"Because you stuffed him while he was alive," said Jack, saucily.

Then we had to run for all we were worth, for the Dobson boy was after
us, and as he was a big fellow he would have whipped Jack soundly.

I must not forget to say that Billy was washed regularly--once a week
with nice-smelling soap and once a month with strong-smelling,
disagreeable, carbolic soap. He had his own towels and wash cloths, and
after being rubbed and scrubbed, he was rolled in a blanket and put by
the fire to dry. Miss Laura said that a little dog that has been petted
and kept in the house, and has become tender, should never be washed and
allowed to run about with a wet coat, unless the weather was very warm,
for he would be sure to take cold.

Jim and I were more hardy than Billy, and we took our baths in the sea.
Every few days the boys took us down to the shore and we went in
swimming with them.

* * * * *

CHAPTER VII

TRAINING A PUPPY

"Ned, dear," said Miss Laura one day, "I wish you would train Billy to
follow and retrieve. He is four months old now, and I shall soon want to
take him out in the street."

"Very well, sister," said mischievous Ned; and catching up a stick, he
said, "Come out into the garden, dogs."

Though he was brandishing his stick very fiercely, I was not at all
afraid of him; and as for Billy, he loved Ned.

The Morris garden was really not a garden but a large piece of ground
with the grass worn bare in many places, a few trees scattered about,
and some raspberry and currant bushes along the fence. A lady who knew
that Mr. Morris had not a large salary, said one day when she was
looking out of the dining-room window, "My dear Mrs. Morris, why don't
you have this garden dug up? You could raise your own vegetables. It
would be so much cheaper than buying them."

Mrs. Morris laughed in great amusement.

"Think of the hens, and cats, and dogs, and rabbits, and, above all, the
boys that I have. What sort of a garden would there be, and do you think
it would be fair to take their playground from them?"

The lady said, "No, she did not think it would be fair."

I am sure I don't know what the boys would have done without this strip
of ground. Many a frolic and game they had there. In the present case,
Ned walked around and around it, with his stick on his shoulder, Billy
and I strolling after him. Presently Billy made a dash aside to get a
bone. Ned