"Oh, dear me!" cried Purt. "I never saw you before, sir."
"But I"ve seen yer dog--drat the beast! And if I could ketch him I"d chop him up into sa.s.singers--that"s what I"d do to _him_."
"He--he"s not my dog," murmured Purt, faintly.
Fido had scurried across the street when he spied the butcher; but he waited there, mouth agape, stump of tail wagging, and a knowing c.o.c.k to his good ear, to see how his adopted master was coming out with his sworn enemy, the butcher.
"I tell yer what," hoa.r.s.ely said the butcher, still gripping Purt"s shoulder, "a boy can deny his own father, but "e can"t deny his dawg--no, sir! That there brute knows ye, bub. Only yisterday he grabbed several links of frankfurter sa.s.singers off"n this hook right overhead "ere.
"I ain"t goin" to have no dumbed dawg like him come an" grab my sa.s.singers an" make off with "em, free gratis for nothin"."
A little crowd--little, but deeply interested--had gathered again.
Had Purt been seeking notoriety in Lumberport, he was getting it without doubt!
The grocer next door, with a great guffaw of laughter, cried:
"Hey, Bill! don"t blame the dawg. He smelled some o" his relatives, it"s likely, in the frankfurters, an" set out to rescue "em!"
"I do-ent care," breathed the fat butcher, growing more and more excited. "No man"s dawg ain"t goin" ter do what he done ter me an" git away with it. This boy has got ter pay for what the dawg stole."
Purt did not like to let go of money--among his school chums he was considered a notorious "tight-wad"--but he was willing to do almost anything to get away from the greasy-handed butcher.
"What--what did the dog take? How much were the frankfurters worth?"
he stammered. "The dog isn"t mine--weally!--but I"ll pay----"
"A dollar, then. And I"ll lose by it, too," said the butcher, but with an avaricious sparkle in his eye.
"A dollar"s worth of frankfurters!" gasped Purt.
"Yes. An" I wish they"d ha" chocked the brute," complained the butcher.
"I wish they had--before he ever saw me," murmured Purt.
He paid over the money and hurried away from the laughing crowd. And there, within a block, the dog was right at his heels again--rather slinkingly, but with the joy of companionship in his eye.
Now Purt was nearing the dock above the Main Street bridge where the motorboats were tied up. Whether the girls had returned or no, he hated to face the other fellows with this mongrel trailing at his heels.
The situation sharpened Purt"s wits. Here was a store where was sold rope and other ship-chandlery. He marched in and bought a fathom of strong manilla line, called the foolish dog to him, found that he wore a nondescript collar, and hastily fastened the line to the aforesaid collar.
It was in the boy"s mind to tie the dog somewhere and leave it behind.
If he had dared, he would have tied a weight to the other end of the rope and dropped both weight and dog overboard.
Just then, however, he met a group of ragged, barefooted urchins--evidently denizens of the water-front. They hailed the gaily dressed Purt and the ragged mongrel, with delight.
"What yer doin" wid the dawg?" inquired one.
"Takin" him to the bench-show, Clarence? He"ll win a blue ribbon, _he_ will."
"Naw," said another youthful humorist. "They don"t let Clarence out without the dawg. That"s to keep Clarence from gettin" kidnapped.
n.o.body would wanter kidnap him if they had ter take that mutt along, too."
Purt was too anxious to be offended by these remarks. He walked directly up to the leader of the gang.
"Say!" he exclaimed, breathlessly. "Do you want a dog?"
"Not if _that"s_ what yer call a dawg, Mister," said the other boy.
"I"d be ashamed to call on me tony friends wit" that mutt. What I needs is a coach-dawg to run under the hind axle of me landau."
"Say!" breathed Purt, heavily, and paying no attention to the gibes.
"You take this dog and keep it--or tie it up somewhere so he can"t follow me--and I"ll give you a quarter."
"When do I git the quarter?" demanded the boy.
"Right now," declared Purt reaching into his pocket with his free hand.
"Hand it over," said the other, s.n.a.t.c.hing away the rope.
The dude sighed to think how this strange and unknown cur had already cost him a dollar and a quarter. A dollar and a quarter would have been far too much to pay for a dozen similar mongrels, and well Purt knew it.
But the instant the quarter was transferred to the other boy, the Central High exquisite traveled away from there just as fast as he could walk.
At once a mournful and heart-rending howl broke out. He looked back once; the dog was leaping at the length of his rope, nearly capsizing the holder of the same with every jump, and wailing hungrily for his fast disappearing friend.
Purt set off on a run. He did not know how soon that rope might break!
He reached the dock just after the girls, who had arrived breathless with laughter, and full of the tale of Purt Sweet"s new friend.
"Where is he?" was the chorus that welcomed Purt.
"I--I got rid of him," panted Purt.
"Sure?" laughed Chet, as they began to cast off.
"I--I hope so," returned the worried Purt. "I never _did_ see such a cweature--weally."
"He must have been an old friend of yours, Purt," said Reddy b.u.t.ts.
"Dogs don"t follow folks for nothing."
"But weally, I never saw him before," Purt tried to explain.
"Aw, that"s all very well," Billy Long sang out. "But it"s plain enough why he followed you."
"Why?" asked Reddy, willing to help the joke along.
"It was Purt"s shanks in those green socks that attracted the dog. I suppose the poor dog was hungry, and a hungry dog will go far for a bone, you know."
Purt was hurrying to get his _d.u.c.h.ess_ under way, and he was so glad of getting rid of the dog that he did not mind the boys" chaffing.
Suddenly a wild yell arose from some of the boys on the dock.