the dog up a walk of boards to a strange-looking house on top of the water.  Jan stumbled down the dark stairs, into a hot, smelly place where he was fastened to a wall.  An old sack was thrown down, water and meat placed before him, then he was left alone.  Whistles screamed, bells jangled, all sorts of noises pounded Jan’s shrinking, sensitive ears as he cowered in an agony of fear.  The boat moved; but he thought, as it puffed and trembled, that a huge, strange animal had swallowed him alive.

The rolling motion made him very sick.  He could neither eat nor sleep, but grew stiff and sore during the days and nights he was kept tied in the hold of the vessel.  Homesick and lonesome, poor little Prince Jan lay for hours crying softly, but the only attention any one gave him was to fill pans with water and food.

One day two women, wearing white caps on their heads, climbed down the stairs with a little girl and boy.  The children ran and put their arms about the dog’s neck and Jan wriggled and squirmed with happiness, while he licked their hands and faces.

“Don’t touch him,” cried one of the women, pulling the girl away.  “He is filthy, beside, he might bite you.”

The child drew back in alarm.  Jan’s gentle eyes watched them and his tail waved slowly, trying to make them know that he loved them and would not hurt them or anybody in the world.

“He won’t hurt us, Nurse,” the boy declared and put his hand on the dog’s big head.  “I don’t care whether he’s dirty or clean, he’s a bully fine dog, and I wish he belonged to me and sister!”

“Oh, if they will only stay with me!” hoped Jan.  “Maybe they would understand and some day take me back to the Hospice.”

The boy smiled into Jan’s eyes, but he did not know what the dog was trying to say.

“Come, children, we must go,” one of the women spoke.  “Now, you have seen a dog that cost over a thousand dollars and is being taken to live in California, where oranges grow and there is never any snow.”

Jan turned quickly.  He remembered all the dogs at the Hospice had talked about the place where there was never any snow.

“How can a dog save lives where there is no snow?” he asked; but the women and children, as they turned away, thought he was whining because they were leaving him alone.

With miserable eyes Jan lay staring into the dark, wondering how he could be like his father and Barry in a country where there was no snow.

Chapter IV

THE LAND OF NO SNOW

The voyage ended, then followed another long trip in a train and Jan reached his new home.  A little girl with long, yellow curls, big blue eyes, and pink cheeks, danced down the steps from the wide porch of a big house as they approached.

Mr. Pixley caught her in his arms, then put her on the ground and called to Jan, who was still in the automobile which had met them at the station.  The dog leaped out and ran to the child, looking into her face, while his tail bobbed and waved.