214 The Disobedient Island.

was a railing on one side, and it was strong, safe,
and very pretty.

“To-morrow, we will paint it,” said Mr. Ar-
nold, so the next day they brought some bright
red paint, and when the bridge was painted with
this, it was really lovely. The children danced
with delight, and their big, black dog, ‘ Diso-
bedience,” was so much pleased, that he walked
directly on the wet red bridge, barking loudly all
the time; then lay down, and rolled over and over!
They called him again and again to ‘‘ Come back,
come back,’’ but he would not come, and really,
with such a name, I don’t think he was very much
to blame. ‘Give a dog a bad name, and,” as
everyone knows, ‘it will stick to him.” But it did
not stick to him, nearly as hard as the paint did.
You never saw such an extraordinary sight as
that red-black dog. He was very red, and he
knew it, and tried to hide under a bush, but there
was no hope for him, so running to the boat he
curled himself down in the bottom and soon fell
fast asleep. When they returned later, to the
mainland, poor Disobedience was washed again