"Last summer we went to the seashore. We took Hero with us. One day I was on the beach, playing in the sand. Hero was lying asleep in the sun. I was making a sand fort and my back was toward the sea.
"Suddenly a big wave dashed in and knocked me down. Then another big wave came and carried me out into the water. As I did not know how to swim, I was very much frightened. I tried to call out, but my mouth was full of sea water. I could make only a little frightened sound; but Hero heard me. What do you think he did? He jumped into the water and swam out to me. I was too nearly drowned to catch hold of him. So he took my clothes in his mouth and began to swim with me to the shore.
"I was heavy, and Hero was almost worn out before he got there. But he never once let go. He kept right on until he dropped me on dry land. Then he lay panting on the sand.
"Just then Mother came to see where I was. When she saw what had happened she hugged me hard. Then she hugged Hero hard too. The next day she bought Hero a new collar with his name on it in big letters—HERO. That night Hero had a big bone with lots of meat on it for his supper."
The children enjoyed Paul's story as much as they had Dot's. They thought Hero was a fine name for such a brave dog. They said Paul was a lucky boy to have a pet like that.
On another day little Dot was blindfolded. The slip of paper she drew had this name on it—Betty. So it was Betty's turn to tell about her pet. This is what she told:
"My pet is a pigeon. He is not just a common pigeon like the ones on the church roof. He is a carrier pigeon. My Uncle Fred brought him from France. He calls him the living airplane. Can you tell why?
"He is named Arrow. In France Arrow used to carry messages to the soldiers. These messages were written on tiny slips of paper and tied around Arrow's neck.
"When Uncle Fred came home he taught Arrow to go from my grandmother's house to our house and straight back again. It was a ten mile trip.
"This is the way Uncle Fred did it. Almost every day he would feed Arrow at both places. It was easy for him to do this as he used to ride over to our house a great deal. When he took Arrow away from one place he would leave some grain there. Arrow knew this. So when he was let loose he would fly straight to the grain. He never seemed to lose his way or stop in the wrong place.