Natalie: A Garden Scout Part 26

The dog gave a short friendly yelp at Belle and wagged his tail rapidly, as a token of good fellows.h.i.+p.

"Let him run after us if he wants to, then we will take him back with us when we return," suggested Janet.

"We'd better have him jump inside the car, then, so he won't stray while our attentions are turned," ventured Norma.

So the dog was given room in the tonneau where he stood and watched over the side of the machine as they flew along the road.

Arrived at Dorothy Ames's farm, he waited until the door was opened, then he leaped out and pranced about the girls.

"That's some dog you girls got there!" declared Mr. Ames, as he came forward to welcome his visitors.

"Yes, he must belong to someone living near Green Hill. He ran after our car as we turned from the state road into this road," explained Natalie.

"I ain't never seen him about afore. I knows every dog fer ten mile around Greenville, and there hain't no farmer that kin afford a' animal like that," returned Mr. Ames.

"Why-is he a good one?" wondered Janet.

"Got every point a prize-winnin' Collie ought to have. I wish he was my dog! I'd win a blue ribbon on him," said Mr. Ames, as he examined the dog critically.

"Then someone will worry until he is home again," said Norma concernedly.

The dog seemed not to worry, however, for he yawned and followed the girls about as if he had known them since puppyhood. Mr. Ames told the girls that the dog must be about two years old, and certainly showed he had been accustomed to a good living.

The guinea-hens were selected, several pigeons ordered to be delivered in a few days when the house would be ready, and a number of young goslings spoken for. Janet was not going to lose time planning for a stock-farm business and not act, it seemed.

"If you gals are going to take the dog back the way he came, you'd better not try to take the crate with the hens, too. I'll leave them on my way to the Corners," advised Mr. Ames.

The business matters settled, Frances spoke of her new line of work. "If you folks ever want to rent a car for a trip, or when you want to go to the station, just call me on the 'phone and I'll come for you. I am starting a jitney-line and am always on hand for my clients."

Mr. Ames laughed and said: "Sort of runnin' opposition to Amity, eh?"

"Well, not opposition, exactly, as Amity is never about to attend to business. But I intend running the car faithfully, as anyone who is in the public service should do," said Frances.

"What about a license?" questioned the farmer wisely.

"Oh, that's taken care of. My chauffeur, Sam White, is going to drive the machine, while I act as conductor."

Mr. Ames laughed again, heartier than ever, and Dorothy smiled sympathetically at Frances. Then she said: "I wish I had something to do besides churning b.u.t.ter and working on the farm."

"Well, Dorothy, just you stick to us Girl Scouts and we'll find you some desirable field of labor," said Janet encouragingly.

Soon after this the girls started homeward, the dog jumping in without being invited and sitting up in the place provided him before. The girls patted him and said he was a clever fellow. That started his tail wagging violently and his tongue panting with pleasure.

At Green Hill, Mrs. James watched the girls stop at the side piazza, and then, to her surprise, she saw the dog jump out of the car. He stood waiting for his companions to alight and then he sprang up the steps and wagged his tail at her.

"What a fine dog," said Mrs. James, patting his head. "Whose is he?"

"We don't know, Jimmy. He just followed us after we left the state road.

Mr. Ames says he doesn't belong to anyone around here, 'cause he knows every dog in the county," answered Natalie.

"He must have lost his way, then. Maybe he was with a party of autoists who pa.s.sed that way. They will surely come back to hunt for him, so we had better hang a large sign out on the tree by the front gate," said Mrs. James.

"That's a good plan," a.s.sented Natalie. "I'll run in and get a cardboard box and print the sign."

"Don't describe the dog,-just say we found a strayed canine," advised Janet.

"If no one comes for him, we may as well keep him until we determine what to do about it," added Natalie.

"We must find a name for him, too. What do you suppose he was called?"

asked Mrs. James.

"If we knew that, we might have a clue to his owners," laughed Janet.

"The best way to name him is this way," suggested Natalie. "Let each one write a name on a slip of paper and fold it up. Rachel shall deal out the votes and the last one out of the box shall be his name. How is that?"

"Good! Run and get the paper, Nat," laughed Janet.

So in a few moments six slips of paper were cut and handed out. The pencil was pa.s.sed around and everyone wrote her choice of a name for the dog. Rachel was called out to collect the votes in an old hat, and when they were well shaken she removed them, one by one, until the last one was taken up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. James leaned over to see who was coming in.]

She opened it slowly and spelled out carefully: "G-r-i-t."

"Ho, _Grit,_ that is my choice!" shouted Natalie, clapping her hands. As if the dog was pleased with his name, he jumped around madly and barked shrilly.

"He seems to like his name," said Janet, laughing at the way the animal tried to lick Natalie's face.

"Maybe it sounds something like his real one," suggested Mrs. James.

"Wall, whatever it is, I says he oughter have a pan of water to drink.

Affer all dis excitement he needs refres.h.i.+n'," remarked Rachel, going to the kitchen and calling the dog to follow her.

He went obediently, and just as the girls began to plan the sign, and what to write thereon, the gate clicked. Mrs. James leaned over the piazza rail to see who was coming in, and saw a short, fat, colored youth of about eighteen, approaching.

"It must be Sam,-Rachel's nephew," whispered Mrs. James.

The expected chauffeur saw the party on the piazza and removed his cap politely, but his face expressed trouble, and he sighed as he stopped at the foot of the steps.

"You are Sam, aren't you?" began Mrs. James.

"Yas'm, an' I would huv be'n here long ago, as I writ, but I lost my bes' friend and be'n huntin' him fer more'n an hour." Again Sam sighed heavily and his eyes were moist.

"Oh, what a pity!" exclaimed Mrs. James. "How did it happen, Sam?"

"Wall, yuh see, Ma'am, I brung him on the baggidge car tied to a rope, an' when we got off at the Statchun he was that glad to see the green gra.s.s and fresh air that he galavanted 'round like a crazy thing. He tuk it inter his head to chase a bird what flied low along the road, and I laffed as I follered after him. But I lost sight of him, down the road, until I got to the Corners. I diden know what way to take there, so I went the most travelled one.

"That's where I made my mistake. I should hev asked the storekeeper the way to Green Hill. I whistled and called fer a mile, er more, but Grip never showed up. Then I got afraid he was really lost. I turned back and asked the man at the Corners ef he saw'd a dog run by, an' he said, 'Yeh, the mutt was chasin' down the road to Green Hill Farm.'