toby, the shetland pony, was peacefully eating in his stable. he stopped chewing hay to listen as he heard the sound of many feet rushing into the barn. then toby whinnied with pleasure as he heard the voice of bunny brown. for toby loved bunny and bunny loved toby.
“we’ll take toby out and see if patter will do the trick of driving him,” said bunny.
“if he does it will be dandy for the show,” said george. “but i don’t believe he will.”
“you said that when bunny told us some other tricks his dog could do,” remarked charlie.
“well, maybe i did, but i don’t believe a dog can drive a horse—not really drive and guide him,” declared george.
“we can soon tell,” bunny went on, as he[173] opened the door of the part of the barn where the pony was kept.
toby heard the talk, but of course he did not know what it all meant. however, he knew enough to make sure that he was going to be taken out into the sunshine and fresh air. when toby heard the voice of bunny or sue it nearly always meant that he was to give them a ride on his back or pull the cart. and toby was glad to do this, for it was no fun to remain in the stable all day.
the little pony was led out into the stable yard, and patter, as usual, was waiting there. as soon as patter saw toby the dog jumped up on the pony’s back.
“wait a minute! wait a minute, patter!” cried bunny, with a laugh. “we don’t want you to do that trick to-day. we want you to do a new one.”
“we’ll help you harness toby to the cart,” offered george.
while the boys were doing this sue came running out of the house.
“bunny brown, what are you going to do with my pony?” she asked.
[174]“’tisn’t all your pony,” replied her brother.
“well, half of him is. what are you doing with my half?” asked sue. “course you can do what you like with your half,” she went on. “but you can’t hurt my half.”
“we’re not going to hurt toby,” bunny explained.
“we’re just going to do a new trick with him and patter,” added charlie.
“oh, if it’s a trick, all right,” assented sue.
toby stood still, except for the switching of his tail to drive away flies, until bunny and the boys had him hitched to the cart. and twice, while this was going on, patter leaped up on toby’s back and sat there.
“you mustn’t do that, patter!” cried bunny, calling his dog down. “we don’t want you to do that trick now. wait a minute.”
and when patter jumped up again sue laughed and said:
“i guess i’d better hold him for you. as long as toby is here, patter will think you want him up on his back. i’ll hold the dog.”
[175]when george saw how quickly patter obeyed sue, the older boy had an idea.
“i think i know how we can teach patter to pull on the right rein or the left rein to guide toby,” he said.
“how?” asked bunny.
“i’ll show you,” answered george. he was beginning to think that, after all, the trick might work.
when toby was harnessed to the cart, patter was told to jump up on one of the side seats and made to sit up there, in a begging position. the reins were fastened around the dog’s neck, and then with the boys and sue standing and looking on, toby was started straight down the drive.
“well, it’s all right so far,” remarked charlie.
“except he doesn’t make toby go to the right or the left,” objected harry.
“oh, i forgot!” exclaimed bunny. “mr. stern said to put his right paw over the right rein and his left paw over the left one. we must do that.”
this was done, but still patter did not pull[176] on either rein, and all toby did was to walk straight ahead. it looked as though the dog was driving, but he was not guiding the horse as they wished him to do.
“now i’ll show you what i thought of doing,” said george. “here, bunny, you stand on one side of the drive, part way down.”
toby was turned around and made to stand at the beginning of the long driveway that led out to the street from the barn. patter still remained on the seat, with the reins around his neck. but instead of just putting his paws on top of the reins, the boys made loops of pieces of clothes line and slipped the dog’s paws through them. so his paws were held in position.
“what do you want me to stand here for?” asked bunny.
“i’ll show you in a minute,” george answered. then he said to sue: “you go down and stand opposite bunny—on the other side of the drive, you know.”
“all right,” agreed sue, though she did not know what it was all about.
[177]“now then,” went on george, “i’ll start toby down the drive. when he has gone a little way, bunny, you call patter by his name. but don’t call him enough so he’ll jump off the seat.”
“what’s the idea?” charlie asked.
“well,” said george, “i think when bunny, standing on the left side of the driveway calls patter’s name, the dog will turn to him, and that will make him press a little on the left rein and toby will go that way. then if sue calls patter from the right hand side of the drive, patter will turn to look at her, and his right paw will press on the right rein and toby will turn that way.”
“oh, that’s a good idea!” cried bunny brown.
so they tried it. first, though, when bunny called to the dog, patter jumped right off the seat and ran to his little master.
“no, no! you mustn’t do that!” and bunny shook his finger at his pet.
also when sue called, patter did the same thing—he jumped down off the seat. but finally they got him to remain in place, with[178] his paws through the rope loops on the leather reins that guided toby.
once again they started the pony down the walk.
“patter!” suddenly called bunny, on the left side. the dog gave a little bark, turned his head toward the boy but did not jump off the seat. and then, just as george had said, the slight pull on the left rein made toby turn that way.
“oh, he’s guiding the pony! he’s really driving!” cried bunny.
“now let me try!” begged sue. so she called patter’s name and the dog turned toward her, and also guided toby in that direction.
“now we have a real trick!” exclaimed george, and all the boys, as well as sue, thought george was very smart to think of it. they made toby and patter do this new trick several times to make sure it would work all right. then they let patter get out of the cart and bunny gave his two pets—the pony and the dog—some sweet crackers. for when animals do tricks they expect to be rewarded.
[179]“i guess we’ve got almost enough tricks now to start the show,” said bunny, a little later.
“but we have to have more than just a pony and a dog,” said charlie.
“sure!” agreed george. “we fellows will bring all our pets and all the animals and things we can get.”
“i can get some snakes,” offered harry.
“they’ll be nice—i mean the people will like to look at them, but we’ll have to keep ’em in a cage,” said george. “i’ll get my alligator.”
after toby was put back in the barn the boys roamed over the fields, taking patter with them. and they talked about the coming show.
mr. brown was delighted when told that evening after supper of how toby and patter had done the driving trick suggested by the poor old man in the hospital.
“mr. stern must know a lot about animals,” said mrs. brown.
“i think he does,” agreed mr. brown.
“was tanza an animal?” asked sue.
[180]“who is tanza?” asked her mother.
then the children told her how the poor man in the hospital had spoken that name, but would not say what it meant. if mr. brown could guess who it was he did not say.
“when are you going to give your show?” asked bunny’s father.
“in about a week, i guess. may we have it in our barn?”
“yes,” was the answer.
the next day preparations for the show, in which patter was to play a big part, began. bunny’s chums came over every day to help build seats in the barn and do other things to make ready for the show.
one day when bunny and his boy chums were going across the fields to see another boy who had a trained rooster they wanted in the show, they saw a farmer running along as if very much excited.
“what’s the matter, mr. boardman?” asked bunny, for he knew the farmer.
“matter enough,” was the answer. “look up on that hill! see all the cows in my corn! they’ll ruin my field if i don’t get ’em out[181] soon, and it’s a long way to that hill—i can never get there in time. oh, look at ’em!”
from where he and the boys stood they could look up on a distant hill, across a canal used to float boats into sandport bay. on the hill, in a field of corn, were many cows.
“they broke through the fence,” said mr. boardman. “if i don’t get them out soon i’ll have no corn left, and it’s a long way around to the bridge over the canal.”
“i’ll have patter drive the cows for you,” offered bunny.
“how can you?” asked the farmer. “it’s as far for the dog to go as it is for me, and it will take you just as long.”
bunny’s chums, as well as the farmer, waited for the answer. what could patter do to the cows, far from them as he was and with a deep canal of water between?
