“Hyear dey come! hyear dey come!” and, sure enough, the great white-covered wagons came slowly down the road, and Major Waldron on Prince, his black horse, riding in advance.
He quickened his pace when he caught sight of the children; for he was very fond of his little daughters, and had been away from them two weeks, trading in New Orleans. He rode up now to the fence, and lifting Tot to the saddle before him, took her in his arms and kissed her.
Diddie and Dumps scrambled down from the gate-posts and ran along by the side of Prince to the house, where their mamma was waiting on the porch. And oh! such a joyful meeting! such hugging and kissing all around!
Then the wagons came up, and the strong negro men began taking out the boxes and bundles and carrying them to the storeroom.
“Hand me out that covered basket, Nelson,” said Major Waldron to one of the men; and taking it carefully to the house, he untied the cover, and there lay two little white woolly puppies—one for Diddie, and one for Dumps.
The little girls clapped their hands and danced with delight.
“Ain’t they lovely?” said Dumps, squeezing hers in her arms.
“Lubly,” echoed Tot, burying her chubby little hands in the puppy’s wool, while Diddie cuddled hers in her arms as tenderly as if it had been a baby.
Mammy made a bed for the doggies in a box in one corner of the nursery, and the children were so excited and so happy that she could hardly get them to bed at all; but after a while Tot’s blue eyes began to droop, and she fell asleep in Mammy’s arms, murmuring, “De booful itty doggie.”
“De booful itty doggies,” however, did not behave very well; they cried and howled, and Dumps insisted on taking hers up and rocking him to sleep.