Never, since the red-brown setter had come up out of the ocean to be Rick's dog, had Ruddy not been on hand to greet his master when the boy came racing from school. During the hours when Rick had to be at his classes, studying or reciting his lessons, Ruddy, when not chained in his kennel, would roam about the woods and fields, not too far away from the house. Once he had even followed Rick and Mazie to school, and Rick had been excused, and allowed to bring his pet back home.
And now, for the first time, Ruddy was not there to greet his master. Rick looked up and down the street but no dog was in sight; only Sallie, the cat.
Rick gave a shrill whistle, the kind he always used to call his pet, but there was no joyous, answering bark. Sallie, the cat, gave a meaouw as if replying, but Rick did not understand cat language, or at least not very much of it, so he did not know what Sallie was saying. Perhaps the cat was telling Rick she knew where Ruddy had gone, but, being unable to speak boy-talk, the cat was of no use to Rick.
"Here, Ruddy! Ruddy! Here, Ruddy, boy!" called Rick. Then he whistled again, and Haw-Haw, being fully awake now, and hearing the shrill notes, imitated them.
"Oh, Mother!" exclaimed Rick, coming back to the side porch. "Where do you s'pose Ruddy can be?"
"Oh, I guess he just ran off, maybe to play with Peter," said Mrs. Dalton.
"But he never did it before—not when I was coming home from school," remarked the boy.
Just then Haw-Haw whistled again.
"There!" exclaimed Mrs. Dalton. "I heard a whistle just like that a few minutes before you came. It wasn't the crow, for he was asleep behind the stove."
"And I didn't whistle!" declared Rick. "Oh, do you think it could be that sailor—the one who was asking Mr. Bailey about Ruddy? Maybe he's been around here, and he heard me whistle, or maybe he heard Haw-Haw, and he knows how we used to call Ruddy. And maybe he called my dog and took him away."