His Dog

Ba

eeded to unpin the money pocket. Ferris struggled for an instant in futile fury, trying to s

empt to rob him had set Link into action and

shape that catapulted through the dark. Sixty pounds of fur-swathed dynamic muscl

splashing in the margin of the lake. Before he could roll over or so much as stir, a set of white fangs met in his sh

rris and charged at the prostrate thief's assailant. But

does no other dog. What he lacks in stubborn determination

og would have secured the first convenient hold and would have hung on to that hold, whether it were at h

lder did not prevent the man from twisting round to grapple him, the collie shifted that grip with lightning speed, and with

m left his fallen antagonist and whirled about to face the new enemy. As he was still tu

e collie had whirled in and sunk his teeth deep in the man's calf. The bitten man l

bewildering speed, flashed in again and buried his cu

nough to recognize his beloved dog, he also saw the newrisen thief catch up a broken fence rail,

nctively he ran at the wielder of the formidable weapon. Staggering and sick and two-thirds drunk

swinging sweep of the fence rail. It caught him glancingly across the side. And its force carried him clean

er's sudden immersion in the lake, he quitted the fray. At top speed the

holdup. Also that a raging collie is not a pleasant foe. The racket might well draw interference from outside. The dog was overhar

self. He dug both hands into the lake-bottom mud and strove to gain the surface. But the eff

er's coat-twelve inches under water-and had braced himself with all

ed his footing. Floundering waist-deep in water, he clambered up the steeply shelving bank

urface, he swam to shore and trotted up the bank to the road. Absurdly lank and small, wi

ff pad-pad-pad of fast-retreating human feet, and showed him the course the two men were taking. He would have liked to give

making queer sounds of distress. The dog's plac

ils were smitten by an odor which caused the collie to shrink back in visible disgust. The sickly, pungent smell o

t Ferris should have locked him in the kitchen instead of taking him along as usual on his evening stroll. It had bee

he nearest window. The window had been open. Its thin mosquito net cov

d been absurdly simple. The trail had led to a house with closed doors. So, after circling the tavern to find if his mas

he lay there. But all of them had shut

had sprung forward to greet Link. Then, his odd collie sense had told him that for some reason this staggering and hiccupin

ris had stumbled heavily over him, hurting the collie's ribs and his tender

ance the swaying progress of the trio, until Link's yell and

. Approximately sober, he got to his feet and stood swaying and dazed. As he rose, his groping hand closed over something c

y were confidently certain of recovering it a few minutes later when they should go through their victim's clothes. Dawning intelligence told Link he had not come through the ad

usea. The loss of his cash would have meant suspended credit

n his triumph wipe

unning which makes him morbidly eager to get the best of any

till had a pint of whisky to take home. And it had cost

ky. True, he had been roughly handled. And he had had a ducking in the lake. But t

hen his eye fell on Chum, standing ten

y life. Yes-as he rehearsed the struggle to get out of the lake-he owed

ning to throw his arms about the dog's furry neck and kiss him. But he steadied himsel

t I'm still a whole lot in your debt, friend. I owe you for all the cash in my pocket an'-an' for a pint of the Stuff that Killed Father-an'-an' maybe for a beatin' that might of killed

, that his drenched clothes were like ice on him, and that the cold and the shock reaction were giving him a sharp congestive chil

hemselves. He craved a drink-a number of drinks-to restore his wonted poise. Lighting the kitchen lamp, he set the whisky bottle on the table and put a thick tumbler alongside it.

They made all things seem possible, and most things highly desirable. Link wanted to sing. And after two additional drinks he gratified thi

a Little Black Bull that came Over the Mountain, when he observed that Chum was no longer lying at his feet. Indeed

um to return to his former place. The collie, in most unwilli

ed disgust. He looked at Ferris as at some loathely stranger. The glad light of loyalty, which always had transfigured his visage

d truculently. "What ails ye

. Chum shrank back from the touch as a child from a dose of castor oil. Th

nly, Link Ferr

telepathy between the mind of a thoroughbred dog and its master, a power which gives them a glimpse into each other's processes of tho

at his adoring dog now shunne

e had been a joy to Link. The subtly complete change in his worshiper's dem

ed Link not at all. Nor now could he understand the queer feeling of humiliation that swept over him at sigh

dirty four-legged critter's 'shamed of a he-man,

m gave back not an inch. Under the threat of a beating he stood his ground, his brave eyes st

the sorrowing dog. Instead, it clattered harmlessly to the board floor. And to the f

hroat were bursting great strangled sobs which tortured his whole bo

end that ever cared a hang if I was alive or dead! An'-an' I was goin' to lick you! I was goin' to lambaste you. Because I was a beastlier beast than YOU be. I was goin' to do it because you was so

ven though the man be a sot and the dog a thoroughbred. In his calmer moments Link Ferris would have known this. A high-b

e. Instead, the expression of misery and repugnance fled as if by magic from his brooding eyes. Into them in its place leaped a lig

e seemed to know that the maudlin Unknown had vanished, and that his dear master wa

. Just as the icy lake had not deterred him from springing into the wate

hum's demeanor, and read it aright. It strengthened the old bond between h

flask. His face working, Link opened the window and poured what was left of the whisky out on the ground. There was n

me that queer way an' sidlin' away from me all the time; till maybe at last you'd get plumb sick of me for keeps, an' light out. An'-I'd rather have YOU than the booze, since I can't have bot

orked with a splitting headache. He carried it and a

long and happy summer. His work showed the results of the change.

f-enforced abstinence. Where were times, too-when he had a touch of malaria and again when the cutworms slaughter

to get than for what he sought to forget. And with the departure of loneliness and the new intere

n Link's babyish gusts of destructive bad temper boiled to the surface at some setback or annoyance, much the same wonderingly distressed look would creep into the collie'

of dogs, he overestimated Chum, of course, and valued his society and his good opinion far more highly than the average man would hav

in life beyond his dog, and who could and did devote all his scant leisure hours to association with that dog. Chum's sagacity

imple accomplishments. It was by talking constantly to the collie, as to a fellow human, that he broadened the dog's intellige

ir respective pastures and then back to the barnyard at night. At the entrances to the pastures, now, Ferris had rigged up rude gates with

collies, of course, in Great Britain, and to many here. But Link did not know that. He felt like another Columbus or Edison, a

k for him, and reveled in the excitement of it. Chum also-from watching Link perform the task twice-had learned to drive the chickens out of the garden patches whenever an

amusement to Chum, and a tr

take these accomplishments as a matter of course. Indeed, he was som

creep over the mountain region even in midsummer. He would watch

knew enough to pick up a stick in his mouth and lay it on the e

his own accord, in search of one missing sheep out of the entire flock, s

boy in charge for some books about dogs. The youth looked idly for a few minutes in a crossindex file. Then he brought forth a tome called "The Double G

inen-jacketed little volume across the counter to Link. "First story

ay. He read it aloud-as he had taken to thinking aloud-for Chum's benefit. And there were ma

omething else. Something Link could not make head nor tail of. Then, on second reading, bits

of them have no use for him. That even flowers and crops will desert him and run again to wildness, if Man turns his back o

joyously, on the side of Man. For Man's sake the dog will not only starve and suffer and lay down his life, but will betray his fello

dog's uncanny wisdom in certain things and his blank stupidity in others. Next day Link returned the book to the library,

went as usual to the Hampton store to get it cashed. This tine he stood in less dire need of money's life-saving qualities than of yore. It had been a goo

st on his farm mortgage would fall due. And the meeting of that payment was a

ginal ambition had awakened recently in his heart-namely, to pay

with Chum and studying his thumbed-soiled ledger, he had

pboards, a truly gorgeous poster. By the light of the flickering lamp over the door, he discerned the

og with a ruff and with tulip ears. In short, just such a dog as Chum. Not knowing that Chum was a collie and that poster

the picture, he was moved to run his

t Craigswold-a show for the benefit of the Red Cross. Entries were to be one dollar for each class. "Thanks to generous co

ut suddenly his roving gaze came to an astonished standstill. At the bottom of

CYRUS

IGSWOL

A CASH

DOLLARS ($

F ANY BREE

ndred

t backward. It would have been a patent lie had he heard it by

show. Not to BUY the dog, mind you. Just as a gift to the man

the Craigswolders spent money like mud, when it so pleased them-although more than one fe

nee pants and with a leather bag of misshapen clubs over his shoulder. Link had seen him again and again. He had seen th

ST DOG OF

st and most beautiful and the wisest dog ever born. If Marden were offering a hundred dollar priz

toward the principal. That meant Ferris could devote the extra few dollars he had already saved for the p

er, who also chanced to be the store's proprietor and the mayor of Hampton and t

ore," reported the postmaster. "They're making a tour of all the towns hereabouts. They asked me to try to int'r

s I'll take one if it don

k with totally uncomprehending gaze

I've had some experience in this folderol. I took my Airedale over to the Ridgewood show last spring and g

legs," answered Link, afire with the zeal

he postmaster, not interest

tly know. Some kind of a bird dawg, I guess.

ne day last month?" asked the postm

y dawg I've got. Only dawg I ever had.

pen, he had begun to scribble on the blank. Filling in Link's name and address, he w

breaking in on Ferri

h, his name, hey? I call him 'Chum.' You se

I suppose," resumed the postmaster,

k. "I-I found hi

postmaster; then, "What clas

, I just want to put him into that c

sses all have to appear in what is called the 'Winners Class.' Then the dog that gets 'Winner's'-the dog that gets first prize in this 'Winners' Class'-competes for best dog of his breed in the show. After that-as a 'special'-the best in al

digesting carefully what he

im in the 'Novice Class.' That's generally the easiest. If he loses in that, no harm's done. If he wins he has a chance later in t

from his pocket, the postmaster filled i

e out," said Ferris,

ding into the Craigswold Country Club grounds promptly at ten o'clock on Labor Day. If you don't get a card and a tag sent to you, before then, tell your name to the clerk at the t

ghtenin' Chum up, a wee peckle, on his tricks. Maybe I'll have time to learn hi

o stop. Then he'll make them stand on the show platform while he examines them. The dog's only 'tricks' are to stand and walk at his best, and to look alert, so the judge can see the shape of his ears and get his expression. Teach your

dollars! Of all the dawgs that ever happened, Chummie is that one! Why, there ain't a thi