Meeting the dog now, gave a new animation to Bart's thoughts.
The sequence of its appearance, here, ten miles away from home, was easy
to pursue. It had broken away from its new owners--Buck and Hank
Tolliver--and they were somewhere further up the road.
Christmas was making for home. It was hardly possible that the animal
knew Bart, for, although he had seen it several times, he had never
spoken to it before. The call of its name, however, had checked the
animal, and now as Bart drew a cracker from his pocket and extended it,
the dog began to advance slowly and cautiously towards him.
Bart saw the importance of making a friend of the animal. He stood
perfectly still, talking in a gentle, persuasive tone.
Christmas came up to him timorously, sniffed all about his feet, and
suddenly wagged its tail and put its feet up on him in a friendly
manifestation of delight.
Its keen sense of scent had apparently recognized that Bart had been a
visitor to the Wacker home that day. It now took the cracker from Bart's
hand, then another, and as Bart sat down again stretched itself placidly
and contentedly at his side.
"This looks all right," ruminated Bart speculatively.
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