noticed it he didn't scold Spot.
He patted his head and said, "Cheer up, old boy! Johnnie'll be back one
of these days."

Old dog Spot wagged his tail feebly. But it was hard to wait.

"It wouldn't be so bad," he said to himself, "if there was only somebody
to play with. If there was a puppy here on the farm I'd have some one
that would be ready to romp whenever I felt like it. And then Johnnie
could go away visiting every summer and I wouldn't miss him half as
much."

Spot forgot that a puppy wouldn't stay a puppy forever.

XV

A BASKETFUL OF FUN

Johnnie Green came home from his visit at last. The moment Spot heard
the old horse Ebenezer come jogging up the road he tore out of the yard
and ran, barking, to meet the travellers. He frisked about the buggy, he
sprang up and touched Ebenezer's nose with his own, he tried to jump
into the buggy beside Johnnie Green.

Spot made such a racket that everybody in the farmhouse knew that
Johnnie had returned. The family were just sitting down for dinner. And
they all hurried out into the yard. For old dog Spot was not the only
one that had missed Johnnie while he was away on his visit.

Johnnie leaped out of the buggy, to be met by a smother of pawings and
nosings from old Spot.

"Now, Spot--you behave!" said Johnnie Green. "I'm hungry and I want to
get my dinner."

Spot paid not the slightest heed to his young master's objections.
"You'll never know how I've missed you," he barked. "And if I want to
romp with you for a few minutes, I'm going to; and nobody can stop me."

After a little Spot grew a bit calmer. He let Johnnie Green turn to the
buggy and lift out a covered basket.

Spot promptly stuck his nose against it. Then he drew back quickly.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "This basket smells _doggy!_"

Spot followed Johnnie into the house. And in the woodshed Johnnie opened
the basket and brought out of it a soft, silky, blinking--puppy!

"Wow!" said Spot again. "It was no wonder that I noticed a doggy smell
about that basket." And then he said, "G-r-r-r!"

Yes! Spot actually growled at the little newcomer. For the moment he
forgot that he had been wishing, for days, that there was a puppy about
the place. To tell the truth, he couldn't help feeling the least bit
jealous of Johnnie Green's new pet.

In a day or two, however, old Spot liked the puppy as much as anybody
else did. He proved to be a playful little chap. And the older he grew
the more fun-l