Fido looked whence the voice seemed to come, and he saw a tiny figure on
the other side of the fence,--a cunning baby-figure in the yard that
belonged to the house where the new neighbors were moving in. A second
glance assured Fido that the calling stranger was a little boy not more
than three years old, wearing a pretty dress, and a broad hat that crowned
his yellow hair and shaded his big blue eyes and dimpled face. The sight
was a pleasing one, and Fido vibrated his tail,--very cautiously, however,
for Fido was not quite certain that the little boy meant his greeting for
him, and Fido's sad experiences with the old neighbors had made him wary
about scraping acquaintances too hastily.

"Turn, 'ittle goggie!" persisted the prattling stranger, and, as if to
encourage Fido, the little boy stretched his chubby arms through the fence
and waved them entreatingly.

Fido was convinced now, so he got up, and with many cordial gestures of
his hospitable tail, trotted down the steps and over the lawn to the
corner of the fence where the little stranger was.

"Me love oo," said the little stranger, patting Fido's honest brown back;
"me love oo, 'ittle goggie!"

Fido knew that, for there were caresses in every stroke of the dimpled
hands. Fido loved the little boy, too,--yes, all at once he loved the
little boy; and he licked the dimpled hands, and gave three short, quick
barks, and wagged his tail hysterically. So then and there began the
friendship of Fido and the little boy.

Presently Fido crawled under the fence into the next yard, and then the
little boy sat down on the grass, and Fido put his fore-paws in the little