The Dogs of Boytown

by Walter A. Dyer

Harry was forced to admit that he never did.

"Gee, I wish we could all go camping out this summer," said Ernest Whipple. "It would be great fun to take the dogs along."

"Well, why can't we?" inquired Jimmie.

Many of the boys held inwardly a well-founded notion that there would be serious parental objections to a plan of this kind, but their ready imaginations caught fire at the idea and they were soon in the midst of a lively discussion of plans that gradually settled down from the wild and fantastic to the faintly feasible. When they separated that afternoon it was with the hopeful belief that they were going to organize a camping expedition.

The expected parental opposition developed promptly and decidedly, but when a dozen American boys get their hearts set on anything short of discovering the North Pole something is sure to happen. They did not quickly abandon their rosy project and they set about conquering the opposition by means of a determined siege.

The chief point of objection, of course, which indeed appeared insurmountable, was the natural belief on the part of parents that it would not be safe or wise to let their boys leave home and go camping out without the guardianship of some older person. No arguments could be invented to prevail against this. But help came from an unexpected quarter.

Theron Hammond's older brother, Alfred, a student at Yale and a steady, reliable sort of fellow, was spending his summer at home and was finding Boytown a bit dull after the activities of Junior year at college. One evening, when Theron had broached the subject for the fortieth time and his father had once more given a firm refusal, Alfred put in his oar.

"Aw, father," said he, "let him go and give us a little peace in the house. It won't hurt him."

"But, Alfred," said his father, "you know very well it would never do to let those boys go off alone. None of the parents would permit it."

"Suppose Horace and I went with them," suggested Alfred. Horace Ames was a classmate of Alfred's who was also languishing in summer idleness in Boytown.