e were
looking everywhere for you, and grieving because we did not know whether
you were hungry and unhappy. Do you think it would be right for them to
keep you away from us, even if they did love you very, very dearly?"

Ruth's head hung low and nobody spoke until she lifted her face with a
tear-wet smile, "Jan! Prince Jan!" she called in her high, sweet voice.

They saw the muscles of the sleeping dog twitch. The big paws moved
slightly, as though in his dreams he was running to answer that name.
His tail threshed lightly on the floor, but still he slept.

"Jan, Prince Jan!" both children now called.

He leaped to his feet. Quivering with excitement he faced them.

"Jan!" repeated Mr. Melville.

The dog darted to the man's side and stood with eager, expectant eyes
and furiously switching tail. When he heard the name from Mrs. Melville,
Jan ran to her and laid his head on her knee, looking into her face
questioning her dumbly.

"He knows his name! He is Prince Jan!" the children cried as they
swooped down on him with squeezes and hugs, while the dog whined and
twisted and uttered sharp barks of excitement until they were all
laughing at him.

"Do you want to go home to the captain, Jan?" Mrs. Melville leaned over
him as she spoke.

"Woof! Woof!" he answered promptly, and they all knew that he meant
"Yes."

So Mr. Melville got pen and ink and wrote to the poundmaster, telling
that Prince Jan was safe and well, and that he, himself, would bring the
dog home.

That was how Prince Jan came back to the captain and Hippity-Hop, at
last. He was very happy at going home, yet he looked back wistfully at
Ruth and Charlotte standing on the porch waving their hands, as the
automobile drove away from the Land of Make-Believe, where Jan had been
so kindly treated. But when he saw the ocean again and the road up the
bluff and knew that he was near the bungalow, he was ready to leap from
the machine and dash madly to the place where the captain, Hippity-Hop,
and Cheepsie lived. He knew then that he loved them more than anybody in
the whole world.

Chapter XI

PRINCE JAN VISITS SHORTY

Jan reached the front gate and let out a ringing "Woof" of joy that
brought the captain and Hippity-Hop out at once. The old man's arms went
about Jan's neck, and the dog gave little whines of delight, his tongue
touched the wrinkled hands, and his tail went around so fast that it did
not look like a tail, but just a blur of fu