Rick and Ruddy: The Story of a Boy and His Dog

by Howard Roger Garis

But Ruddy was a bird dog, and, like all his kind, he was used to nosing around among dried leaves after quail, pheasants or other game, and, seeing Sallie lying so still among the dried foliage, and not getting up to rub noses with him, as she always did since they became friends—not seeing Sallie do this, Ruddy knew something was wrong, even if Sallie had not told him. He began to nose around among the leaves to find out what was the matter.

Once, when Ruddy was a small puppy, his mother had taken him and some of the other small dogs out in the fields, and one of Ruddy's brothers had been nipped on the leg by a large ground mole, that the puppy had caught as it was trying to burrow under the earth and leaves. Ruddy remembered that his puppy brother had howled and had held his paw down among the bushes while the mole clung to it, much as Sallie hid her leg in the leaves now.

"There must be something fast to Sallie's leg," thought Ruddy, in dog fashion. And there was. It was the trap into which Sallie had stepped—a trap hidden under the dried foliage where she had not seen it.

Ruddy nosed among the leaves, much as he would have nosed to find a game bird for which he was searching. And soon he uncovered the trap. He happened to touch it with his nose, and, as he did so, Sallie gave a soft cry. It hurt her leg to have the trap moved.

Ruddy stopped at once. Animals know when one of their kind is hurt, and, often, they do all they can to help. Ruddy wanted to help Sallie now. He wanted to help her out of the trap.

The trap was made of steel, and it had two jaws that opened, being held apart, when the trap was set, by a catch. There was a round, flat piece of steel, about as large as a fifty-cent piece, and on this round bit of metal, called a "pan," whoever set the trap had put some bait. Any animal that touched the pan, in trying to get the bait, would move the catch and the strong spring would snap the jaws of the trap together, holding fast anything that was between them. And it was poor Sallie's paw that was now in the jaws of the trap.

Sallie had been wandering in the woods, among the leaves, for she liked to hear them rattle and rustle, as did Ruddy. Sometimes Sallie caught grasshoppers or crickets in the woods. But this time she was caught herself—caught in the trap before she knew it.

Ruddy looked at Sallie's paw and then at Sallie and then at the trap. He was beginning to understand what had happened. Animals seem to grow wiser once they have been trapped, or see one of their kind held between the steel jaws.

Ruddy was wondering how he could help Sallie. There was only one way, so it seemed to the red-brown dog. He must have known that he could not open the trap. He might have been strong enough, but he did not know just the secret of springing apart the steel jaws. So Ruddy tried the next best thing.

As tenderly as he could Ruddy took hold of Sallie by the loose skin at the back of the cat's neck. Ruddy remembered how, in the stable where he first lived, he had once seen a mother cat carry her kittens in this way, by the back of the neck. So, being careful not to bite Sallie in his teeth, which soon would be strong enough to crush bones, Ruddy tried to lift Sallie up and out of the trap.