“Oh, yes, I know our sheep-dog very well,” said Tinkle. “He is a friend of mine.”
“Well, he has company,” went on the horse. “A dog named Don has come to see him and spend the day. I came in just now from plowing one of the fields, and I saw the farmer’s wife put a big plate of meat and bones out near the dog kennel. She said it would do for our dog and his friend, Don.”
“Yes, but if the meat is for the dogs they’ll eat it all up, and there won’t be any for Tamba,” said Tinkle.
“Oh, but wait a minute!” neighed the horse. “I didn’t finish. Don and our dog went off to the woods. I heard them say they would be gone for a long time, and maybe they would find something to eat there. So if they don’t come back to eat the bones and meat Tamba can have it.”
“Yes,” said Tinkle, “I suppose he can. I hope Don doesn’t come back.”
“I hope so, too,” said Tamba. “I’m getting hungrier every minute.”
“I’ll go out and look,” said Tinkle. “It will soon be dark, and if the plate of meat is still by the dog kennel, you can sneak out and get it, Tamba, and no one will see you. I’ll go and look.”
Tinkle, the trick pony, was not kept tied in a stall as were the other horses. He could roam about as he liked, and so he trotted out of the barn to where the farm dog had his house, or kennel. There, surely enough, was a big plate of meat and some large bones, large enough, even, for a lion or a tiger.
“It’s all right,” said Tinkle, when he came trotting back. “The meat is there, Tamba, and I didn’t see anything of Carlo, our dog, nor his friend, Don. Now if they don’t come back until dark, why, you can go out and have a good meal.”
“I will, thank you,” returned Tamba, and he wished, with all his heart, that Don and the other dog would not come back.