Part 10 (1/2)
They saw Shorty fling himself down on his knees beside Prince Jan and pull the dog close to him, while racking sobs shook the boy's shoulders.
Jan twisted around to lick Shorty's face and comfort him, for the dog did not know his friend was crying from happiness. At last Shorty rose to his feet, brus.h.i.+ng away the tears with his ragged coat sleeve.
”Judge, I promise you I'll make good or I'll die in the trying,” he said, and all those who heard him knew he would do his best.
The judge stepped down from the big chair and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, saying in a kindly voice, ”You're bound to make good, Shorty, and we are all your friends!”
The other men shook Shorty's hand, and the judge said, with a smile, ”I have a nice collie pup up at my home that I will give you, if Mr.
Melville doesn't object.”
”We have no dog, now that Prince Jan is gone,” the artist answered quickly, ”and I promised my wife that I would bring back some kind of a dog for the children. They would be lonesome now, without one. So the pup will be just as welcome as Shorty will be.”
Shorty forgot this man was a judge, and smiled at him, asking, ”What's the pup's name, please?”
”He is a registered pup with a long fancy name, but we just call him 'Pup,' so you can pick out a name to suit yourself.”
”I'm going to call him 'Prince Jan'!” announced the boy, and all agreed that it was a fine name for any pup.
They shook hands once more with Shorty and wished him good luck, and when the boy walked from the room, he held his head high. A smile was on his lips and hope in his eyes. Mr. Melville walked beside him.
That evening when Jan, Hippity-Hop, Cheepsie, and the captain were sitting together, the old man looked at the dog and said, ”Jan, your ancestors rescued travellers from the snow, but to-day you helped Shorty get a new start in life, and that is a bigger thing than if you had saved him from death in the Alps.”
The dog did not understand the words, but he knew that the smile was the same happy smile that came when the old poundmaster had found a good home for one of the friendless dogs. So Jan was happy, too.
Chapter XII
THE POUNDMASTER'S PROBLEM
FOR several days after Shorty had gone on his way to the Land of Make-Believe with Mr. Melville, life ran very quietly and happily for Prince Jan and his friends in the little bungalow on the cliffs. Then he began to notice that Captain Smith was worried, and when Jan poked his nose into the hand of his friend, though the hand stroked the dog's head, the poundmaster did not smile and his eyes looked as if he saw something Jan could not see. It worried Jan, though he could do nothing but lie quietly with his anxious eyes fixed on the old man's face.
One evening after supper a loud knock at the door caused the dog to look up quickly, while Hippity-Hop jumped with fuzzed tail and excited eyes.
The captain opened the door and two men came in. They shook hands with him and sat down in the chairs he pushed forward. The two men looked around the room, stared at the dog, then turned to Jan's master. The look on the poundmaster's face made the dog feel certain that these men had something to do with the old man's worry, so Jan went over and sat close to him, resting his big head on the captain's knee.
”Is that the dog that was stolen?” one of the visitors asked at last.
”Yes,” replied the captain. ”This is Prince Jan. He was sent to the pound almost dead with mange and orders through the stableman that the dog was to be killed because he was vicious. But,” the poundmaster smiled down at the dog that was gazing with loving eyes into his face, ”you see, all he needed was kind treatment and proper care.”
”I understand, Smith,” the other man now spoke in a voice that sounded cross to Jan, ”that you are violating the City ordinances, and are keeping the dogs that are brought to the pound. They are sent here to be killed, not kept.”
”I find homes for them all,” the old man hastened to say, ”and it only takes a short time to find people who will give them good homes. Not one of the dogs that has been brought here since I had charge has been vicious. Those that seemed dangerous at first grew gentle and kind as soon as they found no one would hurt them.”
”Of course, we know how you feel about them, but the City hires you to kill the dogs if their owners do not claim or want them. People complain that you keep the dogs and feed them at the public expense. We can't have that, you know.”
Captain Smith rose, and the hand he held out suddenly toward the two men was trembling. ”I don't know who told you that,” he said earnestly, ”and I don't believe that whoever did say it meant to tell an untruth, but the only dogs that are fed at public cost are those for which I am allowed money. After any dog has been with me for more than a week, I pay for his food myself.”
The two strange men looked at each other and were silent a few minutes.
Finally one of them spoke again,