doctor would hear him
and think it was his own dog, and come down to see what was the matter.
The rat terrier howled lustily, while Zip dropped down on the door mat
and groaned as loudly as he could. Rats barked, howled, and threw himself
against the front door, making a terrible noise generally.

Presently the doctor stuck his head out of an upper window and called:

"Zip, for mercy's sake, shut up! What is the matter with you?"

[Illustration]

But when in the bright moonlight he saw it was not Zip, but a strange dog
instead, with Zip lying at his feet, and when he heard Zip groan, he
hurriedly stepped into his bathrobe and slippers and came downstairs. Then
he opened the front door, and saw Zip on the mat, all swollen up the size
of two pups. He knew at a glance, of course, that his pet had been
poisoned, so he picked him up tenderly in his arms and carried him up
straight to the bathroom and began pumping out the contents of his
stomach. This done, he heated some milk and made Zip drink a lot of it, as
milk is a very good thing to take when one has been poisoned. Besides, it
was warm and soothing to his poor stomach. Then he rolled him up in a big
blanket shawl and carried him to his own room, where he put him on the
cushion of a big, cozy rocking-chair, and pulled it up close beside his
bed, where he could watch him the rest of the night and give him medicine
every once in a while.

"You poor little fellow," said the doctor, "I am awfully sorry you are in
such pain, but I hope it will teach you a lesson to stay at home nights
and not disobey my orders and go gallivanting off into other people's
yards. Why, you are shaking as if you had a chill! Just a second now, and
I will get a hot-water bag and put it on your stomach!"

[Illustration]

"Oh, my! Oh, my! I believe I am going to die," wailed Zip to himself. "If
ever I get well I never will disobey the doctor again! He is so good to
me, and I am ashamed to think what a naughty dog I have been. But I do so
love to go snooking around and not stay at home nights like Tabby does. I
never saw such a good cat as Tabby is. She never goes prowling around,
though most cats do. And it isn't because she is not coaxed to go, either,
for nearly every night the neighbors' cats come and try to persuade her to
go with them to somebody's house or barn."

Just then the doctor came back with a nice warm hot-water bag, which he
put close against Zip's stomach, and then he wrapp