Bruno

So Eddy held the net down, while Ralph went into the tool-house after the cage. He succeeded in putting the bird into the cage safely, and then went home.

The feeding.

Ralph attended his bird very carefully for many days, feeding him with strawberries and crumbs of bread. The natural food of most small birds consists of seeds, berries, and insects. Ralph knew, therefore, that strawberries would be good for his bird, and as for bread, he reflected that it was made from seeds, namely, the seeds of wheat. The only difference was, that in bread the seeds were ground up, mixed with water, and baked. So Ralph concluded that bread would be a very proper food for his robin.

The stile.

As soon as the robin grew old enough to hop about a little, Ralph used often to take him out of his cage and put him on the walk in the garden, or on the end of a fence, near a stile, where was a broad, flat place convenient for the little bird to stand on. In such cases, he would, himself, always stand at a little distance off, so as not to frighten the bird, and in this manner he gradually taught him to be very tame and familiar.

Bruno and Hiram. Description of the premises.

Although Ralph was thus very kind to his robin, he was generally a very unreasonable and selfish boy. Bruno, at this time, lived in the house next to the one where he lived. Bruno belonged, as has already been said, to a boy named Hiram. The two houses that these two boys lived in were pretty near together, and the gardens adjoined, being separated from each other only by a wall. At the foot of each garden was a gate, and there was a little path which led along from one gate to the other, through a field where there was a brook, and also a great many trees overshadowing the banks of it. The boys used often to visit each other by going from one of these gates to the other along this path. There was a space under Hiram’s gate where Bruno could get through. He used often to go through this opening, and pass down into the field, to drink in the brook, or to play about among the trees. Sometimes both the gates were left open, and then Bruno would go and look into Ralph’s garden; and once he went in, and walked along as far as the tool-house, looking about and examining the premises very curiously. As soon as he had seen what sort of a place it was, however, he turned round and ran out again, not knowing what might happen to him if he stayed there.

Ralph wishes to buy Bruno.

Ralph saw Bruno often when he went to visit Hiram in his garden, and he wished that he could have such a dog himself. In fact, he tried to buy him of Hiram a long time, but Hiram would not sell him. Ralph became very angry with Hiram at last for so strenuously refusing to sell his dog.

“You are a great fool,” said he, “for not being willing to sell me the dog. I would give you any price you would name.”

“That makes no difference,” said Hiram; “I would rather have the dog than any amount of money, no matter how much.”

Ralph becomes Bruno’s enemy.

So Ralph turned, and went away in a rage; and the next time he saw Bruno out in the field behind the garden, he ran down to his gate and pelted him with stones.

Bruno could not understand what reason Ralph could have for wishing to hurt him, or being his enemy in any way. He perceived, however, that Ralph was his enemy, and so he became very much afraid of him. When he wished to go down to the brook, he always looked out through the hole under the gate very carefully to see if Ralph was near, and if he was, he did not go. If he could not see Ralph any where, he would creep out stealthily, and walk along in a very cautious manner, turning his head continually toward Ralph’s gate, to watch for the slightest indications of danger; and if he caught a glimpse of Ralph in the garden, he would turn back and run into Hiram’s garden again.

The boys play together.

Bruno was a very courageous dog, and he would not have run away from Ralph, but would have attacked him in the most determined manner, and driven him away from the garden gate, and thus taught him better than to throw stones at an innocent and unoffending dog, had he not been prevented from doing this by one consideration. He perceived that Ralph was one of Hiram’s friends. Hiram went often to visit Ralph, and Ralph, in return, came often to visit Hiram. They used to employ themselves together in various schemes of amusement, and Bruno, who often stood by at such times, although he could not understand the conversation that passed between them, perceived, nevertheless, that they were good friends. He would not, therefore, do any harm to Ralph, even in self-defense, for fear of displeasing Hiram. Accordingly, when Ralph assaulted him with sticks and stones, the only alternative left him was to run away.

Hiram catches a squirrel. Ralph wishes to buy the squirrel.

It is singular enough that Ralph, though often very unreasonable and selfish in his dealings with other boys, and though in this instance very cruel to Bruno, was still generally kind to animals. He was very fond of animals, and used to get as many as he could; and whenever Hiram had any, he used to go to see them, and he took a great interest in them. Once Hiram caught a beautiful gray squirrel in a box-trap. He put the trap down upon a chopping-block in a little room that was used as a shop in his father’s barn. Ralph came in to see the squirrel. He kneeled down before the block, and, lifting up the trap a little way, he peeped in. The squirrel was in the back corner of the trap, crouched down, and feeling, apparently, very much afraid. He had a long, bushy tail, which was curled over his back in a very graceful manner. Ralph resolved to buy this squirrel too, but Hiram was unwilling to sell him. However, he said that

perhaps he would sell him, if Ralph would wait till the next day. Ralph accordingly waited; but that night the squirrel gnawed out of his trap, and as the shop window was left open, he made his escape, and got off into the woods again, where he leaped back and forth among the branches of the trees, and turned head over heels again and again in the exuberance of his joy.

Hiram and Joe go into the woods.

One day Hiram went out into the woods with a man whom they called Uncle Joe, to get some stones to mend a wall. They went in a cart. They placed a board across the cart for a seat. Uncle Joe and Hiram sat upon this seat together, side by side, Hiram on the right, as he was going to drive. The tools for digging out the stones, consisting of a spade, a shovel, a hoe, and a crowbar, were laid in the bottom of the cart. Thus they rode to the woods. Bruno followed them, trotting along by the road-side, and now and then running off under the fences and walls, to see if he could smell the tracks of any wild animals among the ferns and bushes.

Bruno barks at something.

He was not successful in this hunting on his way to the woods, but, after he arrived there, he accomplished quite a brilliant achievement. Hiram and Uncle Joe were very busy digging out stones, when their attention was arrested by a very loud and violent barking. Hiram knew at once that it was Bruno that was barking, though he could not see him. The reason why they could not see the dog was, that he was down in the bottom of a shady glen, that lay near where Hiram and Uncle Joe were digging the stones.

“What’s that?” said Hiram. “What is Bruno barking at?”

“I don’t know,” said Uncle Joe; “go and see.”

Bruno finds a fox’s hole.

So Hiram threw down his hoe, and, seizing a stick, he ran down into the glen. He found Bruno stationed before a hole, which opened in under a bank, near a small spring. He seemed very much excited, sometimes running back and forth before the hole, sometimes digging into it with his fore paws, and barking all the time in a very loud and earnest manner. He seemed greatly pleased when he saw Hiram coming.

As soon as Hiram saw that Bruno was barking at a hole, which seemed to be the hole of some wild animal, he went back and called Uncle Joe to come and see. Uncle Joe said he thought it was the hole of a fox, and from the excitement that Bruno manifested, he judged that the fox must be in it.

“I’ll go and get the tools,” said he, “and we will dig him out.”

Hiram gets a little fox.

So Uncle Joe went for the tools, and he and Hiram began to dig. They dug for more than half an hour. Finally they came to the end of the hole, and then they found a young fox crouching close into a corner. He was about as large as a small kitten.

His plans for him. Hiram gives his fox a hole to live in.

Hiram said he meant to carry the fox home, and bring him up, and tame him. He accordingly took him in his arms, and carried him back to the place where they had been digging stones. Uncle Joe carried back the tools. Bruno jumped about and barked a great deal by the side of Hiram, but Hiram ordered him to be quiet, and finally he learned that the little fox was not to be killed. When they reached the stone quarry, Hiram made a small pen for the fox. He made it of four square stones, which he placed together so as to inclose a small space, and then he covered this space by means of a flat stone which he placed over it. Thus the little prisoner was secured.

When the pen was completed, and the fox put in, Hiram resumed his work of digging stones with Uncle Joe. He was very eager now to get the load completed as soon as possible, so as to go home with his fox. While he was at work thus, Bruno crouched down before the place where Hiram had shut up his fox, and watched very earnestly. He understood that Hiram wished to keep the fox, and therefore he had no intention of hurting him. He only meant to be all ready to give the alarm, in case the little prisoner should attempt to get away.

Hiram had very good success in training and taming his fox. Ralph and Eddy came often to see him, and they sometimes helped Hiram to feed him, and to take care of him. There was a place by an old wall behind the house where Hiram lived where there was a hole, which seemed to lead under ground, from a sort of angle between two large stones.

“I’ll let him have that hole for his house,” said Hiram. “I don’t know how deep it is; but if it is not deep enough for him, he must dig it deeper.”

The chain.

Ralph had a small collar which was made for a dog’s collar; and one day, when he felt more good-natured than usual, and had in some measure forgotten Hiram’s refusal to sell Bruno to him, he offered to lend Hiram this collar to put around Foxy’s neck.

“Then,” said Ralph, “you can get a long chain, and chain Foxy to a stake close to the mouth of his hole. And so the chain will allow him to go in and out of his hole, and to play about around it, and yet it will prevent his running away.”

Hiram liked this plan very much. So Ralph brought the collar, and the boys put it upon Foxy’s neck. Hiram also found a kind of chain at a hardware store in the village, which he thought would be suitable to his purpose, and he bought two yards of it. This length of chain, when Foxy was fastened with it, gave him a very considerable degree of liberty, and, at the same time, prevented him from running away. He could go into his hole, where he was entirely out of sight, or he could come out and play in the grass, and under the lilac bushes that were about his hole, and eat the food which Hiram brought out for him there. Sometimes, too, he would climb up to the top of the wall, and lie there an hour at a time, asleep. If, however, on such occasions, he heard any one coming, he would run down the rocks that formed the wall, and disappear in his hole in an instant, and he would not come out again until he was quite confident that the danger had gone by.

The cunning of the fox.

It is not very difficult to tame a fox. And yet, in his natural state, he is very wild and very cunning. He resorts to all sorts of maneuvers and contrivances to entrap such animals as he likes for food. On the adjoining page is the picture of a fox lying in wait to catch some rabbits which he sees playing in a neighboring field. He watches for them very slyly; and when they come near enough, he will spring upon them, and seize them entirely unawares.

He is very cunning, and yet, if he is caught young, it is not difficult to tame him.

Ralph offers half a dollar for Hiram’s fox.

One day, after some time, Ralph took it into his head to buy Foxy, as he had tried to buy Bruno; but he found Hiram as little disposed to sell the one as the other.

“I will give you half a dollar for him,” said Ralph, “and that is twice as much as he is worth: a full grown fox is not worth more than that.”

Ralph had some money in small silver pieces and cents, amounting to about half a dollar. This treasure he kept in a tin moneybox, shaped like a house, with a place to drop money in down the chimney.

“No,” said Ralph, “I would rather not sell him.”

Ralph tried a long time to persuade Hiram to sell the fox, but Hiram persisted firmly in his refusal. At length Ralph became very angry with him, because he would not consent. This was extremely unreasonable. Has not a boy a right to do as he pleases about selling or keeping his own property?

Most certainly he has; and yet nothing is more common than for both men and boys to be angry with their friends and neighbors for not being willing to sell them property which they wish to buy.

“Ralph, are you stoning Bruno?”

When Ralph found that Hiram could not be induced to sell Foxy, he went off in great anger, muttering and threatening as he went. He passed out through the gate at the bottom of the garden, and then walked along the path toward the gate which led to his own garden. As he was going in, he saw Bruno lying down upon a grassy bank near the stream. He immediately began to take up stones to stone him. The first stone which he threw struck Bruno on the back, as he lay upon the grass, and hurt him very much. Bruno sprang up and ran away, barking and making other outcries indicative of pain and terror. Hiram came running down to the garden to see what was the matter. When he reached the place, he saw Ralph just aiming another stone.

“Ralph!” exclaimed Hiram, greatly astonished, “are you stoning Bruno?”

“Yes,” said Ralph; “I’ve stoned him a great many times before, and I’ll stone him again the next time I catch him down here.”

Bruno’s escape.

By this time Bruno had come to the gate. He scrambled in through his hole, and then, thinking that he was now safe, he walked along up one of the alleys of the garden.

Hiram, knowing well that it would do no good to remonstrate with Ralph while he was in such a state of mind, shut the gate of the garden, and went to the house.

Ralph resolves to reclaim his collar.

That evening, while Hiram was in the house eating his supper, Ralph came down out of his own garden, and went into Hiram’s. He was talking to himself as he walked along.

“I am going to get my collar,” said he. “I won’t lend it to such a fellow any longer. I shall take it off the fox’s neck, and carry it home. I don’t care if the fox does get away.”

He does so.

When he approached the old wall, the fox was on the top of it; but, on hearing Ralph coming, he ran down, and went into his hole. As soon as Ralph reached the place, he pulled the fox out roughly by the chain, saying,

“Come out here, you red-headed son of a thief, and give me my collar.”

So saying, he pulled the fox out, and unhooked the chain from the collar. He unfastened the collar, and took it off from the fox’s neck. He then threw the fox himself carelessly into the grass, and walked away down the garden.

Just at this time Hiram came out from his supper, and, seeing Ralph walking away, he apprehended something wrong, and he accordingly hastened on to see if his fox was safe. To his great surprise and grief, he saw the chain lying on the ground, detached and useless. The fox was gone.

He immediately called out to Ralph to ask an explanation.

“Ralph,” said he, “where is my fox?”

I haven’t got your fox,” said Ralph.

“Where is he, then?” asked Hiram.

“Gone off into the woods, I suppose,” said Ralph.

Hiram stood still a moment, utterly confounded, and wondering what all this could mean.

“I came to get my collar,” said Ralph, holding up the collar in his hand, “and if the fox has gone off, it is not my fault. You ought to have had a collar of your own.”

Hiram laments the loss of his fox.

Hiram was extremely grieved at the thought of having so wanton an injury inflicted upon him by his neighbor and playmate, and he turned toward the place where his fox had been kept with tears in his eyes. He looked all about, but the fox was nowhere to be seen. He then went slowly back to the house in great sorrow.

As for Ralph, he went back into his own garden in a very unamiable state of mind. He went up into the loft over the tool-house to put the collar away. He climbed up upon a bench in order to reach a high shelf above, and in so doing he knocked down a box of lucifer matches, which had been left exposed upon a corner of the shelf. He uttered a peevish exclamation at the occurrence of this accident, and then got down upon the floor to pick up the matches. He gathered all that he could readily find upon the floor, and put them in the box, and then put the box back again upon the shelf. Then he went away into the house.

Hope.

About two hours after this, just before dark, Hiram was sitting on the steps of the door at his father’s house, thinking mournfully of his loss, when he suddenly heard a very loud barking at the foot of the garden.

“There!” said he, starting up, greatly excited, “that’s Bruno, and he has found Foxy, I’ll engage.”

An alarm. The garden-house on fire.

So saying, Hiram ran down the garden, and on his way he was surprised to see a smoke rising from the direction of Ralph’s garden-house. He did not, however, pay any very particular attention to this circumstance, as it was very common for Ralph to have fires in the garden, to burn the dried weeds and the old straw which often collect in such places. He hastened on in the direction of Bruno’s barking, quite confident that the dog had found his lost fox, and was barking for him to come and get him.

Just at this moment he saw Bruno come running to the gate at the bottom of the garden. He was barking violently, and he seemed very much excited. As soon as he saw Hiram coming, he ran back again and disappeared. Hiram hastened on, and, as soon as he got through the gate into the field, he saw that Bruno was standing at the gate which led into Ralph’s garden, and running in and out alternately, and looking eagerly at Hiram, as if he wished him to come. Hiram ran to the place, and, on looking in, he saw, to his utter consternation, that the garden-house was on fire. Dense volumes of smoke were pouring out of the doors and windows, with now and then great flashes of flame breaking out among them. Bruno, having brought Hiram to the spot, seemed now desirous of giving the alarm to Ralph; so he ran up toward the house in which Ralph lived, barking violently all the way.

His effort was successful. In a minute or two he returned, barking as before, and followed by Ralph. Ralph was greatly terrified when he saw that the garden-house was on fire. He ran back to the house to call his mother. She came down to the place in great haste, though she seemed quite calm and composed. She was a woman of a very quiet disposition, and was almost always composed and self-possessed. She saw at a glance that the fire could not be put out. There was no sufficient supply of water at hand, and besides, if there had been water, she and the two boys could not have put it on fast enough to extinguish the flames.

“What shall we do?”

“Oh dear me! oh dear me!” exclaimed Ralph, in great distress, “what shall we do? Mother! mother! what shall we do?”

“Nothing at all,” said his mother, quietly. “There is nothing for us to do but to stand still and see it burn.”

“And there’s my poor robin all burning up!” said Ralph, as he ran to and fro in great distress. “Oh, I wish there was somebody here to save my robin!”

The robin in danger.

The cage containing the robin was hanging in its place, under the shelf by the side of the window. The smoke and flame, which came out from the window and from a door below, passed just over it, and so near as to envelop and conceal the top of the cage, and it was plain that the poor bird would soon be suffocated and burned to death, unless some plan for rescuing it could be devised. When Hiram knew the danger that the bird was in, his first thought was that he was glad of it. He pitied the bird very much, but he said to himself that it was good enough for Ralph to lose it. “He deserves to lose his bird,” thought he, “for having let my Foxy go.”

This spirit, however, of resentment and retaliation remained but a moment in Hiram’s mind. When he saw how much interest Bruno seemed to feel in giving the alarm, and in desiring to have the fire extinguished, he said to himself, “Bruno forgives him, and why should not I? I will save the bird for him, if it is possible, even if I get scorched in doing it.”

Hiram rescues the robin by means of the ladder.

He accordingly ran round to the back side of the garden-house to get the ladder. Bruno followed him, watching him very eagerly to see what he was going to do. Hiram brought the ladder forward, and planted it against the garden-house, a little beyond the place where the cage, was hanging. In the mean time, Ralph had run off to the house to get a pail of water, vainly imagining that he could do at least something with it toward extinguishing the flames and rescuing the bird. By the time he got back, Hiram had placed the ladder, and was just going up, amid the smoke and sparks, to get the cage.5 Bruno stood by at the foot of the ladder, looking up eagerly to Hiram, and watching as if he were going to take the cage as soon as it came down.

Hiram had to stop once or twice in going up the ladder to get breath, for the wind blew the smoke and sparks over him so much at intervals as almost to suffocate him. He, however, persevered, and finally succeeded in reaching the cage. He took it off from its fastening, and brought it down the ladder. When he reached the ground, Bruno took it from his hand by means of the ring at the top, and ran off with it away from the fire. He then placed it carefully upon the ground, and began leaping around it, wagging his tail, and manifesting every other indication of excitement and delight.

Ralph was very much pleased, too, to find that his robin was safe. He took the cage, and, carrying it away, set it down at a still greater distance from the fire. The garden-house was burned to the ground. Hiram and Bruno waited there until the fire was almost out, and then they went home. Hiram experienced a feeling of great satisfaction and pleasure at the thought that he had been able to save Ralph’s bird. “I should have been sorry,” said he to himself, “if he had lost his bird, and I think, too, that he will be sorry now that he let my little Foxy go.”

The next morning, after breakfast, Hiram concluded that he would go round into Ralph’s garden, and look at the ruins of the fire. He passed out through the gate at the bottom of his father’s garden, and then turned into the path leading to the other gate, and there, to his surprise, he saw Ralph sitting on a stone, feeding Bruno with a piece of meat. It was a piece which he had saved from his own breakfast for the purpose. Bruno was eating the meat with an appearance of great satisfaction, while Ralph sat by, patting him on the head.

“Hiram, I am giving Bruno some breakfast.”

“Hiram,” said Ralph, as soon as he saw Hiram coming, “I am giving Bruno some breakfast.”

Bruno looked up toward Hiram and wagged his tail.

“That’s right,” said Hiram. “He seems to like it very much.”

“Hiram,” said Ralph, again.

“What?” said Hiram.

Ralph hesitated. He seemed to have something on his mind, and not to know exactly how to express it.

“How is the robin this morning? Did he get stifled any by the smoke?”

Restitution. Ralph proposes to get another fox for Hiram.

“No,” said Ralph; “he is as bright as a lark.” Then, after a moment’s pause, he added, “I am sorry I let your Foxy get away. I suppose I ought to pay you for him; and, if I could get another fox for you, I would. I have not got any thing but just my bird. I’ll give you him.”