Part 27 (2/2)

And--”

”I'll be over there, in fifteen minutes,” said the Chief, alive with professional interest

But in ten minutes he was on the wire once ram, 'BRR', on one corner?” he asked excitedly

”Yes,” answered the Master ”I was going to tell you that, when you hung up And on--”

”That's the one!” fairly shouted the Chief ”As soon as you finished talking to ot another call General alars to those Rennick people, up the Valley The artists that rented the old Beasley place this suht out of the nursery I'll phone 'eht There's another queer point about all this Our dog--”

”Speaking of dogs,” went on the garrulous Chief, ”this is a wakeful evening forstore that a couple of fellows have stopped there to get patched up fro-bites They say a dozen stray curs set on 'eht they acted queer, contradicting each other in bits of their story So he's taking his ti theive 'em the once over So---”

”Do more than that!” decreed the Master, on quick inspiration ”What I started to tell you is that there's blood on Lad's jaws; as well as on the baby's blanket If two et you!” yelled the other ”Good-by! I got no time to waste, when a clew like that is shaken in front ofbefore the Chief arrived at the Place with triu” the truth froled and nerve-racked Schwartzes, the two other actors in the evening's dra the sunflecked shadows of Drea one pudgy thumb, was cuddled down to sleep in the Mistress's lap And, in the depths of his cave under the living-room piano, Lad was stretched at perfect ease; his tiny white forepaws straight in front of hi was interrupted, now and then, by a h For, at last, one of his beautiful presents had failed to cause happiness and praise from his Gods Instead, it had apparently turned the whole household inside out; to judge by the noisy excite and all And, even in sleep, the old dog felt justly chagrined at the way his loveliest present to the Mistress had been received

It was so hard to find out what humans would enjoy and what they wouldn't!

CHAPTER X The Intruders

It began with a gap in a line fence The gap should never have been there For, on the far side of it roa of such gaps and in breaking through for forage

The Place's acreage ended, to northward, in the center of an oak grove whose northern half ned by one titus Romaine; a crabbed little farrove, in autumn when mast lay thick and rich amid the tawny dead leaves, Roiant collie, this was always a trying season For longer than he could re of the Place And his chief duties were to keep two-footed and four-footed strays fro thereon

To an inch, he knew the boundaries of the Master's land And he knew that no hu as such intruder had the sense to walk straight down the driveway to the house But woe to the tramp or other trespasser who chanced to come cross lots or to wander in any way off the drive! Woe also to such occasional cattle or other livestock as drifted in froap!

Human invaders were to be met in drastic fashi+on Quadruped trespassers were to be rounded up and swept at a gallop up the drive and out into the highroad With cattle or with stray horses this was an easy job; and it contained, withal, s were different

Experience and instinct had taught Lad what few hu is the worst and meanest and most vicious; and hardest to drive When a horse or a cow, or a drove of them, wandered into the confines of the Place, it was siallop and send them on their journey at top speed It took little skill and less trouble to do this Besides, it was gorgeous sport But pigs--!

When a porker wriggled and hunched and nosed a space in the line fence, and slithered greasily through, Lad's as cut out for hih But it was not sis were hard to start running Oftener than not they would stand, braced, and glare at the onco collie from out their evil little red-rim avidly Thata thunderous fanfare to confuse the his chance to flash in and nip ear or flank; or otherwise get the brutes to running

And, even on the run, they had an ugly way of wheeling, at close quarters, to face the pursuer The razor tushes and the pronged forefeet were always ready, at such ti, unless he should have the wit and the skill and the speed to change, in a breath, the direction of his dash No, pigs were not pleasant trespassers There was no fun in routing theer

Except by dint of swiftness and of brain; an eighty-pound collie has no chance against a six-hundred-pound pig The pig's hide, for one thing, is too thick to pierce with an average slash or nip: And the pig is too close to earth and too well-balanced by build and weight, to be overturned: And the tushes and forefeet can move with deceptive quickness Also, back of the red-rimmed little eyes flickers the redder spirit of murder