“No! No! I’m not coming out!” declared Winkie. “You aren’t nice like Don!”
“Pooh! I wouldn’t be a dog like Don――afraid to chase a rabbit or a squirrel!” sneered Buster. “I’m going to chase you, and if you don’t come out I’ll make you!”
“No, I’m not coming out!” chattered Winkie, and she ran into her sleeping box to hide in the hay.
“I’ll break open your pen and chase you out!” barked Buster. And the dog was trying to do this when Larry and Alice came home from school.
“Make Buster go away, Larry!” half sobbed Alice. “He won’t go for me! Oh, Buster, go away!”
“I’ll make him!” cried Larry, and he stooped over as if to pick up a stone or a stick. I don’t believe that Larry would really have stoned Buster, or have struck him with a stick, any more than I believe Buster would have bitten Winkie. But the boy knew he had to do something to make Buster run away, and pretending to pick up a stone was one of the best ways.
[Illustration: She came out of her pen and did her tricks.]
Away ran Buster, with his tail between his legs, giving a little howl as he ran, as much as to say:
“Don’t throw anything at me! I was only in fun!”
But this was the kind of fun Larry didn’t want Buster to have with the woodchuck, and it was time the dog learned this.
“Is Winkie all right?” asked Alice, as Larry looked into the pen.
“Yes, I guess Buster didn’t do any more than scare her,” the boy answered. And indeed poor Winkie’s heart was beating very fast, for she was dreadfully frightened.
But when she saw Larry and Alice, and heard the kind voices of the children, and smelled the sweet carrot pieces they brought her, Winkie was no longer frightened. She came out of her pen when Larry opened the door, and did her tricks for the boy and his sister.
“It’s a good thing Buster didn’t open the pen door,” said Alice, as she stroked Winkie’s head. “What are we going to do, Larry? If we leave Winkie in her pen, Buster may come over to-morrow when we’re at school and bite her.”
“I’m going to get daddy to speak to Uncle Elias about his dog,” said the boy. “I like Buster, and he’s a good dog; but we can’t have him chasing over here and scaring our woodchuck. I’m going to make him stop.”
That night Mr. Dawson spoke to his brother-in-law about Buster, telling the farmer how the dog had nearly caught the woodchuck.