“He’s the one,” said Winona. “He’s fishing.”
“And there’s Puppums, too,” said Louise. “Oh, the dear old doggie! He’s come down to the dock to wait for you, Winnie!”
“So he has,” agreed Winona. “I wonder if he’s been there long.”
Puppums liked canoeing very much, and when he thought Winona ought to have taken him and hadn’t, he would go down to the dock, trailing her by scent, and sit there hours and hours—merely for the sake of looking reproachfully at her when she did get in, it was thought. Winona always hugged him, and apologized, and took him for a row if possible, and he knew it.
When he caught sight of the canoe (like most dogs, he was short-sighted) he began to bark excitedly and run up and down the dock, and jump wildly about. He did everything but swim out to the canoe. Puppums hated water—which gave rise to a theory that there was a little pug in his ancestry.
Mr. Sloane, too, rose as the canoe came near the landing-place. He did not jump up and down, because he had not been waiting for the canoeing party. He had evidently taken their return as a signal that it was time he went home himself, for he was collecting his rod and bait-can, and his coat, and the other things he had strewn about the dock. Puppums still careered wildly around and around. As Winona stepped ashore his excitement grew so intense that he ran full tilt into Mr. Sloane, who was bending over picking something up, and nearly knocked him over.
“W-u-ugh!” said Mr. Sloane, and began to hunt frantically about the dock.
And as the boys and girls gained the shore it became painfully evident that the little dog had jarred out the old gentleman’s false teeth.
Mr. Sloane had never made any secret of the fact that he wore “bought teeth”—indeed, he had told Winona and Adelaide, who were his especial favorites, just where he got them and how much they cost, and where others like them could be gotten. But still, when your friend’s teeth are knocked out all at once by your family dog, well, you do feel a little embarrassment. With one accord the four looked in the other direction, as Mr. Sloane, with a “Drat that pup!” continued to hunt for his teeth. The boys fussed with the canoe, and Winona and Louise began to hunt for a nonexistent something in the box they used for a locker.
But Puppums was going to be polite at all costs. He trotted over, his tail wagging wildly at the prospect of being able to do something for his mistress, picked up the teeth, and carried them proudly to Winona!