Part 28 (1/2)

”Jes' so. You can't. My sister's dead, and an't here to contradict you, so in course you kin claim the dog. But that's all talk, an' talk 's cheap. The dog's mine.”

”He is not yours.”

”An't he? We'll see 'bout that mighty quick.” And before either Leon or the dog understood her purpose, she had grabbed Lossy in her arms, and was striding away towards the crowd around the auctioneer. Leon jumped down and followed her, his pulses beating high.

Reaching the cart where Mr. Potter was standing, she threw the dog towards him, saying:

”Here, sell this dog next. He's named Lossy. He's a right smart beast.

Goes after the cows, kin tend sheep, and run a churn. He's wuth a good price. Sell him for what he'll fetch.”

Mr. Potter stooped and patted the dog, who was trembling with fear, for ordinarily a collie is easily alarmed, and not very brave except when guarding his sheep, when he has the courage of a lion.

”Well,” began Mr. Potter, ”what'll you give for the dog. Come! speak, and let the worst be known, for speaking may relieve you. If it don't, I'll relieve you of the price of the dog, and you can take him with you.”

”Dollar!” cried a voice in the crowd succinctly.

”'n' quarter,” said another.

”Stop,” cried Leon, fully aroused, now that his pet was actually offered for sale. ”Mr. Potter, you shall not sell that dog. He is mine.”

”It's a lie!” cried Miss Grath. Then pointing her bony finger at Leon, she continued: ”Look at that ungrateful wretch. Look at him. You all know who he is, and where he came from. My sister nussed him, and fed him, and gin him his clothes all these years, and now arter she's dead, he's tryin to defraud me by claimin' my property, 's if he an't had enough outer my family a'ready.”

”I've never had anything from you, and would not accept it if it was offered and I was starving,” cried Leon, white with anger. But as just as the words were, they rather injured his cause, for most of those present held ideas not very dissimilar from Miss Grath's, and they accepted her version and believed him ungrateful. The prejudice against him was not lessened by the intuitive knowledge that, poor though he was, he was better than they. So those who heard him did not hesitate to speak against him, and such phrases as ”Nuss a serpent and 'twill sting you,” and ”A beggar on horseback,” reached his ears, and despite their inaptness, they wounded him.

Mr. Potter, seeing the rising storm, essayed to stem the torrent, and exclaimed:

”Don't show temper, friends; anger and pride are both unwise; vinegar never catches flies.”

”Ther' hain't no flies on Potter,” cried a voice, and a general laugh followed. Then, in spite of his protest, Leon saw Lossy offered again for sale.

Mr. Potter lifted the dog in his arms and said:

”Now here's a dog, by name of Lossy.

Just feel his fur, so fine and glossy.

I'm told that twixt his loud bow-wows He often fetches home the cows.

Besides that, he can tend the sheep, And bring the b.u.t.ter in the churn.

So buy him dear, or buy him cheap, He'll eat no more than he can earn.

”How much for the dog?”

The compet.i.tion excited by the occurrences, and the verses, was now so great, that the bidding was spirited until fifteen dollars was reached, to which sum it had mounted by jumps of fifty cents. Then a man said quietly but distinctly:

”Twenty dollars,” and a glad cry escaped from Leon, as he recognized Dr. Medjora's voice, and knew that his purpose was to restore his dog to him. But at the same instant Miss Grath also comprehended the situation, and determined that Leon should not have Lossy. She cried out to Mr. Potter:

”The dog's wuth twice as much. You kin stop sellin' him. I'll keep him myself.”

At this Leon's hopes fell, only to be revived again by the auctioneer's words. Mr. Potter knew Miss Grath thoroughly, and he readily appreciated the fact that she was selling the dog to spite the lad, and that, in withdrawing him, she was actuated by some sinister motive. Sympathizing with Leon, against whom he had none of the prejudices of the neighborhood, he turned now to Miss Grath and said:

”You told me to sell him for what he would fetch. It's too late now to draw back.”