For, really, if it had not been that Ruddy frightened the crow into fluttering off the branch where it had taken refuge, after being shot, Rick might never have found it.
"Dear me! Where have you been?" cried Rick's mother, as he came marching into the yard, carrying the crow and followed by Ruddy.
"I was off in the woods," answered the boy. "And I was lost, but Ruddy showed me the way home."
"Lost! Oh, Rick! You mustn't go to the woods alone and get lost!"
"I wasn't alone," he answered. "Ruddy was with me. I can't get lost with him. He always will know the way back, I guess. But I didn't see Chot."
"No, he came, after you had gone, to say he couldn't meet you in the woods," said Mrs. Dalton. "I thought you would come right back when you didn't find him. You stayed so long that I was getting afraid. I was just going to send your father after you."
"I was afraid myself," spoke Rick. "But Ruddy is a good dog. He didn't know what I meant first, when I told him to go home, after I couldn't tell where the path was. But, after a while, he knew what I said and he led me straight."
"What you got?" asked Mazie, seeing the black, feathered creature in her brother's hands.
"It's a crow. Ruddy found it and I picked it up before he could bite it. Its wing is broken but maybe we can fix it. I'm going to teach it to talk."
"Crows don't talk—only parrots," said Mazie.