The combined whistle of the boys was too much!
“Look!” shouted both at once.
With a last howl he was in mid-air, his legs outspread; and in a twinkling he had disappeared, amid a mighty splash, beneath the water.
“My—that must have hurt his stomach like sixty!” laughed Hal.
But the dog seemed not hurt a particle. In a moment, above the surface popped his head, and shaking it vigorously to clear his eyes and ears of water, yapping with eagerness and excitement he lined a course straight for the boat.
“Come on, come on, old fellow!” urged the boys.
“Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap!” said the dog.
And come he did, as fast as his legs and paws could send him, his chest cleaving the ripples, and a bubbly wake extending far behind him.
Speedily he had gained the boat, and Ned had pulled him in. Convinced that now he was saved, the dog went into perfect transports of happiness. He barked, he yelped, he whined, he snickered, he twisted his body into knots; he talked to one boy, and then to the other, and then to the two at once, telling them all about it; he flicked water over them with his whipping tail, and shaking himself doused them again until they were well-nigh as wet as he. And how he grinned!