Bunny Brown and his sister Sue and their trick dog

by Laura Lee Hope

But Patter, though he wagged his tail to show he was friendly, would not make a move toward leaping into the brook after the stick. He simply sat on the bank and looked at it.

“Go get it, Patter!” cried Bunny.

Still Patter would not move.

“Go on! Good dog! Get the stick!” cried George. The other boys added their voices to the orders, but, Bunny declared, Patter just simply seemed to smile as though he said:

“I don’t want to be mean, but I don’t know what you are talking about. Sticks mean nothing to me.”

Finally, after Bunny had thrown another stick in the stream, at George’s suggestion, thinking perhaps Patter would not bring out a stick that another lad had tossed in, the boys began to get the opinion that Patter was a queer dog.

“He’ll bring out a cap but he won’t bring out sticks,” said Charlie.

“He’s a cap dog, I say!” exclaimed Harry.

“Maybe he won’t bring out the cap again,” George suggested.

“I’ll try him,” said Bunny.