"Yes, he's a regular sea-dog!" laughed the guard. "Poor pup! He doesn't look as if he'd had a very good time. Seems sort of thin!"
"Yes, he does need filling out," agreed Mr. Dalton, with a glance at Ruddy's ribs that plainly showed through the thin sides. "Well, we'll keep him for a day or so, anyhow."
"Can't I keep him always, Dad?" asked Rick.
"I don't know. Better settle that with your mother," was the answer. "I don't mind having a dog, 'specially such a nice one as this seems to be. But my wife's sort of afraid about Mazie and a dog," he added to the coast guard.
"A good dog doesn't bite—that is bite children," declared Mr. Bailey. "It's queer how even a dog that's surly and snappy to strangers will let a baby pull his tail and ears, and never so much as growl. If you like dogs I'd let Rick keep this one. You won't have any trouble about him biting Mazie."
And the little girl herself, coming out just then, seemed to have no fear of her brother's new pet. For she put her arms around the neck of Ruddy and he nestled his head close against her.
"My! What a lot of friends I'm making all of a sudden!" said Ruddy to himself, in a way all dogs have of thinking.
"Where you going to keep your pet when you go to school?" asked Mr. Dalton of his son. "We haven't a good place for a dog."
"He can sleep in the box where I used to keep my rabbits," Rick answered. "I'll make it into a kennel for him."
"Yes, that might answer," agreed Mr. Dalton. "I'll help you fix it up when I come home to-night. If we're going to keep a dog we must keep him right—give him a warm, clean kennel to start with. And be sure he has plenty of water, Rick. Dogs need more water than lots of other animals. Give him fresh water three or four times a day."