ck hair on the dog's neck--"I bought a
collar and a license for him, and he has never eaten a mouthful of food
except what I have paid for myself."

"Too many people have complained," was the reply. "The dogs are noisy,
and no one is allowed to have so many dogs inside the city limits. You
know it is against the law, Smith. That settles it."

Both men rose to their feet and looked at the old man, but at the door
they stopped and talked together in low voices. Then one of them turned
and said, "We don't want to be too hard on you, for we know you love
dogs, so we will give you two days to find places for them. After that,
the dogs that are still here must be killed, or you will have to resign
your position as poundmaster."

Smith watched them go down the pathway to the front gate, then with low
drooping head and slow steps he went back to the little room. Jan
pressed closely against him as the old man sank into his chair. Cheepsie
flew from his cage and perched on the captain's shoulder, singing
loudly, and Hippity-Hop, not to be left from the little family group,
limped across the room and rubbed, purring, against the old
poundmaster's leg. They knew that he was troubled, and all of them tried
to make him understand they were sorry for him and loved him.

"We've got to do something for those poor dogs," he said to Jan, at
last. "Even if I do give up my job it won't help them, now. I can't find
homes for them all in such a short time, Jan. Nearly every one I know
here has a dog already, and some of them have two. Folks have been
mighty good taking my dogs."

Cheepsie sang an answer, Hippity-Hop purred her reply, and Prince Jan's
tail, thumping the floor, said very plainly that he agreed with his
master. The captain smiled at them all, for he understood their
languages. "It's bound to work out right, somehow," he asserted
cheerfully, and again his three dumb friends answered him.

The next morning Captain Smith left Jan and Hippity-Hop in the front
yard. It was the first time the old man had ever carried his violin with
him, and he trudged briskly down the street, only stopping when he
reached a corner to wave his hand back where Jan and the kitten stood
with noses pushed between the pickets of the fence. Jan was worried
because it was the first time the captain had gone away from the house
without him.

So, while Hippity-Hop climbed trees, chased butterflies, and washed her
face and paws many times, the dog kept