Just on the outskirts of the city they came to an island on which was a good-sized cemetery.
“What a nice place for a cemetery!” exclaimed Stubby.
“There seem to be a good many people buried there from all the monuments I can count,” said Billy.
“You may count the monuments and walk or drive down the broad paved roads and walks but you will never pass one grave where a human being is buried,” said Duke.
“You are joking!” said Button. “What do you mean? That there is no one buried there now and that all the bodies have been removed? Bet I hear men chiseling monuments at this minute and soon can see them at work in their shops.”
“True again. But for all that there is not a human being buried there, for it is a dog cemetery where only pet dogs are buried.”
“Well, wouldn’t that beat the Dutch!” exclaimed Billy. “A regular cemetery with flowers on the graves and flower-bordered walks and fenced-in lots and monuments just like people have! It certainly does take the French to think of odd things!”
“Why shouldn’t pet dogs have a nice resting place?” inquired Duke. “They are man’s companions and guard and watch over him as if they were human. Yes, and they are more faithful than the dearest human friends, for they stick when adversity overtakes one, when often a human friend one has counted on proves false. But never a dog! There is one monument there that has this inscription on it in French, but I will translate it for you into English. It reads: ‘The more I see of men, the more I love dogs.’ Pretty hard on his friends, wasn’t he?”
“I bet some one he loved played him false, don’t you?”
“It would seem like it from that inscription,” answered Billy.