“Bow wow!” barked Rex, running up to the little girl. She looked at him once, and then she cried:
“Oh, father! Here he is! Here’s my own Rex! I’ve found him again!” and, all dirty as Rex was, the little girl picked him up in her arms and hugged him tightly. Oh, how happy Rex was!
“So that’s your dog?” asked the pound-keeper.
“Yes, I’ve found him!” cried the little girl, happily.
“So it is Rex,” said her father. “I wonder how he got here?”
“We found him on the street,” said the pound-keeper, “and we have to pick up all stray dogs, you know.”
“I know――yes,” said the little girl’s father. “But now we’ll take Rex home with us, Alice.”
“Oh, yes, father. And I must give him a good wash. I think he is hungry, too. Look how thin he is!”
“He must have had a hard time,” said the man, patting Rex on the head. “I wonder what has happened to him since he was taken away?”
“Oh, if I could only tell you!” thought Rex, but of course he could not speak man or girl talk. The little mistress of the silken poodle started out of the pound with him in her arms. But this did not suit Rex. He did not want to go away from Don that way. Poor Don felt very sad and alone, as he saw his little friend being taken away, while he had to stay in the pound.
Rex struggled so hard, that the little girl had to put him down.
“Why, Rex, what is it?” she asked. “Don’t you want me to take you home, and away from this place?”
“Bow wow!” barked Rex, which meant: “Yes, thank you, of course I do. But I have a friend here,” and he ran up to Don, and stood so close to him that, in a minute, the little girl’s father guessed what the little poodle dog meant.
“Your pet has made a friend while in the pound,” said the man. “See, Alice, he likes that big dog.”
Then Rex took hold of the shaggy hair of Don’s leg, for that was as far up as he could reach, and he tried to pull Don toward Alice.
“Look!” exclaimed the little girl. “Oh, father! I believe Rex wants us to take that other dog with us!”
“It does look so,” spoke the man. “I guess this big dog, whatever his name is, has been kind to Rex.”
“Bow wow! Indeed he has!” barked Rex, but of course Alice and her father could not understand his talk. They did understand his actions, however, for Rex did not seem to want to go away without Don.