Bruce

re a curse. For without such a heart and soul, she might h

arts that are so tenderly all-loving and to souls tha

ily fragile of build, sensitive of nostril, furrily tawny of

of brain-space she might have been cherished and coddled as a potential bench-show winn

stiff cartilages into drooping as bench-show fashion demands. The average show-collie's ears have a tendency to prick. By weig

h independent thinking, as sheep-guards, and when they needed more brainroom

ting a high price from some rich fancier. She was tabulated, from babyhood, as a "sec

their offspring are sometimes as perfect as are those of the finest specimens. But, lacking the arbi

ould have found a ready purchaser for her. For nine pet collies out

female. Therefore, no pet-seeker wanted to buy her. Even when she was offered

-brings as high and as ready a price as does the male. But n

ilized world, a female dog had been more popular as a pet than a male. The Mohammedans (to whom, by creed, a

ccordingly. Back to Europe came the Crusaders, bearing only three lasting memorials of th

e female collie. She has all the male's best traits and none of his worst. She has more in common, too, w

ng such a pal. In England the female pet dog has at last beg

back

galloping to the gate to welcome the strangers. For the pups were only three months old-an age when every event is thrillingly interestin

ousness as well) and carried herself so daintily, that one's heart warmed to

sure is on

, before turning to some other puppy. The pronoun, "she,"

f the two other females died. Lass's remaining sister began to "shape up" with show-possibilities, and was bought

to snuggle down to. It was stupid, with no one to help her work off her five-months spi

eant nothing to them, except the work of feeding her and of k

usly up to them, begging for a word or a caress, trying to tempt them into a romp, bringing them peaceoffer

-trough or the water-pail ignored her bounding and wrigglingly eager welcome as completely as though she were a par

. He was not much of a visitor, being a pallid and rather shabbily

this morning, I made up my mind, first thing, to buy a dog with it, even if it took every cent. But then I got to thinking I'd need something to fasten him w

of the boss?" as

Once I saw some of them being exercised. They were the wonderfulest dogs I ever saw. So the minute I got the money for the check, I came here. I told the man in the front

fence and waving welcomingly toward the boy. Unknowingly, she was bidding for a master. And her wistful friendliness struck a note of response in the little fellow's hea

ad. Lass wiggled ecstatically under the unfamiliar caress. All at once, in the boy's ey

adding na?vely: "Is he Champion Rothsay Chief-the

fessional reasons, as he remembered the nature of the boy's quest

s. This is Rothsay Lass. A grand little girl, ain't she? Say,"-in a confidential whisper,-"since you've took a fancy for her, maybe I could coax the old man into lettin' you have her

him. It's my birthday, you know. But-but a dollar of it went for the chain and

lie pup, was a joke price. But no one else wanted Lass, and her feed was costing more every day. According to Rothsay standards, the list of brood-females was

shrank from him nor attacked him. She danced about his legs in delight, varying this by jumping up and tryi

dusty ground of the run, and Lass was curled up rapturou

ys," vouchsafed the kennel-man

he key to the Seventh Paradise, and a life-mem

nsumed a full hour of time. Not that Lass hung back or rebelled at her first taste of collar and chain! These petty annoyances went

round Dick's thin ankles; partly because he stopped, every block or so, to pat her or to give her further lessons in the a

alow with a discouraged geranium plot in its pocket-handkerchief front yard, an

tween the two lines of flapping sheets, whose hanging she had b

our check on a nice new suit or something. He's kind of pretty, though," she went on, the puppy's friendliness and beaut

she's an angel. She minds me already. See-shake hands, Lass!" "Lass!" ejaculated Mrs. Haz

brace of toads in her son's pocket. And she lowered her voice, as is the manner of her kind when forced to speak of

, of all the chuckle-heads! A nasty F

ngers of his right hand protectively in the fluffy mass of th

ke her to the cheats who sold her to you. Tell them to keep her and give you

the queer intuition that tells a female collie when her mas

rthday, and everything. Please let me keep her. I-I love her bett

said," returned

view from behind the billows of wind-swirled clothes. She was an excellent person, and w

your dog, did you? You didn't waste no time. And he's su

nding Dick back with her, to where she came from. I've got my opinion of people who will take advantage of a child's ignora

k, battling with his desire

ed glance at the puppy changing to one of refined and lofty scorn. "Ta

se Lass thrust so comfortingly into his hand. "WHY don't we want a female dog arou

broke in his shocked m

speaking very slowly, and

upraised for a second installment of rebellion-quelling-when a slender little body flashed through the

ungster whom she had adopted as her god. The woman screeched in terror. Dick flung an arm about t

icken his steps as he strolled around the side of the house. The newcomer was Dick's father, superi

at sight of him. "Kill her! She's a mad

ind!" wailed Dick. "She was pert

, "if you don't send for a policema

all being spoken in a succession so rapid as to make a single blurred sentence. "Hold on! What's w

ed down for a moment at the puppy-which was making sundry advances of a shy but friendly nature toward him. Then he looked at the boy, and noted Dick's hero-effort to chok

oo. Yes, and I see the pup's side of it. I know a lot about dogs. That pup isn't vicious. She knows she belongs

sputtere

' to do whatever I say we are-without any back-talk or sulks, either. It's this way: Your brother gave the boy a birthday check. We promised he could spend it any way he had a mind to. He said he w

rick! I'm not ever going to forget this, so long as I live. S

e softies! You haven't backbone enough for a prun

ly-adding: "By the way, I got a queer piece of n

of news," Mrs. Hazen followed her husband indoors, leaving Dick and his pet to ga

n't you? I gave you the wink, and you wouldn't catch on. So I had to make the grandstand play. I'm no more

id you make a fool of me before Irene and ever

x say we mustn't let him fret and worry any more'n we could help? Well, if he had to take that dog back to-day, it'd have broke his heart. He'd

ersisted, "I won't have

's gone; and the door'll be open. He'll think she's run away. He'll go looking for her, and he'll keep on hoping to find her. So that'll ease the shock, you see, by letting him d

he woman plunged deep into the silences as he

er all, Ed," grudgingly vouchsafed Mrs. Hazen. "It

e'll be hoping all the while. That always takes

ver known. And it was the first actively h

a performing elephant and a troupe of circus dogs could hope to learn in a lifetime. They became sworn chums. Dick talked to Lass as if she

llor was gone from Dick's face. His cheeks were glowing, and his eyes shone. He ate greedily. His

leepy and full of food-also because another and l

phing of glances, his parents consented. Half an hour later the playmates were sound asleep, t

Dick's cubby-hole room. He gazed down at the slumberous pair for a space, while he

ed back from her white teeth. Far down in her throat a growl was born. Then she recognized the intruder as the man who had petted her a

in his arms and tiptoed out of the room with her. Mistaking this mo

whispered word with his wife. For nearly a mile he carried the dog. Lass greatly enjoyed the ride. She was pleasantl

gamboling merrily around his feet. A kick sent the dismayed and agonized puppy flying through the air like a whimpering catapult, and landed her against a bank wi

ad the unpleasant job was over

id you drown her in the

own into my arms so cozy and trusting-like, that I-well, I fixed it so she'll neve

ted him. He followed the finger's angry point. Close at his sid

e of unfamiliar ground. Already she had forgiven the kick or had put it down to acciden

gled Hazen, bl

wife. "If that's the 'thorough' wa

N that would like to trust a feller so much as to risk another ribc

re than he loved fairness. And his wife's glare was full upon him. With a grunt he

a lad, he had once gotten rid of a mangy cat, and he resolved to repeat the exploit. It was far more merciful to

he passed. The fourth he came to was unlocked. He slid back the newly greased side door, thrust Lass into the chilly and black interior and qu

e freight. From time immemorial, it has been a favorite repositor

aper and vaudeville jest. Though, heaven knows, the inside of a moving box-car has

f the public at large. As any old railroader can testify, trainhan

s of babies have been discovered, wailing and deserted, in box-car recesses; perhaps a hundred miles from

ed. More than once a slain man or woman has been sent along the line, in

ne of these wheeled receptacles. He was but following an old-established custom,

n to the home where every one that day had been so kind to her. Hazen had shut the door with such vehemence that it had rebounded

rusting, with her triangular head as a wedge, she was able to widen the aperture, inch by inch. In less than three minutes sh

of Hazen's departing footsteps was blotted out. Hazen himself was no longer in sight. As Lass had made the journey from

ts were shining with misty warmth through th

ven-forty express, several crates and parcels were grouped. One crate was

d water. But commodious as was the box, the unwonted confinement did not at all please its occupant-a temperamental

rom one side of the crate to the other in an effort to break out. A carelessly nailed slat gave away

in. There, made to order for her, was a nice bed. There, too, were food and drink to appease the ever-present

en puppy biscuits in the inset-trou

express packages out to the edge of the platform. One of them noticed the displaced board of the crate. He drove home its loosened nails with two

morning an expressman drove two miles with it to a country-home, a mil

antly around the crate as it was set down on the lawn in front of The Place's ver

ch she still insisted on believing was friendly. It is hard to shake a collie pup's inborn faith in the frie

ces about her. These faces were blank enough as they returned her gaze. The glad exp

mpion Rothsay Chief and not a flaw from nostril to tail-tip'! Rothsay wrote those very words about her, you remember. And he's supposed to be the most dependable

rightened by the Master's tone of disgust. Yet she was eager, as ever, to make a good impression and to l

proud of her ability to do it. Perhaps it might also please these strangers. And after the odd fashion of all n

ts" of a dog and into the soul and brain and disposition that lay behind them. So now she looke

ing about bundling the dog into her crate again and sending her b

d the Master. "We planned to breed a stra

istress. "And even if she happens to be a 'second,' that's no sign her pupp

urse settle

ollie. At sight of Lass he lowered his head for a charge. He was king of The Place's

th so gayly to meet him. For he recognized her as a female. And m

estic wagging of a plumy tail. After which, side by side, the two collies-big and little-old and n

. "Lad has accepted her. He vouches for h

that Lass

arned readily to respond to the title of "Princess." And

t green mountains, hemming in and brooding over The Place as though they loved it. In the winter evenings there was the huge library hearth with its blaze and warmth; and a disreputable fur rug in front of it

ass was just eleven months

Lass did not run forth to greet them as usual. She lay still, wagging

hat looked more like a fat blind rat than like anything else. It

el of home-bred collies! And see what results we get! One solitary puppy! Not once in ten times are there less than six in a co

this one ought to bring us luck. Let's call him 'Bruce.' You remember, the original Bruce won because of the mystic number, seven. Thi

the foreman of the Rothsay Kennels, who motored ac

els," he told the Master. "He recognized her right away as Rothsay Princess. The negro claims to have f

othsay Princess for the past six months. And she's the last dog I'll ever

kick in the courts for having to pay two hundred

crilege. "Rothsay Princess has the best ears of any pup we've b

down to the kennel and take a look at her. Sh

s growled and showed her teeth. For a collie mother will l

her for a half-minute, whistling bewildered

I know who she IS, though. I'd remember that funny mask amo

r a month afterward, to find if she had come back to us. He said she ran away in the night. He still comes around, once a week or so, to ask. A spindly, weak, sick-looking little chap, he is. I do

r came for the Master from Lass's home town. It was signed "Edw'd Hazen," and i

r S

ightly got over it, but he peaks and mopes and gets thinner all the time. If I had known how hard he was going to take it, I would of cut off my hand before I would of done such a thing. And my wife feels just like I do

ve her. Now, sir, I am a poor man, but if one hundred dollars will make you sell me that dog, I'll send it to you in a money order by r

s car brought Dick Hazen acros

is cherished puppy curled against his narrow chest. But there was a light in his

han half-way to meet him. With a flurry of fast-pattering steps and a bark of eager welcome, she flung herself upon

s own sapped strength,-and hugged her tight to his breast. Winking very fast indeed to disperse

've grown, though! And you're beautifuler than ever. Isn't she, Miss?" he demanded, turning to the Mistress with

she is to be wit

last time. But I guess she's had her lesson in going out for walks at night and not being able to find her way back. She and I are going to have the dandiest times

on the veranda floor

,-the sort kids play with. But," with a tinge of w

ou'd like us to keep little Bruce, to remembe

ith twice as many dogs as he had set out for. "Yes'm. If you wouldn't mind, very much. S'pose we leave it that way? I guess Bruce

wish, Mr. Hazen had not been required to make any part of his proffered hundred-dollar payment for the return of his boy's pet.

he sole visible result of The Place's experiment in raising prize collies. You have a

ruce proceeded to make a ferocious onslaught at the Mistress's temperamental gra

he attack. Tipperary then went on with her mincing promenade. And Bruce,

king him up and comforting him. "Responsibili