An ear-piercing screech
made them spring to their feet, and there, flying down the road, was
Gyp, tearing along as if in fright, but what could so have startled
wild, careless Gyp?
He did not stop running, nor did he slacken his pace, but looking
straight ahead, as if not daring to look back, to learn if he were
followed, he raced down the street, fear plainly showing in every
movement of his thin wiry legs.
"What _could_ have frightened him?" Polly asked. Sprite could not
guess.
Now, slowly going over his beat a patrolman passed, walking along as
if haste were a thing unheard of.
"_That's_ what made him run!" cried Princess Polly.
"What? The policeman!" cried Sprite. "Why he isn't chasing him."
"Of course he isn't," Polly replied, "but Gyp is so afraid of any one
of the policemen in this town, that he runs screaming just like that
the minute he sees one."
Together they watched, until Gyp was out of sight.
"They say folks here in Avondale are going to _make_ Gyp go to school,"
said Polly, "but I shouldn't think they could do it, and if they
_could_, just think how he'd act!"
"I can't think," said Sprite, her eyes dancing, "but I know I'll like
to watch him the first day.
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