es
raised and teeth showing, he slammed the gate and started off down the
road.

But here he did a silly thing. Instead of going off about his business, he
stooped, picked up a stone and threw it at Zip, hitting him squarely on
the side and hurting him dreadfully, as the stone was large and sharp.
This was too much. He, Zip, would have a piece of that tramp's leg or he
would know the reason why! The tramp thought he was safe in hitting the
dog as the gate was shut and the fence high. But whoever yet has succeeded
in shutting a little dog in a yard by a high fence? Not many people, I am
sure, for the dog will always find a hole to crawl through or a pale off
where he can squeeze through, or, not finding these, he will dig a hole
under the fence. And this is what Zip had done many weeks before, for he
found it necessary to have some place he could get through in a hurry to
go after the school children who delighted in teasing him. So now quick as
a flash he ran for this hole, which was well hidden by a big lilac bush,
and before the tramp even knew he was coming, Zip was through the hole and
had his little, sharp teeth buried in his shin. With a cry of surprise and
pain, the tramp turned to see what had hurt him. When he saw the little
dog, he raised his cane to strike him, but as it came down Zip let go his
hold and grabbed the bundle that was on the end of the cane and made off
with it. This infuriated the tramp and he hobbled after Zip, calling him
all sorts of bad names as he came. This Zip did not mind in the least, but
kept right on dragging the bundle along with him as he ran down the road.

Now this bundle was round and heavy, and hard for such a small dog to
carry, and it kept tripping him up and rolling him over. But he hung on
with the tenacity of a bulldog until he saw the tramp was going to
overtake him. Then he decided not to try to carry it to the hole in the
fence, but to jump the ditch and drop it in the frog pond. The tramp was
almost upon him now and had his cane raised to hit him, but when it came
down, it hit the earth, not the dog, for just at that moment Zip had made
a flying leap over the ditch, taking the bundle with him.

Once there, he dragged it along or held it up off the ground by stretching
his neck up high until he came to the edge of the frog pond. Then he let
go and watched it disappear under the water.

[Illustration]

By this time the tramp was simply furious and was threatening to