Penny and Peter (8 page)

"I don't know. I guess it's just his fur," replied Penny.

Peter moved down to a lower limb. He looked as closely as he could. Then he said, "Penny, it's a collar. It's a dog collar."

"What's a wolf doing with a dog collar?" asked Penny.

"Maybe he isn't a wolf," said Peter. "I guess maybe he's a dog."

"Do you think so?" asked Penny.

Peter climbed to a still lower limb. Then he said, "Here, boy. Come here."

The animal got up and walked over to the foot of the tree. He wagged his tail and said, "Woof!"

Peter got down to the ground. He held out his fist and the dog sniffed it. Then Peter patted him on the head. "Nice doggie!" he said. The dog rubbed against him.

"Come on down, Penny," Peter called. "It's only a dog."

Penny came down and he, too, patted the dog.

Just then, a man appeared coming toward them through the woods. The dog galloped off to meet him, barking happy barks.

"So you've been making new friends, Toastie!" he said.

"Is he your dog, sir?" asked Peter.

"Yes," replied the gentleman. "He looks pretty fierce, doesn't he? But he's just as gentle as a lamb. We call him 'Toastie.'" Then he chuckled. "Short for 'Milk Toast,'" he said. "Some people think he's a wolf. Looks like one, doesn't he?"

"Well," said Peter, "he does, a little."

"But I think almost anybody would know he is a dog," said Penny. "Don't you?"

The next morning, Peter and Penny and Daddy set out to explore a stream. Mother packed their lunch basket. There were frankfurters that they were going to cook over an open fire. Peter wore the frying pan dangling from a strap that he wore over his shoulder.

On the opposite side of the lake was the mouth of a stream. Daddy said he thought that would be a good stream to explore. So they climbed into the rowboat and rowed across. When they landed, Daddy secured the boat by tying it to an old tree stump.

The three explorers walked along the bank of the stream. It was about twelve feet wide and the water was as clear as crystal. The pebbles and stones on the bottom looked as though they had been scrubbed, they were so clean. Here and there were big rocks and whenever it was possible the boys crossed the stream by stepping from rock to rock.

"One of you fellows will drop the lunch in the stream, if you don't watch out," said Daddy. "You had better let me carry the basket."

Peter handed over the basket to Daddy. The three swung along, whistling.

Sometimes the trees and bushes grew so close to the stream that one could hardly find a foothold, but they pressed on because it was all new and exciting.

Finally they came to a place where the bank was very high above the stream. Here they had to walk carefully. Daddy lifted a heavy branch so that Peter and Penny could pass under it. As he lifted it, the basket on his arm tilted and the package of frankfurters flew out of the basket, the paper opened, and they fell in a shower down to the stream.

"Oh, Daddy!" cried Peter and Penny together. "The hot dogs!"

The three looked down as the frankfurters dove into the water. They watched them float downstream—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine of them—all pink and plump.

"Well!" exclaimed Daddy. "Guess they'll be cold dogs forever now."

"Oh, Daddy!" cried Penny. "Now we'll have to eat the rolls with nothing in them but mustard."

"Isn't that the limit!" said Daddy. "I am so sorry."

Peter and Penny looked very gloomy indeed as they continued on their way. Before very long, they were close to the stream again and there were stepping-stones so that they could cross the stream. When they reached the middle of the stream, Penny said, "Look, Daddy. What makes those little splashes in the water and the ripples?"

Daddy looked where Penny was pointing. "Oh!" exclaimed Daddy. "That must be a school of trout."

The ripples came nearer and under the surface of the water, there appeared to be a dark shadow. As it came closer, Penny could see that what looked like a shadow was a school of fish.

To the surprise of the boys, as the fish passed Daddy quickly reached into the water and when he pulled out his hand he had a trout in it.

"Quick, Peter!" he said. "Take the rolls out of the basket."

Peter took the rolls out of the basket and Daddy put the fish in. He put a rock on top of it to keep it from jumping out. Then he looked down in the water again. In a moment, he had another trout. He popped it into the basket and put in another stone.

Peter's and Penny's eyes were as round as saucers. "Oh, Daddy!" said Penny. "Do you think you can catch another one?"

"I'll try," replied Daddy.

They waited, holding their breath. Soon Daddy plunged his arm into the stream again and once more, he pulled up a fish. "That water is just like ice," he said.

"How did you ever learn to catch fish that way, Daddy?" asked Peter.

"It's an old trick someone taught me when I was a boy."

"It's some trick!" said Penny.

"Well, now we have our lunch, haven't we, Daddy?" said Peter.

"You bet we have," replied Daddy. "A much better lunch than we lost."

"Isn't it time to eat?" asked Penny. "I'm hungry."

"Well, let's get started, anyway," said Daddy. "It will take us a little while to build the fire and get going."

The boys started to gather sticks for the fire and Daddy set to work to clean the fish. He opened them up with his knife and washed them in the stream.

When the boys had gathered enough sticks, they built the fire. Before very long, it was burning well. When there were enough red embers, Daddy put some butter in the frying pan. When it was sizzling, he laid the three fish in the pan.

"Oh! Wilikers!" cried Penny. "Isn't this exciting?"

"Real surprise party, isn't it?" said Daddy.

"Smells wonderful," said Peter.

Then suddenly, Penny cried out, "We haven't any forks. How are we going to eat the fish?"

Peter and Daddy laughed. "Penny certainly is civilized, isn't he, Daddy?" said Peter.

"He certainly is," replied Daddy. "I guess he wants fish knives and forks with pearl handles."

They all laughed and Daddy lifted the golden brown fish from the pan and placed each one on a paper plate. At first, they were too hot to touch but they soon cooled. Peter, Penny, and Daddy ate a delicious lunch and they didn't put mustard on their rolls.

When they had finished, Peter held up his ten fingers and said, "What! No finger bowls!"

And Daddy called out, "Minnie! The cut-glass finger bowls, please." The boys laughed.

Then Daddy said, "'Smatter with Minnie?"

"Fell in the stream, I guess," said Peter.

"In that case, I guess we'll have to wash in the stream," said Daddy.

They all went, laughing, to the stream.

Afterward, they made certain that the fire was out. Then they packed the soiled dishes into the basket and started off again. "I think we had better be getting back to Mother," said Daddy.

"But we haven't found any beaver dams," said Penny.

"No," said Daddy, "but perhaps the beavers haven't been building dams lately. Maybe we can come again and next time we will find one."

"Oh, Daddy, do you think we can come again?" asked Peter and Penny in one breath.

"Maybe so," said Daddy.

They retraced their steps, crossing and re-crossing the stream, until they reached a bend in it. As they rounded the bend, there came into view a log that lay partly across the stream. There, snuggled against the log, were—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine hot dogs. They looked very forlorn and out of place.

Daddy saw them first and he threw back his head and laughed a great big laugh. When he pointed them out to the boys, they all laughed very hard.

They walked out on the log and looked at the plump, pink weenies. "Let's take them home," cried Penny. "They're just as good as new. The water is so clean and cold. Don't you think it is all right to take them home, Daddy?"

"Sure!" said Daddy. "Gather them up."

The boys picked them all up and wrapped them in some paper napkins that were in the basket.

When they reached the mouth of the stream, they were all pretty tired. The little boys were glad to get into the rowboat and have Daddy row them across the lake. They ran up from the landing and into the cabin, shouting, "Oh, Mother! What do you think? We brought the hot dogs back."