The saddest moment of Ready’s prison life
CHAPTER III
FREEDOM
It happened this way. One evening the young lady and her mother had gone to one of those long-lasting parties which do not begin until nearly every one in the world has gone to sleep. The maid was out too, probably to another party. The fat old cook was so sleepy that she forgot to fasten Ready to the hook and cord after she had opened the window. Wasn’t that lucky?
Ready pretended to be asleep until he heard her slow step on the stairs. Then, quick as a wink, he was out of the window and in the yard.
The shortest cut to the street was a dash through the flower bed, and Ready started to go that way. Then he remembered that really nice dogs were always polite to flowers. Now the only way a dog can be really polite to flowers is to keep away from them; so Ready turned and ran around the path.
Quick as a wink he was out of the window
But in spite of this long way around, Ready was soon on the main road. He must make no mistake now. He must never let his head get turned again. Which was the right direction? The road looked so strange, so dark and lonely, that it was hard for a dog to tell anything about it.
Ready felt that he must not wait a moment; so he started. But he soon heard an owl hooting from a tree near by, “No, no, no!”