Bingo was beginning to be worried—there were a great many children playing in the streets through which he passed and every now and again he thought that he saw Charlie, but it always turned out that he was mistaken. Sometimes some of the children would try to stop him but Bingo always ran away from them. He wanted to go home.
At last he passed four little boys who were walking along together. Bingo was very tired now and he was not running any more; no, he was walking very slowly and limping a little because he had hurt his foot.
One of the boys looked at him limping along in front and he said, “Look at that puppy. He looks exactly like Charlie’s Bingo, who does such wonderful tricks!”
The other boy said, “He does look like him. Let’s call him and see if he answers to the name Bingo.” So they called, “Bingo, Bingo, Bingo!”
You may be sure that when Bingo heard his name called this time he did come running as fast as ever he could.
Bingo did not know the boys but they knew him. They had often watched him over the fence doing the tricks that Charlie had taught him, so they knew where he lived. Now that they were sure it was Bingo, as he had come at once when they called him, they decided that they would take him back to his home; for they knew how unhappy Charlie must be because he had lost his dog.
One of the strange boys held Bingo
But they were afraid that Bingo might run away again, so one of the boys held on to him while the others made a harness for him out of some string that one of them had in his pocket. Then they put it on Bingo and they tied a long piece of string to the middle of the harness for a leash.
So they started on their way—but you can think how funny Bingo did look in his rope harness! The boys could not help laughing at him, and Bingo did not like that at all. He had a feeling that he looked very ragged and untidy, as indeed he did; and all the dogs that he met and who wore beautiful collars, sniffed at him, as though to say, “What an extraordinary thing to wear, instead of a collar!”