their eyes were not open. They could hear strange noises going on outside their kennel, but they did not know what they meant.

Don especially, had many adventures, and a great many strange things happened to him. In this book I am going to tell you all about them, how he ran away, and was locked in a freight car, and how a bad boy tied a tin can to his tail—but there—I am getting ahead of my story. Those things did not happen until Don grew to be big. So I shall have to start at the beginning.

And the beginning was when Don still did not have his eyes open.

Whining, barking just a little, and tumbling about like little balls of cotton yarn, Don and the other puppies stayed in the straw in the kennel with their mother. Sometimes she went out to get something to eat, and then the little dogs crept closer to each other to keep warm. They slept a great deal of the time, for dogs, like babies, grow when they sleep.

Once, just before Don had his eyes open, he heard strange noises outside of the kennel house where he lived. Don did not know what the[10] noises meant, but I shall tell you what they were. They were the voices of some boys talking.

“Oh, look at the puppies!” exclaimed one boy.

“What a lot of them,” said another.

“Yes, and they’re all mine,” spoke a third boy.

“Oh, Willie! Can’t I have one?” asked the first boy, and he reached down in the straw, and picked up Don. Mrs. Gurr, the mamma dog, growled a little and whined, for she did not like strange boys to handle her little puppies.

“You can’t have that one, Charlie,” answered the boy who had been called Willie.

“Why not?” asked Charlie.

“Because I promised him to Bobbie Black,” said Willie. “Bobbie came one day, and picked that puppy out for his. He’s going to call him Don, Bob is.”

“That’s a fine dog,” said Charlie, as he gently put the puppy Don back in the straw again. “I wish I had one.”

“You can have that one,” said Willie, and he pointed to Prince.

Of course Don did not understand all this talk, but his mamma understood. She whined when she heard Willie talking about giving her puppies away. Willie was the boy at the house where the man lived who owned Mrs. Gurr and the puppies.

[11]

“When is Bob coming for his dog?” asked Charlie.

“Oh, as soon as they get their eyes open,” answered Willie. “That will be in a few days, now.”

The boys stayed a little longer, and then they went off to play ball—I mean the boys went off to play ball for, though puppy dogs can do many queer things, I never saw any of them play ball—did you?

Wait, though, if you please. Once, in a circus, I did see a dog bounce a big, red, rubber ball about with his nose, but that was not exactly playing as the boys do, so I suppose it did not count.

All at once, one day, a very strange thing happened to Don and the other puppies. Their eyes were suddenly opened, and the darkness they had been in so long gave place to light.

Out in front of the kennel was a broad patch of sunlight, and the straw in the kennel itself looked like streaks of gold. Up over head was blue sky, and the green trees waved their branches.

“Oh, what is it all?” asked Don, as he stood up with his little legs far apart. He had to stand that way, for he was not very strong as yet, and, though he tried to stand steadily, he[12] swayed to and fro as the elephants do in the circus when they are eating peanuts. “What is all that which I see?” asked Don, speaking in dog language, which he understood without being taught.

“That is part of the world you live in,” said Mrs. Gurr. “You see the sunshine, the shadows and the trees.”

“What makes the trees wiggle so?” asked Prince, who was one of Don’s brothers.

“The wind blows them,” said the mother dog. “And when you go outside the kennel, and the wind blows, you must be careful not to get dust in your eyes. For your eyes are open now, you know, and if you don’t take care you’ll get things in them. So watch out when you leave the kennel.”

“Why!” exclaimed Don. “Is there anything outside of our kennel? I thought this was the only place there was.”

“Oh, indeed there are many more places than this,” said Mrs. Gurr, with sort of a barking laugh. “This is only a very small part of the world. You will find it very large when you start out. I hope you do not get lost.”

“What do you mean—lost?” asked Don.

“Going so far away you cannot find your way back to the kennel,” said the mother dog. “When you children are a little older, I shall[13] give you some lessons in how to find your way home when you go away from it.”

So the days went on, the sun shone warmer and warmer, and the leaves grew larger on the trees, for summer was coming. And as the tree leaves grew, so the little puppy dogs grew, until they were large enough to run outside the kennel, and play about on the ground.

They were not very strong on their legs as yet, and often Don and his brothers and sisters would tumble and fall, as they raced about, playing a game something like your game of tag.

“Come on, let’s have a race, Prince,” said Don one day.

“All right, I will,” answered the other little puppy dog, and off they started down the gravel path that led from their kennel.

On they went, faster and faster, turning around the corner by the house, until, all of a sudden, they saw a queer little animal in front of them.

“What’s that?” asked Don, stopping short.

“I don’t know,” answered Prince, speaking in dog language.

“It looks like a puppy,” went on Don, “but it doesn’t belong to our family. See how big its tail is, and its back is all humped up. And listen to what a funny noise it’s making.”

The other animal, on the gravel path, was[14] hissing like a steam radiator on a cold and frosty morning.

“Let’s go closer and see what it is,” suggested Don.

Together he and Prince went up, walking sort of sideways on their funny, wobbling legs. Then the queer animal suddenly jumped up in the air, and Don and Prince felt something sharp scratch their little black noses.

“Ouch!” whined Prince.

“Wow!” howled Don. “I’m scratched.”

“Let’s go home and tell mamma!” cried Prince.

Tucking their little tails, like lead pencils, between their legs, home they wobbled to the kennel.

“Oh mamma!” barked Don as he saw the mother dog. “You can’t guess what happened to us.”

“No!” cried Prince. “We saw another puppy dog, and his tail was so big! And his back was all humped up, and he made a funny noise and stuck something sharp in our noses, and it hurt.”

“That’s what it did!” cried Don, and he rubbed his nose with his paw.

“Oh, you funny puppy dogs!” exclaimed Mrs. Gurr. “What you saw was not a little dog.”

“What was it then?” asked Don. “It had four legs and a tail.”

[15]

“Well, everything that has four legs and a tail isn’t a puppy,” said the mother dog. “That was a cat, and cats almost always scratch dogs, just as we dogs almost always chase cats.”

“Oh! then if that was a cat we forgot to chase it!” cried Don. “We didn’t know we had to. Come on back, Prince, and we’ll chase it.”

“No, you don’t need to,” said Mrs. Gurr, the dog lady. “All dogs don’t chase cats, for some cats are nice. Besides, you wouldn’t find that cat now. After this, be more careful, and let cats alone.”

But Don and Prince thought they knew more than their mother did, and that afternoon they started out to find the cat who had made such a big tail at them, and had scratched them.

They searched all over the garden, Don and Prince did, for the cat, but they could not find her. But they had a good time, the two little puppy dogs did, rolling over in the soft dirt, pretending to bite each other’s ears, and playing racing games and tag.

Pretty soon Don said:

“I’m hungry. Let’s go home.”

“All right,” answered Prince. “We will.”

But when those two little puppy dogs started off, they could not find their kennel. They did not know which way to go. First they went one way, and then another, but the harder they tried[16] the worse it seemed. Though they did not know it, Don and Prince were lost.

“Oh, what shall we do?” whined Don.

“I don’t know,” answered his brother. “Let’s go this way.”

Well, they started off a new way, but, all of a sudden, Don slipped down a bank, and right into a puddle of muddy water he fell!

“Ouch! Oh! Wow!” howled the little puppy dog, as he found himself all wet. “Oh, what is going to happen to us?”

But Don, like nearly all animals, knew what to do when he fell into the water. He began to paddle with his little paws, and to swim, for he did not want to be drowned.

“Oh, can you get out? Can you get out?” howled Prince, standing on the bank of the puddle and looking at his brother. It was not a very large puddle, but it was pretty big for a little puppy dog.

“Can you get out?” asked Prince.

“I—I guess so! I’m trying hard!” whined Don, paddling with his paws faster than ever.

[17]

CHAPTER II DON’S NEW HOME

Prince, sitting on the bank of the puddle of water, was howling as loudly as he could.

“Are you getting out, Don? Are you getting out?” asked Prince.

“Well, I—I’m trying hard!” answered Don. “I guess—glub—blulp—gurg!” and then he could not say anything more, even in dog language, for his mouth was full of water.

“Oh, what shall I do?” cried Prince.

Don did not have any time to answer him. He was too busy swimming.

Nearer and nearer to the bank of the puddle, off which he had slipped into the water, swam Don. He was soon so close that he could put his paws on the firm earth, and then he knew he was safe, and could crawl out.

But oh! What a sorrowful looking sight poor Don was. His nice, clean coat was covered with muddy water, which dripped down and ran from him in little puddles.

“Oh, how are you ever going to get dry?” asked Prince.

[18]

Then Don happened to remember how once he had seen his mother out in a rain storm. She came to the kennel quite wet, but before she went in she shook herself very hard, and the water drops flew off her in a shower.

“That’s what I’ll do,” thought Don. So he gave himself as big and as hard a shake as he could, and the water flew about in a shower.

“Hi! Stop! You’re getting me wet!” howled Prince.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to,” answered Don. “But that’s the way I get dry. You asked me that, you know.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know you were going to put the water on me,” Prince replied. “I don’t care, though, as long as you’re safe,” and he went up to his brother, and kissed him on his nose with his little red tongue, Prince did, in a way dogs have.

So Don got safely out of the puddle into which he had fallen, but his adventures for that day were not yet at an end.

“Let’s go home,” said Prince. “I’m hungry.”

“So am I,” spoke Don. “But which way is home?”

“Don’t you know?” asked Prince.

“No. Don’t you?”

The two little puppy dogs looked one at the other.

[19]

“Oh, I forgot!” cried Don. “Don’t you remember, we were lost just before I fell in the puddle, and we’re lost yet. Oh dear!”

Then the two little puppies felt so badly that they just sat there, on the bank of the mud puddle, and howled as loudly as they could.

I suppose you wonder what good their howling did, but I shall tell you.

Back in the kennel Mrs. Gurr, the mother dog, was waiting and wondering why Don and Prince did not come home.

“I saw them go over that way,” spoke Violet, who was nibbling at a bit of puppy cake.

“They were having a race,” said Ruby, who was practicing at trying to catch her tail.

“Oh, such boys!” cried Mrs. Gurr. “I suppose they’ve gone so far away they can’t find their way back. Come, Spot, we’ll go look for them.”

“All right,” said the other brother of Don and Prince. He was called Spot because he had a white spot on him. Otherwise he was all black.

Mrs. Gurr and Spot hurried out of the kennel, and they had not gone very far before they heard a noise.

“What’s that?” asked Spot, standing still and wagging his tail.

“Listen,” said his mother.

[20]

“Howl! Wow! Bur-r-r-r-r!” was the noise they heard.

“There they are!” said the dog lady. “Those are your lost brothers calling. Come on, Spot. I know where they are now.”

Mrs. Gurr was very good at finding lost dogs, and this time she knew just which way to go to find Don and Prince.

Soon the mother dog saw them sitting on the edge of the mud puddle, their heads held up in the air, howling as loudly as they could howl.

“Oh my! What a noise!” cried Mrs. Gurr, with a dog laugh. “What is the matter with you puppies, anyhow?”

“Oh, mamma! Is that you?” cried Don. “Oh, we got lost, and—”

“And Don fell in and swam out!” added Prince.

“Well, that was very smart of him, I’m sure,” said the mamma dog. “But it was silly of you to get lost. See, the kennel is only a little way off, just around that clump of bushes.”

Surely enough, they had been only a little way off from their home all the while, only they did not know it.

“But we—we couldn’t find our way home,” said Don.

“No, and that shows you ought not to go too far off until you know how to get back,” said[21] Mrs. Gurr. “Now as soon as you get dry, Don, I’ll give you all some lessons in how to find your way back home again, when you get so far off you can’t see it.”

It did not take Don long to get dry in the warm sun, and then the lessons began. For dogs, even puppy dogs, have to learn their lessons, you know, just as you children do.

They have to learn to eat only the things that are good for them. Sometimes a puppy will gnaw on a cake of soap, but he does not do it more than once, for he finds out it makes him ill. And dogs have to learn to come when their master calls them, and to lie down when they are told, and to shake “hands,” and do other tricks—especially in a circus.

So Mrs. Gurr showed Don, and his brothers and sisters, how to sniff and smell along the ground, so they would know their way back again when they had gone away from home. Dogs, you know, have very good noses for smell. Even on a dark night, when a dog cannot see, he can tell, just by sniffing the air, whether his master is coming along, or whether it is some one else.

So, when a dog takes a new road his paws leave sort of a smell in the dust. This smell stays there for some time, and when the dog wants to get back, he just sniffs and smells along[22] the road until he finds where he has made his tracks before, and in that way he gets home again. He can do that even in the dark.

It was this lesson that Don’s mother taught him, until he and the other puppies could run a long way off from their kennel, even in the woods, and could find their way back again.

“Now you will not get lost again, Don,” said his mother to him.

“And I don’t want to,” Don said. “Being lost is no fun.”

The puppy dog family lived in the kennel for some time longer. The little doggies were all growing larger and stronger, and could run about now without falling down so often. Don grew faster and larger than any of the others.

One day two boys came walking out to the kennel where the puppies lived. One boy was Willie, whose father owned Mrs. Gurr.

“Well, Willie, may I take my puppy now?” asked the other boy.

“Yes, Bob, I guess he’s big enough now to leave home,” said Willie. “Are you sure you want the one you first picked out?”

“Oh, yes, sure. I’ll take him,” said Bob. “Don is the best puppy in the lot.”

[23]

[24- 25]

“Well, I’m glad he thinks I’m so nice,” said Don to himself. He had begun to understand boy and man talk, you see, though he could not speak it himself.

“Yes, I’ll take Don,” went on Bob.

“I wonder where he’s going to take me?” thought Don. “This is a funny world.”

Bob stooped over and picked Don up from the pile of straw.

“He’s a fine dog!” cried Bob, as he patted and rubbed Don. Don liked that. He was not afraid of the boy, for the boy was kind.

Then, without giving Don a chance to say good-by to his brothers and sisters, and without even letting him kiss the mamma dog, Bob, the boy, took Don away with him to a new home.

Don did not mind going away, for the boy was so kind and good to him, and petted him so nicely, that Don liked him at once. And Don was not lonesome or homesick, for he saw many new and strange things.

At last the boy went up the walk toward a big white house, and he said to Don:

“Don, this is your new home.”

Though Don could not speak boy language, I think he understood what the boy meant.

[26]

CHAPTER III DON AND SQUINTY

“Mother, I have my dog!” cried Bob, as he went into the big white house with Don.

“Have you? That’s nice. I hope he’ll be a good dog, and not come in on my clean carpets with muddy feet,” said Bob’s mother. Don heard her say this, and right away he made up his little doggy mind that he would be as good as a puppy dog can be. But he had many things yet to learn.

“Oh, I’m going to train him to be very good,” said Bob to his mother. “He won’t give you a bit of trouble, will you, Don?” and Bob held Don high up in the air in his hands.

“Wow! Wow!” yelped Don.