"We got to get her home!" cried Rick. "She"s got to be warm!"
Quickly the boys took off Mazie"s skates, and then, with Rick on one side of her and Chot on the other, while Tom took the other frightened girls in charge, the homeward trip was quickly made.
You may be sure there was much excitement in the Dalton house when the children were seen coming along, Mazie dripping wet and with Rick and Chot holding either arm. But Mrs. Dalton was accustomed to things happening, and as long as she saw that Mazie was alive and not hurt, she did not worry, but began making ready to warm the drenched and cold little girl.
Mazie was soon dried and put into a warm bed, with a hot water bag at her feet. She was given hot chocolate to drink and when the doctor came he said she might not be any the worse off for her adventure; at least he hoped she would not be.
And Mazie was not. Aside from a little cold, which she could hardly help having, she did not suffer much from having broken through the ice.
"Were you scared?" asked Rick, when it was all over.
"I just guess I was!" answered Mazie. "But when I saw Ruddy coming for me I seemed to know it would be all right. He saved me and he saved you; didn"t he, Rick?"
"He sure did!" exclaimed the boy.
"And you and your chums did well, too," said Mr. Dalton. "You did just the right thing in getting the fence rails. I am glad to know Chot remembered some of his Boy Scout rules, and glad that you did not get so excited that you "lost your heads," as it is called."
"They would look funny without any heads!" laughed Mazie.
And so Rick loved Ruddy more than ever, and so did everyone who knew the dog.
The winter brought many good times to Rick and his friends, but there were no more such accidents as falling into a snow drift or breaking through the ice.
The snow storms and the freezing nights began to pa.s.s away. Spring was near and though Rick liked winter he was glad the days were coming when he and his dog could roam over the fields and through the woods; when he could toss sticks into Weed River or Silver Lake, and have Ruddy swim out to get them and bring them back.
One day, when Rick had come home from school, after a little April shower, and when it seemed as if May flowers were just ready to bloom, he fed his pet crow, Haw-Haw, and then ran to Ruddy"s kennel.
"Come on boy! Now for a run!" cried Rick.
And Ruddy, with a joyful bark, seemed to answer:
"Here I am, Rick, ready and waiting for you!"
As dog and boy ran toward the front gate, and as Rick gave his cry of "_Ee-oh!_" to call Chot to come out and have fun, a strange, harsh voice snapped out:
"There he is! There he is!"
And down the street came the old ragged sailor!
CHAPTER XXIII
HAPPY DAYS
Ruddy growled. Rick stood very still, and then, slowly, his hand went out to grasp his dog"s collar, to hold him against being taken away. As for the ragged sailor he just stood there, smiling at Rick.
And somehow, as the man smiled, it seemed to make Rick feel better. He was not so much afraid. But still he kept hold of Ruddy"s collar.
And then, suddenly, that harsh voice called again:
"There he is! There he is!"
It reminded Rick of a time he had once been to an entertainment in the school, when a ventriloquist had seemed to make a wooden doll, which he held on his knee, speak as though alive.
The voice appeared to come from the ragged sailor, yet the strange man of the sea had not opened his lips.
And again came the harsh cry:
"There he is! Over the fence with him! Ha! Ha! The stormy winds do blow!
Do blow! Do blow!"
And then, with a start of surprise, Rick saw, crawling up from behind the sailor, and sitting on his shoulder a green parrot. And the parrot, as he pulled himself along the sailor"s coat, using claws and his big, hooked beak, opened his mouth, stuck out his queer, thick black tongue and cried:
"Ship ahoy! Where away! Two points off on the weather bow! Bow wow! Bow wow!"
Ruddy uttered a growl and started forward, his eyes fixed on the green bird, but Rick pulled him back.
"Quiet, Ruddy! Down!" spoke the boy in a low voice, and Ruddy, with one look up into his master"s face stretched out at his feet. Ruddy, like a good and well-trained dog, had learned to mind, and a dog that will not obey is of very little use, even as a pet.
"Well, I"ve come back, you see!" said the sailor, and he reached up his hand to stroke the gaily-colored feathers of the parrot. "I"ve come back."
"Yes--yes," said Rick, slowly. "I--I see you!"
"And do you see my parrot?" went on the sailor. "Do you see Poll? Look at her!"
Indeed Rick was looking at the green bird, and the parrot, as she heard her name spoken, screeched out:
"Pretty Poll! Very pretty! Polly bite!"
"No you don"t!" quickly exclaimed the sailor, shaking his finger and tapping the bird"s beak. "If you bite not another cracker do you get for a week!"
"Ha! Ha! Pretty Poll! Pretty Poll! Over the fence is out! What ho! Sail ho! Ho! Ho!"
Thus cried the green parrot, and then from the woodshed came another voice, almost like that of the bird on the sailor"s shoulder.
"Haw! Haw! Haw!" was shouted from the wood shed. "Get up! Get up!
Whew-ew-ew-e-e-e-e-e-ah!" and a shrill whistle ended the jumble of queer sounds, at which Ruddy barked again.
"Have you a parrot, too?" asked the ragged sailor, in surprise.
"No, that"s Haw-Haw, my tame crow," answered Rick, who still stood close to Ruddy, as though guarding his dog.
"A--a crow!" the sailor exclaimed. "I didn"t know they could talk."
"Haw-Haw can"t talk very much," answered Rick. "But he whistles a lot.