PYX, B. A. 



3*9 



lows. Evidently she docs not believe in nice 

 suicide. 



I watched her for a long time and it was 

 wonderful how kind and patient she was 

 with these youngsters. I hung around for 

 quite a while in hopes I might have a chance 

 to talk with her. I particularly wanted to 

 know if she got a ribbon that time at the 

 show, but it was no use, for after those little 

 chaps had their romp they were hungry, and 

 when I left they were drinking their fill and 

 she was asleep. 



From there I went to the house where 

 Billy lived, for I had a sort of sneaking long- 

 ing to once again dig in my treasure garden. 

 I guess it w r as silly for a grown-up dog to 

 have such fancies, but just as you will finger 

 lovingly some book, a doll or toy you had 

 when a child and dream your little dream 

 of the past, so did I long to disinter some of 

 my puppy playthings; but, alas! strangers 

 lived in the house, and another freckled-face 

 boy, not Billy, but just as mean as Billy, 

 swung on the gate and threw a stone at me 

 as I passed. 



Another day I visited the lumber yard 

 down on the waterfront. Oh, what memor- 

 ies that place brought me: joy, sorrow, love 

 and hate all came to me there. I wandered 

 around in and out among the old piles of 

 lumber, and finally came to the very place 

 where my treacherous wife came so near 

 being the cause of my undoing, and there 

 she was ! gnawing a bone, as in the days long 

 past. 



I could hardly believe my eyes ; she looked 

 perfectly natural — a little older, but other- 

 wise unchanged. She did not know me. 

 She came up and spoke to me very politely, 

 but the sound of her voice brought back 

 all the horrors of that day and I turned 

 and fled. Then I went around to the 

 little house that had given me shelter when 

 I was ill and broken-hearted. 



I found the house with some difficulty, 

 for the surrounding were greatly changed. 

 The fence was broken, the flowers dead, the 

 Nancy falling apart; only the one mast still 

 stuck in the dry brown earth, and on the top 

 of it a lusty rooster was perched, crowing 

 loudly to his wives, who were busily scratch- 

 ing below. 



The gate hung on one hinge, and as I 

 came up a couple of barefooted, dirty-faced 



children went through, carrying a basket of 

 freshly-ironed clothing, while from the 

 kitchen that dear little kitchen came the 

 cries of a baby and the scolding voice of a 

 woman. 



I thought my heart would burst! Where, 

 oh, where, was my kind old master ? Where 

 Petro, where Laddie ? 



I was turning away when I heard a low 

 mew, and looking around I saw a big, raw- 

 boned cat, as unkempt as the house, as dirty 

 as its inmates; but there was something 

 familiar in the arch of his neck. Surely, I 

 thought, I have seen this cat before. He 

 seemed friendly as I went up to him, and our 

 joy was mutual when we recognized each 

 other — for it was my old friend, Laddie. 



He told me the master had gone away as 

 usual to fish one day ; there was a big storm 

 and he never came back. Laddie said he 

 and Petro were in the house alone for days ; 

 finally, Petro died in his cage of hunger; but 

 Laddie managed to find enough to keep 

 alive. 



One day some people came and took all 

 the furniture away; the house was empty 

 for quite awhile and then these people came. 

 Laddie said he hung around the place still 

 because it was all the home he had ever 

 known, but he wished he had a home as 

 good as I seemed to have, for I looked so fat 

 and sleek. 



I told him I was still on the ship, and after 

 making him promise he would behave like 

 a gentleman, I said I would take him there, 

 too, but that he must first clean himself up. 



When we reached the Bear the dogs and 

 cats all stood around and stared (he was a 

 sight to those well-groomed fellows), but I 

 whispered to them his hard luck story, and 

 they rose to the occasion ; for nearly every 

 one of them had been down on his luck at 

 some time, and as sorrow makes the world 

 akin, so in this case we all became brothers, 

 and they gave him a hearty welcome. 



CHAPTER VII 



I HAVE AN ADVENTURE 



When spring came we once more set sail 

 for Alaska and the Siberian coast. We had 

 a delightful trip; the season was early and 

 we had no difficulties with the ice. 



Several times our boat anchored by a little 



