One day Beppo—one of the family—a handsome brown and white spaniel, went out for a walk. As soon as he got out of sight of the house, he dived into a bramble bush, and scratched off all his clothes, for they plagued him to death, and he trotted joyously along, whistling—
“With reading, and writing, and riches,
For once in my life, I have done!
I’ve got rid of that old pair of breeches;
So, hurrah! my brave boys, for some fun!”
Presently he came to a fine river, and was just thinking he would take a swim, when he heard a piercing scream, and something went splash into the water.
Beppo rushed to the brink just in time to see a little golden-haired child disappear under the rippling waves.
In he dashed, like a flying-fish, swam like lightning to the spot, and caught the little child’s dress in his mouth; then turning, swam back, and laid it, drenched and gasping, on the green bank, just as the nurse, her face white with terror, and her limbs trembling, was struggling to reach the shore.
The poor woman caught the beautiful child in her arms and kissed her, and thanked Heaven for her rescue. Then she patted and hugged Beppo, who stood wagging his tail and shaking the water out of his long silky hair. “Ah, madam,” he said, with a very polite how, and his fore-paw on his heart, “I am truly grateful that I was made a spaniel: if I had been a stupid poodle-dog I should have been afraid of the water, and the poor little darling would have been drowned.”
“Why!” exclaimed the nurse in astonishment, “is it possible you can talk?”