Then to his surprise the girl clapped her hands, and said: “Oh, I believe you’re Buster! Yes, I know you are! And I’m so glad!”
Until then Buster hadn’t recognized the little person. Now he remembered her. It was the little girl who had offered him a stick of candy that day he danced for pennies on the street.
But what pleased Buster more than anything else was her joy. She wasn’t a bit afraid of him! She wasn’t going to run away and scream for help. She wouldn’t hand him over to the men pursuing him with shot-guns. What a relief to him this was! She was surely his friend, and would protect him just as Chiquita had done so many times. He grinned with pleasure, and waddled toward the bed.
How the little girl outwitted the men, and saved Buster from them, will be told in the next story.
Instead of showing fear when Buster approached the bed, the little girl held out a hand, and when he was near enough she took one of his shaggy paws and patted it. This seemed natural enough to Buster, for he could not understand why any one should be afraid of him, and Chiquita had done the same thing many times; but to most little girls perhaps it would seem like a brave and fearless thing. This little girl like Little Red Riding-Hood was not afraid of bears or wolves until they tried to eat her up.
“I’m glad to see you, Buster,” she said with quaint gravity. “But how did you ever get here?”
Buster grinned and turned his head toward the open window. The little girl followed his gaze, and instantly understood.
“Oh, you came through the window,” she added. “That makes it so much more interesting. Fairies and elves always come through open windows. Won’t you sit down?”
Buster was quite tired after his hard run, and was very glad to accept this invitation. The foot of the bed seemed a very inviting seat, and he sat on the white coverlet.
But almost immediately he sprang up in alarm. The springs creaked under his great weight, and for a moment it looked as if the whole bed would collapse. He jumped to his feet with a queer expression on his face. In fact, he wasn’t sure but this was some sort of a trap set for him.
But the little girl laughed merrily at the accident, and clapped both hands. He could not believe she was attempting to deceive him, and he grinned like a foolish boy who had discovered a bent pin in his chair.