Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders (most important books of all time txt) 📕

said the lady, when the maid finished speaking.

"If he is one of the Morris dogs, he is sure to be a well-behaved one.

Tell the little boy to thank his mamma for letting Laura come over, and

say that we will keep the dog with pleasure. Now, nurse, we must hurry;

the cab will be here in five minutes."

 

I walked softly into a front room, and there I found my dear Miss Laura.

Miss Bessie was with her, and they were cramming things into a

portmanteau. They both ran out to find out how I came there, and just

then a gentleman came hurriedly upstairs, and said the cab had come.

 

There was a scene of great confusion and hurry, but in a few minutes it

was all over. The cab had rolled away, and the house was quiet.

 

"Nurse, you must be tired, you had better go to bed," said Miss Bessie,

turning to the elderly woman, as we all stood in the hall. "Susan, will

you bring some supper to the dining-room, for Miss Morris and me? What

will you have, Laura?"

 

"What are you going to have?" asked Miss Laura, with a smile.

 

"Hot chocolate and tea biscuits."

 

"Then I will have the same."

 

"Bring some cake too, Susan," said Miss Bessie, "and something for the

dog. I dare say he would like some of that turkey that was left from

dinner."

 

If I had had any ears I would have pricked them up at this, for I was

very fond of fowl, and I never got any at the Morrises', unless it might

be a stray bone or two.

 

What fun we had over our supper! The two girls sat at the big dining

table, and sipped their chocolate, and laughed and talked, and I had the

skeleton of a whole turkey on a newspaper that Susan spread on the

carpet.

 

I was very careful not to drag it about, and Miss Bessie laughed at me

till the tears came in her eyes. "That dog is a gentleman," she said;

"see how he holds bones on the paper with his paws, and strips the meat

off with his teeth. Oh, Joe, Joe, you are a funny dog! And you are

having a funny supper. I have heard of quail on toast, but I never heard

of turkey on newspaper."

 

"Hadn't we better go to bed?" said Miss Laura, when the hall clock

struck eleven.

 

"Yes, I suppose we had," said Miss Bessie. "Where is this animal to

sleep?" "I don't know," said Miss Laura; "he sleeps in the stable at

home, or in the kennel with Jim."

 

"Suppose Susan makes him a nice bed by the kitchen stove?" said Miss

Bessie.

 

Susan made the bed, but I was not willing to sleep in it. I barked so

loudly when they shut me up alone, that they had to let me go upstairs

with them.

 

Miss Laura was almost angry with me, but I could not help it. I had come

over there to protect her, and I wasn't going to leave her, if I could

help it.

 

Miss Bessie had a handsomely furnished room, with a soft carpet on the

floor, and pretty curtains at the windows. There were two single beds in

it, and the two girls dragged them close together, so that they could

talk after they got in bed.

 

Before Miss Bessie put out the light, she told Miss Laura not to be

alarmed if she heard any one walking about in the night, for the nurse

was sleeping across the hall from them, and she would probably come in

once or twice to see if they were sleeping comfortably.

 

The two girls talked for a long time, and then they fell asleep. Just

before Miss Laura dropped off, she forgave me, and put down her hand for

me to lick as I lay on a fur rug close by her bed.

 

I was very tired, and I had a very soft and pleasant bed, so I soon fell

into a heavy sleep. But I waked up at the slightest noise. Once Miss

Laura turned in bed, and another time Miss Bessie laughed in her sleep,

and again, there were queer crackling noises in the frosty limbs of the

trees outside, that made me start up quickly out of my sleep.

 

There was a big clock in the hall, and every time it struck I waked up.

Once, just after it had struck some hour, I jumped up out of a sound

nap. I had been dreaming about my early home. Jenkins was after me with

a whip, and my limbs were quivering and trembling as if I had been

trying to get away from him.

 

I sprang up and shook myself. Then I took a turn around the room. The

two girls were breathing gently; I could scarcely hear them. I walked to

the door and looked out into the hall. There was a dim light burning

there. The door of the nurse's room stood open. I went quietly to it and

looked in. She was breathing heavily and muttering in her sleep.

 

I went back to my rug and tried to go to sleep, but I could not. Such an

uneasy feeling was upon me that I had to keep walking about. I went out

into the hall again and stood at the head of the staircase. I thought I

would take a walk through the lower hall, and then go to bed again.

 

The Drurys' carpets were all like velvet, and my paws did not make a

rattling on them as they did on the oil cloth at the Morrises'. I crept

down the stairs like a cat, and walked along the lower hall, smelling

under all the doors, listening as I went. There was no night light

burning down here, and it was quite dark, but if there had been any

strange person about I would have smelled him.

 

I was surprised when I got near the farther end of the hall, to see a

tiny gleam of light shine for an instant from under the dining-room

door. Then it went away again. The dining-room was the place to eat.

Surely none of the people in the house would be there after the supper

we had.

 

I went and sniffed under the door. There was a smell there; a strong

smell like beggars and poor people. It smelled like Jenkins. It

_was_ Jenkins.

 

 

 

 

 

       *       *       *       *       *

 

CHAPTER XIV (HOW WE CAUGHT THE BURGLAR)

 

What was the wretch doing in the house with my dear Miss Laura? I

thought I would go crazy. I scratched at the door, and barked and

yelped. I sprang up on it, and though I was quite a heavy dog by this

time, I felt as light as a feather.

 

It seemed to me that I would go mad if I could not get that door open.

Every few seconds I stopped and put my head down to the doorsill to

listen. There was a rushing about inside the room, and a chair fell

over, and some one seemed to be getting out of the window.

 

This made me worse than ever. I did not stop to think that I was only a

medium-sized dog, and that Jenkins would probably kill me, if he got his

hands on me. I was so furious that I thought only of getting hold of

him.

 

In the midst of the noise that I made, there was a screaming and a

rushing to and fro upstairs. I ran up and down the hall, and half-way up

the steps and back again. I did not want Miss Laura to come down, but

how was I to make her understand? There she was, in her white gown,

leaning over the railing, and holding back her long hair, her face a

picture of surprise and alarm.

 

"The dog has gone mad," screamed Miss Bessie. "Nurse, pour a pitcher of

water on him." The nurse was more sensible. She ran downstairs, her

night-cap flying, and a blanket that she had seized from her bed,

trailing behind her. "There are thieves in the house," she shouted at

the top of her voice, "and the dog has found it out."

 

She did not go near the dining-room door, but threw open the front one,

crying, "Policeman! Policeman! help, help, thieves, murder!"

 

Such a screaming as that old woman made! She was worse than I was. I

dashed by her, out through the hall door, and away down to the gate,

where I heard some one running. I gave a few loud yelps to call Jim, and

leaped the gate as the man before me had done.

 

There was something savage in me that night. I think it must have been

the smell of Jenkins. I felt as if I could tear him to pieces. I have

never felt so wicked since. I was hunting him, as he had hunted me and

my mother, and the thought gave me pleasure.

 

Old Jim soon caught up with me, and I gave him a push with my nose, to

let him know I was glad he had come. We rushed swiftly on, and at the

corner caught up with the miserable man who was running away from us.

 

I gave an angry growl, and jumping up, bit at his leg. He turned around,

and though it was not a very bright night, there was light enough for me

to see the ugly face of my old master.

 

He seemed so angry to think that Jim and I dared to snap at him. He

caught up a handful of stones, and with some bad words threw them at us.

Just then, away in front of us, was a queer whistle, and then another

one like it behind us. Jenkins made a strange noise in his throat, and

started to run down a side street, away from the direction of the two

whistles.

 

I was afraid that he was going to get away, and though I could not hold

him, I kept springing up on him, and once I tripped him up. Oh, how

furious he was! He kicked me against the side of a wall, and gave me two

or three hard blows with a stick that he caught up, and kept throwing

stones at me.

 

I would not give up, though I could scarcely see him for the blood that

was running over my eyes. Old Jim got so angry whenever Jenkins touched

me, that he ran up behind and nipped his calves, to make him turn on

him.

 

Soon Jenkins came to a high wall, where he stopped, and with a hurried

look behind, began to climb over it. The wall was too high for me to

jump. He was going to escape. What shall I do? I barked as loudly as I

could for some one to come, and then sprang up and held him by the leg

as he was getting over.

 

I had such a grip, that I went over the wall with him, and left Jim on

the other side. Jenkins fell on his face in the earth. Then he got up,

and with a look of deadly hatred on his face, pounced upon me. If help

had not come, I think he would have dashed out my brains against the

wall, as he dashed out my poor little brothers' against the horse's

stall. But just then there was a running sound. Two men came down the

street and sprang upon the wall, just where Jim was leaping up and down

and barking in distress.

 

I saw at once by their uniform and the clubs in their hands, that they

were policemen. In one short instant they had hold of Jenkins. He gave

up then, but he stood snarling at me like an ugly dog. "If it hadn't

been for that cur, I'd never a been caught. Why----," and he staggered

back and uttered a bad word, "it's me own dog."

 

"More shame to you," said one of the policemen, sternly; "what have you

been up to at this