A man came forward from the back of the shop, and William said, “This is the dog.”
The man took me and looked at me. I didn’t like him. He scared me and I growled at him, but he didn’t pay any attention. “All right!” he said, and then he opened the door of one of the cages and put me in with a lot of other puppies.
He shut the door of the cage and fastened it, and then he gave William some money. William took it and put it in his pocket, but he kept looking at me in a sorry sort of way, and he came up close to the cage and put his fingers through, and said, “Well--good-bye, Muffins, old chap.” Then he turned away.
All of a sudden I knew he meant to leave me there, and I lifted my nose and howled, and yelped and howled again.
William looked back at me, and then he turned to the man and asked him something.
“Oh, he’ll be all right in a little while,” said the man.
William looked at me once more in the same sort of sorry way, and then he went out and the door closed behind him.
He had gone and left me. But if only I could get out of the cage I might still run after him. I cried and whined and tore at the door with my claws, but I couldn’t get it open.
Suddenly I felt a cold nose against mine and a little tongue licked my cheek. One of the other puppies in the cage was trying to make friends with me.
I stopped tearing at the door and sniffed at him, and I liked his smell. He smelled friendly.
After we had smelled each other he gave a sudden little frisk and tried to get me to play, but I sat down and didn’t pay any more attention to him. I felt too sad and lonely to care anything about playing.
“I guess you don’t like it here, do you?” said the little dog.
“I’ve been here a long time; oh, a long, long time,” said the puppy. “It’s not so bad.”
“Yes, but I don’t often think about it. I guess maybe some time someone will take me away and I may have another home.”
“But I don’t want to stay here a long time,” I said. It made me whine to think of it.
“Well, maybe you won’t. Some of the dogs only stay here a little while. They just come here and then they go away again.”
“People come and get them. I guess they go to different places.”
[Illustration: _I felt too sad and lonely to care anything about playing._]