Could he catch them? Why! it seemed as though the dog must have been trained for just that trick. He never missed a bite!
When his appetite was satisfied the mongrel began to try to attract Purt’s attention. Every time Purt reached for anything, the Barnacle’s cold, wet nose was right there! It was a plain case of “love at first sight,” as Bobby remarked. Nothing could convince that dog that Purt was not his loving friend.
But finally the dude’s serious air and his efforts to reach the dog with a particularly well-shod foot, made an impression on the Barnacle. He squatted down before Purt and lifting up his head, uttered a howl that would have brought tears to the eyes of a graven image.
“You’ll break the poor dog’s heart, Purt,” said Jess, gravely. “Give him a kind word.”
“He has the most sorrowful face on him of any dog I ever saw,” declared Dora Lockwood. “Look at him kindly, even if you can’t speak.”
“Yes,” whispered Dorothy, her twin. “He has almost as sorrowful a face as Lizzie’s.”
“Gee! there’s a pair of them,” sighed Bobby, ecstatically. “Let’s take the dog with us to be a comrade for Liz.” 85
Indeed, Lizzie Bean petted the mongrel, which hung around the camp until the picnickers started up the river again.
There was another disturbance when Purt tried to slip aboard the Duchess without the dog. The Barnacle whined, and howled, and jumped aboard, and was finally driven ashore with an oar.
The motorboats and their tows got off into the stream. There sat the deserted dog on his tail, howling most dismally as the boats drew up stream and left him behind.