“look! oh, look at your dog, bunny!” cried charlie.
“he’s a regular cap dog! he’s going to bring your cap to shore!” exclaimed harry.
“that’s a fine trick!” said bunny with delight, as he watched patter swim out to the middle of the brook, and then, having taken the cap in his teeth, swim back to shore with it. “that’s as good a trick as standing on his front legs on toby’s back.”
“that isn’t any trick!” called another voice, and george watson came through the bushes just as patter laid the cap, dripping wet, at bunny’s feet.
“what isn’t a trick?” asked charlie.
“bringing that cap to shore,” said george.
“aw, ’tis so a trick!” cried harry. “you[67] haven’t got any dog that’ll do such a trick, george watson.”
“i know i haven’t. i haven’t any dog at all. but that isn’t a trick, just the same. i don’t mean to say your dog isn’t a good one, bunny,” went on george, who was a little older than the other boys; “but that isn’t any more of a trick than bringing a stick to shore is a trick. any dog will jump in the water and bring a stick to shore.”
“yes, i know he will,” admitted bunny. “but not every dog would bring a cap to shore like patter did for me.”
“he thought your cap was a stick,” said george, who seemed to like to have a little dispute with his chums. “he’d bring anything to shore that you threw into the water. here, i’ll show you.”
george picked up a stick and threw it out into the middle of the brook. patter did not go in after it. the dog, after having shaken himself to get rid of the water on his shaggy coat, simply looked at the stick floating in the stream.
“ah, ha! will he go in and get a stick? i[68] guess not!” cried bunny. “sure, he’s a trick dog! he’s a cap dog but not a stick dog!”
“that’s ’cause you didn’t tell him to go in after it,” said george. “if you tell him to go get the stick he will. he won’t mind me, that’s all,” for george had told patter to get the stick when it was first thrown in, but the dog would not. “lots of dogs won’t mind any but the fellow that owns them,” explained george. “course that makes ’em all the better dog. but if you tell patter to bring out my stick, bunny, he’ll do it same as he would your cap.”
“all right, i’ll tell him,” said sue’s brother. the stick was slowly floating down stream.
“go get it, patter! go get it!” ordered bunny, snapping his fingers and pointing, as he did whenever he wanted the dog to do any of his tricks, such as leaping on toby’s back or walking on his hind legs.
but patter, though he wagged his tail to show he was friendly, would not make a move toward leaping into the brook after the stick. he simply sat on the bank and looked at it.
“go get it, patter!” cried bunny.
[69]still patter would not move.
“go on! good dog! get the stick!” cried george. the other boys added their voices to the orders, but, bunny declared, patter just simply seemed to smile as though he said:
“i don’t want to be mean, but i don’t know what you are talking about. sticks mean nothing to me.”
finally, after bunny had thrown another stick in the stream, at george’s suggestion, thinking perhaps patter would not bring out a stick that another lad had tossed in, the boys began to get the opinion that patter was a queer dog.
“he’ll bring out a cap but he won’t bring out sticks,” said charlie.
“he’s a cap dog, i say!” exclaimed harry.
“maybe he won’t bring out the cap again,” george suggested.
“i’ll try him,” said bunny.
once more he tossed his cap into the water—purposely this time. in an instant patter jumped in and brought it to shore, and he paid no attention to sticks that were floating in the brook near it.
[70]“let’s all throw our caps in!” cried charlie. “if he only pulls caps out we’ll let him do that.”
“one at a time! one at a time!” exclaimed bunny. “we don’t want to give him too much to do.”
and when one boy’s cap after another was tossed into the brook, patter brought them safe to shore. the boys wore old caps and a little water, more or less, did them no harm. patter seem delighted to swim out and get them.
“i guess it’s true, what you said, harry,” remarked george. “he’s a cap dog all right. but i never heard of a dog that would bring out caps but not sticks. i never did.”
still it was true. later bunny learned that the dog’s master, the frenchman who had taught patter a number of tricks, had taught him never to bother with sticks, but always to bring out caps or hats. it was quite an odd thing, the boys thought, and bunny was more proud than ever of patter.
for some time the boys amused themselves, and gave fun to patter by throwing their caps[71] into the water and watching him bring them out. patter seemed to enjoy it as much as the boys did.
“well, let’s go on to the barn and talk more about the show,” suggested harry.
“what show is that? can i come?” asked george, who had not heard the remarks about the proposed performance.
“bunny’s going to give a show, as he did before, with his new trick dog and his pony,” explained charlie.
“i’ll bring my pet alligator,” offered george.
“oh, have you got an alligator?” cried the other boys.
“sure!”
“where’d you get it?”
“my uncle sent him to me from florida. he’s two feet long and he eats raw meat.”
“who does—your uncle?” asked charlie, with a laugh.
“no, my alligator!” and george also chuckled. “but are you really going to give a show, bunny?”
[72]“i guess so,” answered the owner of patter.
“like you did before?” george wanted to know.
once before, as told of in the book of that name, bunny brown and his sister sue had given a show. it was really gotten up by the ladies of the town in aid of the red cross, but bunny and sue and some other boys and girls helped. toby, the pony, was in the show, and so was splash, the dog, who had been sent away to be cured of a disease, but who had never come back. bunny and sue feared splash was dead, and their father and mother said little about the old dog for fear of making the children feel sad. then, too, in the show was jed winkler’s monkey named wango. you’ll hear more about that monkey later on in this book.
“yes, it’ll be fun to have another show,” decided george, when told that he could be in it with his alligator.
“and we’ll make patter do a lot of tricks with toby,” said harry.
“oh, i know how we can have a dandy act in the show!” exclaimed bunny, as he and the[73] other boys sat about the brown barn talking matters over.
“how?” asked his chums.
“with the hat and stick trick,” went on bunny. “one of you boys can dress up like a clown, and we’ll have a tank of water in the show.”
“do you mean for one of us to push the clown into the tank of water?” asked george.
“that’ll be fun!” said charlie.
“no, i don’t mean that,” said bunny. “listen! we’ll put a tank of water in the show, which we can have here in our barn, i guess. then the clown, who’ll be one of you boys, can come out and throw a stick into the tank of water. he’ll want patter to go in and bring out the stick, but patter won’t, just as he wouldn’t to-day.”
“well, what’s the trick in that?” george wanted to know.
“wait,” went on bunny. “i’ll come along dressed up like a tramp, and when i see that patter won’t bring out the stick for the clown, i’ll laugh and say i can make him bring it out.”
[74]“but he wouldn’t bring out the stick for you to-day,” objected george.
“no, but i can make him,” said bunny. “while i’m dressed up like a tramp, and while one of you is a clown, we’ll have a make-believe quarrel about who can make the dog bring out a stick. then when the clown can’t, i’ll take a stick, put it inside my cap and throw the cap into the tank, and patter will bring out my cap and the stick too.”
“oh, say, that’s a good trick!”
“it’s a dandy!”
“it’s the best trick we ever had in a show!”
the three boys, in turn, cried these opinions to bunny brown, and bunny felt rather proud of having thought of such a funny bit of work all by himself.
“let’s try it now and see if it works,” suggested charlie.
“only we don’t have to dress up,” said george.
the boys ran out to the brook again, and once more tossed in sticks. as before, patter would not bring them out. then bunny[75] tossed his cap in, and the dog brought that out.
next bunny wrapped a stick in his cap, and threw both into the brook. patter brought them both out.
“see! he’ll do it!” cried bunny.
so they fixed on that as one of the “acts” in the show they were going to get up. then they wandered around the barn planning other acts and tricks.
suddenly charlie, who had climbed up to the haymow, gave a cry.
“oh, look what i found!” he shouted.
