"Go on home!" said the little boy again, very earnestly.
Splash looked up in surprise. He was not used to being sent home.
"Oh, I don't mean you," said Bunny. "I mean you, Dix! Mother says we like you very much, and would like to have you with us, but your folks want you home with them. So go on back. Go home, I say!"
Bunny stamped his foot, spoke as sternly as he could without being too cross, and pointed back toward Bellemere.
Dix looked into Bunny's face a minute, and then slowly the dog's tail drooped between his legs and he slunk off, with what was really a sad face looking at Bunny and Splash. It was as if he said:
"Say, look here, Splash! I thought you invited me on this excursion, and now that boy of yours goes and drives me home."
"Well, I can't help it," Splash seemed to say. "There is something wrong somewhere."
Bunny felt sad at having to drive Dix back home.
"I'm sorry, old fellow," he said, and his voice was so kind that Dix turned and came running back.
"No! No! You mustn't do that!" cried Bunny, seeing what his kind words had done. "Go on back home, Dix!"