At last it was time to go home. When they had driven into the main street again and Charlie was turning his head this way and that, so as not to miss a single thing that was going on, he was so interested that he forgot all about Bingo. Indeed, he almost let go of his leash, he was holding it so loosely--when, suddenly, what do you think? Bingo gave one yank at the leash and jumped right out of the automobile! Yes, he did!
All the automobiles were slowing up for the crossing, and the policeman was standing quite close, but at any moment he might signal for them to go on again.
It was _dreadfully_ dangerous for Bingo to be all by himself in the middle of that crowded street with automobiles and street cars, and carts and trucks all moving along. Charlie was so frightened that he called out, “Mr. Policeman, Mr. Policeman!” and the policeman looked at him, and he saw Bingo at the same moment and guessed what had happened.
He blew his whistle three times, and all the automobiles stopped, those going uptown and downtown, and those going crosstown, they all stopped _immediately_. Then the policeman tried to catch Bingo, but he was so frightened that he crawled right under an automobile, and he would not come out when the policeman called him.
So the policeman came up to Charlie and said, “You had better come along with me. If you call your dog, he will know your voice and come out when you call him.”
Charlie took the policeman’s hand and they went in and out among the automobiles and carts and trucks and busses, which were all standing perfectly still, till they came to the automobile under which Bingo was hiding. When Bingo saw Charlie and heard him call “Bingo, Bingo!” he came crawling out and he was so glad to see Charlie that he jumped high in the air, wagging his tail and barking, “Yap, yap, yap!”
As soon as Charlie and Bingo were safe in Mr. Armstrong’s automobile, the policeman blew his whistle and all the traffic, which had been held up to rescue Bingo, started again. And Charlie held Bingo as tight as ever he could, so that he should not jump out again. But I don’t think that Bingo would have done so, even if he could have, he had been so frightened when he was hiding under the automobile, with so many trucks and carts and cars around him. And he was right to be frightened, for he would have been in great danger if the policeman had not blown his whistle just at the right moment.