Maybe you wouldn"t accuse Buddy of being handsome. I used to think Airedales was about the homeliest dogs on the list. Mostly, you know, they"re long on nose. It starts between their ears and extends straight out for about a foot. Gives "em kind of a simple expression. But you get a good look into them brown eyes of Buddy"s, "specially when he"s listenin" to you with his head c.o.c.ked on one side and an ear turned wrong side out, and you"ll decide he must have some gray matter concealed somewhere. Then there"s that black astrakan coat-effect on his back, and the clean-cut lines of his deep chest and slim brown legs, which are more or less decorative. Anyway he got so he looked kind of good to me.
Like people, though, Buddy had his bad days. Every once in a while his fondness for chewin" things would get him in wrong. Then he"d have to be scolded. And you can"t tell me he don"t know the meanin" of the words when you call him a "bad, bad dog." No, sir. Why, he"d drop his head and tail and sneak into a corner as if he"d been struck with a whip. And half an hour later he"d be up to the same sort of mischief. I asked Joe Sarello about it.
"Ah!" says Joe, shruggin" his shoulders. "Hees puppy yet. Wanna do w"at he lak, all tam. He know better, but he strong in the head. You gotta beat him up good. No can hurt. Tough lak iron. Beat him up."
But Vee won"t have it. I didn"t insist. I didn"t care much for the job.
So Buddy gets off by being informed stern that he"d a bad, bad dog.
And then here the other day I comes home to find Buddy locked in the garage and howlin" indignant. Vee says he mustn"t be let out, either.
"What"s the idea?" I asks.
Then I gets the whole bill of complaint. It seems Buddy has started the day by breakin" loose from his wire and chasin" the chickens all over the place. He"d cornered our pet Rhode Island Red rooster and nipped out a mouthful of tail feathers. It took the whole household and some of the neighbors to get him to quit that little game.
This affair had almost been forgiven and he was havin" his lunch on the back porch when Vee"s Auntie blows in unexpected for a little visit.
Before anybody has time to stop him Buddy is greetin" her in his usual impetuous manner. He does it by plantin" his muddy forepaws in three places on the front of her dress and then grabbin" her gold lorgnette playful, breakin" the chain, and runnin" off with the loot.
I expect that was only Buddy"s idea of letting her know that he welcomed her as a member of the fam"ly in good standin". But Auntie takes it different. She asks Vee why we allow a "horrible beast like that to run at large." She"s a vivid describer, Auntie. She don"t mind droppin" a word of good advice now and then either. While she"s being sponged off and brushed down she recommends that we get rid of such a dangerous animal as that at once.
So Buddy is tied up again outside. But it appears to be his day for doing the wrong thing. Someone has hung Vee"s best evenin" wrap out on a line to air after having a spot cleaned. It"s the one with the silver fox fur on the collar. And it"s hung where Buddy can just reach it.
Well, you can guess the rest. Any kind of a fox, deceased or otherwise, is fair game for Buddy. It"s right in his line. And when they discovered what he was up to there wasn"t a piece of that fur collar big enough to make an ear m.u.f.f. Parts of the wrap might still be used for polishin"
the silver. Buddy seemed kind of proud of the thorough job he"d made.
Well, Vee had been "specially fond of that wrap. She"d sort of blown herself when she got it, and you know how high furs have gone to these days. I expect she didn"t actually weep, but she must have been near it.
And there was Auntie with more stern advice. She points out how a brute dog with such destructive instincts would go on and on, chewin" up first one valuable thing and then another, until we"d have nothing left but what we had on.
Buddy had been tried and found guilty in the first degree. Sentence had been pa.s.sed. He must go.
"Perhaps your barber friend will take him back," says Vee. "Or the Ellinses might want him. Anyway, he"s impossible. You must get rid of him tonight. Only I don"t wish to know how, or what becomes of him."
"Very well," says I, "if that"s the verdict."
I loads Buddy ostentatious into the little roadster and starts off, with him wantin" to sit all over me as usual, or else drapin" himself on the door half-way out of the car. Maybe I stopped at Joe Sarello"s, maybe I only called at the butcher"s and collected a big, juicy shin-bone.
Anyway, it was" after dark when I got back and when I came in to dinner I was alone.
The table chat that evenin" wasn"t quite as lively as it generally is.
And after we"d been sitting around in the livin" room an hour or so with everything quiet, Vee suddenly lets loose with a sigh, which is a new stunt for her. She ain"t the sighin" kind. But there"s no mistake about this one.
"Eh?" says I, lookin" up.
"I--I hope you found him a good home," says she.
"Oh!" says I. "The impossible beast? Probably as good as he deserves."
Then we sat a while longer.
"Little Richard was getting very fond of him," Vee breaks out again.
"Uh-huh," says I.
We went upstairs earlier than usual. There wasn"t so much to do about gettin" ready--no givin" Buddy a last run outside, or makin" him shake a good night with his paw, or seein" that he had water in his dish.
Nothing but turnin" out the lights. Once, long after Vee should have been asleep. I thought I heard her snifflin", but I dozed off again without makin" any remark.
I must have been sawin" wood good and hard, too, when I wakes up to find her shakin" me by the shoulder.
"Listen, Torchy," she"s sayin". "Isn"t that Buddy"s bark?"
"Eh? Buddy?" says I. "How could it be?"
"But it is!" she insists. "It"s coming from the garage, too."
"Well, that"s odd," says I. "Maybe I"d better go out and see."
I was puzzled all right, in spite of the fact that I"d left him there with his bone and had made Dominick promise to stick around and quiet him if he began yelpin". But this wasn"t the way Buddy generally barked when he was indignant. He was lettin" "em out short and crisp. They sounded different somehow, more like business. And the light was turned on in the garage!
First off I thought Dominick must be there. Maybe I wouldn"t have dashed out so bold if I"d doped it out any other way. I hadn"t thought of car thieves. Course, there had been some cases around, mostly young hicks from the village stealin" joy-rides. But I hadn"t worried about their wantin" to take my little bus. So I arrives on the jump.
And there in a corner of the garage are two young toughs, jumpin" and dodgin" at a lively rate, with Buddy sailin" into "em for all he"s worth and givin" out them quick short battle cries. One of the two has just managed to get hold of a three-foot length of galvanized water pipe and is swingin" vicious at Buddy when I crashes in.
Well, we had it hectic for a minute or so there, but it turns out a draw with no blood shed, although I think Buddy and I could have made "em sorry they came if they hadn"t made a break and got past us. And when we gets back to where Vee is waitin" with the fire-poker in her hand Buddy still waves in his teeth a five-inch strip of brown mixture trousering.
"You blessed, blessed Buddy!!" says Vee, after she"s heard the tale.
Oh, yes, Buddy finished the night behind the stove in the kitchen. I guess he"s kind of earned his right to that bunk. Course, he ain"t sprouted any wings yet, but he"s gettin" so the sight of a switch waved at him works wonders. Some day, perhaps, he"ll learn to be less careless what he exercises them sharp teeth of his on. Last night it was the leather covering on the library couch--chewed a hole half as big as your hand.
"Never mind," says Vee. "We can keep a cushion over it."
CHAPTER V
IN DEEP FOR WADDY
And all the time I had Wadley Fiske slated as a dead one! Course, he was one of Mr. Robert"s clubby friends. But that don"t always count. He may be choosey enough picking live wires for his office staff, Mr. Robert, as you might guess by my bein" his private sec; but when it came to gettin" a job lot of friends wished on him early in his career, I must say he couldn"t have been very finicky.
Not that Waddy"s a reg"lar washout, or carries a perfect vacuum between the ears, or practices any of the seven deadly sins. He"s a cheerful, good-natured party, even if he is built like a 2x4 and about as broad in the shoulders as a cough drop is thick. I understand he qualifies in the scheme of things by playin" a fair game of billiards, is always willing to sit in at bridge, and can make himself useful at any function where the ladies are present. Besides, he always wears the right kind of clothes, can say bright little things at a dinner party, and can generally be located by calling up any one of his three clubs.
Chiefly, though, Waddy is a ladies" man. With him being in and out of the Corrugated General Offices so much I couldn"t help gettin" more or less of a line on him that way, for he"s always consultin" Mr. Robert about sendin" flowers to this one, or maneuverin" to get introduced to the other, or gushin" away about some sweet young thing that he"s met the night before.
"How does he get away with all that Romeo stuff," I asks Mr. Robert once, "without being tagged permanent? Is it just his good luck?"
"Waddy calls it his hard luck," says Mr. Robert. "It seems as if they just use him to practice on. He will find a new queen of his heart, appear to be getting on swimmingly up to a certain point--and then she will marry someone else. Invariably. I"ve known of at least a half dozen of his affairs to turn out like that."
"Kind of a matrimonial runner-up, eh?" says I.
Oh, yes, I expect we got off a lot of comic lines about Waddy. Anyway we pa.s.sed "em as such. But of course there come days when we have other things to do here at the Corrugated besides shoot the gay and frivolous chatter back and forth. Now and then. Such as here last Wednesday when Mr. Robert had two committee meetin"s on for the afternoon and was goin"
over with me some tabulated stuff I"d doped out for the annual report.