"Oh, I want Ruddy! I love him!" said the little girl, and in thinking about the lost dog she did not feel so much fear at having Rick stay away from home over night.
But, even in spite of the confidence Mr. Dalton had in the scout master, Mrs. Dalton was nervous.
"I'll take good care of him—never fear!" Harry Taylor, the Scout Master, promised with a smile, as the boys piled in the auto for the ride back with the farmer. "I won't let him get even the snuffles!"
"That's what I'm afraid of—having him catch cold!" said Rick's mother.
But she wanted her son to be a manly boy, so she let him go. And you may well believe there were joyous hearts in the little party of lads who were on their way to camp in the old log cabin. It was more than a mere camping crowd—they were trying to catch the man who had Rick's dog!
CHAPTER XVII
THE TWO SAILORS
While Rick, his boy chums and the Scout Master were on their way to the old log cabin, there to camp all night, if need be, to wait for the sailor to come back with the dog, poor Ruddy himself was not having a very good time.
He had been lifted out of the junk wagon by Matt Stanton, the ragged sailor who had stolen Ruddy away "for luck," as he called it. And Ruddy was half dragged along the road by a rope the sailor had tied around his neck.
Ruddy growled and whined and whimpered. If he could have talked man-language, instead of only in dog fashion, he would have said:
"Don't you know you are hurting me, pulling me along like this? You are almost choking me! If you won't pull so hard I'll come along just the same. Of course I don't want to come with you, for I don't like you. I like Rick, the boy, best. But you are stronger than I am, and we dogs have to do as our masters want, even if we don't like it. But, oh dear! how I wish I were back with Rick!"