Ponto growled, and turned away to Frankie. The little fellow slipped down from his mother's lap, and clasped his arms around Ponto's neck. "O, you good dog," he said, "I love you, I do."
Ponto knew very well what this meant, and he rapped with his tail as hard as he could on the rug. Then Frankie made the dog lie down, and he laid his head upon him.
Ponto was delighted to have his little master use him for a pillow; so he lay very still indeed. I suppose he thought Frankie wished to go to sleep.
Then Mrs. Gray told Nelly how the good dog had pulled Frankie out of the water, and how much they all loved him. But Nelly only said, "I hate dogs, I do, they're so ugly and cross;" and then she put her finger in her mouth again.
"Mamma," said Frankie, "I want to hear 'bout Moses 'gen. Pease, mamma, tell me toly 'bout Moses."
"Well," said mamma, "I'll get my sewing and tell you the rest of the story." So Frankie lay with his head on Ponto, and listened to mamma. Nelly sat in her little chair, and sucked her finger and tended her doll. "I told you," said the lady, "that Moses began to wish he had not touched the orange; but it was of no use to wish that now, for there it was all squeezed and sucked, and what should he do with it?
"When the cook had set the table, she rang the bell, and presently his father and mother came down to breakfast.
"'Where's Moses?' asked his mamma; 'I expected to find him at the table.'
"'He came down early,' said the cook; 'but I have not seen him for a good while.'
"'Won't you see if he is out doors?' said the lady.