So the policeman came up to Charlie and said, “You had better come along with me. If you call your dog, he will know your voice and come out when you call him.”
Charlie took the policeman’s hand and they went in and out among the automobiles and carts and trucks and busses, which were all standing perfectly still, till they came to the automobile under which Bingo was hiding. When Bingo saw Charlie and heard him call “Bingo, Bingo!” he came crawling out and he was so glad to see Charlie that he jumped high in the air, wagging his tail and barking, “Yap, yap, yap!”
As soon as Charlie and Bingo were safe in Mr. Armstrong’s automobile, the policeman blew his whistle and all the traffic, which had been held up to rescue Bingo, started again. And Charlie held Bingo as tight as ever he could, so that he should not jump out again. But I don’t think that Bingo would have done so, even if he could have, he had been so frightened when he was hiding under the automobile, with so many trucks and carts and cars around him. And he was right to be frightened, for he would have been in great danger if the policeman had not blown his whistle just at the right moment.
And now Charlie knew for himself how very important the traffic laws are, for if one single automobile had disobeyed the policeman when he blew three blasts on his whistle and had not stopped immediately, Bingo might have been run over!
So, ever after that, when Charlie was in his automobile he was always careful to follow every one of the traffic laws that he had learned.
He never pedaled faster than he could steer, and he always kept on the right side of the pavement so as not to run into people by accident. When he came to a corner, he always stretched out his arm to show the direction he was going in. And, when a street car stopped in the middle of the road to let off passengers, Charlie always stopped too, until it had gone on again.
Yes, Charlie followed the traffic laws so carefully that the policeman, who always stood at the Park gate, noticed it; and he said to him one day, “As soon as you are sixteen years old, you can come to me, and I will see that you get a license to drive a real automobile. If everybody obeyed the traffic laws as well as you do, there would never be any accidents at all.”
HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS
BINGO was a nice little puppy and a dear little puppy. He played with Charlie and Topsy all day long. He frisked around and barked “Yap, yap,” for though he was getting to be a big little puppy, he could not yet say “Bow-wow,” though you may be sure he tried to over and over again.