Part 5 (2/2)
For the heads reappeared And nohether froence,--Wefers ceased his useless struggles; though not his strangled shrieks for help The collie, calling on all his wiry power, struck out for the dock; keeping the ht with a scientific strength that sent the two, slowly but steadily, shoreward
After the few feet of the haul, Wefers went silent Into his blankly affrighted face ca his wife's hint, and certain now of Lad's ability to co-piece Once, for a second, Wefers' eyes met his; but they were averted in queer haste
As Lad tugged his burden beneath the stringpiece, the Master bent down and gripped the sodden wet shoulders of the constable One none-too-gentle heave, and Wefers was lying in a panting and dripping heap on the clean dock Lad, relieved of his heavy load, swahtfully thrilling day, thus far, for the collie But he was just a bit tired
By the time the dazed constable was able to sit up and peer owlishly into the unloving faces of the Mistress and the Master, Lad had shaken hiroup Fro Then he glanced back at the sullen depths of lake water beyond the string-piece Then he let his head sink on his chest For perhaps a whole minute, he sat thus; his eyes shut, his breath still fast and hysterical
nobody spoke The Mistress looked down at the drenched man Then she winked at the equally silent Master, and laid a caressing little hand on Lad's wet head At length, Wefers lifted his face and glowered at the trio But, as his eye eted
”Well?” proes back?”
Wefers favored hiain averted, the wet man s that get bit by ht to be shot--I come over here to doof yours that got bit, yest'day”
”Huh?” ejaculated the Master
”This dog here looks some like him,” went on Wefers, sulkily ”But it ain't him And I'll so report to the author'ties--I done what I come to do The case is closed And-and-if you folks ever want to sell your dog, why,--well, I'll just goand--and buy hi!
There were four of theaudily-clad damsels and two loriously as the enerously to the glowing beauty of the summer day
Down the lake they cale broad purple stripe under the gunwale The canoe's tones blended sweetly with the pink parasol and blue picture hat of one of the wo the canoe's route, looked up from their lines, in bovine wonder at the vision of loveliness which swept resonantly past the queer musical stunts which are fondly miscalled ”close hare to a divine day on a fire-blue lake, amid the hush of the eternal hills Lesser soulsin few and low-pitched words, under the holy spell of such surroundings But to loftier types of holiday-seekers, the benignant silences of the wilderness are put there by an all-wise Providence for the purpose of being fractured by any racket denoting care-freeso racket-breeding as a perfect day amid perfect scenery
The four revelers had paddled down into the lake, on a day's picnicking They had come fro downstreary Wherefore, as they reached an to inspect the wooded shores for an attractive luncheon-site And they found what they sought
A half- point of land pushed out into the lake It was sht It forently doard, a hundred yards or hty oaks on a plateau at the low hill's summit
The point (with its patch of beach-sand at the water's edge, and with comfortable shade froround The shaven grass not only offered fine possibilities for an after-luncheon snooze; but was the reasy newspapers and japanese napkins and wooden platters and crusts and chicken bones and the like
Moreover, a severely plain ”No Trespass” sign, at the lake- for a jolly little ca trespass boards for picnic fires Not only are they seasoned and painted in a way to cause quick ignition, but people laugh so appreciatively, when one tells, afterward, of the bit of jovial audacity
Yes, this point was just the place for luncheon and for siesta It ht have been made to order And by tacit consent the two paddlers sent theirtoward it Five irls ashore and were lifting out the lunch-basket and various newspaper parcels and the red-and-purple cushi+ons
With hter and a snatch or two of close harmony, the lunch was spread One of the ainst the trunk of a two-century oak; perhaps the millionth noble old tree to be threatened thus with death from care-free picnickers' fires) and the other man sauntered across to the trespass board to annex it for kindling
Everything was so happy and so co such a perfect time! Into such moments Fate loves best to toss Trouble And, this day, Fate played true to form
As the fire-maker's hand was laid on the trespass board, even as his inconsequential muscles were braced to rip it loose froirl in the blue picture hat and the Nile-green georgette waist, checked hisremarkable in the fact that the chromatic lass had squealed Indeed, she and her equally fair co But there was nothing coquettish or gay about this particular squeal It savored rather of a screech In its shrill note was a tiny thread of terror And the two irl had paused in her dainty labor of helping to spread out the lunch; in order to peep inquisitively up the slope toward the tree-fra, to stroll up there and squint in through the veranda s; or,--if no one was at hoather an armful of the roses that cla that brief exploratory glance, her eye had been caught by soh the woods beyond