Part 13 (1/2)

bragged the Master ”He behaves as well as any human Better than most of therowing uneasiness ”You see, Daylight Park is run as a club Ho Well, these livestock fracases raised such a row that the club's Board of Governors has passed an ordinance, forbidding the keeping of any pet anier than a canary bird can be harbored here It's a hard-and-fast rule It seemed the only way to save our whole summer colony from disruption You know a livestock squabble can cause more ructions in a small colu into the house in the wake of the Mistress and the unhappy Mrs Harmon ”I see H'm!”

He pondered for an instant, while his host shi+fted froain

”The only way out, that I see,” he hazarded, ”is for me to drive back home with Lad; and leave hi of the sort!” protested Harmon, ”There's an easier way than that Wittsville is only akennel there Several of the Park's dogs were exiled to it, when our ordinance went into effect Jump into the car, and we'll take your collie there in ten o to see hi

I--I hate to see But you see for yourself how it is We--”

”Certainly,” assented the Master ”I'll go in and get him and explain to my wife Don't let it make you feel uncomfortable We both understand”

Which accounts for the fact that Lad, within the next half hour, was preparing to spend his first night away from home and from the two people ere his Gods He was not at all happy It had been an interesting day But its conclusion did not please Laddie, in any s did not please Lad, he had a very deter to avoid them;--unless perchance the Mistress or the Master had decreed otherwise

The Master had brought hie place But he had not bidden Lad stay there And the collie et out At ten o'clock, one of the kennel open the door of the little stall in which Lad had been locked for the night At least, he swung the door halfway open Lad swung it the rest of the way

With a plunge, the collie charged out through the opening portal, ducked between the kennelate of the enclosure in two s; and vanished down the road into the darkness

As soon as he felt the highway under his feet, Lad's nose drooped earthward; and he sniffed with all his ;--a scent as familiar to him as that of his own piano cave; the scent of the Place's car-tires

It had taken Harmon and the Master the best part of tenkennels It took Lad less than half that ti the house and finding all doors shut, he lay down on the ht, until the Mistress and the Master should co and find him

But the Harmons were late risers And the sun had been up for some hours before any of the household were astir

If Lad had been the professionally Faithful Hound, of storybooks, he would doubtless have waited on thethere until broad daylight, he was moved to explore this new section of the world The e of his short vision showed signs of life and activity

Several people passed and repassed along the private roadway in front of the Harmons' door; and nearly all of these paused to peer at Lad, in what see show of interest

At last, the dog got to his feet, stretched himself fore-and-aft, in true collie fashi+on; and trotted down the paved walk to the road There for athe scene;--not only with his eyes, but with those far stronger sense organs, his ears and his nostrils His ears told hi of interest His nose told him much Indeed, before he had fairly reached the road, these nostrils had telegraphed to his brain an odor that not only was highly interesting, but totally new to hi But this se or h, out there in the open, to register in a huhly sensitized dog It was an alluring scent; the sort of odor that roused all his curiosity and seeround, Lad set off to trace the ser and fresher at every step Even a rel puppy could have followed it Oblivious to all else, Lad broke into a canter; nose still close to earth; pleasurably excited and keenly inquisitive

He ran along the private road for perhaps a hundred yards Then, he wheeled in at another paved walk and ran up a low flight of veranda steps The front door of a house stood invitingly open to the cool air of the obbling call of athe far end of the veranda

Lad did not knoas co trespass To him an open door had always ly rank scent was tenfold stronger indoors than out Across a hallway he trotted, still sniffing; and up a flight of stairs leading to the second story of the house

At the stairhead, a room door stood wide And into this rooe and sunlit room; but in the most disorderly roo, too

For all its four ere closed, except one which was open for perhaps six inches from the top

Lad circled the room, twice; from door to s, and thence to center table and around the walls; pausing at onesill and again at the threshold; picking his way daintily over heaps of litter on the floor

Yes, the room was full of the scent But, whence the scent eave hiation, he turned to depart

At the stairhead, he ca the veranda She cried: ”Shoo!” at hinity, stalked past her and out of the house

His quest having proven vain, he betook hi there as the Mistress and the Master eed upon the veranda in coht, Lad sca in eager welco at her feet, hisitself into her cupped hand