Once Walt Irvine and his wife Madge, who lived in a small cottage in the mountains, found a dog. He was thin and weak, but he did not let them touch him. He ate the food they gave him only after they had gone away. But when he was strong again, he disappeared.
A few months later, when Irvine was in a train between California and Oregon, he looked out of the window and saw his dog running along the road, two hundred and thirty miles away from home. He got off the train at the nearest station, bought a piece of meat, caught the dog and took him home again. So Wolf, as they called him, came a second time to the mountain cottage. There he was tied up for a week.
To win him became a problem, but Irvine liked problems. At the end of the week he tied a piece of thin bright metal round the dog’s neck with the words: RETURN TO WALT IRVINE, GLEN ELLEN CALIFORNIA. Then the dog was allowed to go, and he disappeared. A day later came a telegram. The dog was reported to have run over hundred miles to the north. Wolf was still going when caught.
This time he was sent back by express train. He was tied up for three days, and was allowed to go on the fourth. And he disappeared again. As soon as he was given freedom he always ran north. He was always brought back weak and always ran away fresh and strong.
At last the dog decided to stay at the cottage, but Irvine and his wife had to wait a long time before they could touch him. When at last he let them do it, they said it was a great victory. The man and woman loved the dog very much.
The text is about …
the place where the dog was found
the owners of a dog
Walt Irvine’s problems
a victory of people over an animal
