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8 CHOPPPO THE STORY OF A DOG ARTHUR MADISON CH€>PPO'S life began really Just as .it was about to end— to end miser v.' ably, tied up In agun'ny sack, Inthe. river. , But Ned happened to come along "just as the "hired man'' was lifting the ! ns t ! of five "pup's from the' wagon to meet his watery end, ;•\u25a0;..;. ' '6-i^i B 9Pf . PoaxInK.Ned rharchedjofr I 1 ? 1 ?. 6 , with his/new possession,' .a- real bull pup— which he hoped, for reasons of his own, would prove to be a ' "fight er;" . Ev , en now-, -while- his eyes were ha rd 1 y open, " t h e f oit r „ f o'o ted", f o u ml 1 i n g had the ' marks of a "nghter," as the one black, spot -on .his -otherwise per.-" 1 '!. te ,.. bod >" ,\ vris located over his . ; ..l ? ,?. t - ' ,^ e - Verfylngr' . htm "an "," unmistakably \u25a0 sporty look. , • : ] '\u25a0\u25a0 '\u25a0' . ; . • • V^ vrhen ,. Ned . ' a "1yed home lie did ' not l^^iliit V^P',: lcind from; his mother,; who, did' not, like : dogs.- "The very idea!;;., siie ; :said,- "of- bringing "a, \u25a0puppy/ dog ..to-* the place',' 'and es'pe- . oi ?i lly^. ucn a. n ,;»Sly little beast! ,You -ce^tainly^an'r keep him in the house; : y °l 1 '-- J . j hiave '.to^^ find quarters for him In the barn, Ned,' if you keep him." -*- "All right, mother. J I'll raise him my self," and he: started toward therbarn: " :•'; " B , ut . how are you going to feed him, Ned? .,; You'll; have _ to. take along n baby's bottle— the poor helpless Jittle . thing." . Then unable any longer to resist a mother pity r for the" woebegonV n I id^ et ' sh r e , took him up in her arms: and when Jie: began; to -cry, she hunted up a , P^V \u25a0\u25a0• b .°. t t le .' filled : it wltli warm' milk and -sitting" down .with "the, pup "in her" Iap7 placed ;the -rubber' nipple in U' Is , mouth., : ; CIioppo, however, did not need much instruction in the art : of getting 'milk'; out .of a bottle, for he ;:- v -? nt .i\ t it; .-J lk . e a < professional milker. .and as the .white liquid Joy V flowed w't^n, the " short, stubby tail .wig wagged the message that he was "well and happy.".'/;; \u25a0 , • „ , -\ <\u25a0'."•. :,\u25a0\u25a0 '.,\u25a0 \u25a0. \u25a0 •-\u25a0• , Choppo waxed fat and sturdy, under' ; the care. O f Mrs. Merrill,; who, having thus been, completely won by Choppo's "Sly- charms, would allow no one but herself to : prescribe his \u25a0diet, and make | ; hls b ? d — which ' wa a not '. in "' the barn'. \u25a0 After a few weeks Ned considered that ; Choppo was old enough to ' be initiated into _the "third degree'' of "bulldogs" ' and a mysterious visit to town was made, with Choppo \'. under . Ned's coat. When they returned, part of. poor Choppo's , tail and ears we're missing, which horrified his mother so thatshe could hardly, be convinced that it was perfectly /natural that 'all bulldog fighters had their ears and tails cut short, that, is to say, the dogman cut the ears and "bit" off the tail; and, anyway, it was necessary to. have his tail and ears' short to correspond with his namer as "Choppo"' was the Span ish way of saying "shorty." As soon as Choppo got used to his tailless tail and his ears got well, he was started in on his training. Ned taught him the usual tricks of begging, saying, his prayers, dead dog and 'doz ens of others, but the sport that Choppo liked most was ildlng in the basket on 1 the front of Ned's bicycle. One day Ned thought he'd give Choppo a bicycle rldo to town. Choppo waggedhis stub with great glee aB he was lifted, to his seat in his observa tion car. Ned rode into the street ahJ was about to pass the Days' house, next door, when Percy Day opened the Bate and lit out his big shepherd dog and began to "sic" him on the U« cycle tourists. The shepherd rushed down the street, barking and whirling around in front of the bicycle, and linally Ned, wheel and pup were triyp^d up and thrown into a heap In the dust. Ned found his 'clothes. torn, his elUm* sadly bruised and his bicycle bent, but little Choppo, unhurt, was barking THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 1910.— THE JUNIOR CALL. furiously with his tiny yelp at.thw olgf dog who was -disappearing into tha house with Percy. As this, was, not the first" time that. Percy , had played this trick, Ned did not feel very kindly to ward him, and as for Choppo, he from that day was the sworn enemy of their 'unfair assailant. . "• Soon : after this Ned and his father went into the^ mountains for the sum mer, and it was some months before they returned. By this time there was a great change in Choppo— he was now a beautiful, full grown bulldog— the pet of the Merrill family, and especially of Ned, in whose room he slept every night. . \u0084; \u25a0/\u25a0 \u25a0 : \u25a0 • Ned was very proud of his -dog and was anxious to show him off, particu larly to his rival next door. One morn ing he got out his bicycle and wheeled It down the driveway— next the high hedge which' separated tho grounds of the Merrill and Day homes — ahd at the gate New drew a line across the en trance on the ground with his heel and told Choppo: /'Don't come till I whistle, Choppo." Choppo sat down close to tho line and craned his neck out to' watch his young master ride down the street, where sure enough Percy .was playing with Shep out In front. Shep's owner could not resist an opportunity of a little safo sport with his neighbor, so he opened tho gate and let the big dog out and set him on Ned, who had great dilliculty in keeping his balance on the wheel as the shepherd jumped and whirled In front of him. Ned then let out a ehrlll whistle and down tho street like a streak came v white package with a black label that meant trouble. Aa Choppo came hfiar enough he gave a lout; leap and lan l;>j n 50 pound broadside . on the . Khephord, bumping tin: bumps with him along the street iov 1/ or 15 feet. With growling, whining and snarling they got up and went at It, with Choppo taking the lead. He grabbed Sliep by the front leg and the bones crunched between his. teeth. The bulldog, got another hold and tore away part of the other dog's neck. By_ that time the shepherd was thoroughly whipped- and was trying to get away, but did not succeed until Choppo had, . badly chewed an ear, when the big dog yanked loose and ran howling as fast as- three / legs would permit Into the yard to Percy." As Ned walked mod estly back home ho ignored the threats of ' Percy and felt that Choppo had helped to teach the other two a lesson In sporting manners. ' i . r :"> . Of course the. Day family sym pathized with Percy and were very angry over the affair. In the course of two or. three days Day came over to see Merrill to. complain that the bulldog was stealing their little chick ens and that'he wanted Merrill to "get rid of the dog."-.; Ned thought that * Choppo was too much of a gentleman to steal a neighbor's chickens and said so, but Day said that it could not be Shop because he was laid up with a broken leg and there was no other dog in the neighborhood. \u25a0 Finally Mr. Merrill agreed to watch for the next three days to discover where the chickens disappeared. The first day did not reveal any sign of the work of the thief, but on the second day there were the bodies of two or three little chickens lying In the corral. Curiously enough the chickens were „ not ealen after being killed. This happened again on the third day, al though Choppo was watched closely. Notwithstanding the fact that he had no i>ositive'proof, Mr. Day insisted that the dog be gotten out of the way im mediately or he would take the" matter Into, his own hands. Mr. Merrill de. elded to send Choppo over .the moun tains for a while to their Uncle John's in spite of Ned's protests. \u25a0 \ ; .The parting ."; was a sad one. As *• Choppo was lifted into the wagon and saw that his young master was not going wltlT him he began to whimper-, and cry, which changed into a doleful l wail as the- wagon started off, whiie \u25a0 Ned ran into the house and locked him self in his room to conceal his grief. The next morning— Sunday Ned was sadly roaming about the back yard and stopped to look through the fence at the chickens that caused all the trouble. The chicken yard was next to the corral where Percy's Shetland pony ' was kept, and- this morning .Punch, as he was called, was having a great time chasing around the corral the black calf, whose tail he held between his te&th; then the mischievous pony seized the big turkey gobbler by the tail and chased him round and round until' thov were both tired out. Ned was much amused and forgot his troubles for the moment and continued to watch the pony, which, standing in the sun near the dividing fence, was apparently dozing. Suddenly Ned called out to his father, who was in the garden, "Come here, quick," and pointing eagerly into the corral, said, "There's where the ' chickens go; I knew it wasn't Choppo." Mr. Merrill looked, and after giving a low whistle of surprise, walked over to the fence and called out to Mr Day .AaHir. Day came down the walk on the other side a surprising thing hap pened — there was Choppo trotting eagerly but tiredly toward Ned He had evidently escaped from the wagon and * found his way home. • Mr. Day, as he came up, said "I «cc you 1 haven't gotten rid of that chicken stealing dog yet.". . : \ "No," said Mr. Merrill, "it won't be necessary. , Look into the corral," mid as they looked they saw the Shetland pony holding between his teeth a little chicken by the head, which Punch lazily wagged back und forth until the body dropped off. "There's the.-reai chicken thief, Mr Day," said Mr. Merrill, as ho turned to watch Ned and Choppo hugylng each