RUDDY HELPS SALLIE
Eagerly and hungrily the ragged man ate the bowl of meat and broth. Sig watched him until he had finished and set the bowl down on the bench beside him.
"Yes, I've had bad luck ever since I lost my dog," half growled the ragged man. "I found the dog—he was living in an ash barrel down where I stayed near the dock. I took him on the boat with me for luck. Nice little pup he was—sort of brown in color—a dark red. I took him along for luck, but I didn't have any."
"Didn't you?" asked Sig. He was doing some hard thinking. Only that morning he had seen Rick and Ruddy racing along the beach together, and it was hard to say which was the happier—the dog or the boy.
"No, I didn't have any luck," went on the ragged sailor, who was not half as pretty to look at as the flower of that name. "I took that pup with me when I went on the Mary Jane—that was the name of the schooner. But a storm came up—right when we got off this coast. I was nearly washed overboard myself, and the pup was—completely. I guess he was drowned. No dog could live in that storm. He couldn't get ashore."
The life guard did not answer. He was not sure that Ruddy was the dog the tramp had taken along "for luck" as he said. And it would not be fair to Rick or Ruddy to send this man—this ragged sailor—to see if he could claim the red pup. Sig shook his head.
"We did have a bad storm early in September," he said. "Regular north-easter. I didn't see any wreck around here, though."
"Well, the schooner wasn't exactly wrecked—at least not then," went on the ragged man. "But my dog was washed overboard—a red pup he was, and I haven't had any luck since. After the storm our boat got leaking, and we had to put in. I lost my place on the Mary Jane and I haven't had any work since—that is not regular work. No luck at all. Maybe if I could find that dog I'd have luck again. But I don't see him around here."
"No, we haven't any dogs," said Sig. And again he made up his mind to say nothing about Ruddy. After all it might not be the same dog. Besides, this man did not look as though he would be kind to dogs, and no one has a right to own a dog, or any other animal, unless he is kind.
"Much obliged for the soup," said the ragged sailor, as he got up from the bench. "I feel better now. Maybe I'll have some luck after this."
"I hope so," spoke Sig, as kindly as he could.
"Maybe I'll find my dog," went on the wayfarer. "Guess I'll look around this village a bit. It's right about off shore here that he was washed overboard. He might have swum to land, though I doubt it. But I'll look around. I think I'd have better luck if I could have my dog!"
He slouched off down the beach, talking to himself. Sig watched him go. The life guard had forgotten the boat he was whittling out of a block of wood.
"It may be the dog Rick has," said Sig to himself. "But I'm not going to tell that man. He'd take Ruddy away if I did, and he hasn't any right to him. That man would be cruel to a dog, I know. I'll just slip up and tell Rick to keep Ruddy chained up for a day or two. It isn't likely this tramp will find Ruddy, but he might. I'll go tell Rick."
And that afternoon, when he had a little time to himself, the coast guard went up to the village and called on Rick.
"Where's Ruddy?" asked Sig.
There was something so strange in his voice that the boy looked up quickly and asked:
"You haven't come to take him away; have you? You don't want him back, do you, just 'cause you found him when he come out of the ocean?"
"No, I'm not going to take Ruddy away from you," answered Sig; "but another man might. Listen, Rick! I saw a tramp to-day. He once had a reddish dog, for luck, as he said, and the dog was washed overboard. Now I'll tell you what to do."
Sig told the story of the hungry, ragged sailor who sat on the bench eating the bowl of beef stew. And Sig told how the tramp-man was going to look around to see if he could find the dog he had lost.
"Keep Ruddy chained up!" half-whispered the coast guard.
"I will!" said Rick in a low voice, and he looked over his shoulder as if, even then, the man with the scraggy beard on his face might be coming along, looking for Ruddy.
And so the setter pup, for the next three days, was kept in his kennel, or only allowed to run out at night when Rick held him on a leash. Ruddy did not like it. He whined and barked to be set free, so he might run where he pleased. But Rick, looking into the brown eyes said:
"No, Ruddy; you must stay close to the house these days. I don't want to lose you. No ragged sailor tramp is going to get you!"
Ruddy had understood there was some need to keep quiet, even as his dog ancestors had known the need of quiet when their masters were hunting in the woods. And so though the days were long and unhappy ones, Ruddy stayed close to his kennel.
Meanwhile the ragged sailor wandered about the town, looking at the different dogs he met. Perhaps if he had found one that he could have picked up and taken away he would have done so. But all the dogs growled at the sight of him, and showed their teeth. Dogs, as a rule, do not like ragged men; though no matter how old are the clothes their master wears, it makes no difference. But that is another story.
"Yes, I lost my luck when I lost that dog," growled the tramp, as he slunk away. "But I guess he never got ashore. He was lost in the ocean, I reckon. I'll have to get another mascot dog for luck."
Then he slunk out of town, and, for a time, Ruddy was safe. But Rick did not let his dog run free until after he had talked to the life guard again.
"I guess the tramp has gone away," Sig said. "I haven't seen him around, though I did the first day after Captain White's wife gave him the bowl of stew. I guess he's gone. It will be safe to let Ruddy have a run."
And how glad the dog was to be free once more! To dash into the water and out again, to gallop over the hills and through the woods! And Rick went with him. Every hour that he was not in school Rick spent with his dog and his boy chums. And the other boys—Chot and all of Rick's friends—loved Ruddy as though he was their own.
Ruddy never bothered the swans now. He did not even bark at them as he passed them on the shore of Silver Lake. And Ruddy and Sallie kept up their friendship. No more did Ruddy chase the cat, and no more did Sallie arch up her back and fluff out her tail if the dog came near.
One day, when the ground in the forest was thick with the fallen leaves, Ruddy went off by himself to run through the woods. He knew Rick might soon be home from school, and the dog wanted to race about by himself before that. Ruddy was livelier than the liveliest boy you ever saw. He could run twice as far and twice as fast, and sometimes Rick did not move fast enough for Ruddy, who was bubbling over with life and happiness. So it was that the dog often used to get off by himself for a joyous race through the woods, where the dried leaves made such a jolly, rattling sound.
And it was while Ruddy was racing here and there in the woods among the leaves, catching, now and then, the most wonderful smells of wild rabbits, squirrels and quail birds—it was while thus running wildly to and fro, that Ruddy heard a voice calling.
"Mew! Mew! Meaouw!" came the sound, and Ruddy well knew what it was.
"A cat!" he thought to himself, in the way that dogs think, by instinct. "A cat! and maybe I can have fun chasing her."
Ruddy and Sallie had become friends by this time, living so close to one another, and Ruddy had given up chasing the big, gray tabby. But he was not friends with any other cat. In fact he did not then know any other cats except Sallie.
"Mew! Mew!" came the voice again, and Ruddy knew enough of animal talk to tell that it was a cat in trouble.
He sniffed and smelled his way to where the cat-odor came from until, passing around a hollow stump, he saw a sad sight.
Huddled up in a heap among the leaves was Sallie, and the gray cat was in pain. She was caught in something, as Ruddy could see, and at once he leaped to her side, though he did not know what was the matter. All he knew was that he wanted to help a friend, as, very often, animals help one another.
The fact was that Sallie was caught in a steel trap, set to catch some wild animal of the woods.