There was another dog in the family, named Mr. Rough.  His eyes had been almost scratched out by cats, his little body bore marks of many beatings, and he had a hoarse bark which sounded as if he had a bad cold.

If Benjy cared for any animal, it was for Mr. Rough, although he treated him worse than he did Nox, because he was small.

One day Benjy felt very mischievous; he even played a cruel trick on Nox while he was asleep.  As he sat near to him he kept lightly pricking the dog’s lips with a fine needle.  The dog would half wake up, shake his head, rub his lips with his paws, and then drop off to sleep again.

At last this cruel boy stuck the needle in too far and hurt poor Nox, who jumped up with a start, and as he did so the needle broke off, part of it staying in the flesh, where, after a great deal of work which hurt the poor dog dreadfully, the little sisters found it.  How they cried for their pet!  The braver one held Nox’s lips and pulled out the needle, while the other wiped the tears from her sister’s eyes, that she might see what she was doing.  Nox sat still and moaned and wagged his tail very feebly, but when it was over he fairly knocked the little sisters down in his eagerness to show his gratitude.  But Benjy went out and found Mr. Rough, and as he did not feel like being kind to any one, he kicked him, and Mr. Rough for the first time ran away.  Benjy could not find him, but he found a boy as naughty as himself, who was chasing another little dog and pelting it with stones.  This would have been very good fun, but one of the stones struck the dog and killed him.  So the boys tied something around his neck and threw him into the river.

Benjy went to bed early that night, but he could not sleep, because he was thinking of that little white dog, and wishing he had not thrown him into the river; so at last he got up and went to the willow-tree.  He looked up through the branches and saw the moon shining down at him, and it seemed so large and so close that he thought if he were only on the highest part of the tree he could touch it with his hand.  While he was looking he thought of a book his mother had, which told him that all animals went up into the moon after they left the earth.

“I wonder,” said Benjy, “if that dog we killed last night is really up there.”

The Man in the Moon looked down on him just then, and, to his surprise, said:—­

“This is Beastland.  Won’t you come up and see if the dog is here?  Can you climb?”

“I guess I can,” said Benjy, and he climbed up first on one branch, then up higher on to another, till he stood on the very top, and all he could see about him was a shining white light.

“Walk right in,” said the Man in the Moon.  “Put out your feet,—­don’t be afraid!” So Benjy stepped into the moon and found himself in Beastland.

Oh! it was such a funny place, and yet it was very beautiful.  There were many more beasts there than in a menagerie, and they were so polite to each other, too, and so merry and kind to Benjy, that it made him feel quite at home.