Part 18 (1/2)
Such a leap could readily have carried it across double the space which lay between it and Cyril But not one-third of that space was covered in the lightning pounce
Froy body launched itself straight doard As unerringly as the swoop of an eagle, the dohizzing bulk flew It shty jaws,--jaws that could crack a beef-bone as a ly into the cat's back, just behind the shoulders And those jaws flung all their strength into the ravening grip
A squall,--hideous in its unearthly clangor,--split the night silences
The ; and set its foa's fur-armored shoulder But before the terrible curved claws could be called into action, Lad's rending jaws had done their work upon the spine
To the verge of the narrow ledge the two co eony carped the stricken wildcat over the edge and out the ninety-foot drop into the ravine Lad was all-but carried along with his adversary He claildly with his toes for a purchase on the smooth cliff wall; over which his hindquarters had slipped For a second he hung, swaying, above the abyss
Cyril, scared into seht up a stick fro what he did, he s Lad with every atoallant dog, the stick was rotten It broke, in the blow; but not before its ih destroyed Lad's precarious balance
One clawing hindfoot found toe-room in a flaw of rock A tremendous heave of all his strained e
Cyril's last atoone into that panic blow at the dog Now, the child had flung hie; and eeping in delirious hysterics Ladwistfully upward at the solid ground above Then, he see down beside the freezing child, he pressed his great shaggy body close to Cyril's; protecting hi snow and fro's dark, deep-set eyes roved watchfully toward the crevice, alert for sign of any other y shoulder was hurting hiave no heed Closer yet, he pressed his war off the elements as valorously as he had fended off the wildcat
The waran to penetrate Cyril's nuratefully Lad's pink tongue licked caressingly at the white face; and the collie whi sy and the child lay there; Cyril's nu under the contact
Then, at a swift intake of the windy air, Lad's whi His nostrils had told him of the search party's approach, a few hundred yards to the ard
Their dispiritingly ai rush in the direction whence came the faint-heard barks, the searchers trooped toward the ledge
”Here we are!” shrilled the child, as the Master's halloo sounded directly above ”Here we are! Down here! A--a lion tackled us, awhile back But we licked hiernaut
Long shadoere stretching lazily athwart the lawn fro world brooded the sole in the sleepy air; touching with gold the fire-blue lake, the circle of lovingly protecting green hills; the ee to the red-roofed gray house in its setting of ancient oaks
On the bare flooring, in the coolest corner of the veranda, two collies lay sprawled They were fast asleep; which means that they were ready to come back to complete wakefulness at the first untoward sound
Of the two sluold-and-white of hue She was Lady; ihbred caninity
The second dog had been crowded out of the shadiest spot of the veranda, by his any coat was under the direct glare of the afternoon sun shi+e tints blazed back the reflection of the torrid light
He was Sunnybank Lad; eighty-pound collie; tawny and powerful; with absurdly tiny white forepaws and with a Soul looking out from his deep-set dark eyes Chu, alone of all worshi+pers, having the privilege of looking on the face of his Gods and of co with them without the medium of priest or of prayer
Lady, only, of the Place's bevy of Little People, refused froe Lad's benevolent rulershi+p She bossed and teased and pestered him, unmercifully And Lad not only let her do all this, but he actually reveled in it She was hisof one s than we mere humans realize
The su of a hroad, two hundred yards beyond the house, and started down through the oak grove, along the winding driveway Immediately, Lady was not only awake, but on her feet, and in old-white ind, she flashed off of the vine-shaded veranda and tore at top speed up the hill tocar
No, it was not the Mistress and the Master whose approach stirred the fiery little collie to lightning activity Lad knew the purr of the Place's car and he could distinguish it from any other, as far as his sensitive ears could catch its sound But to Lady, all cars were alike; and all were signals for wild excitement
Like tooat anybeside it, perilously close to its fast- upward at its polished sides