Bruno

He waited two hours longer, and still he did not come.

Where was Bruno all this time? He was at the camp of the gipsies, watching at the place where Murphy had hid the stolen bowl.

He reaches the gipsy camp. He discovers the place where the bowl was hidden.

When he followed the gipsy’s tracks into the thicket, he perceived the scent more and more distinctly as he went on, and this encouraged him to proceed. Lorenzo had said “Seek him!” and this Bruno understood as an order that he should follow the track until he found the man, and finding him, that he should keep watch at the place till Lorenzo or some one from the family should come. Accordingly, when he arrived at the camp, he followed the scent round to the back end of a little low hut, where Murphy had hidden the bowl. The gipsy had dug a hole in the ground, and buried the bowl in it, out of sight, intending in a day or two to dig it up and melt it. Bruno found the place where the bowl was buried, but he could not dig it up himself, so he determined to wait there and watch until some one should come. He accordingly squatted down upon the grass, near the place where the gipsies were seated around their fire, and commenced his watch.[4 - See engraving, page 43 (#x_4_i43)]

There were two gipsy women sitting by the fire. There was also a man sitting near by. Murphy was standing up near the entrance of the tent when Bruno came. He was telling the other gipsies about the bowl. He had a long stick in his hand, and Bruno saw this, and concluded that it was best for him to keep quiet until some one should come.

“I had the greatest trouble with Bruno,” said Murphy. “He barked at me whenever he saw me, and nothing would quiet him. But he is getting acquainted now. See, he has come here of his own accord.”

“You said you were going to poison him,” remarked the other man.

“Yes,” replied Murphy. “I did put some poisoned meat in his house, but he did not eat it. I expect he smelled the poison.”

Lorenzo goes in search of Bruno.

The hours of the day passed on, and Lorenzo wondered more and more what could have become of his dog. At last he resolved to go and look him up.

“Mother,” said he, “I am going to see if I can find out what’s become of Bruno.”

“I would rather that you would find out what’s become of your bowl,” said his mother.

“Why, mother,” said Lorenzo, “Bruno is worth a great deal more than the bowl.”

“That may be,” replied his mother, “but there is much less danger of his being lost.”

Lorenzo walked slowly away from the house, pondering with much perplexity the double loss he had incurred.

“I can not do any thing,” he said, “to get back the bowl, but I can look about for Bruno, and if I find him, that’s all I can do. I must leave it for father to decide what is to be done about the bowl, when he comes home.”

So Lorenzo came out from his father’s house, and after hesitating for some minutes which way to go, he was at length decided by seeing a boy coming across the fields at a distance with a fishing-pole on his shoulder.

“Perhaps that boy has seen him somewhere,” said he. “I’ll go and ask him. And, at any rate, I should like to know who the boy is, and whether he has caught any fish.”

The sheep. The geese.

So Lorenzo turned in the direction where he saw the boy. He walked under some tall elm-trees, and then passed a small flock of sheep that were lying on the grass in the field. He looked carefully among them to see if Bruno was there, but he was not. After passing the sheep, he walked along on the margin of a broad and shallow stream of water. There were two geese floating quietly upon the surface of this water, near where the sheep were lying upon the shore. These geese floated quietly upon the water, like vessels riding at anchor. Lorenzo was convinced that they had not seen any thing of Bruno for some time. If they had, they would not have been so composed.

The ducks in the water.

Lorenzo walked on toward the boy. He met him at a place where the path approached near the margin of the water. There was some tall grass on the brink. Three ducks were swimming near. The ducks turned away when they saw the boys coming, and sailed gracefully out toward the middle of the stream.

Lorenzo, when he drew near the boy, perceived that it was an acquaintance of his, named Frank. Frank had a long fishing-pole in one hand, with a basket containing his dinner in the other.

“Frank,” said Lorenzo, “where are you going?”

“I am going a fishing,” said Frank. “Go with me.”

“No,” said Lorenzo, “I am looking for Bruno.”

“I know where he is,” said Frank.

“Where?” asked Lorenzo.

“I saw him a little while ago at the gipsies’ camp, down in the glen. He was lying down there quietly by the gipsies’ fire.”

“What a dog!” said Lorenzo. “Here I have been wondering what had become of him all the morning. He has run away, I suppose, because I shut him up last night.”

“What made you shut him up?” asked Frank.

“Oh, because he made such a barking every night,” replied Lorenzo. “We could not sleep.”

“He is still enough now,” said Frank. “He is lying down very quietly with the gipsies.”

Lorenzo then asked Frank some questions about his fishing, and afterward walked on. Before long he came to a stile, where there was a path leading to a field. He got over the stile, and followed the path until at last he came to the gipsies’ encampment.

Bruno in the camp of the gipsies.

There he found Bruno lying quietly on the ground, at a little distance from the fire. As soon as he came in sight of him, he called him. “Bruno! Bruno!” said he.

Bruno looked up, and, seeing Lorenzo, ran to meet him, but immediately returned to the camp, whining, and barking, and seeming very uneasy. He, however, soon became quiet again, for he knew very well, or seemed to know, that it would require more of a man than Lorenzo to take the bowl away from the gipsies, and, consequently, that he must wait there quietly till somebody else should come.

Lorenzo tries to drive Bruno home, but Bruno will not go.

“Bruno,” said Lorenzo, speaking very sternly, “

come home!”

Bruno paid no attention to this command, but, after smelling about the ground a little, and running to and fro uneasily, lay down again where he was before.

“Bruno!” said Lorenzo, stamping with his foot.

“Won’t your dog obey you?” said Murphy.

“No,” said Lorenzo. “I wish you would take a stick, and drive him along.”

Now the gipsies did not wish to have the dog go away. They preferred that he should stay with them, and be their dog. They had no idea that he was there to watch over the stolen bowl.

“Don’t drive him away,” said one of the gipsy women, speaking in a low tone, so that Lorenzo could not hear.

“I’ll only make believe,” said Murphy.

So Murphy took up a little stick, and threw it at the dog, saying, “Go home, Bruno!”

Bruno paid no heed to this demonstration.

Lorenzo then advanced to where Bruno was lying, and attempted to pull him along, but Bruno would not come. He would not even get up from the ground.