CHAPTER VII THE STRANGE MAN

 There were no more dog shows for us that summer, although Father and Mother went to one in August and Father came back with three blue ribbons and Mother with a blue and two reds. Father had beaten Champion Hillside Carl quite easily and was very proud for several days and Mother trotted¹ her feet off finding bones for him.

 

It was just after the show that Alfred and his mother came to visit us again, and I was awfully³ glad to see him. He had grown a good deal since the summer before. But then I had grown too and he said he would scarcely have known me! I don’t know which of us was gladder to see him, the Baby or I. We had some fine times in the next two weeks. We hunted squirrels in the orchard⁴ and had picnics in the woods and played all sorts of games. But we didn’t look for Indians in the swamp, I can tell you!

 

Alfred liked me best of all the dogs and one evening he came down to the Kennel⁵ after it was dark and carried me to the house and took me to bed with him and I slept there all night curled up in his arms. In the morning we had a fine romp⁶ when we woke up, but I guess we must have made too much noise, for Nurse heard us and came in and said, “Why, Master Alfred, wherever did you get that dog? Put him right off the bed this very instant!”

 

Nurse had left the door open and so I ran out as hard as I could and down the stairs. It wasn’t my fault that Delia was coming up just then with a tray of toast and coffee for Alfred’s mother, was it? Besides, she might have seen me if she had been looking. She didn’t, though, and I was in a great hurry and tried to run between her feet. I was almost at the bottom of the stairs when I heard the tray fall, and a piece of toast came rolling down after me. I thought it best not to stop for it, however, although I am very fond of buttered toast. Fortunately, William was shining the brass⁷ knocker on the front door and I was able to get out without more trouble.

 

I went right down to the stable and got behind the flower-pots and stayed there until the middle of the forenoon, but nothing happened, and so, when I heard Alfred whistling, I came out. William was there, too, and when I saw him I laid down on my back and put my feet up. But he only laughed.

 

“Don’t be letting Delia get hold of you to-day,” he said. “Keep away from the kitchen, Fritzie, my boy.”

 

And then he and Alfred both looked at each other and laughed again, and Alfred and I found the Baby and Freya and went down to the brook⁸ and waded⁹. When I saw Delia she had a piece of white cloth tied around her head. I don’t know why she did it, because it didn’t make her look any prettier.

 

After that Alfred took me to bed with him several times and I liked it a lot. And Nurse didn’t say a thing when she found me there. Delia and I made it up and were good friends again in a day or two. And then it came time for Alfred to go back to the city and I felt very sad and lonesome. So did the Baby, and she and I used to sit together in the hammock on the piazza¹⁰ and talk about Alfred and wish him back again. I was a great comfort to the Baby, I’m sure.

 

I was a year and a half old that Autumn, which, for a dog, is quite grown-up, you know. When I did anything silly Mother would say: “Remember, Fritz, you are no longer a puppy.” It was hard to do that, though, and I was just as fond of play as ever. But, of course, I had grown much more sensible and wise. Experience is a great teacher. I heard Father say that once, and I guess it must be so. I didn’t get into scrapes any more; at least, not many. I did dig a hole under the stable one day and then couldn’t get out again until William had taken some of the stones out of the wall. But that was because I didn’t know that the ground under the stable was so much lower than it was outside. It was rather a jolly place down there and I think there were rats there, but I was too frightened when I found I couldn’t get out again to do any hunting. And after that William put a stone where I’d gone in and I was never able to get back to make sure.

 

And then there was another scrape, too, which was quite the worst I ever got into. I shall not forget that very soon, I can tell you! It happened that October and this was the way of it.

 

Freya cared less for hunting and running around than ever that Fall and so I used to go about a good deal alone. Sometimes Father would take me to look for foxes, but that wasn’t very often, and we never found any. And sometimes Jack¹¹ and I would go for a run together. It wasn’t much fun for him, though, because my legs were so short that he had to wait for me to catch up to him every little while. So very often I went alone. I didn’t mind. There is so much to see if you use your eyes and so much to smell if you use your nose. And there are lots of nice things to listen to, besides. Like the songs that the birds sing and the whispers the breezes make in the trees and the chattering¹² of the squirrels and chipmunks¹⁴ and so many, many other sounds. There are lots of wonderful and interesting things in the world, and a dog who is treated kindly¹⁵ and has a nice home to live in has a very good time. The nice home has a lot to do with a dog’s happiness, as I found out when I didn’t have one.

 

One nice sunny day, when the leaves on the trees were all yellow and red and were fluttering down, I found myself on the road that passes our gate. I had been chasing a chipmunk¹³. He ran along on top of the wall and the fence, making a funny little squeaky noise, and every time I got near him he would give a long jump and get away again. And sometimes he would run down to the ground and hide and I’d have to hunt him out. When I lost him finally in a hole that went down under the stone wall I was nearly half a mile from home and there was a man walking toward me along the road.

 

He didn’t look quite like a nice man and I started to trot² away from him. But he called to me in a kind voice and so I stopped and looked back. And when I looked he stooped and held something toward me in his hand and it had a very good smell. William doesn’t give us raw meat except once in a great while when we aren’t feeling very well, but I knew the smell of it and I knew that it was raw meat that the man wanted to give me. I was hungry and so I thought it over and decided¹⁶ that if he really didn’t want the meat himself I might as well have it.

 

But I was a little bit afraid and didn’t go right up to him. He tossed a piece toward me and I went back and got it and it surely tasted awfully nice. Then he tossed me another piece and I ate that, and almost before I knew it I was eating the rest of the meat out of his hand and he was patting me and saying “Good dog.” And then he slipped a piece of string through the new collar that the Master had bought me with the money I had won at the dog show and when I tried to turn around and go home he wouldn’t let me! Instead of that he pulled me down the road right in the opposite direction. At first I went along without any fuss, but when we got farther and farther away I began to pull back and whine¹⁷. Then he got very angry with me and when he saw I would not go unless he pulled me he called me names and kicked me!

 

I had never been kicked before and it frightened me even more than it hurt, and it hurt a good deal. I yelped¹⁸ and tried to run away then, but the string held me, and every time I sat down and wouldn’t walk he kicked me with his boot. I soon saw that if I didn’t want to be kicked I must go with him, and so I went. But I was awfully frightened and I wanted to bite him but didn’t dare to. Pretty soon we came to a cross road which was winding¹⁹ and narrow and we turned into that and walked and walked for the longest way before we came to a house. It was a very small house and it needed paint and the yard in front was dirty and untidy. And when we went through[152] the gate a horrid²⁰ ugly big bulldog came running toward us, barking and growling²¹. But the man kicked him too, and the bulldog howled and ran into a shed near the house.

1 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。

2 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。

3 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。

4 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

5 kennel   

n.狗舍，狗窝

参考例句：

• Sporting dogs should be kept out of doors in a kennel.猎狗应该养在户外的狗窝中。
• Rescued dogs are housed in a standard kennel block.获救的狗被装在一个标准的犬舍里。

6 romp   

n.欢闹；v.嬉闹玩笑

参考例句：

• The child went for a romp in the forest.那个孩子去森林快活一把。
• Dogs and little children romped happily in the garden.狗和小孩子们在花园里嬉戏。

7 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

8 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

9 waded   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• He waded into the water to push the boat out. 他蹚进水里把船推出来。

10 piazza   

n.广场；走廊

参考例句：

• Siena's main piazza was one of the sights of Italy.锡耶纳的主要广场是意大利的名胜之一。
• They walked out of the cafeteria,and across the piazzadj.他们走出自助餐厅,穿过广场。

11 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。

12 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

13 chipmunk   

n.花栗鼠

参考例句：

• This little chipmunk is hungry.这只小花栗鼠肚子饿了。
• Once I brought her a chipmunk with a wound on its stomach.一次，我带了只腹部受伤的花栗鼠去找她。

14 chipmunks   

n.金花鼠( chipmunk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

15 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。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

18 yelped   

v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelped in pain when the horse stepped on his foot. 马踩了他的脚痛得他喊叫起来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A hound yelped briefly as a whip cracked. 鞭子一响，猎狗发出一阵嗥叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

20 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

21 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。