“Thank ye, ma’am,” said the sailor humbly. “I’ll try.”
The carpenter went back to work. Miss Amanda took Carolyn May out into the kitchen. She looked at her rather curiously, and once she seemed about to speak seriously—perhaps about the injured sailor. Carolyn May sidetracked this, however, by asking:
“Don’t you think Prince is a very brave dog, Miss Amanda? You know, he’s almost like those Saint Bernard dogs that live in the Yalps and carry blankets and cunning little barrels around their necks to folks that get lost in the snow. You have seen pictures of ’em, haven’t you, Miss Amanda?”
“Yes, my dear,” agreed the pretty nurse, smiling.
“Only I never knew what the barrels were for,” admitted Carolyn May. “Now, if the dogs found the poor men in the water, drownding, maybe the barrels would float and help keep ’em from sinking.”
“I hardly think it probable that the barrels were for that purpose,” said Miss Amanda, laughing.
“Anyway,” urged Carolyn May, “Prince is just as brave as those other dogs.”
“Indeed, yes,” agreed the woman. “And I think that a certain little girl is very brave, too.”
“Oh, but I couldn’t have got the poor gentleman here, if it hadn’t been for Prince.”
“Quite true. And he deserves a reward for that. We’ll call him in and give him a party,” said Miss Amanda. “I have been saving some chicken bones for him.”