Charlie and His Puppy Bingo

by Helen Hill; Violet Maxwell

Now, wouldn’t you think that Bingo, with all the big countryside to play in, and ever so many interesting things to do all day long, would have been able to keep out of mischief at least as long as he was in the country? But no, he could not. You see, puppies nearly always are in mischief—they are made that way. So Bingo often went off by himself and thought of nice, mischievous things to do.

One of the things that Bingo liked to do more than anything else was to go and bark at the chickens. That was very naughty of him, and Charlie always stopped him when he found him doing it. But often Bingo would slip away from Charlie and dash down to the chicken house and bark, “Yap, yap, yap!” He loved to see the hens running this way and that, clucking loudly and calling all the little chickens who came running to hide themselves under their Mother’s wings. Bingo enjoyed this tremendously and never tired of the naughty game. Of course he never hurt any of the chickens or the hens. Bingo was a dear, nice, little puppy and he would never do a thing like that, but he did like to watch them running around and saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK!” Yes, it amused Bingo very much.

One day Charlie was busy helping the lady at the farm to make the butter. This is a very interesting thing to do. Bingo watched Charlie for a while thumping away with the dasher, but soon he got tired of watching and not doing anything himself, so he decided that he would go and play with the chickens.

He began to bark before he got there, and the hens began to cluck, cluck, cluck, and the chickens ran this way and that way and scrambled under their Mother’s wings.

Bingo was so busy with his barking that he did not notice that there was a newcomer among the hens. This was a big white rooster that the farmer had brought home from the fair the night before.

He was an ENORMOUS rooster. He had won a prize at the fair because he was so big. When Bingo jumped in among the hens, they were all so scared that they ran around and said, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK.” But the rooster was not a bit scared—no, indeed, he was most indignant. He opened his beak, and Bingo heard a TREMENDOUS sound—“Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” And the rooster sprang up in the air, and flapped his wings, and rushed at Bingo!

Bingo was so startled that he jumped backwards toward the chicken house, and the rooster dashed after him. All the hens came hurrying up and the chickens, too, saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK.” They seemed to be on every side! Poor Bingo was terribly frightened, as well he might be—because the rooster was really very much annoyed, and he would have pecked Bingo if he had caught him.

But he did not catch him. Just in the nick of time, Bingo saw the chicken house, and he just managed to scramble in at the door before the rooster caught him—he was safe.

Yes, he was safe, but he had to stay there! The rooster did not quite like to go in after Bingo (you see Bingo was really very nearly as big as the rooster), but he determined to keep Bingo a prisoner. He strutted solemnly up and down in front of the chicken-house door, and every time that Bingo would try to come out he would crow, “Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” and scare Bingo so that he decided to stay where he was.

Poor Bingo! it seemed to him that he had been hours and hours in the chicken house. He wondered if he would ever get out again. He was sure that it was long past his dinner hour, he felt so dreadfully hungry. Poor Bingo was a very unhappy little dog.