BINGO AND THE ANGRY ROOSTER
I TOLD you in the last story how Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy and Topsy and Bingo and Jane all went to the country together. And how Charlie rode on the engine, which he liked very much, but Topsy and Jane had to travel in baskets, which they did not like at all, and Bingo had to travel all by himself in the baggage car, and he did not like that either.
But when at last they arrived at the farm where they were going to stay for a whole month, Charlie opened the baskets and let Jane and Topsy out, and he unfastened Bingo’s leash, and they all went exploring together. Then Jane and Topsy and Bingo were delighted. They liked the country tre-men-dous-ly, and the longer they stayed the more they liked it.
There were so many delightful things for cats and dogs to do, which they could not do in the city. Instead of long straight roads with automobiles dashing past all the time, there were fields and meadows to run around in. There were tall trees for Topsy to climb and nice muddy puddles for Bingo to roll in, and Jane could go out for long walks by herself without ever meeting anything dangerous.
Charlie always got up very early when he was in the country because he liked to see the cows milked, and Topsy and Bingo and Jane liked to see the cows milked also. Charlie always carried three little bowls down to the barn, and the farmer filled them with milk straight from the cow, so that Topsy and Bingo and Jane could have their breakfast without waiting. This interested them all three very much, because they knew that at home their milk always came out of a milk bottle which had been left at the front door by the milkman.
All the time that Charlie was in the country he was allowed to run around in the fields and meadows all by himself, and of course Topsy and Bingo followed him wherever he went. It would take a whole book by itself to tell you all the delightful things that they did together.
Now, wouldn’t you think that Bingo, with all the big countryside to play in, and ever so many interesting things to do all day long, would have been able to keep out of mischief at least as long as he was in the country? But no, he could not. You see, puppies nearly always are in mischief—they are made that way. So Bingo often went off by himself and thought of nice, mischievous things to do.
One of the things that Bingo liked to do more than anything else was to go and bark at the chickens. That was very naughty of him, and Charlie always stopped him when he found him doing it. But often Bingo would slip away from Charlie and dash down to the chicken house and bark, “Yap, yap, yap!” He loved to see the hens running this way and that, clucking loudly and calling all the little chickens who came running to hide themselves under their Mother’s wings. Bingo enjoyed this tremendously and never tired of the naughty game. Of course he never hurt any of the chickens or the hens. Bingo was a dear, nice, little puppy and he would never do a thing like that, but he did like to watch them running around and saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK!” Yes, it amused Bingo very much.
One day Charlie was busy helping the lady at the farm to make the butter. This is a very interesting thing to do. Bingo watched Charlie for a while thumping away with the dasher, but soon he got tired of watching and not doing anything himself, so he decided that he would go and play with the chickens.
He began to bark before he got there, and the hens began to cluck, cluck, cluck, and the chickens ran this way and that way and scrambled under their Mother’s wings.
Bingo was so busy with his barking that he did not notice that there was a newcomer among the hens. This was a big white rooster that the farmer had brought home from the fair the night before.
He was an ENORMOUS rooster. He had won a prize at the fair because he was so big. When Bingo jumped in among the hens, they were all so scared that they ran around and said, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK.” But the rooster was not a bit scared—no, indeed, he was most indignant. He opened his beak, and Bingo heard a TREMENDOUS sound—“Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” And the rooster sprang up in the air, and flapped his wings, and rushed at Bingo!
Bingo was so startled that he jumped backwards toward the chicken house, and the rooster dashed after him. All the hens came hurrying up and the chickens, too, saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK.” They seemed to be on every side! Poor Bingo was terribly frightened, as well he might be—because the rooster was really very much annoyed, and he would have pecked Bingo if he had caught him.
But he did not catch him. Just in the nick of time, Bingo saw the chicken house, and he just managed to scramble in at the door before the rooster caught him—he was safe.
Yes, he was safe, but he had to stay there! The rooster did not quite like to go in after Bingo (you see Bingo was really very nearly as big as the rooster), but he determined to keep Bingo a prisoner. He strutted solemnly up and down in front of the chicken-house door, and every time that Bingo would try to come out he would crow, “Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” and scare Bingo so that he decided to stay where he was.
Poor Bingo! it seemed to him that he had been hours and hours in the chicken house. He wondered if he would ever get out again. He was sure that it was long past his dinner hour, he felt so dreadfully hungry. Poor Bingo was a very unhappy little dog.
The rooster kept Bingo a prisoner
At last Charlie had finished helping the farm lady make the butter. They had taken it out of the churn, and the farm lady had put it in a big wooden bowl and beaten it with wooden butter paddles so that all the butter milk was squeezed out. She had given Charlie some butter in a smaller bowl so that he could finish making some of the butter all by himself. The farm lady had promised him that they should have it on the dinner table and surprise his Mother and his Auntie.
But it wasn’t dinner time yet, so Charlie ran into the garden to play with Bingo—and there was no Bingo to be seen! He called Bingo, but Bingo did not come. Then he decided to go down to the big barn to look for him. As he passed near the chicken house he heard a tre-men-dous commotion—“Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK,” “Ooka-ooka-ooka-oooooooooo, ooka-ooka-ooka-oooooooooo, ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo” ... Bingo had been trying to get out again!
Then Charlie said, “Shoo, shoo, shoo!” and the hens and even the rooster all got out of the way, and Bingo was free again! Oh, how glad he was! He jumped, and pranced, and followed Charlie to the kitchen, where his dinner was waiting for him.
But never again did Bingo bark at the chickens and chase them. He no longer thought it an amusing game. In fact Bingo never went near that chicken house again, he was so afraid of that terrible rooster.
