United States or American Samoa ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Prince Jan started, his eyes lighted up suddenly, his head was lifted high, then with a yelp of joy the big dog leaped forward. "Jan! Jan! You haven't forgotten me, have you?" cried the old poundmaster, kneeling down and putting his arms about the shaggy neck, while the dog's rough tongue licked the wrinkled hand, and little whimpers of delight told of Jan's happiness.
Shorty's hand stroked Jan's head, and every once in awhile the man would say, "I'm so glad you found him." "You love dogs, don't you?" asked the old poundmaster, as they rose to go. Shorty looked down at Jan for a second, then answered, "I never had any friends in my life excepting dogs."
He did not sleep, for his eyes were fixed on the old man's face, and when the poundmaster reached down to touch Jan's head, the dog's tail swished and thumped. Then Jan rose to his feet and laid his head on the captain's knee, just as he used to do in the other days.
Smith's hand rumpled the fur on Jan's back. The eyes of the dog and the old man met, then the poundmaster lifted his head and said quietly, "I will give up the place. I thought when I took this work that it would give me a chance to make some poor dumb brutes a little happier and more comfortable, but I never intended to shoot one of them. Why, I couldn't do that. They're all my friends!"
The old poundmaster and Jan walked on the beach nearly every day, and if the dog saw a bit of driftwood near the shore, he would swim out and get it. His master then put the wood in a basket so it could be taken home to burn in the fireplace on cool nights.
Then one of them turned and said, "We don't want to be too hard on you, for we know you love dogs, so we will give you two days to find places for them. After that, the dogs that are still here must be killed, or you will have to resign your position as poundmaster."
"All right," the poundmaster picked up his cap, and when he followed, Jan's delight could not have been misunderstood by any one. "Woof! Woof!" he kept shouting back, and in dog-talk that meant, "Hurry! Hurry!" And Captain Smith did hurry as fast as he could, but Jan reached the driftwood long before the old man. The kitten was in the same place, just as he had left it.
No matter where they had come from, they had found a protector in the old poundmaster, but they did not know that he had given up his position because he would not kill them. Even Jan did not know what his master was writing that evening.
William chuckled when he saw the dog. "Great stunt, Shorty! The poundmaster wouldn't know his own dog if he caught him now!" He picked up a couple of bundles and a suitcase, while Shorty led Jan by the rope. They were in a deep cañon, where no sound of the ocean could be heard. Jan did not know the place. He had never been away from the noise of the surf since living in California.
"Thank God!" said the old poundmaster to a man who stood beside him and Jan. "The Life Guards will save the women and children!" "There is no Life Saving Station here," Jan heard a woman's voice reply. He looked up and saw the pretty lady beside his old master.
Word Of The Day