“He’s mine,” said Bennie, sternly. “Come here, Jeff!”
At the sound of his angry voice, Jeff got behind the small boy’s legs.
“I didn’t do nothin’ to make him follow me,” the little fellow said. “Honest, I didn’t. He just came. Ma said I could keep him. I—I never had a dog.”
He was almost in tears, both because he thought he was being accused of stealing Jeff, and because he feared they were going to take his new pet away.
“Have a heart, Bennie,” Spider said. “He wants the pup worse than you do.”
Bennie hesitated, but his fondness for Jeff was too much. “No, sir, he’s my dog,” he declared.
“Let Jeff decide it,” said Uncle Billy. “He doesn’t really belong to either one of you. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I guess so,” Bennie confessed.
“Now, you go ten feet up the sidewalk. Son, you walk down as far as that tree. Spider, hold Jeff till they are set. Now, both of you, call him!”
“Here, Jeff! Here, Jeff!” called Bennie.