CHAPTER IV A VISIT TO JACK

 “Freya won’t mind it a bit, sir,” William was saying. “She’s the sort that loves a bit of fuss¹ and excitement. She’ll show well, she will, sir.”

 

William always thought whatever Freya did was all right. I made up my mind to show them that I could behave just as well as she could, and so I went back to the carriage room.

 

“Well, let me see how they act,” said the Master.

 

So William snapped² the leash³ on my collar and walked me slowly around in a circle several times. Then he stopped and I stopped and stood quite still. Then he led me to the box and said “Up, boy!” and I jumped up on the box and stood there very straight, with my head up and my body stretched as long as I could stretch it. Then William took hold of my tail and lifted my back legs up by it, and felt me all over and opened my mouth and looked at my teeth and went through with all the things he always did when I was on the box. And finally he said “All right, boy!” and I jumped down and looked at the Master and wagged⁴ my tail. I could see at once that he was very pleased.

 

“Why, there’s nothing wrong with him, William!” said the Master. “I never saw a dog have any better ring manners than that.”

 

William scratched his head and shook it and looked at me in a puzzled way. “Well, sir,” he said at last, “I never knew him to do it like that before. Seems as if he was sort of showing off, don’t it, sir?”

 

“Why, yes,” laughed the Master, “and that’s what we want him to do!”

 

Then Freya went through with it and didn’t do as well as I had because she kept wiggling all the time, wanting the Master to speak to her and pet her. Girl-dogs are silly that way. There’s a time for everything, but they don’t understand it. They always want to play when it’s time to work, which is quite wrong. Well, the Master was much pleased with both of us and said that we’d surely be shown at the Oak⁵ Cliff Show next month, and that he’d send in the entries at once. I ran off to tell Mother about it and she was pleased too.

 

“You must be a very good dog,” she said, “and do just as William tells you to. And when you get to the show you must mind your own affairs and pay no attention to other dogs or to people. I don’t think your father or I will be there, so you must look after yourself and Freya.”

 

I was sorry Father and Mother were not going, but I was quite excited at the thought of Freya and I going alone, and I hunted up Freya to tell her. When I found her she was looking very sad and I asked her what the matter was.

 

“I have a pimple⁶,” she whined⁷. “William just found it. He says if I don’t get rid of it before the show I won’t get a prize.”

 

And she absolutely began to cry! Aren’t girl-dogs funny? I looked at the pimple and it was so small I couldn’t see it at first. It wasn’t worth bothering about. I’d had them five times as large as hers. Why, the time I ate the crow that I found in the truck garden I had dozens of great huge ones! And William put some smelly stuff on them and gave me a dose of nasty⁸ medicine and they went right away again. So I laughed at Freya and she stopped crying, and after William had rubbed something on the pimple I told her what Mother had said. I thought she would be quite pleased about it, but she wasn’t. You never can tell what a girl-dog will do!

 

“Oh,” said Freya, “I should be frightened to death to go away without Father and Mother! I just couldn’t do it!”

 

“Well,” I said, “you’ll just have to. Besides, William will be there and maybe the Master, too.”

 

“But it isn’t the same as having your own parents,” said Freya, looking teary again. “Suppose—suppose anything happened to us!”

 

“What could happen?” I asked. “Besides, I’m going to be there!”

 

That ought to have satisfied her, I thought, but it didn’t, and she went running off to tell Mother how frightened she was. That was too much for me and I trotted⁹ over to call on Jack¹⁰ and tell him the news.

 

I found him in the back yard eating a fine big veal¹¹ bone. “Hello, Fritz,” he said, pushing the bone to me. “Want to chew on that? It isn’t half bad. I’m afraid I’ve eaten the best of it, though.”

 

 

It was very nice and sweet, that bone, and I settled down to enjoy it, and between crunches¹² I told him about Freya and I going alone to the dog show. He didn’t seem to think it was so grand, though. He kind of turned up his lip at it.

 

“The Oak Cliff Show?” he said. “Oh, that’s just a small affair, a one-day show, managed by the women folks. It’s pretty good fun, of course, but even if you do bring back some ribbons they don’t amount to much.”

 

I guess he saw that I was disappointed, because he went on: “Not that it isn’t worth while, of course. I used to go to it when I was a little fellow. You’ll like it and I dare say Freya will get a ‘blue.’ You too, maybe. A ‘red,’ anyhow. I have five or six ‘blues’ that I got there.” He yawned. “When is it to be?”

 

“Some time in June,” I said.

 

 

“Of course; it always is in June. I meant what day?”

 

I couldn’t tell him that, though.

 

“Well, you’ll have a good time. Don’t let folks handle you too much, Fritz. It upsets you and you don’t do so well in the ring. And don’t pay any attention to the judges. Act as if you didn’t see them. When I was a puppy¹³ I was too friendly and bit one of the judges on the nose when he was bending over me. I just did it in play, but I guess I bit too hard, because he made a great to-do about it and sent me right out of the ring and I didn’t even get a mention.”

 

“I suppose,” I said, “a great many dogs go to it?”

 

“Oh, about a hundred, I think. You’ll meet all kinds. Don’t have much to do with them. Some of them are no-account dogs. It takes all sorts of dogs to make a world, you know.”

 

 

“A hundred!” I said. “My, but that’s a lot of dogs, isn’t it? I didn’t know there were so many in the world, Jack!”

 

Jack laughed. “A hundred’s nothing,” he said. “In the New York show I’ve seen nearly five hundred! That’s a show that is a show, Fritz! Maybe if you do pretty well at Oak Cliff the Master will send you there next winter.”

 

“I wish he would,” I answered. “It must be fine.”

 

Jack yawned again. “It’s rather good fun until you get used to it,” he said. “Going? Well, come again. I’ll drop over and see you before the show.”

 

So I thanked him for the loan of his bone and trotted home.

1 fuss   

n.过分关心，过分体贴，大惊小怪，小题大作

参考例句：

• My mother makes a fuss of me every time I come home.我每次回家，母亲总对我体贴备至。
• Stop all this fuss and do your homework.别大惊小怪了，去做你的家庭作业吧。

2 snapped   

v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 )；（使某物）发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开，关闭]；厉声地说；拍照

参考例句：

• The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 leash   

n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住

参考例句：

• I reached for the leash,but the dog got in between.我伸手去拿系狗绳，但被狗挡住了路。
• The dog strains at the leash,eager to be off.狗拼命地扯拉皮带，想挣脱开去。

4 wagged   

v.（使）摇动，摇摆( wag的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The dog wagged its tail with pleasure. 那条狗高兴得直摇尾巴。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She wagged her finger with mock severity. 她故作严厉地摆了摆手指。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 oak   

n.栎树，橡树，栎木，橡木

参考例句：

• The chair is of solid oak.这把椅子是纯橡木的。
• The carpenter will floor this room with oak.木匠将用橡木铺设这个房间的地板。

6 pimple   

n.丘疹，面泡，青春豆

参考例句：

• His face was covered with pimples.他满脸粉刺。
• This is also a way to prevent the pimple.这也是防止疙瘩的一个途径。

7 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

8 nasty   

adj.令人讨厌的，困难的，恶劣的，下流的

参考例句：

• She got a nasty knock on the head when she fell.她跌倒时头部受到严重碰撞。
• When this material burns，it flings off a nasty smell.这种物质燃烧时发出一股难闻的气味。

9 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

10 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

11 veal   

n.小牛肉

参考例句：

• She sauteed veal and peppers,preparing a mixed salad while the pan simmered.她先做的一道菜是青椒煎小牛肉，趁着锅还在火上偎着的机会，又做了一道拼盘。
• Marinate the veal in white wine for two hours.把小牛肉用白葡萄酒浸泡两小时。

12 crunches   

n.（突发的）不足( crunch的名词复数 )；需要做出重要决策的困难时刻；紧要关头；嘎吱的响声v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的第三人称单数 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• I can't bear the way she crunches the sugar. 我简直看不惯她嚼糖的那副样子。 来自辞典例句
• Crunches with a twisting motion (to hit obliques) are excellent. 做仰卧起坐时加上转体动作更好。 来自互联网

13 puppy   

n.小狗，幼犬

参考例句：

• You must school your puppy to obey you.你要训练你的小狗服从你。
• Their lively puppy frisks all over the house.他们的小狗在屋里到处欢快地蹦跳。