Читать книгу Roy Blakeley's Happy-go-lucky Hike - Percy Keese Fitzhugh - Страница 8

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Already we had walked about five miles to get four miles so we were out one mile. Wig said, “Good, we won’t have to carry it with us. I guess Tin-pan-tin ran about forty miles so far.”

“He should worry, he won’t have to walk back,” I said.

So then after about an hour and a half we came to Little Valley and we saw the big white house near the railroad station. Vic said at last we would get something to eat; he said nobody would give less than five dollars reward for bringing their dog home. Maybe people who lived in a big white house like that would even give ten.

We started up across the lawn and Pee-wee said, “Let me do the talking.”

I said, “I never knew anybody yet who could stop you. As long as you’ll let me do the eating I don’t care. I wonder if there’s a bakery in this burg.”

Pee-wee had a leash and he fixed it to the dog’s collar and started up the steps very bold like. The rest of us followed him. A lady came to the door and he said, “Here’s your dog that we found in Bridgeboro where we live, and I knew he was yours on account of scouts having to be observant, and he’s got a black spot around his eye—that’s how I knew him, because once I saw him here.”

I said, “Hey, lady, he’s very hungry because he tried to eat a lawn mower. That was three or four hours ago and I guess he’d eat a couple of sewing machines by now.”

The dog started jumping up on her and she backed away from him and she said, “Oh gracious goodness, we don’t want him. I gave him to a peddler who said he’d give him a good home. He was here two or three weeks and he was dreadful. Don’t let him loose whatever you do, or he’ll run right in the house. Shh—scamper, go away, he’s a perfect nuisance! We gave him away and we don’t want him.”

“Gooood night!” I said. “Please catch me while I faint.”

The lady said, “I’m sorry and you’re very nice boys, and very thoughtful, but we really don’t want him, you know. Oh, I do wish we could get rid of him, for good and all. Scat—scamper! Don’t you break loose and go in the house. Sss-cat with you!” She kept holding out her apron trying to keep the dog from scooting past her into the house, and all the while Pee-wee kept pulling him away from the front door.

He said, “Maybe he won’t be so dreadful now because he’s older and maybe he’s got more sense. So don’t you want him back for a reward just on account of the trouble we had because that’s only fair and I bet he’s worth a lot of money, I bet he is.”

The lady said, “A reward! Oh, that’s too killing! Why I’d give a reward for taking him away if I thought there was really any hope of getting rid of him. This is the second time he’s been back here.”

I said, “Hey, lady, we don’t care which way we take him if we get a reward. If we don’t get a reward we’ll have to make him into hot dogs and eat him.”

She said, “Well, you take him away and find him a good home, because there are lots of people who love dogs. You do that, and come and tell me, and I’ll give you two dollars; now there.” Then she went in the house and shut the door.

I said, “How about the grand champion fixer, P. Harris? Oh, sure, we’ll get a reward! Now what are we going to do? And I’m getting hungry. Did you notice how glad she was to get the dog back? I thought she’d hug the life out of him. She likes him like I like arithmetic. Follow Pee-wee and you can’t go wrong—but you’ll go hungry.”

“That shows how much resources you’ve got like scouts are supposed to have,” Pee-wee said. “Haven’t we got two dollars coming to us if we find him a home? Gee, that’s easy.”

“If I found a home I’d keep it for myself,” I told him. “Look where we are, here in Little Valley with a dog we can’t get rid of. Do you think I want to hike back to Bridgeboro without anything to eat first? A nice fix you’ve got us into with your good turns.”

“There’s lots of nice homes here,” Pee-wee said. “Maybe we better go round ringing bells, hey? Maybe we better go round asking people. Now we’ve got a chance to earn two dollars.”

All the time the dog kept jumping up on one and then the other of us. I guess he knew something was wrong. I said, “Don’t you care, Tin-pan-tin, we’ll find you a home.” He started licking my hand just the same as if he knew what we were trying to do. We sat down on a carriage step in front of a house, and he sat down too and looked around with his tongue hanging out he was so warm. He looked all around just as if he was looking for a home, kind of as if he wanted to help too.

I said to Pee-wee, “Why don’t you go and tell that lady that you’ll take him to your home and then you’ll get the two dollars.”

“My father won’t have any dogs,” he said.

“I’d do it only my grandmother is scared of dogs, so I can’t,” Wig said.

I knew Vic couldn’t because they’ve got a dandy big police dog at his house.

Poor Tin-can-tin, he kept looking at me and panting just like as if he hoped I could think up something. I said, “Anyway we might as well take a rest.” So we stayed there on the carriage step, two of us facing the sidewalk and two of us facing the middle of the street, and the dog lay down; I guess he was tired, no wonder.

I said, “Let’s count up the things we haven’t got to eat, as long as we didn’t get any reward.”

“Let’s figure out how we won’t ride home,” Wig said.

“Sure,” I told him; “you’ve got to admit Pee-wee is generous. Look at all the cones and sodas and things that he’s not going to buy. Remember how he was going to treat us all? ‘I’ll spend the reward and treat all of us.’ Believe me, I’ve got indigestion from all the things he didn’t treat us to. Now we’ll have to go stand in front of a bakery and inhale some refreshments.”

Vic said, “The thing I like best that he didn’t get us was a dozen crullers.”

“Those were fine,” Wig said.

“Don’t you care,” I told them, “he’s going to treat us to a nice walk back to Bridgeboro. The gumdrops were good too; they’re the best ones I ever didn’t taste. Oh boy, I feel full of emptiness.”

“Let’s decide on something to do,” Wig said.

“I decide unanimously to stay right here,” I told him. “Let’s sit here and rest and kid Pee-wee along.”

“It shows what a fool you are,” the kid said, “because one feller can’t be unanimous. You think you’re so smart using long words that you don’t know what they mean. Unanimous means everybody. Even you’re not a majority, even.”

Vic said, “Now tell us something about arithmetic.”

I said, “Sure, how many is a lot of onions?”

“Are we going to find a home for this dog or not?” the kid shouted. “Or are we going to sit around here fooling all afternoon?”

I said, “The answer is yes to both questions; we are not.”

“What do you mean by yes and we are not?” he screamed at me.

“Am I to blame if you can’t understand English?” I said to him. “Yes is a pronoun that qualifies the injunction to the adverb by the phrase we are not, meaning ain’t it—I’ll leave it to Wig. There’s one good thing about school.”

“What’s that?” Vic wanted to know.

“It’s closed,” I told him; “no sooner said than stung.”

“Come on and let’s start trying to find a home for the dog,” Vic said. “I want that two dollars, I’m getting hungry.”