dog called Scamp; he had long pepper-and-salt
hair, and very short legs, and he did not think it was fun to go with
the children of the house he lived in for their walk in the Park: he
wanted something more exciting, so he waited until they were not
looking, and then scampered off after another big dog he saw in the
distance. The big dog was very friendly, and began to play and run
about, and Scamp went after him as fast as his little short legs would
go; and by-and-by he grew tired, and lay down, panting, on the pavement,
and the big dog went away home. Then Scamp saw a cat coming very slowly
across the street to the little strip of grass that was surrounded by a
railing on the other side, and if there was one thing he hated it was
cats--nasty, cowardly, furry things! So he banged up suddenly, and the
cat went off like a shot, and Scamp after her; but when he had chased
her for quite a long time, she ran up a tree, and he could only stand
and bark. A greengrocer's boy pretended to bark too, and teased him; so
he grew cross, and thought he would go home. But he discovered all at
once that he did not know where home was, or even in which direction;
and he ran a little in one direction and a little in another, and then
set off running at full speed, with his long tail down between his legs.
A woman called to him and tried to stop him, but he only dodged her and
ran faster, until he came to a wide street full of shops, and here
people walking about, and carriages and cabs driving past, and he got
quite bewildered; and then, just when he was in despair, a policeman
caught hold of him and looked for his collar. Now, the silly little dog
had not got his collar on. Ethel had taken it off that morning to rub up
his name and address, and make them look nice and bright, and when she
wanted to put it on again, he had raced round the room and played, and
would not let her catch him until the governess had called out that it
was lesson-time; so Ethel had gone down, leaving the collar lying on the
table, and after lesson-time had forgotten all about it. So the big
policeman did not know to whom the dog belonged or where to take him.
Scamp was too well-mannered a little dog to bite, but he tried to get
down when the policeman took him up and struggled hard. The policeman
only laughed, and patted his head. 'No, no, my fine fellow,' he said
good-naturedly; 'there'll be someone looking for you, or I'm much
mistaken, and I must do my best