Zip, the Adventures of a Frisky Fox Terrier

by Frances Trego Montgomery

On seeing a little head looking at her from the pan of dough, she threw up her hands in fright, turned and fled down the hall, calling, "Mis' Mason! Mis' Mason! Come heah quick! Someone done gone and left a little niggah baby in my bread dough!"

As she ran through the hall, Zip made an extra effort to jump out, but instead of doing so, he upset the pan off the chair, and dog and dough rolled on the kitchen floor together. Shaking off as much of it as he could, Zip raced out the door, leaving a trail of dough behind him. He did not dare get in the doctor's buggy in that mess, so he crawled under the garden fence and ran down to the river, where he might wash himself off before going home.

When the Mason cat saw him disappear under the garden fence, she went into the kitchen to see what he had done to make all the noise he had just before he ran out all covered with the white stuff. As she stood by the pan smelling the dough to discover what it was, Diana and Mrs. Mason came hurrying into the room. Not seeing anyone there but their cat, who was standing right beside the dough, they of course thought it was she that had caused all this trouble. So Diana grabbed up a broom and would have pounded her to a jelly in her anger at spoiling all her nice bread dough, but pussy was too quick for her. She saw what was coming and flew out the door and hid under the currant bushes in the garden, from which place she could hear Diana scolding and talking to herself as she cleaned up the mess.

"I do declar' to goodness, I done goan to kill dat cat some of these days. Just wait till I ketch her, I'll tie a peppah box to her tail!"

"Hark!" said the cat. "I wonder who is giving that long, penetrating whistle. Oh, I know now whose dog that was! It was Zip, Doctor Elsworth's pet fox terrier that everyone thinks so smart and that everyone is talking about in the village these last few days because he found the silver the burglar had stolen from the Judge. If I had known it was he, I would not have pounced on him, but I was only half awake when I saw a dog trying to sneak into our kitchen. It is a law with me to jump on every dog I see before he has time to pounce on me. Now I am awfully sorry about this, for I have been wanting to meet Zip for ever so long, as I think I am the only cat in town who doesn't know him."

When Zip was nearly to the river he heard the voices of children playing on the bank. So he crept carefully forward under the bushes until he came to a place where he could peer through. There, sure enough, were five or six little boys and girls having a picnic. Some were in wading, skirts and trousers rolled up above the knees, while others were just spreading out a tablecloth on the mossy bank preparatory to setting their table for luncheon.

While Zip was looking, one little girl took out of her basket some delicious looking fried chicken, and as she piled the nicely browned pieces on a plate, she put the breasts on top to make it look more tempting. It made Zip's mouth water so for a taste that he decided to keep well hidden and see if they would not leave the table for a moment so he might jump out and steal a piece. As he waited another little girl lifted out of her basket some nut cookies and big, thick slices of angel cake, while a third arranged some stuffed eggs and big dill pickles.

Now all these things Zip adored with the exception of the pickles, so he lay down with nose stretched out in their direction as far as he could without being seen, that he might at least smell the goodies while he waited. But as he waited the bread dough on his back dried and hardened and made his coat stick up in all sorts of queer shapes, though he never once thought of it. He was too much occupied deciding just which piece of chicken he would take when he had the chance, and he was too delighted to move when one of the boys began chasing all the others with his cup full of water. And before he knew it, the boys trying to escape ran straight into the bushes where Zip lay concealed and nearly stepped on him.

One boy looked down, caught sight of a queer looking animal with bright eyes and funny hair that stuck up all over him. He gave one scream and jumped back just in time to get the full cup of water in his face. But he cared not. He just turned and fled, screaming, "A porcupine! A porcupine! Look out or he will fill you full of quills!"