“How very nice,” said the lady, while the baby lay in the crib, looked up at the ceiling and blinked his blue eyes. “I will show you our dog,” went on the lady. “His name is Bony.”
“What a funny name!” exclaimed Mary. “Why do you call him that?”
“Because he is so fond of bones,” the lady said. Then she called: “Here, Bony! Bony! Bony!” and in came running a little, fat poodle dog, and he stood up on his hind legs, and wagged his tail, and then he tried to get hold of Tommy’s shoe, to pull it off.
“Why does he do that?” the little Trippertrot boy wanted to know.
“I guess he thinks it’s something he can hide,” answered the lady. “Bony is the greatest dog for hiding things! He carries off my slippers, and my husband’s shoes, and all the baby’s rattleboxes, and hides them in such funny places. Sometimes in the icebox, and sometimes under the parlor chairs, and sometimes even down cellar in the coal-bin.
“That’s why I wish you could stay here and fish for the things that are lost,” the lady said to the nice old fisherman.
“You are very kind,” he answered, with a low bow, “but I can’t stay. I came after the Trippertrot children, to take them home. They’re lost, you know.”
“Oh, yes, so we are, I nearly forgot,” spoke Mary.
“Are you sure you can find our house?” asked Tommy.
“I certainly can,” replied the fisherman, with another jolly laugh.