The man hurried away, and Bunny and Sue feared he might not come back. But he did, and in a minute or two, carrying a ladder which he put up to the fire escape platform. Then he carried Bunny and Sue to the ground, and very thankful they were to reach it again.
“Now tell me all about it,” said the man.
Bunny and Sue told about setting off in search of the lost Patter, relating how they had wandered into the old factory.
“Well, I’m glad I happened to come here to-day,” said the man. “I’m hired by the owners to keep a sort of watch over this place; but I don’t come very often, for there isn’t much left to take away. But I happened to be passing just now and I thought I’d take a look around. Now where do you want to go?”
“We want to find Patter,” said Sue. “Do you think you’ve seen our dog?”
“What sort of a dog was he?”
The children started to tell about their trick pet, but they had mentioned only a few things about him when the man, whose name was Jacob Ward, exclaimed:
“Say, I believe I know where your dog is! I saw him this morning. Or, if it isn’t Patter, it’s a dog very much like him.”
“Oh, who has him?” cried Bunny.
“A colored boy they call Black Bobby. I know where he lives. He’s one of the chaps that like to throw stones and break these factory windows. Only there aren’t many more left to break,” chuckled Mr. Ward. “But come on, I’ll take you to Black Bobby and maybe he has your Patter.”