children start, and feel afraid that somebody had come to take him away.
But nobody came for him; and we loved and petted our new-found treasure
to the neglect of wooden horses and dolls, and all our other toys.

Sometimes he would come to the parlor-door with his feet very wet and
muddy from running through the street-gutters. Then we would say, "O
Carlo! what dirty boots!" He would hang down his head, and go off to the
back-yard, and lick his feet until they were clean, when, with a bound,
and a wag of the tail, he would rush back to the parlor, quite sure that
he would be let in.

But the month of June was coming,--a sorrowful time for dogs; for the
city had ordered that all dogs found on the streets without muzzles on
must be destroyed. At five o'clock every morning, the wagons used to go
through the streets, and take up all dogs that were not muzzled. So we
had to get a "bonnet," as we called it, for our pet.

It was made of bright red leather, and really he looked so handsome in
it, that we thought he ought to like to wear it when he went out for a
walk; but he didn't one bit. He used to rub his head on the sidewalk,
and fuss and squirm, and, when he didn't get rid of his bonnet in that
way, the cunning fellow used to hide it when he got home.

[Illustration]

We kept it hung up on a high nail in the dining-room; but one day, when
we called Carlo to have his bonnet put on before he went out, there was
no bonnet to be found. Who could have taken it? I must say Carlo acted
very much like the thief; for he hung his head, and looked sheepish,
when we asked him about it.