Toby sat down and tried to think what he had better do. He thought of the warm, light kitchen from which he had been so cruelly driven, and of the children crying to see him sent out into the cold. He recalled, too, the kind and patient face of the mother of the family, and the many kindnesses he had received at her hands.
“What a difference there is in people!” murmured poor Toby to himself, as he thought of the kind reception he had met from the mother, and then of the harsh voice that had sent him out into the cold night.
“Well, crying won’t mend matters,” said Toby to himself. “I’ll wait until daylight, and then I’ll try my luck at finding my old home.”
He crouched upon the thin layer of straw which was all that protected him from the cold floor of the shed. The bleak wind blew in through the door, and forced its way through the large cracks in the sides of the building, and Toby grew colder and colder. To stay there and perhaps freeze to death some cold night was out of the question, and Toby made up his mind that he would start out as soon as daylight dawned, and try to find his way to the kind engine-dog who had been so good to him.
“If I were not so small that anybody could easily pick me up and carry me off, I shouldn’t care so much; but I’m so small I shouldn’t stand much chance.”
By and by Toby’s quick ears caught the sound of footsteps that he knew were coming his way. “I thought she would hunt me up,” said Toby to himself; “it is just like her.”
The steps came nearer and nearer, and at last, standing in the doorway of the shed, he could see in the darkness the dim outlines of the form of the children’s mother. “Doggy, Doggy!” she called softly, “are you there?”
“Here I am!” answered Toby with a bark of joy, and with a bound he was at her feet and trying to jump up and lick her hands.
“I have brought you something to eat, poor little fellow!” said the kind woman, as she set a plate before him. It was the larger part of her sausage that she had saved for him, mixed with bread and potato, and it was warm. How good it did taste to the hungry little dog! and it put warmth into his half-frozen little body, too.
The kind woman stayed for some time, petting the little dog and telling him how sorry she was for him; and Toby tried hard in his dog’s way to say that she need not feel so bad about it, and that he didn’t mind it much, for he couldn’t bear to see her kind heart so touched. She had brought a piece of an old woollen shawl with her, and before she left she wrapped him up in it and told him she would bring him some dinner the next day.