"No, we left our dog home," said Mrs. Martin. "That sounds like a
strange dog, and he seems to be barking at Nicknack. Come on,
children. We'll see what the matter is!"
They hurried on, and, in a little while, they saw what had happened.
Nicknack was caught in a thick bush by the rope around his horns. He
had pulled the rope loose from his leafy bower, and it had dragged
along after him as he wandered away. Then the end of the rope had
become tangled in a thick bush and the goat could not pull it loose.
He was held as tightly as if tied.
In front of him, but far enough away so the goat could not butt him
with his horns, which Nicknack tried to do, was a big, and not very
nice-looking, dog. This dog was barking fiercely at Nicknack, and the
goat could not make him go away.
"Oh, Mother! don't let the dog hurt our goat!" begged Janet.
"I'll drive him away," cried Ted, catching up a stone. "No, you had
better let me do it," said Mrs. Martin. She picked up a stick and
walked toward the dog, but he did not wait for her to get very close.
With a last howl and a bark at Nicknack, the dog ran away, jumped into
the lake and swam off toward shore. Then the rope was loosed and
Nicknack, who was badly frightened, was led back by Ted and Jan and
hitched to the wagon. He then gave them a fine ride. The dog was a
stray one, which had swum over from the mainland, Grandpa Martin said.
Pages:
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121