PEP’S master was very quiet all the way home and the wise dog knew intuitively that he was disturbed about something. He tried several times by rubbing against him, to get him to notice his “blue ribbon dog,” but after several futile attempts he settled down at his end of the seat and went to sleep with his muzzle on his master’s knee. He had often seen the doctor like this, when studying on some perplexing case, so he wisely left him to his thoughts. Occasionally he would wake up and look at him out of the corner of one eye, when he would find him studying the disturbing letter that the messenger boy had given him. It was not until they were almost home that the doctor aroused himself and took the dog into his confidence.
[39]“Pep, old boy,” he said, stroking his sleek sides, rubbing his nose, and pulling his ears gently in a way he loved, “we have got a hard task ahead of us. I don’t know what the mistress will say. We have expected it for weeks, but it will be a shock just the same.”
The motor was waiting for them at the station as the doctor had telegraphed ahead and they were soon whizzing through the darkness towards Pep’s kennel, which he considered the best spot on earth.
“How did the mistress take it, Thompson?” asked the physician as they bowled along. “I did not say what was up, but I imagined she would guess. You know I had intended to stay the rest of the week.”
“She knew right off. She is bearing up well, sir, but it is a great blow to us all. She’s a brave little woman, doctor, and won’t show the white feather.”
The little woman referred to met them at the door. She had a warm embrace for the doctor, and a pat on the head for Pep, but she did not even notice the blue ribbon, which showed how disturbed they were.
[40]“It’s come at last, Betty,” said the doctor briefly as he removed his overcoat. He handed her the hateful telegram and stood watching as she read it.
Pep watched both his mistress and master narrowly and his dog heart was troubled. For he noticed that his mistress shivered as she took the telegram. The little cry that escaped her as she read it, made him whimper and go to her, standing on his hind legs and putting his paws on her knees.
She reached down and stroked his glossy head and a tear fell on his upturned muzzle.
“I wouldn’t have you miss it for the world, John,” she finally managed to say. “It’s a man’s part and you are every inch a man, but it has come so suddenly.”
“You are a brave woman, Betty,” the doctor returned chokingly. “I thank you for making it so easy for me. It is just as hard for me to go as it is for you to have me. There is little danger to a surgeon. I will come back all right.
“Look at Pep, Betty. He wants you to see his blue ribbon. He is a blue ribbon dog[41] now. He’ll take care of you while I am gone. Won’t you, old sport?”
The mistress admired the trophy as much as Pep could have wished, but somehow it did not satisfy him. He knew instinctively the house was filled with tragedy and what was a blue ribbon more or less when such things were happening.
For the next two hours every one hurried frantically to and fro; such confusion Pep had never seen in the well-ordered house. The mistress would suffer no hands but her own to finally pack the doctor’s suit case.
Others might hand things to her, but her hands must tuck them away for him.
Pep followed disconsolately from room to room, keeping out of the way as well as he could. He finally took up his position by the front door and waited. This was the door through which his master always left when he went on important missions. He determined not to be left behind. If it made his mistress feel so badly to have master go away he would go with him, then she would know he would be safe. Of course all this packing meant his master was going away.[42] He had seen it many times before, but why they hurried so, and why every one’s heart ached, he could not imagine.
At last, everything was ready and Thompson and the motor were at the door. The doctor came into the office. Pep saw that his face was very white. The mistress came in also and stood close to him. Her face also was white and she was trembling. Neither spoke for several seconds. Then the doctor took her in his arms and held her tight for at least a minute. Then still without speaking, he set her gently down in the large easy chair and with a sudden motion, slipped out of the front door with his suit case.
He went so suddenly that the cry of the mistress and the bang of the door sounded almost together.
The closing door missed Pep’s muzzle by barely an inch. He leaped at it and whined frantically and whimpered as the motor rolled away. Then like the faithful companion and sympathetic friend that he was, leaped into his mistress’ lap to kiss away her tears and comfort her.
She hugged him to her heart and poured[43] out her grief in his sympathetic ears. Of course he did not know just what made her feel so badly, but he snuffled in unison with her and told her as plainly as a dog could that he felt just as badly as she did and that they were fellow sufferers.
Finally, the mistress dried her eyes and went to straighten out the house. Pep lay down upon his favorite rug to think. He did not intend to submit tamely to being left behind in this unceremonious manner.
He thought to such good advantage that when Thompson came back with the motor, he had fully made up his mind. When the chauffeur at last came in after putting up the car, Pep was waiting for him at the front door.
He had his muzzle close to the crack so as to be ready. Thompson had barely opened the door and squeezed partly through, for he had been warned to look out for Pep, when the terrier shot between his legs and with a scurry of feet along the walk, he was gone into the darkness. A second later, he was out on the street running frantically for the depot. Thompson and the mistress whistled[44] and shouted but he paid no attention to them, and they saw him disappear twenty rods away around a corner, running like the wind.
“He’s gone after the doctor. The little cuss has gone to war,” cried Thompson. “What shall we do? The doctor told me half a dozen times to-night to keep an eye on him.”
“Take the motor and follow to the station. He can’t go further than that.” So for the second time that night, the doctor’s machine whizzed away to the depot.
Thompson had to put some gasoline in the car before he could follow, so Pep reached the depot five minutes ahead of the machine. Instead of finding the train puffing away on the tracks as he had expected, the rails were clear. His master had gone. He was too late. He sniffed frantically up and down the platform to find the scent but there was none that he could recognize. Then he remembered the track. The two shining sticks that the train always ran upon.
He knew which way his master had gone, the one way to New York. He looked up at[45] the station platform and away into the darkness. Then Thompson and the motor whizzed up: That decided him. He turned his nose towards New York and galloped frantically down the track.
Meanwhile the doctor sat in the smoking car chewing savagely on the end of his cigar, and looking gloomily out of the window. His home and his wife had hitherto been all and all to him.
Now his country had called him. He found to his surprise that there had been all the time a deep sense of love of country lying dormant in his nature. A newsboy on the train was selling small silk flags. The doctor purchased one and placed it in his buttonhole. His fingers now fondled it lovingly as he mused.
All that he loved here in the homeland was dropping further and further behind. This new strange passion for country was taking him far from home, wife, and friends, to what hardships and struggles he knew not. It did not matter though as long as he came through safe and sound.
At this point in his reflections, a shiver[46] ran through the train. At first it was only a tremor, but immediately it grew into a crashing, grating, grinding sound. The train buckled in the middle, raising three cars fairly from the track. Others swayed this way and that.
There was the sound of breaking car floors, of shattered glass, and grinding car-frames. Together with the more frightful sound of the ripping of rails and the breaking of ties, but shot through all these mighty sounds of destruction, was the frantic screams of women, and the hoarse cries of men, who fought and struggled as they felt themselves hurled to doom.
It was only a broken axle that had caused all this destruction of life and property. So the superintendent’s report said a few days later.
The car in which the doctor was riding fared better than many of the others and merely toppled on its s............