CHAPTER III
ROMULUS AND REMUS
They did call again, once on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day andagain in December, when the woods and fields were white with snow andthey wore their warm sweaters and arctics. On each occasion theybecame better acquainted with Sam's dogs and learned something newabout training dogs and finding game, and Sam showed them themechanism of his shotguns and rifles. He also explained to them hismethod of curing the pelts of muskrats and the beautiful silver-grayfur of the little moles that the people in charge of the Poor Farmwere very glad to have him trap in their garden. And as the boys cameto know Sam's dogs better they began to see how each differed from theothers in character and disposition and in the way they understood anddid things.
"Just like people," said Sam; "just like people."
Even Mrs. Whipple was unable to discover that the boys' manners hadbeen damaged greatly by their association with Sam Bumpus, though shewas surprised at their continuous talk about dogs and the strangejargon, as it seemed to her, which they used in that connection. Shewas no less surprised to find that her husband appeared to understandthe meaning of "bird sense" and "freezing to a point" and "retrieving"and "blood lines" and "cross-breeding" and to be able to discuss thesemysterious matters with the boys.
"But what is the good of their filling their heads with all thatstuff?" she asked him.
"My dear," replied Mr. Whipple, "you may not believe it, but it isjust as much good as arithmetic and geography, and you're alwaysworrying because they don't take more interest in those things. Thereare more ways than one to get an education."
But Mrs. Whipple only shook her head perplexedly.
It was on the day before Christmas that the great event occurred thatI have been leading up to. Ernest and Jack Whipple had returned froman hour's coasting on the long hill over by the brickyard and werestanding on their sleds beside the front gate bemoaning the fact thatthe snow had melted so badly and speculating on the surprises whichthe morrow might have in store for them. It was vacation, and theywere considering how best to spend the long hours that would intervenebetween dinner and time for lighting up the Christmas tree, whenErnest stopped abruptly in the middle of a sentence and stoodlooking up the street.
"Jack!" he exclaimed. "Look who's coming!"
Jack turned and beheld the familiar, lanky figure and long, easystride of Sam Bumpus. Both boys set up a yell and started on a run upthe street.
"Merry Christmas, Sam!" they cried. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, men," replied Sam, grinning.
One on each side of him, they escorted Sam down the street.
"Have you come to see us?" inquired Ernest.
"Why, no," said Sam. "I came to see the President of the UnitedStates, but I found he wasn't in town, so I thought I'd drop in onyou. You haven't seen anything of him around here, have you?"
The boys laughed delightedly; they had come to understand Sam's kindof joking.
"Well, you must come into our shack," said Ernest. "We'll introduceyou to mother, and father will be home soon."
"Well, I don't know as I'll exactly go in," replied Sam, doubtfully."Maybe your mother ain't asked to be interduced to me. Anyway, I cantalk better outside."
"Where's Nan?" asked Jack.
"I left her home, doin' up the dishes in the kitchen," said Sam."The city don't agree with Nan. It don't agree with me much, either. Iwon't stop but a minute."
"Aw, come on in," pleaded Ernest.
But Sam shook his head. "No," said he, "I just want to show yousomething, and then I must be goin'. Can't we go over to the barn?"
"Sure," said the boys, and led the way to the stable in the yard thatwas now used only as a tool house and garage.
"We'll show you our carpenter shop," said Ernest.
But Sam did not stop long to examine the carpenter shop. There wassomething very mysterious about his attitude which aroused the boys'curiosity to top pitch.
"Come over here," said Sam, stepping toward an unused stall.
He began fumbling in his capacious pockets, and the boys crowded closeabout him, expecting to see some unusual sort of game he had shot.Suddenly before their astonished eyes there appeared two fuzzy,dappled puppies, running and sniffing about the floor of the stall.
"Puppies!" cried the boys in unison.
"Yep," said Sam. "English setter puppies."
"Where did you get them?" demanded Jack, catching up one of thesprawling little dogs in his arms.
"Nellie gave them to me," said Sam.
A look of comprehension began to dawn in Ernest's eyes. "So that's whyyou wouldn't let us go near her kennel last time we were there," saidhe. "She had them all the time."
Sam grinned. "They're pretty young to take away from their mother,"said he, "but she has three more. She's a good mother, Nellie is. Youought to see her chase the other dogs away. I had a job of it gettin'these two weaned before Christmas."
"Why did you have to get them weaned before Christmas?" asked Jack.
"Now you jest think that over, and see if you can tell _me_," saidSam.
Ernest had already half guessed the wonderful truth, but he didn't yetdare to say what he thought.
"Don't be afraid of 'em," said Sam. "They won't bite--or leastways,not serious. Besides, they're your own dogs."
"Our own dogs?" gasped Jack in astonishment, the glad light beginningto break in upon him.
"Sure," said Sam. "What else would they be here for? I thought SantaClaus might happen to forget you, and so I brought 'em down."
"Oh!" cried Ernest. "Christmas presents! To be our very own dogs! Iguess none of the other boys will have such fine presents as these,Jack."
But Jack was speechless with joy.
"Have they got names?" asked Ernest.
"Sure," said Sam. "I told you how I name all my dogs with namesbeginning with the same letter. All my own puppies, I mean. It's forgood luck. There's Rex, you know, and Robbin and Rockaway. These twoare Romulus and Remus and they're twins. This one with the black earis Romulus, and this one with the little map of Africa on his side isRemus. That's how you can tell 'em apart."
"Which is mine and which is Ernest's?" inquired Jack, at last findinghis voice.
"Well, now, I hadn't thought of that," confessed Sam. "Suppose youdraw lots for 'em. Here, I'll hold these two broom straws so you can'ttell which is longest. You each draw one, and the one that gets thelongest straw can have first choice of the puppies. Is that fair?"
The boys agreed to the plan and drew the straws. Ernest's proved to bethe longer one.
"Well, he's older, anyway," said Jack. "Which one do you choose,Ernest?"
"I'll take Romulus," said Ernest promptly, having noted that the onewith the black ear was a shade the larger of the two.
"All right," said Jack, "and Remus is mine." And he asserted stoutlythat he would have chosen Remus anyway.
"That's good," said Sam. "Then you're both satisfied. Grown peoplewould have made more fuss about it, I'll warrant you.
"Well, I must be steppin' along," he continued. "Take good care of thepuppies, because they're valuable. Remember that they're used tosleepin' close to a warm mother and see that they have a good bed. I'dput some rags in a box for 'em if I was you. Let 'em have fresh airand sunshine and a chance to stretch their legs, but don't let 'em getwet or chilled through and put their bed where they ain't no draughts.Remember they ain't got their warm coats yet.
"Give 'em a saucer of milk with the chill taken off, six times a day,and break a little bread into it at supper time. In a few weeks youcan cut down to three meals a day, with more solid food, but I'll bedown to see you before then, if you don't get up to see me, and I'lltell you just how to manage. Let me know if you have any trouble ofany kind, but I guess you won't."
The clicking of the front gate announced the return of Mr. Whipple tohis noonday meal. The boys ran to the stable door and shouted,"Father! Oh, father, come see what we've got for Christmas!"
; They dashed toward him and dragged him by main force to the stable.But when they got there, Sam Bumpus had mysteriously disappeared,without giving the boys a chance to thank him or to wish him anotherMerry Christmas.
Mr. Whipple examined the puppies with interest and watched theirclumsy antics with amusement. Like most people he could not resist thecharm of a wet-nosed, big-footed, round-bellied, fuzzy little puppy.Presently, however, a look of doubt came over his face.
"What do you propose doing with them?" he asked.
"Why, having them for our dogs," said Jack, surprised that his fathershould ask so obvious a question.
"I mean, where do you plan to keep them?"
"Why, in our room, I guess," said Ernest.
But Mr. Whipple shook his head doubtfully. "I don't imagine they'vebeen taught yet how to behave themselves in the house," said he. "Andanyway, I don't believe your mother will want them there. She doesn'tlike dogs, you know."
"Aw, she wouldn't mind little bits of soft dogs like these," protestedErnest.
"Well, you can try it and see," said Mr. Whipple, "but I wouldn't getmy hopes up too high, if I were you."
Mrs. Whipple did object quite decidedly, and for a time it looked asthough Romulus and Remus were unwanted guests in that household andthat their young masters would be forced to part with them. Tears wereshed, but of that we will say little. At last Mrs. Whipple waspersuaded to grant a truce in order that the Christmas Eve festivitiesmight not be entirely spoiled. Besides, it was too late now to takethe puppies back to Sam Bumpus, and even Mrs. Whipple was nothard-hearted enough to think of merely putting them out into the cold.The upshot of it was that, Delia having been given the evening off,Romulus and Remus were banished to the kitchen for the night, with abed prepared in a box and another box of sand placed hopefully nearby. The boys insisted on serving their supper in two separate saucerswith the idea that each would recognize his own and observe the rightsof the other.
Occasional stealthy visits to the kitchen that evening disclosed tworemarkably wakeful and active puppies engaged in unexpectedexplorations, but at last they curled up together in their new bed,two innocent little balls of fluff, and Ernest and Jack bade themgoodnight with much ceremony.
On Christmas Day there was trouble from the start. In fact, it was oneof the liveliest Christmas Days in the history of the Whipplehousehold. In the first place, when Delia came back early in themorning to get things started for the Christmas dinner, shediscovered the two little strangers in her kitchen, and promptly madeknown the fact that they were puppies whose manners were not at allwhat they should be. Mr. Whipple averted a domestic storm by takingthe puppies out into the yard, where he had his hands full to keepthem out of the snow.
By this time the boys had finished the examination of their bulgingstockings and the larger contributions of St. Nicholas which stoodbeside the fireplace, and bethought themselves of Romulus and Remus.They dashed pell-mell out into the yard where their father waspondering what he should do with them next. The boys promptly solvedthis problem by picking up the puppies, each taking his own, andcarrying them forthwith into the house.
Mrs. Whipple was in a good humor that Christmas morning, and shereally wanted her boys to be happy all day, so although she added oneadmonition to another, she allowed the boys to play with the puppiesin the sitting-room. They would have to part with them soon enough,she thought, and meanwhile they might as well have as much fun as theycould.
But as the day wore on her good nature and kind intentions were sorelytried. Romulus and Remus appeared to think that the house was somesort of hunting ground especially provided for little dogs, and thatit was their duty to pursue, worry, and kill every sort of strangecreature they could find. Evidently they were imaginative puppies, forthey discovered enemies in overlooked corners of the room, on closetfloors, and everywhere. These enemies might be the discarded paperwrappings of Christmas presents, or they might be perfectly good ballsof darning cotton. It mattered not to Romulus and Remus so long astheir primitive impulse to catch and slay was satisfied. They werevery bloodthirsty little dogs.
But it ceased to be a joke, even to the boys, when Mrs. Whipple, forawhile put off her guard by a period of unusual quiet, discoveredRomulus and Remus engaged in the joint pastime of reducing to smallwoolly bits a new gray felt slipper which she herself had presented toher husband that very morning. Hastily she cleared out the bottom of acloset, thrust the puppies inside, and ruthlessly closed the door,deaf alike to the piteous little squeaky whines of Romulus and Remusand the louder protests of Ernest and Jack.
"Now you see what they've done!" cried Mrs. Whipple, holding up theforlorn and tattered remnants of the slipper. "I guess this will aboutfinish it. Wait till your father comes home."
Mr. Whipple had gone out for a little while that afternoon, and theboys awaited his return without much optimism. When his key was atlast heard in the latch they looked at each other with eyes big withapprehension.
Somebody had given Mr. Whipple a big cigar, and a lot of people hadwished him Merry Christmas, and he was in a very jovial mood indeed.Mrs. Whipple and the boys expected to see this mood suddenly changewhen he observed the ruined slipper.
Mrs. Whipple handed it to him without a word. He took it, examined itcarefully with a puzzled expression, and then (strange to relate)began to grin. (I wonder if the fact that Mr. Whipple detested feltslippers could have had anything to do with it.)
The grin broke into a hearty laugh, and Mr. Whipple sank into a chair,still holding the slipper before him.
"Well," said he, "they certainly made this look like a last year'sbird's nest. My eye! I should like to have seen them at it. The littlerascals! How did they ever escape your eagle eye, mother?"
But Mrs. Whipple did not reply. Two red spots glowed in her cheeks andher eyes were snapping. She turned and left the room. Mr. Whipplepuffed thoughtfully at his cigar for a moment and then rose andfollowed her, leaving the boys to engage in whispered conjectures asto the outcome of the affair.
I don't know what Mr. Whipple said to his wife in the other room,but he doubtless apologized for his ill-timed mirth and then talkedover certain things with her. The upshot of it all was that acompromise was reached in that household. It was decided that Ernestand Jack might keep the puppies they had so set their hearts uponprovided they were kept entirely away from Mrs. Whipple and were notpermitted to intrude themselves upon her affairs. The boys must assumeentire charge of them and be responsible for their actions, must feedand care for the dogs themselves without bothering their mother,paying for their food out of their own earnings and savings, and muston no condition bring them into the house. That was the ultimatum;Mrs. Whipple vowed that she would never allow another dog to enter herdoors.
"It's up to you, boys," said Mr. Whipple.
Strangely enough, the boys did not feel that these restrictionsimposed great hardship. In fact, it gave them a sense of pride and notunpleasant responsibility to be given sole charge of Romulus andRemus. Nothing, indeed, could have suited them better. And they wereso relieved to find that they were not to be deprived of their newpossessions after all that they were quite excitedly happy.
The only question that now seriously concerned them was to find awarm, dry place to keep the puppies in during the cold weather,while they were still so delicate and helpless. It was here that theirmother came to their rescue. Having won her main point about keepingthe dogs out of the house, she was mollified, and perhaps herconscience troubled her a little. She was really a very tender-heartedwoman, and it occurred to her that her ultimatum might be the cause ofreal suffering on the part of the puppies. So it was she who sent fora carpenter and had him make a sort of room out of one of the oldstalls in the stable, quite tight against draughts, and with a door inthe front for convenience.
When Mr. Whipple learned of this he laughed and patted his wife on theshoulder. "I always knew you were a cruel monster," he said.
He inspected the new abode of Romulus and Remus and expre
ssed hisapproval.
"It's the best thing in the world for them," he said to the boys."They will be really better off here than in a heated house. They'llgrow up sturdier and stronger. They only need to be protected againstdraughts and dampness, as Bumpus said. But you mustn't forget to keepboth doors closed and to warm their milk and water a little, whiletheir stomachs are still tender. They'll curl up close together andnever mind the still, dry cold. They'll be all right here."