His teeth were bared and he was crouched to spring.
Jo was the first to recover. He knew dogs and he saw at the first glance that this one was more terrified by their presence on the boat than he and Ann and Ben had been by the strange noise. He walked steadily toward the animal, reaching quietly into his pocket.
What was he going to do? Ann was afraid that anything he could do wouldn’t be enough. The dog would spring and then— Why didn’t Warren Bain shoot?
But Jo knew what he was doing. Out of his pocket he took two or three crackers. “Come, boy,” he said gently. “So-o-o-o, puppy, it’s time to eat.”
The dog snarled but Jo paid no attention to threats or growls; he put the crackers in a small pile on the deck and backed slowly away. The dog drew nearer by one stealthy step and sniffed suspiciously toward Jo’s offering. Then he slunk forward within reach of it and crunched it ravenously.
“Want some more?” Jo reached again into his pocket and the dog wagged his tail.
“He is starved!” Mr. Seymour at last found his voice. “That dog has been without proper food for weeks.”
Bain looked at the gaunt wild-eyed creature whose ribs showed plainly under his shaggy matted coat. “He is that,” he agreed. “I shouldn’t wonder if he isn’t the answer to Bailey’s stolen milk and your cheese. He must have come in with the boat and hung around here ever since.”
To think that noise was made by a dog as it slunk across the deck! Even though Ann had seen and heard at the same instant she could hardly credit her senses. A dog? Robin Hood’s band had been utterly routed by a starving dog? Never again would she run from anything unless she actually saw with her own eyes that there was need of fear. She looked at Ben and in spite of the rain streaming down his face she could see that his thoughts were very much like her own. They hadn’t been cowards, exactly, and those men down below had been frightened, too, but nevertheless she was ashamed of herself.
The noise of the breakers had risen until now it was a roar; it was hard to talk against the combined crashes of storm and gale and sea. And it was high time to seek better shelter than the wreck afforded.