Buddy and His Chum

Front matter

BUDDY SERIES By HOWARD R. GARIS

You will more than like BUDDY with his carefree ways, his cheerful smile, his boundless enthusiasm and his overflowing youth. BUDDY is certain to linger in your memory long after you have finished these stories.

THE TITLES IN THIS SERIES ARE:

Chapter I Aunt Mary’s Letter

OTHER, do you know where my penceil box is?’’

“Where did you leave it, Buddy ?”’ “Well, I haven’t seen it since I brought it home the last day of school, and then I guess I put it on the mantle. But it isn’t there now. I wonder where it is?”’

- Dick Martyne ran his hand along the mantle shelf and, not feeling the pencil box, stood on his tiptoes to look. But as this did not bring his blue eyes up quite high enough to see well, he shoved a chair up and stood on that. ,

‘¢ ’Tisn’t here, Mother !’’ he called.

“‘Just as if we could leave your pencil box 1 ok BUDDY AND HIS CHUM _ on the mantle all summer!”’ said Mrs. Martyne fi with a laugh. ‘‘I suppose Lola put it away.’

“T’1] go ask her,’’ said Buddy as he got down off the chair and called: ‘‘Lola! Lola! Did you see my pencil box? Hurry, please, and tell me! I don’t want to be late the first day of school.”’

Lola Wagg, the maid in the Martyne house, came from the kitchen, her hands dripping from the dish water that she wiped off on her apron. She smiled at Buddy and said:

‘“‘T saw the box up in your room when I cleaned it last week after you came back from Rainbow Lake. It was on your bureau.”’

‘““Oh, sure! Now I remember!’ cried Buddy. ‘‘I saw it there myself. I’ll get it! Thanks !’’ !

Up the stairs he dashed, across his room he ran and his mother and Lola heard his rummaging on his bureau. Then came a shout:

“fT have it!’

Down the stairs clattered Buddy, whistling as he came, and with a hurried kiss for his fa ; mother, a wave of his hand to Lola he was off down the walk hastening to school which was to open for the first day of the fall term.

‘*He’s a great boy!’’ murmured Lola as she went back to her dishes.

‘*He’s always on the go, at any rate,”’ said Mrs. Martyne. ‘‘But he doesn’t always take good care of his things.”’

‘*He’ll learn—he’s young yet,’’ said Lola kindly.

With his box of pencils Dees in his pocket, Buddy skipped along the street that led to school. He had no books to carry, as he was going into a higher class and he would get his books after reaching school. He was wondering what new studies he would take up, and he was looking for other boys who might be going his way, when he happened to glance at ‘a clock in a store window.

‘‘Whew!’’ whistled Buddy as he saw the time. ‘“‘I didn’t know it was as late as that!

‘T’ll never get there in time by running! [’ll rie. he ene sal bd cd? Sie Ye Toa Lids Teme te oer to il ne a Meee era NEN NY ‘ ¥ oe “s he Wehr ¥ + >

AUNT MARY’S LETTER 3

4 BUDDY AND HIS CHUM | go back home and get my roller skates! I can go faster on them!”’

Buddy turned and headed for home, running fast now, and with the pencils in his box rattling more loudly than before. Somewhat out of breath, he dashed into the hall, as his mother was going up stairs.

‘“‘Buddy! Why did you come home?’’ she asked, in surprise.

‘‘Mother—please—my roller skates! The ones I got with my prize pumpkin money!”’ panted Buddy. ‘‘Where are my roller skates ?”’

‘*You don’t want your roller skates! You must hurry on to school. You'll be late, Buddy!’’ his mother said.

‘“*T know it, Mother! I didn’t think it was so near nine o’clock! I’ll be late if I don’t skate! Oh, I made a rhyme; didn’t I2’’ chuckled the red-haired boy. ‘‘Late—skate! Ha! Ha!’

‘‘Never mind about rhymes. Go on to school!’’ his mother told him.

“os et oxi) ae SOL icy a a Pee LES fh o 2h! wien .

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7 AUNT MARY’S LETTER 5

‘*T will, just as soon as I can get my skates. I can go a lot faster on them than I can by running, even. Where are they, Mother ?’’

Mrs. Martyne knew that Buddy was a fast skater and she had often seen him go on errands for her and come back much more quickly when he went on his skates than when he walked.

“But you mustn’t wear your skates in school,’’ she warned him, as she started down the stairs again.

“Oh, no, Mother! Of course I won’t! But where are they, please ?’’

‘*Let me see now,’’ and Mrs. Martyne tried to remember where, of all Buddy’s playthings, she had last seen the roller skates. Then Lola, who had looked in from the kitchen to see what all the talking was about, said to Buddy:

‘““Your skates are in the closet under the © back stairs.”’

“‘Oh, thanks a lot!’’ cried the small boy as he dashed for the closet, a dark catch-all for many odds and ends. He rummaged about in there, knocking over a broom and mop with — a clatter and bang and at last drew out his skates.

‘Now be careful!’ his mother warned him as he put them on.

‘‘T will!’? Buddy promised and once more he started down the street with his pencil box rattling in his pocket. He was going quite fast now, really gliding along with more speed than he could have kept up if he had tried to run.

“‘T’m glad I got these skates!’’ thought Buddy, remembering how hard he had worked to raise the pumpkin on his grandfather’s farm—the pumpkin which took a prize at the ‘fair. And it was with the prize money that Buddy had bought his rubber wheel skates which rolled so easily and silently.

‘“They’re almost as good as new!’’ Buddy thought as he turned around a corner and then he had to ‘‘put on brakes”’ as he called it, for

he nearly ran into his chum, Tom Gordon. “Took out!’ cried Tom, holding to the side of the corner building. ‘‘Go easy!”’

“AUNT MARY’S LETTER cee

“ Oh, did I hurt you?’’ asked Buddy as he

flung his arms around his chum to keep himself from falling down.

‘*No,’’ answered Tom with a laugh. ‘‘But

you sure were going fast. What’s your hurry,

- Buddy ?”’

‘‘Hurry? I don’t want to be late for school! I started and then I went back to get my skates. I saw, by the clock in Smull’s window, that it was almost time for the last bell.’? And then, as Buddy noticed that Tom had been coming from school, instead of toward it when he nearly bumped into him, the red-haired boy asked:

‘‘What are you coming this way for, Tom ?”’

Pen going back home,’’ answered the other boy, whose dark hair was in strange contrast to Buddy’s red as the two stood at the street corner.

‘‘Back home!’’ exclaimed Buddy in surprise. ‘‘You’re going back home?’’ He looked at his chum as if he could not believe it.

“Sure!’’ went on Tom Gordon. ‘‘ You might

8 BUDDY AND HIS CHUM as well go back home, too!’’ He began to laugh.

‘“What are you talking about?’’ Buddy asked. ‘‘Quit fooling! This is the first day of the term. I’ve got to go to school and so have you.”’

Tom shook his head, laughed again and said:

‘‘There isn’t any school!”’

“Tsn’t any school,’ and Buddy almost shouted these words. ‘‘What’s the matter, did it burn down last night ?”’

‘‘No,’’ chuckled Tom as though he would not much have eared if that had happened. ‘‘But the water pipes busted, or something, and they can’t open school for a long time, a month, I guess. And there’s a sign on the door saying that everybody is to go home and wait until they see a notice in the paper that everything is all fixed.’

‘*No: school!’ murmered Buddy as if he could not believe it. ‘‘No fooling ?’’ ae asked Tom, still fearing a joke.

‘‘No fooling! Honest!’’ Tom answered. ‘‘I

AUNT MARY’S LETTER g just saw the notice myself. Come on, take a look.”’

Buddy started to skate toward the school but as he found this made it a bit hard for Tom to keep up with him, Buddy took off his skates and the two chums walked on down the street. Buddy saw many other boys and girls turning back, they, also, having started for their classes, and he began to believe that Tom was right, even without having seen the notice on the door. But, wanting to make very certain of the good news, Buddy hurried on with his chum.

‘‘There! What did I tell you?’’ exclaimed Tom, pointing to a typewritten paper fastened to the side door of the school—the door by which the pupils entered.

It was as the dark-haired boy had said. There was a notice, signed by Mr. Pardin, the principal, telling the boys and girls that something wrong had been found with the plumbing of the school, just when it was about to be

> gem opened after the long vacation. It might take several weeks to fix it, the notice said.

‘‘And we don’t have any school all that time!’’ cried Tom, as Buddy finished reading the paper on the school door. ‘‘Hurray!’’

‘“‘That’s right! Another vacation right after the one we had at Rainbow Lake!’’ Buddy exclaimed. ‘‘Oh, golly! This is great!’’

‘Best ever!’’ said Charlie Taylor.

“‘T didn’t believe it,’’ said Harry Clee. ‘‘ Not when I first read it. Oh, boy! What sport!’’ and he skipped around the school yard joyfully. ~ You don’t s’pose somebody is trying to fool us; do you?”’ asked Mary Thompson.

‘*Fool us! Who would try to fool us?’’ Buddy asked.

‘“Maybe the janitor might,’’ said Lucy.

““That’s Mr. Pardin’s name, I’ve seen it before,’’ said Harry, pointing to the signature at the bottom of the notice. ‘‘Oh, there’s no school all right—not for quite a while yet, anyhow!’

AUNT MARY’S LETTER i , Several other pupils who had arrived by this time did not know just what to do. But some of the teachers came out and told the boys and girls that what was on the notice was true —that until the plumbing pipes could be repaired there could be no school.

‘*Then I’m going home and have fun!”’ cried Buddy.

‘*1’m with you!”’ said his chum.

The two boys hurried to Buddy’s house together, for Buddy wanted to leave his skates and then race off with Tom and do half a dozen things they had planned on, but which had to be postponed until after school. Now they could do as they pleased.

‘“‘Buddy Martyne! What are you home again for?’’ asked Lola as the red-haired boy dashed into her kitchen to put his skates away in the closet under the back stairs. ‘‘You’ll be awful late!’’

“‘No I won’t, Lola!’’ said Buddy. ‘‘There isn’t any school.”’ |

‘*No school!’ echoed Mrs. Martyne coming

12 _ BUDDY AND HIS CHUM into the kichen with a letter which the carrier had just left. ‘‘What do you mean, Buddy? And Tom, too, out of school! You boys will get bad marks!”’

‘‘No’m, Mrs. Martyne. We won’t be late,’’ said Tom with a smile. ‘*There isn’t any school, really and honest!’’

‘‘Not for a month, maybe!’’ spoke Buddy with a laugh.

‘‘Busted—I mean broken pipes,’’ added Tom, correcting himself.

Then, by turns, the two boys told about the » notice and as Buddy went to Lola’s pantry and began looking for cookies for himself and his - chum, he happened to see the letter in his mother’s hand.

‘*T just had a letter from your Aunt Mary,’’ said Mrs. Martyne. ‘*And, if it’s really true, about school not going to open for another month, why, I have a great surprise for you, Buddy.’

‘‘Oh, it’s true all right about the school,”’ Tom declared.

AUNT MARY’S LETTER 13

‘“What’s the surprise, Mother?’’ asked Buddy as he gave Tom a molasses cookie. ‘“What does Aunt Mary say in her letter? Is she coming to visit us? Is that the surprise ?’’ Buddy looked glad for Aunt Mary was very jolly and he always had fun with her.

‘‘No, that isn’t the surprise,’’ said Mrs. Martyne with a smile. ‘‘It is better than that, I think you will say, Buddy. In her letter Aunt Mary says——’’

But just then the telephone bell rang and Mrs. Martyne hurried to answer without telling Buddy what the surprise was.

‘‘T wonder what it can be?”’ asked Buddy impatiently as he began eating his cookie.

‘‘Maybe she’s going to send you a present,’” suggested Tom, hopefully.

And then Buddy listened to his mother’s voice talking over the telephone while he wondered and tried to guess what the surprise was in Aunt Mary’s letter.

Chapter II Brick And The Cat

RS. MARTYNE came back from the

telephone. In her hands she had pencil and paper. She was writing something and saying to herself, though loudly enough for Buddy and Tom to hear:

‘‘Let me see. I can ask Mrs. Gordon, and Mrs. Clee and Mrs. Brown. That will make four and if I can get Mrs. Johnson——”’

‘Ts that what Aunt Mary wrote about in her letter?’’ asked Buddy. ‘I mean about all those ladies, Mother?’’? He was feeling disappointed.

‘‘Oh, no,’’ answered Mrs. Martyne, looking up from the paper on which she was writing as she walked back from the telephone. ‘‘This is about a little entertainment we ladies of the

Missionary Society are going to have. I want : 14 to get your mother to help me, Tom, and Mrs. Johnson and others.’’

‘*T guess my mother will be glad to help,’’ spoke Tom.

‘‘But, Mother dear, what about the surprise ?”’

Buddy could not wait a moment longer. He _ did not know whether his mother was teasing , him, or whether she had really forgotten what. she had been going to say when Mrs. Norton called her to the telephone. And now Mrs. Martyne exclaimed:

“‘Oh, Buddy! I’m so sorry! I must have left Aunt Mary’s letter in by the telephone. Get it for me, please, and I’ll read that part about you.”’

‘‘ About me!’’ cried Buddy opening wide his blue eyes. ‘‘Me, Mother ?’’

‘‘Yes. She wants you—but there, my dear, get me the letter and I’ll read you all about it.”’ And you can be sure Buddy hurried to the telephone table in the hall, stuffing into his mouth the last of his molasses cookie while his

BRICK AND THE CAT. ib

16 BUDDY AND HIS CHUM mother finished making a list of the ladies she hoped would help her with the entertainment.

‘“There, Mother!’’ Buddy handed her the letter. ‘‘What does Aunt Mary say about me?’’ He was very eager and excited.

‘‘Perhaps I can tell you about it more quickly than if I read it,’’ went on Mrs. Martyne. ‘‘I wasn’t going to speak of it until J heard about the opening of school being put off for several weeks. As it is now you can go, Buddy.”’

‘‘Go where, Mother ?’’

‘‘To Aunt Mary’s home in the city of Bloomberg. She wrote and said if you had not finished your summer vacation she would like to have you visit her for a few weeks. Aunt Mary didn’t know, I think, that school usually opens early in September. I was just going to write and tell her that you had spent your summer vacation at Rainbow Lake, and that now you had to go back to your studies. When, all of a sudden, you and Tom tell me there is more vacation to come.’’

BRICK AND THE CAT 17

‘*Lots more, I hope!’’ chuckled Tom. ‘‘Two vacations in one summer! Hurray!’’

‘‘But am I really going to visit Aunt Mary in the city?’’ asked Buddy. ‘‘Is that the surprise ?”’

‘Yes, Buddy, that’s the surprise in Aunt Mary’s letter: Isn’t it a good one?”’

“‘Oh, it’s fine, Mother! When can I go? And how long can I stay? And can I take Brick with me and——”’

Buddy’s face that had been alight with joy seemed to grow a bit sad now as he looked at his chum Tom Gordon. And Tom said:

““That’s going to be jolly—for you to have a vacation in the city!’’ Buddy and Tom lived in a small village and a city meant lots of different fun.

“Tt was good of Aunt Mary to invite me,”’ Buddy went on. ‘‘But it won’t be much fun just me going alone. If there was some other boy: z

‘““There’s going to be another boy, Buddy,”’

his mother said, smiling.

‘There is? Who? Another boy? Aunt Mary hasn’t any children!’’ Buddy exclaimed. He was more excited than ever, now.

‘‘No, but what about your chum ?’’ and Mrs. Martyne pointed to Tom.

‘Oh, is he going ?’’ Buddy shouted. ‘‘Tom? Oh, that’s great! That’s fine! That’s wonderful! Whoop! Oh, Tom! Oh, boy! What fun we’ll have!’’

Buddy clasped his chum around the shoulders and began to whirl him about the kitchen, while Tom, looking puzzled, said:

‘‘This is the first I’ve heard about it. I don’t know your Aunt Mary, I guess there ’s some mistake.”’

‘*No mistake at all,’’ said Mrs. Martyne, still smiling and holding out the letter Buddy had

- brought from the telephone table. ‘‘Aunt

Mary Lawson suggests that Buddy bring another boy with him to spend some weeks at her city home. And I’m sure Buddy would rather have you, Tom, than any other boy.”’

‘Of course I would!”’ cried Buddy. ‘‘Tom’s teas

Seen 2

-my chum! Didn’t he have me at his camp on

Rainbow Lake? And now I can take him with me to Aunt Mary’s! Oh, boy, what fun!”’

Now Tom joined in the dance for he felt that he was to be included in the little party. How jolly it would be!

“Aunt Mary wants you to come as soon as you can, Buddy,’’ said Mrs. Martyne. ‘‘ And, now that there will be no school for some weeks, you may as well get ready to start tomorrow or next day. I suppose your mother will let you go with Buddy; won’t she, Tom ?’’

‘Oh. sure!’’ said the dark-haired boy. ‘‘I’ll go ask her right away.’’

“‘T’ll come with you,’’ offered Buddy. ‘‘Oh, this is great! You’ll like my Aunt Mary!”’

‘‘Sure!’’ said Tom.

‘‘And we’ll have packs of fun in the eityiie went on the blue-eyed lad. ‘*We can go——’”’ . There came a sudden interruption of loud barkings from the back yard and Buddy, looking from a window, cried:

‘“‘Tt’s Brick! He’s after a cat!’’

¥, 1

BRICK AND THE CAT 19

‘““Golly!’’ cried Tom. ‘‘There’s a little girl, too!’

‘Don’t let your dog bite that child!’ exclaimed Mrs. Martyne, as the two boys rushed for the back yard. ‘‘Stop him!”’

‘“‘Brick wouldn’t bite anybody,’’ Buddy shouted over his shoulder. ‘‘It’s just the strange cat he’s after! Come on, Tom! We'll stop him!’ —

And while the two boys are running to call Brick away from trying to catch the eat it will be a good chance to let my new readers learn something about the boy who is to be the hero of this story.

As told in the first book of this series, ‘‘Buddy on the Farm; or a Boy and His Prize Pumpkin,’’ Dick Martyne lived with his father and mother in the small town, or village, of Mountchester. Dick was his name but everyone called him ‘‘Buddy.’’ He was a lively, laughing little fellow, with blue eyes and hair that could be given only one name, and that was ‘‘red.’’ In the first book I told

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BRICK AND THE CAT 21 you how Buddy went to his grandfather’s farm and, by growing a big pumpkin, won prize money with which he bought some wonderful roller skates, having rubber covered wheels.

Buddy had some jolly adventures on his grandfather’s farm, and when he came home in the fall, ready to go to school, there were more adventures. For Buddy saw a Gypsy lad tying a tin can on a dog’s tail and made him stop. Then Buddy claimed this dog for his own, naming him Brick, and during his days at school, as told in the second book, Buddy and Brick had many good times.

There was more fun when Buddy found winter coming and when he was taken to the snow camp, where lumber was being cut, he had a most wonderful adventure with a bear. You may read about that in the third book.

The summer after his winter fun, Buddy went camping with Tom Gordon. What happened is told of in the book just before this one, and it is named: ‘‘Buddy at Rainbow

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Lake; or a Boy and His Boat.’ How Buddy met an Indian, how he found a drifting boat and what happened to him and Tom on an _ island is all in that book. ; Now Buddy had come back to Mountchester and he was ready to start the new term with his chum, when, as you have learned, the school had to close, which was a jolly surprise for all the pupils, you may be sure. Then there was also the surprise in Aunt Mary’s letter. - But in the midst of talking about the jolly times to come, Brick had started loudly barking in the back yard and Buddy, with his chum, must hasten out to see what it was.

‘‘Here, Brick!’ cried the red-haired boy. ‘*Let that cat alone!’’ . 7

For Brick was barking and trying to jump up at a pussy on the fence between Buddy’s house and the one in the rear where a new family had just moved in.

At the sound of his master’s voice Brick whined, ran toward Tom and Buddy and then leaped back toward the fence as if asking the boys to help him up to the top where he could get at the cat. For the fence was a high one.

Looking over the fence was a strange little girl, her hands stretched out as if to pull her pussy away from what she thought was terrible danger from the dog. Seeing the boys, the little girl said:

‘*Make your dog let my cat alone!”’

‘*Brick won’t hurt your cat,’’ spoke Buddy kindly. ‘‘He just wants to get acquainted with her, that’s all.’’

‘‘T think he wants to bite hen went on the little girl. ‘‘And if he does [’ll have your dog arrested.. I saw a policeman out in front of my house and I’ll ask him to arrest your dog if he bites my cat!”’

Buddy and Tom laughed at this, and while Buddy was trying to make Brick stop barking Tom looked over the fence to find out how he could so plainly see the head of such a little girl reaching above the tall boards. It was easily explained. She was standing on a pile of boxes in her yard, close to the fence.

er abs BUDDY AND HIS CHU “Bow-wow! Wuff!’? barked Brick. » “Siss-iss!’? went the cat. Her back was arched and her tail very big. | 5 ‘‘Go on away, bad dog!”’ cried the little girl. She jumped up and made a grab for her pussy _ but reached too far and, a moment later, had toppled off the high pile of boxes over the fence and into Buddy’s yard, carrying the cat with her.

And then, with loud and excited barks, Brick made a dash for the girl and cat, while _ Buddy and Tom shouted and Mrs. Martyne came running down the back steps exclaiming: ae ‘Brick! Brick! Don’t you dare bite that. -” child!” | | There was quite an exciting time, let me tell you.

Chapter III The Hand Organ Man

UDDY jumped toward Brick, got hold of : his dog’s collar and began pulling him back. All the while Brick barked loudly.

Tom Gordon picked up the little girl who had fallen over the fence. She was younger than Tom’s sister Lucy, but she was a brave little child, for she never once cried after her fall.

“Ts she hurt?’’ asked Mrs. Martyne as Buddy finally managed to pull Brick off to one side. |

‘‘No’m,’’ Tom answered. ‘‘She fell in a bunch of weeds.’’

“T want my pussy! Did the dog eat my pussy ?’’ asked the little girl, trying to wiggle out of Tom’s arms to look.

“‘No,’’ Buddy answered. ‘‘Your little cat is. 25 i ~ BUDDY AND His CHUM

all right. My dog wouldn’t really bite her.

He just wanted to see if he knew her.’’ : ‘“Well, he doesn’t know my pussy ’cause we just moved here,’’ said the strange child as

-Tom set her down. ‘‘And my pussy doesn’t like dogs, anyhow!’’

“It’s easy to see that!’’ chuckled Tom, for the cat, having jumped away as the little girl fell over the fence, was now up on a branch of the apple tree in Buddy’s yard, and still her back was arched and still her tail looked like a

. bologna sausage.

‘‘Brick, I’m ashamed of you!’’ said Mrs. Martyne, shaking her finger at Buddy’s dog. ‘“Why did you treat a new neighbor so? You vere to be kind to new little girls and pussies.’

‘Brick wouldn’t bite anybody,’’ declared Buddy. ‘‘He was just excited at the strange cat on the fence. He never chases Mrs. Brown’s cat or yours; does he, Tom?’’ Buddy appealed to his chum.

THE HAND ORGAN MAN 27

**No, I never saw Brick chase cats,” Tom answered.

‘*Well, he barked at mine,’’ said the little girl. ‘‘And if he had bit her I’d have your dog arrested, so there! And now I want to go back over the fence and I want my pussy !”’

‘‘All right,’? Tom agreed. ‘‘I’ll put you over the fence.”’

‘‘And I’ll get your pussy,’’ offered Mrs. Martyne. ‘‘Buddy, you take Brick in the house. That cat will never come down out of the tree as long as your dog is here.”’

‘*T guess she’s strange with dogs,’’ Buddy said, ‘*Come on, Brick!’’

Brick was ready enough to go with his master and when the cat no longer saw the dog she took the hump out of her back, her tail grew small and she let Mrs. Martyne reach up and take her out of the tree. Then Tom put the little girl back over on the pile of boxes, in her own yard and the pussy was placed in her arms.

‘*Your cat and Buddy’s dog will soon be

PE fT ee UL be ae aorta ile Be ae No ae friends,’’ said Mrs. Martyne with a friendly smile as the little girl hurried into the house. And then the two boys took Brick for a walk with them to quiet him.

‘“Who’s the little girl?’’ Tom asked his chum.

“T don’t know,’’ Buddy replied. “hey just moved in. Brick is always that way with new cats. You can’t blame him.”’

“Sure not!’’ assented Tom. ‘‘It takes a little while to get to know a new eat. But Brick is a good dog.’’

‘“‘T’m going to take him to my Aunt Mary’s,’’ decided Buddy. ‘‘And I say, Tom, I hope your mother will let you come with me,’’ he added as the two hurried toward Tom’s home.

‘*Oh, I’m sure she will,’”’ said the dark-haired lad. ‘‘Why not??? —

At first Mrs. Gordon was not quite certain whether or not Buddy’s Aunt Mary had really invited any other boy than her own nephew, Buddy, to her home in the city of Bloomberg.

THE HAND ORGAN MAN 29

But a short talk over the telephone with Mrs. Martyne made Tom’s mother feel that everything was all right so she said:

‘*Yes, Tom, you may go visiting with Buddy as long as you can’t go back to school for several weeks yet.”’

‘‘There! What’d I tell you?’’ Tom said to his friend as he came out with the good news. “St’s all right!- Hurray !”’

“Oh, I’m so glad!’ exclaimed Buddy! ‘“‘Now we’ll pack our things and tomorrow we'll be at Aunt Mary’s!”’

However matters could not be arranged quite so quickly as that. Aunt Mary had written that she wanted Buddy and his chum to reach her house at the end of the week, and it was now only Monday.

“‘Besides,’’ said Mrs. Martyne, ‘‘I must pack your clothes, Buddy, and Tom’s mother must pack his things.’’ |

“‘T suppose so,’’ agreed the blue-eyed boy. ‘‘But I wish Friday would hurry up and come. And say, Mother, what about Brick ?”’

OGD prmtes. <a A BE oa

30 BUDDY AND HIS CHU

“Do you mean about him trying to get that strange cat on the fence? That was too bad. T hope our new neighbors won’t think Brick is a eross dog. For he isn’t.’’ |

‘“‘Of course he isn’t!’’ exclaimed Buddy. “Though that wasn’t what I meant, Mother. I meant what about me taking Brick to Aunt —

- Mary’s with Tom?”’

‘Oh, Buddy, I hardly think you could do that! Take Brick? Oh, no, Buddy!’’

‘Why not, Mother ?’’ ,

‘Well, your aunt may have no place for a dog. She lives in a house by herself, I know, but a dog .