CHAPTER X BACK HOME AGAIN

 I was having a little nap at the back of my cage when I heard a lady’s voice say: “No, thank you, we are just looking about. My little boy wants to see the dogs.”

 

I pricked¹ up my ears, for I seemed to know that voice, but I couldn’t think whose it was. The lady was out of sight and I waited eagerly for her to reach my cage. And while she was still at the front of the store I heard another voice say, “Mother, do you suppose they have any dachshunds?” and my heart just jumped right up into my throat. For the voice was Alfred’s! I leaped against the bars and barked and barked, I can tell you! And Alfred and his mother heard me and came to see what all the noise meant. And when Alfred saw me he cried:

 

“Oh, Mother, here’s a dear little dachshund! Oh, please may I have him?”

 

“Why, I don’t know, dear,” said his mother. “He is a nice looking dog, isn’t he? Are you sure you want him?”

 

“Oh, yes, yes!” said Alfred. “Really, I do, Mother! He looks so much like Fritzie, doesn’t he? Don’t you think he does?”

 

Alfred put his hand into the cage to pat my head and I licked it and tried to reach his face with my tongue and whined² and whined. And Alfred’s eyes got rounder and rounder, and suddenly he cried very loudly:

 

“Oh, Mother, it is Fritzie! It is! It is! He knows me, Mother!”

 

And—oh, well, I don’t remember much about what happened after that for a while! I know the man came and let me out of the cage and I jumped and barked and whined and went on terribly silly, I guess. But you didn’t mind, did you? And then, almost before I knew it, I was snuggled up in—in Alfred’s arms in a carriage and we were rattling³ over the cobblestones at a great rate. And Alfred was crying and hugging me and his mother was smiling and crying a little too. I wasn’t, though; not then; I was far too happy to cry!

 

And then—but you know the rest of my story as well as I do. How the Master came up to the City and took me home again and how glad I was to see Mother and Father and Freya and every one else. And how William blew his nose over and over again and seemed to have a very bad cold in his head, and how the Baby said “Booful dogums!” and hugged me until I had almost no breath left! But there was one thing I don’t think you ever knew about fully⁴, and that was how the brindle bulldog came to be there.

 

I had been home nearly an hour and was lying in the doorway⁵ talking to Mother and Father and Freya, telling them all about what had happened to me while I was away, when a brindled⁶ bulldog came trotting⁷ up the road. He was a very ugly looking dog and when I saw him I growled⁸. But the others paid no attention to him. As he came nearer he reminded me of some dog I had seen somewhere and so I asked who he was.

 

“Oh,” said Mother, “that’s just Jim. He came here a month ago and wouldn’t let William drive him away. So he lives here now. He’s a very nice dog. Rather coarse in his ways and not much to look at, but good-hearted and kind and a fine fellow to keep watch.”

 

Then I remembered him. He was the dog who had belonged to the man who had stolen me. Of course I ran right out and said “Bow!” to him and we were very glad to see each other. He told me that after his master had gone away to take me to the City he got[179] to thinking about my home and how fine it would be to live in such a place and have regular meals and be spoken to kindly⁹ now and then and he had made up his mind to run away and go there. You see, he thought that as the Family had lost me maybe they’d like a dog to take my place. That was quite clever of Jim, don’t you think? And so he left his home before his master came back and trotted¹⁰ down the lane and into the big road and so up to the stable.

 

At first Father tried to drive him away and there was quite a rumpus, but Jim wouldn’t go. Then William tried to drive him away and got after him with the carriage whip. (Of course William didn’t hurt him any, because he never would hurt a dog more than was good for him.) And still Jim wouldn’t go. So William felt sorry for him then and gave him some food and Jim slept outside the stable that night. When William found him there the next day he tried to drive him away again. But Jim came right back and so William fixed¹¹ him up a box in the yard and ever since Jim had been one of the family. He told me that he was very happy and that he had never had so much to eat in all his life! The Master took a great fancy to Jim and Jim to the Master and they were fine friends. Of course the Family didn’t know that his name was Jim, because he never told them, and so they called him Tramp.

 

It was awfully¹² nice to be back home once more, I can tell you, and Mother and Father and Freya were so glad to see me that they just couldn’t do enough for me. Freya hung around so close that she got to be rather a bother! She never got tired of hearing about the wonderful things that had happened to me, and about Mouser and Prince and, especially, about Peaches, the dog who stood on his front legs. Even Ju-Ju seemed glad to have me back. I may be wrong about that, though. Cats are queer animals and you can’t tell much about what they’re thinking.

 

But glad as I was to be back home I was a little sad all the time. I missed Alfred a lot. And when, a few weeks later, the Family got ready to go to the City for a visit and I learned that I was to go with them I was awfully pleased because I thought that I should see Alfred again. And I did, didn’t I? Do you remember when the Baby brought me in here that morning and said:

 

“Afed, here is Kismus present for oo, Mild’ed’s booful dogum!”

 

You were almost as glad as I was, weren’t you?

 

Well, there, that’s all my story. Next month we’re going back to see them all, aren’t we? I shall like that. I suppose Freya is fatter than ever now. She doesn’t hunt enough. I shall tell Mother so, too.

 

 

Heigho! I think I’m getting sleepy. I have talked a great deal for a dog, and this pillow is very comfy. If you will lean over I’d like to lick your face. Then I shall take a nap. But don’t forget to call me when you are ready to go to walk. There’s a squirrel in the Park—he lives in the fourth tree after you go through the big gate—and he made a face at me yesterday ... or was it the day before? Anyway, ... he ought ... to be taught ... manners....

 

1 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

2 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

3 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

6 brindled   

adj.有斑纹的

参考例句：

• I saw his brindled cow feeding on fish remnants.我看见他的用鱼杂碎喂养的斑纹奶牛。
• He had one brindled eye that sometimes made him look like a clown.他一只眼睛上有块花斑，这使得他有时看上去活象个小丑。

7 trotting   

小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• The riders came trotting down the lane. 这骑手骑着马在小路上慢跑。
• Alan took the reins and the small horse started trotting. 艾伦抓住缰绳，小马开始慢跑起来。

8 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

10 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。

11 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

12 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。