"We've got to do something for those poor dogs," he said to Jan, at last. "Even if I do give up my job it won't help them, now. I can't find homes for them all in such a short time, Jan. Nearly every one I know here has a dog already, and some of them have two. Folks have been mighty good taking my dogs."
Cheepsie sang an answer, Hippity-Hop purred her reply, and Prince Jan's tail, thumping the floor, said very plainly that he agreed with his master. The captain smiled at them all, for he understood their languages. "It's bound to work out right, somehow," he asserted cheerfully, and again his three dumb friends answered him.
The next morning Captain Smith left Jan and Hippity-Hop in the front yard. It was the first time the old man had ever carried his violin with him, and he trudged briskly down the street, only stopping when he reached a corner to wave his hand back where Jan and the kitten stood with noses pushed between the pickets of the fence. Jan was worried because it was the first time the captain had gone away from the house without him.
So, while Hippity-Hop climbed trees, chased butterflies, and washed her face and paws many times, the dog kept perfectly quiet, watching for his master's return. A big bark welcomed the captain home as Jan ran down the street to meet him.
"Come along, Jan," the old man was smiling, and the dog trotted beside him into the pound, where the other dogs pulled on their ropes and greeted them noisily.
The poundmaster stopped in front of each dog and fastened a small metal tag to its collar, then he took them all into his own back yard, where they crowded and leaped about him or chased each other in play. One dog was so happy that he kept turning around and around after his own short tail until he was too dizzy to stand up.
"It's a pretty good-sized family, Jan," laughed the old man, as he sat in a chair on the back porch, smoking his pipe and watching the dogs' antics. "They've all got licenses now, so no one can order any of 'em killed for a year. I guess we can find homes for all of them before that time is up."
So, when the two men came again, Captain Smith took them into the back yard and showed the license on each dog's collar, as he said, "I have found homes for five of them already, and to-morrow I'll take the others to a friend in the country. He will look out for them until we have good places for all."
He smiled happily at the dogs, then looked up at the two men, but his smile faded at their next words.
"Well, what do you intend doing with the next bunch you collect?"