to sleep. He did not wake up for several hours afterward.
The traveler conveyed the dog home with him to England, and kept him a long time. He made a kennel for him in the corner of the yard. Here Bruno lived several years in great peace and plenty.
At length the gentleman was going away from home again on a long tour, and as there was nobody to be left at home to take an interest in Bruno, he put him under the charge, during his absence, of a boy named Lorenzo, who lived in a large house on the banks of a stream near his estate. Lorenzo liked Bruno very much, and took excellent care of him.3
There was a grove of tall trees near the house where Lorenzo lived, which contained the nests of thousands of rooks. Rooks are large black birds, very much like crows. Bruno used to lie in the yard where Lorenzo kept him, and watch the rooks for hours together.
How gipsies live.
In a solitary place near where Lorenzo lived there was an encampment of gipsies. Gipsies live much like Indians. They wander about England in small bands, getting money by begging, and selling baskets, and they build little temporary huts from time to time in solitary places, where they live for a while, and then, breaking up their encampment, they wander on till they find another place, where they encamp again.
Their ingenuity in stealing.
Sometimes, when they can not get money enough by begging and selling baskets, they will steal. They show a great deal of ingenuity in the plans they devise for stealing. In fact, they are very adroit and cunning in every thing they undertake.
At one time Lorenzo’s father went away, and one of the gipsies, named Murphy, resolved to take that opportunity to steal something from the house.
Murphy’s plan.
“We can get in,” said he to his comrade, “very easily, in the night, by the back door, and get the silver bowl. We can melt the bowl, and sell it for four or five sovereigns.”
The silver bowl which Murphy referred to was one which had been given to Lorenzo by his uncle when he was a baby. Lorenzo’s name was engraved upon the side of it.
Lorenzo used his bowl to eat his bread and milk from every night for supper. It was kept on a shelf in a closet opening from the kitchen. Murphy had seen it put there once or twice, when he had been in the kitchen at night, selling baskets.
“We can get that bowl just as well as not,” said Murphy, “when the man is away.”
“There’s a big dog there,” said his comrade.
“Yes,” said Murphy, “but I’ll manage the dog.”
“How will you manage him?” asked his comrade.
“I’ll try coaxing and flattery first,” said Murphy. “If that don’t do, I’ll try threatening; if threatening won’t do, I’ll try bribing; and if he won’t be bribed, I’ll poison him.”
Bruno is on the watch.
That night, about twelve o’clock, Murphy crept stealthily round to a back gate which led into the yard behind the house where Lorenzo lived. The instant that Bruno heard the noise, he sprang up, and went bounding down the path till he came to the gate. As soon as he saw the gipsy, he began to bark very vociferously.
Lorenzo was asleep at this time; but as his room was on the back side of the house, and his window was open, he heard the barking. So he got up and went to the window, and called out,
“Bruno, what’s the matter?”
Bruno was at some distance from the house, and did not hear Lorenzo’s voice. He was watching Murphy.
Murphy immediately began to coax and cajole the dog, calling him “Nice fellow,” and “Good dog,” and “Poor Bruno,” speaking all the time in a very friendly and affectionate tone to him. Bruno, however, had sense enough to know that there was something wrong in such a man being seen prowling about the house at that time of night, and he refused to be quieted. He went on barking louder than ever.
“Bruno!” said Lorenzo, calling louder, “what’s the matter? Come back to your house, and be quiet.”
Murphy thought he heard a voice, and, peeping through a crack in the fence, he saw Lorenzo standing at the window. The moon shone upon his white night-gown, so that he could be seen very distinctly.
Murphy disappears.
As soon as Murphy saw him, he crept away into a thicket, and disappeared. Bruno, after waiting a little time to be sure that the man had really gone, turned about, and came back to the house. When he saw Lorenzo, he began to wag his tail. He would have told him about the gipsy if he had been able to speak.
“Go to bed, Bruno,” said he, “and not be keeping us awake, barking at the moon this time of night.”
So Bruno went into his house, and Lorenzo to his bed.
Murphy tries threats.
The next night, Murphy, finding that Bruno could not be coaxed away from his duty by flattery, concluded to try what virtue there might be in threats and scolding. So he came armed with a club and stones. As soon as he got near the gate, Bruno, as he had expected, took the alarm, and came bounding down the path again to see who was there.
As soon as he saw Murphy, he set up a loud and violent barking as before.
“Down, Bruno, down!” exclaimed Murphy, in a stern and angry voice. “Stop that noise, or I’ll break your head.”
So saying, he brandished his club, and then stooped down to pick up one of the stones which he had brought, and which he had laid down on the ground where he was standing, so as to have them all ready.
He is unsuccessful.
Bruno, instead of being intimidated and silenced by these demonstrations, barked louder than ever.
Lorenzo jumped out of bed and came to the window.
“Bruno!” said he, calling out loud, “what’s the matter? There’s nothing there. Come back to your house, and be still.”
The gipsy, finding that Bruno did not fear his clubs and stones, and hearing Lorenzo’s voice again moreover, went back into the thicket. Bruno waited until he was sure that he was really gone, and then returned slowly up the pathway to the house.
“Go to bed, Bruno,” said Lorenzo, “and not be keeping us awake, barking at the moon this time of night.”
So Bruno and Lorenzo both went to bed again.
He tries bribes, which Bruno refuses.
The next night Murphy came again, with two or three pieces of meat in his hands.
“I’ll bribe him,” said he. “He likes meat.”
Bruno, on hearing the sound of Murphy’s footsteps, leaped out of his bed, and ran down the path as before. As soon as he saw the gipsy again, he began to bark. Murphy threw a piece of meat toward him, expecting that, as soon as Bruno saw it, he would stop barking at once, and go to eating it greedily. But Bruno paid no attention to the offered bribe. He kept his eyes fixed closely on
The house where Lorenzo lived was a large double house, of a very peculiar form. There is a picture of it on page 58.
