Rusty, the adventures of a little dog

Chapter I

Rusty’s master picked him up and put him on the big white bed. “ Dead dog,” he said.

Rusty lay down because he had been

taught to do so and keep quiet when he heard those words. But why he had been placed on the bed, a forbidden place, was a puzzle.

The whole morning had been full of surprises. His master had washed and dried him with great care. After that, every hair had been combed and brushed until no amount of shaking made that little black spaniel feel comfortable. It wasn’t the first time he had been washed and brushed, but never before had he had a big yellow bow tied to his collar! And never before had he been put on the bed.

With all these things to wonder about. Rusty kept very still and watched his master as he washed his own face and hands and combed his hair. That done, he picked Rusty up in his arms and told him they were going to make a visit.

“ I’m going to make him buy you, for I can’t bother with you any more,” he said.

Rusty wriggled to get down and run. He tried to lick his master’s face to tell him that he would be good and trot right behind him, but he was told to “ be still.” It was spring, and everything smelled so lovely, and it was nice and muddy and— there was a cat!

How Rusty did wriggle and whine and whimper. Not that he wanted to hurt that cat, but he did like to bark two or three times in a sharp voice and run after a cat—^if the cat would run. Of course, some cats just stood still and there was no fun with them. But he was sure this one would run if he could only get down. He wriggled harder than ever, but his master just held him tighter with one arm and with the other hand opened a door and walked into a big room.

This was a place Rusty had never seen before. And there was another room in back with somebody in it, for a voice from in back called, “ Come right in.’’

That’s what Rusty wanted to do more than anything else just then. He liked that voice and, besides, he wanted to see what was there. He hadn’t had a chance all the morning to run about and sniff.

And now his master was putting him down and never saying a word. He fussed with the big bow while he held Rusty. Of all things, to put a big bow on a dog!

“ Go along and find him,” said his mas¬ ter.

“ Yip. Yip.” Just two little joyous barks and he threw out his little front legs and started off with his hind legs follow¬ ing right along, and behind them was his stubby tail with its long, silky hairs wav¬ ing from side to side.

So Rusty trotted right into that back room. Things smelled nice in there. No cabbage cooking, nor onions. Those were two things Rusty could not bear to smell, and they were not in this room he knew as he turned his nose in every direction while his snapping eyes seemed to see everything at once.

This man was a much nicer-looking man than his master. He had pushed his chair back from his desk and had been looking towards the door expecting to see Rusty’s master. He was surprised to see a little dog instead of a man. But he recovered quickly.

'‘Why, hello! Who are you?” he asked, as Rusty stopped short; that is, all of him stopped but his tail. No little black spaniel, happy at having been put down to run, could stop a tail from almost snapping right off when any one spoke to him like that.

He trotted two or three steps nearer and stopped again. His master didn’t let him jump into his lap. He wondered if this man would be like that. Rusty was sure that he looked like a man who would like to have a little dog jump into his lap and cuddle down. But a puppy couldn’t be just sure at first. Of course he had wanted to run and play, even to chase that cat, but this was different. He could chase a cat at any time, so if this man really wanted a little dog to snuggle down and pretend to catch forty winks of sleep. Rusty was willing.

He looked around at the door. But his master must have forgotten him. He hadn’t even come to the door and told him to come back and behave himself! Rusty could not understand that at all.

So he looked back at this new man and his tail said, “ If you were to let me up in your lap, we should be regular pals in just one minute.”

And right then Rusty found that this new man knew dog language, because Rusty hadn’t finished spelling the words with his tail when the man said:

“ All right. Come on up if you wish to.”

Such an invitation had not come to Rusty in all his young life. He never had heard the words. But he knew what had been said. Any friendly little dog would have known.

“ Yip.” One leap and he was there. One kiss for a “ thank you,” two quick turns around, and then a flop down hard with a little grunt. It was easy to tell that this man liked little dogs with long silky ears, because the first thing he did was to reach down and pick up the one he could see, and pull it ever so'gently.

When he did it again and again, Rusty snuggled down closer with a happy little sigh while his tail banged away on the man’s leg to tell him that he could keep pulling that ear all he wanted to. What more could a small dog do?

Rusty opened one eye when he heard the voice he had been taught to obey, to see whether his master were coming for him. He saw him standing in the door and smiling. Rusty couldn’t remember that he had ever seen him smile before. Perhaps, after all, he liked to have little dogs jump into some laps if not in his own.

With the gentle stroking of his ear. Rusty found it a hard struggle to keep awake. His eyes would not stay open even with his master standing there. The men were talking about something that he couldn’t understand, but he didn’t care about that so long as he could remain where he was.

When a minute or two later the man slid his chair towards his desk, Rusty tried to sit up. A friendly but firm hand held him down.

“ Stay right where you are, old man,” he was told. “ You’re all right.” The hand patted him. So Rusty turned around the other way and settled down again.

But he had no sooner got settled than his master’s voice said: “ Good-bye, Rusty. Be a good dog, and when you get to your new home do all the tricks I have taught you.”

His master went out. Rusty sat up in a hurry, listening to know if he were to follow. But he heard no call. He looked up into the face of his new friend, his eyes questioning, his tail slowly asking what he should do. It was strange how this new man knew what a dog’s tail said!

“You stay where you are, Rusty. You’re mine now, and if Janet doesn’t insist bn keeping you with her all the time, this is where you are going to be every day. Do you think you will like it? ”

Rusty’s two front paws were planted squarely on the man’s chest as he looked him straight in the eye. His tail said: “ If you mean that, I’m going to kiss you. I can tell if you really mean it by looking you in the eye.”

In those eyes Rusty saw good nature and love of small dogs which brought a quick, very moist kiss. He intended to give him several more, that his new master might know how much the little dog loved him, but he was told that one was enough, as a hand began fumbling at the big yellow bow.

“ We’ll get this thing off so we can both feel better,” he said. “ Then you get down and look around a few minutes while I finish some work I must do. After that, if you don’t bother me, we’ll take a ride home and see what the folks say about you.”

The great big ribbon was dropped into a big basket on the floor at the side of the desk. Rusty looked up to be sure that he was not expected to do anything about it. He knew that he had been bothered with it for the last time when this new master called to a man in the big front office to be sure that the outer door was closed, so ‘‘ my new dog will not get out until we come to know each other a little better.”

Rusty had no desire to go out. He understood his new master very well now. Besides, he hadn’t had a minute to smell and see everything in his office and in the big front one. If he was to live there, he had lots to do before he could spare time to go out. He jumped down and trotted into the front room.

The man there smiled at him, and said that he was such a little fellow he must look out or Rex would eat him for break¬ fast. Rusty sat down quickly and looked up at him to see if that were a joke. He decided that it was, because this man was friendly, for he reached down and patted his head. That wasn’t so nice as having an ear pulled, but he guessed they could get along all right, even if he did have to stand an occasional pat.

Having settled that matter in his, own mind. Rusty spent the next ten minutes looking into every comer and even under the big safe. That was a nice place to know about if a big dog should chase him.

Only a little dog could crawl under that safe.

With all the comers and chairs looked over, Rusty found that by standing tip¬ toe on his hind legs and clinging to the window-sill with his front paws he could see people moving on the sidewalk. He was busily watching for his old master when he heard a new whistle.

Just three notes with the middle one high and the others low. “ That’s for you, Rusty,” said his master, coming into the big office from his room. “ Remem¬ ber it after this. Come on now, and we’ll drive home and see what is going to happen. I have an idea that you are not going to spend very much time here with me.”

Tucking him under one arm, his new master went out into a yard where there was a big blue automobile. His master got in and put Rusty on the seat beside him.

“ Ever ride before, Rusty? You don’t act as if you had done so, but we will try, and see if you like it.”

Rusty was very sure that he should, for already it was very exciting with so much more to see from away up on the seat. His master moved a stick and there was a noise. Rusty didn’t quite know what that meant, so he gave one “ yip ” to show his master that he could help in the making of noise.

Then the car began to move. Rusty stood up. If one little bark had made that happen, surely a few more would make still more things happen, so he yipped and yipped.

“ It’s all right to help. Rusty,” said his master with a laugh as he put one hand on the little dog’s collar. “ But in the best families people keep their seats while riding, and don’t drive too fast. You’ve got us started, so sit down and be quiet and enjoy yourself.”

That was too long a speech for Rusty to understand, but he knew that he hadn’t done anything very wrong, because the tone of his master’s voice was just what it always had been. A big dog was trot¬ ting along, and Rusty stuck his head out of the window and told him in dog talk to hurry and get out of the way of dogs that ride in automobiles. The big dog turned and looked at him as he dodged out of the street, and Rusty had to give him two jeering yips as he leaned as far as his master would let him out of the window and looked back at the other dog.

And while he was doing that the auto¬ mobile stopped! Rusty whirled around to see what had happened.

“ Here we are, Rusty. Here’s your home. Now we will see what they think about you. If they don’t want you, I’ll drive you right back and you’ll be with me every day. But if they do want you, I’m afraid I shall see you only when I am home.”

Rusty jumped up and gave his master a kiss. He just hoped “ they ” would not like him very much, because the office and his master and riding in an automobile were just what Rusty thought he loved above everything else.

Chapter II

Rusty’s new master, Mr. Arthur Ab¬ bott, whistled a gay little tune and watched the front door of the house be¬ fore which he had stopped the automobile. From somewhere in the house. Rusty and his master heard some one call, “ Coming.” Rusty was excited because he was to

meet some new person. It was such a long time before the door opened that Rusty could not sit still. He got as close to the edge of the seat as he could, his fore feet on the edge of the door and his tail wagging very slowly.

At last the door opened, and there was the prettiest lady Rusty had ever seen. Dressed all in white, she was slim and smiling, and any little dog would have known that she was happy.

“ Oh, you darling! ” she cried, putting out her arms and hurrying down the steps towards the automobile.

“ See him sit up, Arthur! ”

‘‘ Sit up? ” thought Rusty. “ I’m not sitting up. I’m sitting down! ” Then he remembered what his firsts master had taught him to do when he heard “ sit up.” Soup he went!

It was hard to sit up and wag his tail hard and fast and keep from jumping right into the lady’s arms before she got near him. She was hurrying, and when she was almost to the machine he heard her say in a little cuddling tone, ‘‘ Come to me.” Rusty put all his strength into one wild jump. For a few seconds he and the lady had a lively time, because she had not expected him to jump. But she finally got him cuddled in her arms, and snuggled her cheek down where he could kiss her again and again.

“ It looks to me,” said Mr. Abbott, “ as if I had lost my dog. I bought him only an hour ago, and I told him that if you didn’t like him, he could spend his time at the office with me. I just gave him a ride up here to see whether you would let me keep him.”

Mr. Abbott’s eyes twinkled as the lady backed away from the automobile so he couldn’t reach the little dog.

“ You knew you couldn’t keep him after I saw him. What’s his name?—Rusty? —That’s a funny name for a shiny black dog. Oh, I see. Just one little rusty spot! Well, I don’t care about the name so long as I have him, dear,” she said. “You may go back to your old office now, and Rusty and I will get acquainted. Does he know any tricks? How old is he? What shall I feed him? ”

“Wait a minute,” said his master. “ One question at a time. Sneeze! ” Rusty wasn’t quite sure that it was the proper thing to sneeze while in a lady’s arms so he looked up at her to see if she thought it would be all right. She was smiling at him, and when Arthur Abbott told him once more to sneeze. Rusty shut both eyes and sneezed the best sneeze he ever had sneezed.

How his new mistress did jump and laugh! “ He almost sneezed himself out

of my arms,” she cried.

But Rusty wanted them to know that he was perfectly willing to sneeze at any time. It was no trouble to show off what he knew. So he sneezed again, and was getting ready to give even a harder sneeze than the first ones when Mrs. Abbott stopped it by taking him by the nose, and laughed.

‘‘ The man I bought him of said he would sneeze, and sit up, and play dead, and roll over, and say his prayers, but he didn’t tell me that he was liable to keep right on sneezing,” said his master with a broad grin.

“Well, Janet, I’ve got to be getting back to the office, so give me Rusty and I’ll be going.”

“ I shall not. You have lost Rusty. He’s mine, and he stays right here at home with me. You know you bought him for me. Didn’t you, Arthur, dear? ”

Her husband just laughed and took hold of the stick that made the car go. Rusty wriggled a little when he saw him do that. He wanted to go, too. Then he thought it would be nice to see what was inside the house. So when the auto¬ mobile started and his mistress called “ Good-bye,” Rusty barked two or three “ Good-byes ” of his own and Mr. Abbott laughed and told him he could go some other time.

As his mistress walked towards the house. Rusty found that she knew how nice it was for a little black spaniel to have one of his ears pulled just a little—a very little.

“My,” she said, “how clean you are! You must have had a bath. And Arthur carried you to the car, didn’t he? ”

“ Yip,” said Rusty.

And so, laughing at him for answering her, Janet Abbott opened the door to his new home and put him down on the floor very gently.

“ Go anywhere you like, and see if you will like this for your new home,” she told him.

But Rusty hadn’t waited to be told. No little dog does. The first thing he wants to do is to look and smell everywhere and learn for himself that there is nothing to hurt him.

Never before had Rusty been on polished floors or on rugs that slipped and slid when he tried to stop and turn quickly. When Mrs. Abbott put him down, he started to go upstairs, but he decided it would be better to see what was downstairs first, so he turned and ran

into the big room, his nose close to the floor. He learned that no other dog had been there.

Whoa! What was that? A cat smell! He tried to stop quickly, but the rug went right along when he dug his claws in. That frightened him, and he scratched and scrambled hard, but the rug just wrinkled up and kept going.

When he at last got off from it and on the slippery floor, he tried to race back to where he had caught that smell of a cat. His feet slipped and slid, and one went this way, and another that way, until he got tired and discouraged. When he stopped trying so hard, he was able to get along towards that smell.

“ That’s right,” said his mistress, wiping her eyes because she had been laughing so heartily, “ slow up. You can’t be in such a hurry on these floors and rugs. Rusty.”

He looked up at her, because he didn’t quite know what she had said. She stooped down and held one hand towards him and he scrambled to her. She took him by the collar and pulled one ear gently and rubbed his head and told him again not to be frightened but to go more slowly and he would get along all right. But it was a long time before Rusty learned that he could not hurry in turning corners on those floors. Even after many years, when he was in a very special hurry he would forget, and his feet would slide out from under him and he would get a thump that sometimes made his head ache. Then he would remember.

His mistress let him go again, and he went hunting for that smell. He found that it led him right to a great big chair near the fireplace. He stood up and looked and smelled in the chair. Then he barked ever so quietly, just as a warning to that cat that she had better keep out of his way or be ready to run.

‘‘ Yes,” said his mistress, “ Mittens has been sleeping there, and you must learn to share things with her. She is a very nice, clean kitty and you are a very nice, very clean doggie, and we are all going to be very nice to you, so you two pets must learn to love each other.”

But Rusty did not pay any attention to that long speech. He couldn’t understand it, anyway, so he kept right on following the scent of Mittens. It went right to a closed door and stopped. Rusty didn’t know that the door had been open when Mittens had gone to it, so he followed the walls all around the room trying to find it again.

His mistress stood and watched him until he had been all around. Then she went into the room they had first entered.

and walked along the hall. Rusty raced ahead until he could not go any farther. But Mrs. Abbott opened a door into a large room in which was a big table and —yes, just a faint scent of something good to eat. His mistress could not smell it, but a dog with as sharp a nose as Rusty had could not help sniffing. He stopped short and raised his head and sniffed.

‘‘Are you hungry so soon? ” she asked. “ Let’s go into the kitchen and see what Cook says about it.”

She opened another door, and how good things did smell! And how hungry he was! He couldn’t remember when he had not been just a little hungry, and right now, with all the exciting times of the morning and everything so new, he was almost starved—and so thirsty!

But he had never seen such a person as Cook. She was much bigger than his mistress, and so black!—as black as Rusty, himself. And on top of her black head she had a red thing that reminded Rusty of that big yellow bow he had had to wear. He braced his legs to be ready to run if that seemed the best thing, and cocked his head on one side to look at her that way and see if his eyes had been fooling him. No, she looked just the same that way. She was just as big and just as black as he had first thought. He didn’t know just what to make of her—and he was so thirsty!

When he stopped looking at Cook, he caught sight of a dish under the sink. Something must be in it that was good for dogs. He looked once more at the big black person who was making funny noises and rocking back and forth and laughing as he had never heard any one laugh be¬ fore. But she looked as if she might like a little dog—and he was so thirsty! He trotted to the dish.

“ Heah! ” cried the big black cook that his mistress had told him would see about getting him something to eat, and who certainly lived where there were nice smells, “ you can’t hab Mittens’ lunch.” She grabbed the saucer away from him and put it on a shelf.

“ You jes’ wait a minute and I’ll get you your own pussonal dish, Mr. Blackie. Lawdy, lawdy, what will Rex do to him when he sees him? ” she laughed. “ Is he yours. Miss Janet?” she asked as she waddled to a little room while Rusty stood watching, his tail moving just a little doubtfully as he waited to see what was going to happen.

“ I’ll bet yo’ Mr. Arthur brought him on yer anniversa’y, now didn’t he, honey? ”

Rusty really wasn’t paying any attention to what was being said. He was too busy watching to see if she was going to get him a drink. When she went to the sink and filled a little dish with the nicest, coldest water he had ever tasted he just dashed at it and lapped and lapped until he wasn’t thirsty any more.

When he could stop and look around, both his mistress and Cook were sitting on chairs watching him. He trotted out into the middle of the floor. What was this? Dog! He looked all around quickly. Of course some dogs are nice, but this one he smelled might not be. It was best to be sure about such things. With no dog in sight he followed the scent to the outer door.

“ Yah, yah,” laughed the big black per¬ son. ‘‘ You smells Rex, you does. If he ever gits you, he’ll eat you right up in one bite,” she said, rocking her body back and forth aiid laughing while she shook one fat finger at him.

Rusty didn’t know just what she had said, but he did know that she was telling him something about that dog he had scented. Whether to believe that warning finger or her laughter was what puzzled him. He looked at his mistress.

‘‘You needn’t worry about good old Rex,” she told him. “ He’s the bestnatured St. Bernard in the whole world. He’ll protect you instead of hurting you. Cook is only fooling.”

Rusty immediately felt better as he wondered when he would meet Rex. It wasn’t to be then, because his mistress invited him upstairs with her to see where he would sleep while she changed her dress.

In such a big house he had to make many stops and side trips before he finally trailed his mistress into her room. She had not bothered him with constant calling but had left him to look around where he pleased before finding her.

Finding her when he was ready was the easiest thing in the world for a little dog, but she pretended to be very much sur¬ prised when he trotted into her room, where she was seated before a big mirror doing things to her hair. Rusty stood and watched her a minute.

“ If you are very good you may come up here and sit right beside me on this bench while I finish doing my hair,” she said. He cocked his head to one side which meant: “ I didn’t quite understand. Please say that again.”

The next time, when she put one hand on the bench at her side, she made it per¬ fectly plain and he jumped up there. It was funny, Rusty found, to see hands that ought to belong to his mistress move in the glass and yet every time he looked at her, her hands were with her right there beside him. It made it a little easier for him when she dropped one hand and pulled one ear ever so gently. She told him that if he would be real good he could sit there and help her every day when he wasn’t doing something else.

When she got up from the bench she went to a little room that wais full of things and brought out a nice soft cloth that she told him was his blanket and was not for any one else. She put it on the nearest one of two nice white beds and invited him to try it.

“ That’s where you are to sleep,” she told him, “ and I think that after all the excitement this morning you had better have a little nap while I finish dressing.”

But Rusty didn’t believe he was tired.

He had a lot more to do if he was to see everything in this new, big house. And there were Rex and Mittens he had not met.

But his mistress quite insisted that he should lie down and keep her company. She took his front legs in one hand and laid him down and petted him. After a minute or two, Rusty thought that about forty winks would not delay him very much. Besides, the blanket was nice and soft and it was on a bed. While he was thinking of the many nice things that had happened to him he fell almost asleep. But he managed to open one eye once in a while to satisfy himself that his mistress did not go somewhere and leave him.

Chapter III

His mistress moved about the room singing softly to herself, and Rusty tried hard to keep opening one eye every little while. There was so much he wanted to do that he could not afford to waste any time after his mistress was ready. But it became harder and harder to keep