BOB had now rounded into a fine, strong dog, pleasing in manners and respectable in appearance. At the time of his rescue from the barn by Ned and Hal he was in his hobbledehoy period—in dogs, as in boys, that awkward, sappy state betwixt puppyhood and eye-teethhood. Out of this he had grown up, under the good food and kind treatment of the household, into a dog who was a credit to the family.  
He was rather larger than a pointer should be, with a head unusually wide and full, a sign of great intelligence. His nose was a bit blunt; and this, and his head, and his stubbornness, caused critics to hold that somewhere in his was a strain of bulldog blood.
 
His ears were thin and long and , below his chops; his lips were loose and swaying, and the skin of his neck was loose and wrinkly. His eyes were a beautiful, faithful brown. His coat was a rich mahogany, and was even and . He had a magnificent chest—broad, massive, with a bone that out like that of a turkey gobbler. Behind it was a barrel of a body, which all of Mrs. Miller’s stuffing never could make else but lean; while his narrowed away until at his flanks they ended in a sad hollow.
 
In truth, Bob’s front half was much superior to his rear half, which ran off into a short, stubby tail tipped with a knob. Whether some accident had happened, to this tail in Bob’s , or whether his mother’s family had been so unexpectedly large that there had not been material enough for finishing Bob completely, no one could say. At any rate, he was not fitted with a tail such as a dog of his size and breed should have, and he was always more or less conscious of the fact.
 
Reference has been made to Bob’s grin. When he was over anything his whole upper lip curled back, exposing a row of shining white teeth and brilliant red gums. Thus, grinning at one end and wagging at the other, he tried to show his pleasure. However, it was not a becoming face that he made when he grinned, and many people, not used to his oddity, mistook it for a , and were afraid. As soon as they came to know him, they understood what a good-natured fellow he was.
 
Indeed, a more good-natured dog never lived. Also, never lived a dog queerer and more human. No one made his acquaintance but to like him, and he was suffered to do things that would have earned for any dog but him.
 
When Ned was absent at school, sometimes Bob would become lonely, and would start out to find his master. In manner unknown—but through his nose, or ears, or eyes—he had discovered the room in which Ned was caged during school hours, and there, in his quest, he would betake himself.
 
If the door was open, in he would saunter, and down the ; and perhaps the first hint to Ned of Bob’s presence would be that sturdy head laid, amid titters, upon his knee.
 
As a rule Ned was asked by the teacher to escort Bob to the door again. But occasionally Mr. Bob would choose, rather, to climb into an empty seat, and there, by quietly curling for sleep, make for his intrusion. In this case he was allowed to remain, and the room speedily forgot that he was there.
 
At the stroke of the bell, Bob always arose and out.
 
Whether or not he learned anything of mathematics or or grammar during his snooze may be a question; but Ned and friends claimed that he did.
 
When it happened that Bob did not find Ned’s seat occupied, he into it, and there sat bolt upright, as if to fill the , until Ned returned. Once in a while he would refuse to get out—and then would be hauled down by the collar, and led in disgrace to the door.
 
With all the wisdom got in school, nevertheless Bob did many foolish tricks. For instance, he should have known better than to bury pancakes in the fall, expecting to dig them up and eat them in the winter! When the pancakes were buried, they and the ground were soft together; but when they were sought again, a month or so later, they came up—if at all—in flinty scarcely to be told from the dirt. Yet Bob seemed not to foresee this; and even during winter he persisted in scratching small holes and placing in them buckwheat cakes, for use in the future!
 
He so loved to bury things that his nose was nearly always crowned with a little of soil. Once he brought home a five-pound roast of beef, which a neighbor had got at the butcher’s with intent to have it for dinner. Bob buried it in the garden, and for a week and more regularly uncovered it, took a few delicious , and covered it up again.
 
Ned was obliged to find the neighbor another roast.
 
Bob was a dog not easily convinced. This is a polite way of putting it, for the trait was neither more nor less than downright stubbornness. When he would not do a thing, he wouldn’t, until at last persuaded by kind words, or hope of reward, or fear of punishment.
 
Ned found that patience and gentle argument were better than blows, to make Bob yield, so threshings were dropped from the list of “persuaders.” Bob had a keen sense of shame, and the tone of the voice could make him feel worse than the hardest licking.
 
His stubbornness was twice very nearly his death. The first time, he was simply bound not to one inch from the way of a heavy farm . He lay flat in the road, and waited for the wagon to turn out for him. But the wagon kept upon its route, and Bob, still sticking to his position, did nothing but howl his protests as the wheels passed over his back.
 
His bones being soft, he arose unhurt, and stalked off in the sulks.
 
The second time had as a scene the approach to the high trestle bridging a just beyond the farther end of the river bridge. Ned and Bob had been for a walk, and upon the return Bob had refused to walk the trestle. According to his custom he down, like a spoiled child, on the spot.
 
Ned went ahead, hoping that at last Bob would arise and follow. He had gone a short distance, leaving Bob on the in the middle of the railroad track, when suddenly he heard the of a train, nearing from behind.
 
“Bob! Here, Bob! Here, Bob!” he called, running back.
 
But Bob dumbly declined.
 
“Get up! Bob! Get up!” cried Ned.
 
Bob, with his master coming from one way and the train coming from the other, stayed on his spot, deaf to the appeals of the former and the warnings of the latter.
 
The engine reached him first. Ned, , saw him into the air, up, up, twenty feet, his legs and his ears . Turning slow somersaults down he came, clear of the trestle, into the depths below. Ned caught a glimpse of the engineer and fireman looking back from the cab and laughing, which made him mad.
 
The first freeze of the fall had covered the slough with an inch of ice. Down dropped Bob, as swiftly as though he were from the dog-star, and lit squarely, in a sitting position, on............