The boys were so overjoyed with the thought of regaining Sandy that they immediately promised Tom that the matter would be forgotten.
Speeding up the machine as soon as they struck better road, they made excellent time and reached the village ahead of their schedule. They went direct to the station to get their tickets, while Tom departed for his brother’s house to bring Sandy to them. After buying their tickets, they were on tenterhooks waiting the return of their animal friend.
True to his word, Tom was at the station in half an hour. But Sandy beat him by several seconds, for no sooner did he get his first sight of the boys than he broke from the leash by which Tom was leading him and made a mad dash for the chums. He nearly knocked Garry over as he leaped on him, then he jumped from one boy to another in frantic glee, giving vent to sharp barks of delight as the boys mauled him in their joy at seeing him again.
“Sorry we’ll have to put you in the baggage car on the trip, old timer,” said Garry, “but the railroads have a rule against big fellows like you being in the car.”
At last the train came in and they were on their way. Sandy voiced unqualified disapproval at being tied up in the crowded baggage car, and occasionally one or another of the boys went ahead and petted him a few minutes.
The train was a slow one, and it was nearly eight o’clock when they reached the Penobscot River city. For once they were quite ready to follow Dick’s lead and get “eats,” then they went to the hotel and reserved rooms. They found that their train was to leave fairly early in the morning, but as not one of them was tired, they took a walk down through the business center of the town.
As they passed a brightly lighted drug store, Dick noticed something in the window.
“There, I knew there was something we ought to have had on our other trips,” he announced to the others.
“Hold him, Phil, he’s going to buy something again. Remember how he wouldn’t go on without that knife last time he was here?” said Garry.
“Gosh, that reminds me I left that knife in the cabin at the little lake,” he ejaculated. “I wonder if that chap is still around here selling ’em?”