Master Frisky/Chapter 6
Poor Tony was an orphan and all alone in the world, his mother having died the day that he was born; and as for his father, no one had ever even heard of him.
What could one do alone in the world, especially when one was only a bit of a black and tan terrier pup, and small enough to go into a teacup? Certainly it was an uneven battle; the great strange world on one side, and this bit of a dog on the other.
At present Tony was just nine days old, and he was lying in a basket trying to get his eyes open, they were stuck together so tight; and there were a great many strange noises, and he wanted to see what they all were; besides, it was so dark.
Presently he got one of them open a little and peeped out; but he could not see very well, the light blinded him so, and he only had one corner of an eye to see with. So he waited, and in the meantime took a nap.
When he woke up, the eye that had been partly open came wide open with a snap, and the great world was before him. How the light blinded him! he was soon glad to shut this one eye and let it rest; but presently he opened it again, and looked around.
He was lying on some hay in a willow basket, and there was a dish of milk beside him; this must be what they had been feeding him with a spoon. So he went to the dish and drank till his sides stuck out, which made him look even more than ever like a ball.
He then looked up to the top of the basket. It was so high, he never would be able to get out of it, and would have to live in the basket all his life. When he looked up again he saw a strange face looking down at him. There were two big eyes, and lots of whiskers. It was stern Thomas, the family cat; but Tony did not know. He thought that it would be nice to make friends with the stranger, and so he tried to get up; but his legs were very wabbly, and as soon as he raised his nose, stern Thomas gave him a terrible box on the ear, and poor Tony thought that he was killed. So he lay very still; and after that whenever he saw Thomas looking into the basket he got as far away as possible, and he most certainly did not poke his nose up at him.
There were three things that Tony did during these puppy days. He ate, he slept, and he grew; but when his eyes got so that they were wide open all the time, and his stubby legs were no longer weak, these things would not do for him. He was too big a dog to merely grow; he must find what was at the other end of his basket, and see, if he could, what was outside. So he would waddle up and down, smelling at all the corners, and sometimes making funny grunts and whines, which he thought were very fierce growls and barks. When he was tired of this he would roll and tumble about, biting with his toothless gums at the hay, or tearing the blanket that had been put in the basket to make it comfortable for him.
One day he stood upon his hind legs and reached up as far as he could with his fore paws, and to his great joy he got them over the top of the basket. Then he dug his toes into the sides of the basket, and tumbled head first upon the floor.
His nose got a hard bump in the fall, but he was out of that hateful basket, so he did not care; and soon he was having a fine time hopping around the shed, and smelling and lapping everything in sight. But this fun was of short duration; for suddenly there was a frightful spitting, and before he knew it Thomas, the old cat, was upon him, spitting in his face, and sticking such sharp needles into him that he yelped and yelped, and was too frightened to try to run. He just got as far into a corner as he could. The poor little puppy would have been badly clawed had not some one happened along and driven off hateful Thomas, and put him back into his basket. After this experience he did not venture out again for two days; but by that time he had forgotten his severe lesson, and came forth again. This time he went straight for the woodshed door, and out on the lawn, where the grass was fresh and green. How cool it was, and what fun it was to play upon it. Here it was upon the lawn that Master Frisky and I first saw him. Frisky went up to him, and gave him a good dog kiss, and was very good to Tony; for he had never seen so small a dog, and he thought him very cute. Then Tony remembered about Thomas, and he told Master Frisky about the cat with needles in his paws; and Frisky said that he had better not touch him when he was around. Frisky stayed and played with Tony while I went to the post-office, and when I came back they were still rolling on the grass.
"Don't go away," said Tony with a funny little whine; "you are all the friend that I have in the world."
"But I must," said Frisky; "don't you see my master is a long way down the street, and I ought to be right by his side? I will come and see you again to-morrow." So he gave Tony another good dog kiss, and galloped after me.
Faithful to his promise, Master Frisky went to see Tony the next morning; and although it was early, he found Tony waiting for him at the corner of the house. At the sight of Master Frisky, Tony came running to him with queer hops like a rabbit, and he expressed his joy with funny little barks.
"Oh, I am so glad to see you!" he said. "I was awful afraid that you would not come. I love you so much because you are good to me."
The two friends lay down on the grass and had a fine tumble. Tony growled and tried to bite; and Frisky made believe be afraid of him, which pleased Tony greatly.
When Thomas, the cat, came out and growled at them, Frisky chased him up a tree, and Tony's joy was complete.
"I wish you could stay with me all the time," he said; "they are so bad to me when you are not here. Thomas claws me, the rooster pecks me, and Captain Strutt, the gobbler, beats me with his wings; and even my little master, Robbie, hurts me awfully sometimes."
"I should think he would be ashamed to hurt such a cute little dog as you are," said Frisky. "What does he do?"
"He pulls my ears, and ties things to my tail; and yesterday he sat on me, and most broke my back."
"It's too bad," said Frisky sympathetically. "I wish you could come and live with me. But you be brave, and every day you will grow a little; and when you get to be big like me, they will not dare to hurt you."
Frisky stayed until nearly noon playing with poor Tony, and it was the pleasantest half-day that the little fellow had ever known.
Always after that when we went to the post-office, we were sure to see Tony standing at the corner of the house watching for us; and although Frisky's calls were the pleasantest hours that he knew, his troubles grew rather than got less.
"They are so cruel to me," he said to Frisky one day, "I believe I shall drown myself."
"Don't do that," said Frisky; "things will get better pretty quick, and I should miss you so much."
One morning Tony awoke early, and climbing out of his basket went to the shed door and looked out. It was still dark, and the stars were shining.
He was so lonesome, and tired, and cold. He would give a great deal to see Frisky, even for a minute, and tell him all his troubles. How nice it would be to have some one to pat him on the head, and tell him that he was a good dog, as Frisky's master always did when he came along. If he only had some one to love him like that. A big tear rolled down his cheek, and fell upon the floor, and he gave a pathetic little whine.
Down from the door-step he hopped, and around the shed to the barn. There was the horse-pond, dark and cold, but it could not be worse than his lot.
He put one paw into the water; it was so cold that it made him shiver and whine. If Frisky only would come along. Then he put both paws into the water, and waded in up to his knees. It was so icy that he trembled, and stopped to consider. Here was the cold pond, and there was Thomas with his sharp claws, the gobbler, and his cruel young master. A tear rolled down each cheek and splashed into the pond. The water was indeed cold; but this great hard world that cared so little for a small dog was colder, and he took a few more steps.
"Good-by, Frisky," he said; "you are the only one that was ever good to me, and I love you so much." Then there was a plunge and a splash, a few bubbles, and a very small dog had gone where the cat, the gobbler, and his thoughtless young master could no longer torment him.
The next morning when Robbie awoke and went to look for Tony in his basket, he was not there; and a few minutes later he found his limp little doggie in the horse-pond back of the barn.
He was very much astonished, and his heart was nearly broken; for, like most of us, he had been thoughtless rather than cruel; and he had not imagined how much he hurt little Tony.
"O mamma!" he sobbed, "he is dead, and I can't ever have him any more. Yesterday I was awful naughty to him, and pulled his tail to make him yelp, and now he can't ever forgive me. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
At this mamma looked very grave, and took Robbie in her lap and said, "I did not know that you were cruel to Tony, or you should not have had him to play with. It is very wicked for us to hurt the dumb creatures that God has given us to care for, and you did wrong. Tony can never run and bark, or play with you again; but let it be a lesson to you, always to be kind to your pets."