Once more he tossed his cap into the water—purposely this time. In an instant Patter jumped in and brought it to shore, and he paid no attention to sticks that were floating in the brook near it.
“Let’s all throw our caps in!” cried Charlie. “If he only pulls caps out we’ll let him do that.”
“One at a time! One at a time!” exclaimed Bunny. “We don’t want to give him too much to do.”
And when one boy’s cap after another was tossed into the brook, Patter brought them safe to shore. The boys wore old caps and a little water, more or less, did them no harm. Patter seem delighted to swim out and get them.
“I guess it’s true, what you said, Harry,” remarked George. “He’s a cap dog all right. But I never heard of a dog that would bring out caps but not sticks. I never did.”
Still it was true. Later Bunny learned that the dog’s master, the Frenchman who had taught Patter a number of tricks, had taught him never to bother with sticks, but always to bring out caps or hats. It was quite an odd thing, the boys thought, and Bunny was more proud than ever of Patter.
For some time the boys amused themselves, and gave fun to Patter by throwing their caps into the water and watching him bring them out. Patter seemed to enjoy it as much as the boys did.
“Well, let’s go on to the barn and talk more about the show,” suggested Harry.
“What show is that? Can I come?” asked George, who had not heard the remarks about the proposed performance.
“Bunny’s going to give a show, as he did before, with his new trick dog and his pony,” explained Charlie.