That news made Johnnie Green look a good deal less gloomy. In fact he almost smiled.
"I _was_ going to give you that old fishing rod of mine if you"d help carry in the wood," Farmer Greene went on. "And you _could_ take it now and go fishing, if you thought you could be home in time for supper."
"Hurrah!" Johnnie Green suddenly jumped up and down. "Hurrah!" he cried.
"And thank you very much!"
And when, an hour later, old Spot came swimming across the creek and joined Johnnie on the further bank, and shook drops of water all over his young master, Johnnie Green only patted him and called him a "good old fellow."
VII
SWIMMING
Old dog Spot liked boys. Somehow they always managed to have a lively time; and usually they seemed glad to have him join them in their sports.
He never could understand why Johnnie Green and the neighbors" boys didn"t want him to play baseball with them. Spot loved to chase a ball.
And sometimes when he was watching a game and somebody hit a slow grounder he would rush out and grab the ball and run with it.
Then all the boys would run after him and try to catch him. That always pleased Spot mightily. And the longer the chase lasted the happier he was. But it was different with the boys. The harder they had to run after Spot before they got the ball away from him the more out of patience they became.
Whenever Spot took part in a ball game like that Johnnie Green usually put an end to his fun, for the time being, by tying him to something or other--perhaps a fence or a tree. But even that was better--so Spot thought--than being sent home in disgrace.
Luckily there were other sports in which Spot could romp with the boys as much as he pleased, without anybody"s objecting. Nutting in the woods in the fall; skating on the mill pond or coasting down the long hill past Farmer Green"s house in the winter; berrying in the summer--and swimming! Those were only a few of the jolly times that Spot and the boys enjoyed together.
Perhaps, of them all, both Spot and the boys liked swimming the most. As for Spot, he didn"t care _where_ he swam, so long as the water was wet.
Broad Brook, Swift River, Black Creek, or the mill pond--any one of those places suited him as well as another. The boys, however, preferred the mill pond. It was deep enough, by the dam, to suit the best swimmers; and it was shallow enough at the upper end for those that were just learning.
All the boys thought it great fun when a wagon clattered over the bridge, which crossed right above the dam. Then they ducked into the water, with only their heads out, and shouted more or less politely at whoever was pa.s.sing.
At such times Spot barked, because that seemed to him the gentlemanly thing to do. But he never could see any sense in jumping into the water if he happened to be out on the bank when a wagon came along.
The boys threw sticks about the pond for Spot to fetch back to them.
They raced with him. They upset him when he was sunning himself on the big rock near the dam, and they laughed to see the splash he made when he struck the water.
No matter what tricks the boys played on him, Spot never lost his temper. He took everything good-naturedly. And one day, when Johnnie Green and his friends were swimming in the mill pond he even took a bundle of clothes from beneath a big hickory on the bank. Yes! Spot caught up somebody"s clothes in his mouth and started along the road with them.
He was surprised to hear a terrible outcry from the water.
VIII
WHAT RED DID
Old dog Spot was trotting down the road from the mill pond, carrying a bundle of somebody"s clothes in his mouth. When he heard frantic shouts from the water, where Johnnie Green and his friends were swimming, he quickened his pace.
One of the swimmers was known as "Red." And it was a favorite trick of his to tie hard knots in other boys" garments while the owners of them were in the pond. Usually he wet the knots, because wetting them made them harder to untie.
On this day somebody had turned the tables on Red. Somebody had crept up behind the big old hickory tree on the bank and had knotted Red"s clothes tightly. That was why old Spot found a bundle under the tree, all tied up and ready to carry off.
It was no wonder that the boys began to yell when they saw Spot pick up those clothes and calmly trot away with them. It was no wonder that they swam to the bank and scrambled up to the big hickory to find out whose clothes were missing.
When they saw that Red was the unlucky one, everybody else began to whoop and laugh.
But not Red! He let out a frightened scream and started to follow old dog Spot.
To the great delight of his companions, the rattle of a wagon and the thud of a horse"s feet sounded from up the road. And since some one must soon drive over the bridge, which crossed right above the dam, Red scurried back again and dived into the pond, into which Johnnie Green and the others had already plunged.
Red rose to the surface spluttering. And finding that he could touch bottom with his feet, he stood with his carroty head out of water, watching for the wagon.
It soon came into view, out of the woods, and the horse that drew it thundered upon the bridge. The horse was old Ebenezer; and Farmer Green was driving him.
"Hi!" Red shouted. "Stop! Wait a minute!"
Johnnie Green"s father pulled Ebenezer to a halt.
"What"s going on here?" he inquired.
"Spot took my clothes," Red explained. "He"s run down the road with them. Get them for me--please!"
Hoots and catcalls from the other boys followed Red"s speech, which was a wonderfully polite one--for him.
Farmer Green couldn"t help laughing.
"I"m going to the village," he said. "If I find any clothes along the road I"ll pick them up and put them in the wagon. And if you"re here when I come back I"ll give them to you."
"He"ll be here!" Johnnie Green shouted. "Red"ll wait for you."
"If you hurry, maybe you can catch Spot," Red called to Farmer Green as he drove off. "I can"t stay here all day."
"You"ll have to," the boys jeered.
"Maybe you"ll have to wait here till dark," Johnnie Green suggested.
"I won"t!" Red replied, as he swam towards the bank. "Your dog took my clothes," he cried as he ran up to the big hickory. "And I"m going to take yours."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Spot Started After Frisky Squirrel.
(_Page 42_)]
It was Johnnie"s turn to yell then. He was on the further side of the mill pond. And long before he could cross it Red had s.n.a.t.c.hed up Johnnie"s clothes from the shade of the hickory and dodged into the bushes with them.