looked up with grateful eyes and
dripping jaws. While he was drinking his fill, a basket had been opened
by the children and slices of cold meat and bits of buttered bread were
placed before him. He swallowed the food greedily, but paused between
gulps to wag his tail and let them know how he thanked them.

For some time after this he lay quietly resting while the sunbonnet
children sat close beside him and wondered where he came from and what
his name was. Ruth, the younger, put out her hand to touch him timidly.

"I'm not afraid of him. He won't bite. He isn't a bear to eat us all up,
is he, Charlotte?"

"I--I--aren't afraid, either," Charlotte's voice was uncertain, but her
hand touched the dog's big head. Then both children lost all fear of
him and Jan forgot about William and the hours of suffering, for the two
little girls curled close to him, and soon they were all three fast
asleep.

The sun was almost setting when the father and mother tucked the basket
and shawls into the automobile. Jan watched with puzzled eyes as they
carefully put away some little boards. He had noticed when he woke from
his doze that both the man and the woman were sitting on stools with
these boards propped before them, and they were making marks on them.
The father was already in the machine and the little girls climbed in,
then the mother put her foot on the step and Jan let out a wild howl
that made them all start. He thought they were going to leave him behind
and he knew that he could never run fast enough to follow them.

"Good gracious! What a howl!" exclaimed the man, laughing. "We won't
leave you. Jump up, old chap!"

Jan lost no time scrambling into the automobile, then it ran swiftly
along a smooth road which finally twisted through a beautiful canyon.
Great trees were on all sides and a tiny stream bubbled and danced far
below. Birds sang and rabbits dashed out of the brush with swift hops
and jerks, but Jan did not want to eat the rabbits now. The children
kept laughing and clapping their hands, calling to Jan, "Look, look,
quick!" Sometimes their hands pressed his head to make him turn where
they pointed.

Jan was very happy on that ride, but he still hoped that by and by he
might get back home to Hippity-Hop and the captain.

Chapter X

THE HOME OF THE SUNBONNET BABIES

The home of Jan's new friends was perched high on the top of a mountain
peak, far above the canyon through which they had driven. Jan h