Part 9 (1/2)
”I'd be willing to bet a year's pay it 'all started' about six feet from shore in this lake,” responded the Master, ”and about a fortnight ago”
But he spoke it in the depths of his own guiltily exultant heart
Outwardly, he rinned; and said with vacuous conviction:
”Laddie, you're a grand dog And,--if you didn't win that cup fro in one way, you certainly won it in another!”
CHAPTER IV Hero-Stuff
Life was monstrous pleasant, for Lad, at the Place And never, except in early puppyhood, was he lonely Never until the Master was so foolish as to decide in his own shallow hu collie would be happier with another collie for comrade and mate
After that, loneliness more than once crept into Laddie's serene life; and into the dark sorrowful eyes behind which lurked a soul For, until one has known and relied on the companionshi+p of one's kind, there can be no loneliness
The Master made another blunder--this one on his own account and on the Mistress's,--when he bought a second collie, to share Lad's realm of forest and lawn and lake For, it is always ais one's chuhtly treated and talked to and taught, he becomes all-but human
Because he is forced to rely solely on hu And his iance
One dog in a home is worth ten times as s Especially if the one dog be such a collie as Sunnybank Lad This the Master was due to discover
On a sloppy and drippy and y afternoon, late in October,--one of those days nobody wants,--the Master ca a decided list to starboard in the shape of an egregiously bulged side-pocket
The Mistress and Lad, as ever, caayly tru bark which always he reserved for the Mistress or the Master after an absence of any length, cavorted rapturously up to his deity But,the sodden October air, and seeking to locate a new and highly interesting scent which had just assailed his sensitive nostrils
The Master put an end to thedeep into his overcoat's swollen pocket and fishi+ng out a grayish golden ball of squirerly on the veranda floor; where it revealed itself as an eight-weeks old collie pup
”Her naazed interestedly down upon the sprawling and wiggling puppy ”Her pedigree reads like a page in Burke's Peerage She--”
He paused For Lad hadvaliantly to walk on the slippery boards The big dog regarded the puppy; his head on one side, his tulip ears cocked; his deep-set eyes friendily curious This was Lad's first experience with one of the young of his species And he was a bit puzzled; albeit vastly interested
Experihtly on the rowled a falsetto warning to hi at this sign of spirit in the pigue, he essayed to lick the shi+vering Lady A second groarded this attention And Lady sought to avoid further contact with the shaggy giant, by scrae of the veranda
She hted baby eyes failed to take account of the four-foot drop to the gravel drive below Too late, she tried to check her aard rush And, for a moment, her fat little body swayed perilously on the brink
The Mistress and the Master were too far away to catch her in tiht well have entailed a broken rib or a wrenched shoulder But Lad was nearer Also, he , heLady As tenderly as if he were picking up a ball of needles, he caught her by the scruff of the neck, lifting her in the air and depositing her at the Mistress's feet
The puppy repaid this life-saving exploit by growling stilldog's nose
But Lad was in no wise offended Deaf to the praise of the Mistress,--a praise which ordinarily threw hiht,--he stood over the rescued pup; every inch of his e and protectiveness
Fro slave of Lady
He watched over her, in her increasingly active rambles about the Place Always, on the advent of doubtful strangers, he interposed his own furry bulk between her and possible kidnaping He stood beside her as she lapped her bread-and--biscuit