A chorus of excited voices shouted the good news to him, and he wagged his little stump of a tail, and barked so loudly that he made almost as much noise as the children.
A few days later they were settled at the farm, and of course were charmed with everything, and were never tired of visiting the calves, the ducks, the chickens, the pigeons, and the little baby pigs.
When the children fed the pigeons Nip had to be tied up, to his great disgust, because the birds were afraid of him and would not peck up the grain while he was loose. This, perhaps, was why he took a dislike to the pigeons. “Stupid things!” he would growl. “They can do nothing but sit and say 'Coo, coo!' all day!”
But Nip soon had good cause to change his opinion. One day the farmer was going to market ten miles away, and knowing that he would need to send a message back immediately, he took one of his carrier-pigeons with him. Some hours later the pretty white bird flew down into the farmyard, and, tied to its feathers, the children found a tiny roll of paper containing the farmers message.
“Not so stupid, after all,” thought Nip, with a sniff, and felt a little ashamed of himself.
Constance M. Lowe.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
- Added Table of Contents.
- Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
- Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.