Lad: A Dog

t and darkest and most sorrowful eyes in all dogdom-eyes that gave the lie to

n fair life-and-death battle with a younger and stronger dog; Lady, who bullied him unmercifully and teased him and did fearful th

ay's journey through their North Jersey hinterland. To The Place (at intervals far too few between to suit Lad), came human guests; people, for

ible, got himself out of their way. He knew the Law far too well to snap or to grow

to him. He would sport like an overgrown puppy with either of these deities; throwing digni

at first was not certain which. The visible guest was a woman. And, in

a child, five years old; a child that ought to have weighed more than forty pounds and weighed barely twent

Something prowled through the land, laying Its finger-tips on thousands of such jolly and vigo

as had so many of her fellows. At least, her br

peless little invalid. She had written to her distant relati

est and with less pleasure. He stood, aloof, at one sid

, Lad waxed curious. Not only because the Master handled his burden so carefully, b

anner. It did not make sense to him. And he

swing, and loosed the blanket-folds that swathed it. Lad ca

sight did something queer to his heart-the big heart that ever went out to the weak and defenseless, the heart

f him, came a look of pleased interest-the first that had crossed their blankness for many a long day. Two fe

laid his great head down beside the drawn cheek, and positively reveled

and hard-established circle of Loved Ones,

in the Master's wake. At sight of the

d. "He may attack her!

it! See, he adores her already. I never knew him to take to a stranger before. And she looks bright

are full of germs. I've read so.

Mistress, with some warmth. "There isn't a day he doesn't swi

ile Baby secured a tighter and more painful grip on the delighted dog's ruff. "

were treacherous, we wouldn't keep them. A collie is either the best dog or the worst dog on earth. Lad is the best.

ack, as he went, at the adorable new idol he had acquir

pestem arms went out toward the collie. In

back here, right aw

call. The Master, in turn, looked inquiringly at his nervous guest. Lad transl

her weakly gesticulatin

dear. They're rough; and besides, they bite.

"Want the dog! He isn't rough. He won

eyes dancing. One hand of the Master's stirred toward the hammock in a motion

sed behind the guest, and stood beside his idol. The Baby fairly

s safe, if you people say so. And it's the first thing she's been interested in, since--No, darling," she broke of

ll come to less harm from kissing the head of a clean dog than from kissing the mouths of most humans. I'm glad she likes

nd that, too, was how a miserably si

he lay all night outside the door of her bedroom. In preference even to a romp through the forest with Lady, he woul

ne since puppyhood-he lay always behind the Baby's table couch. This to the vast discomfort of the maid

st and braid the great white ruff on his chest, to toy with his sensitive ears, to make him "speak" or shake hands or lie down or stand up a

such game. Of course, he always played his part wrong. Equally, of course, Baby always lost her temper at his stupidity,

life, Baby was growing stronger and less like a sallow ghostling. And, in the relief of noting this steady improvement, her moth

foolish dread. One of them occurred about a

But one day, as Baby lay in the hammock (trying in a wordy irritation to teach Lad the alphabet), and

d blinking inquisitively. Baby spied the graceful gold-and-whi

oggie. You pretty

ust within arm's reach, she halted again. Baby thrust out one ha

were by no means alike, as I think I have said. Boundless patience and a chivalrous love for the Weak, were not numbered a

wl and a lightning-quick forward lunge of the dainty gold-white head. As the wolf slashes at a foe-and as no anim

etween his mate and his idol. It was a move unbeliev

he little girl's arm to the bone, sent a

e's intervention, Lad was shouldering her off the edge of the veranda steps. Ver

he part of her usually subservient mate,

her letter-writing by the turmoil, came r

the Master out of his study and to the veranda on the run. "He growled

No male dog would fight with Lady. Much less would Lad-Hello!" he broke off. "Look at his shoulder, though! That was meant f

ut

orty U. S. Regulars," went on the Master. "Take my word for it. Come along, Lady. It's the kennel

nhappy-very, very unhappy. He had had to jostle and fend off Lady, whom he worshipped. And he knew it would be many a long day

meant no harm and who could not help herself! Life, all

or a caress that might help make things easier. But Baby had been bitterly chagrined at La

e castigation. He sighed, a second time; and curled up on the floor beside the hammock, in a right mis

to look less and less like an atrophied mummy, and more like a thin, but no

The hands that pulled at Lad, in impulsive friendliness or in punishment, were stronger, too. Their fur-tugs hurt worse than at first

e for the mail, the child's mother wheeled the invalid chair to a tree-roofed nook down by the

p-and just the spot through which no countryman would have car

er, during the late June mowing, The Place's scythe-wielders moved with glum caution. An

nd usually free from mosquitoes as well. The lawn, close-shaven, sloped down to the lake. To one side

ater by the drought, abode eft, lizard and an occasional snake, finding coolness and moistu

king Baby there at all. She would have been doubly warned against the folly which she now proceeded to commit-of l

tirred the lower boughs of the willows. The air was pleasantly cool h

d with her choice of a re

put himself in front of it; only to be ordered aside. Once the wheels hit his ribs with jarring impact.

ead of slinking away, he sat down beside the child; so close to her that his ruff pressed against her shoulder. He did not lie

ragrance of a June morning. To a dog, there were faint rustling sounds that were not made by the breeze. There were equally faint and elusive scent

ot let him sit still. It made him fidget and shift his pos

The Place's car was turning in from the highway. In it were the Mistress and the Master, coming home with the m

Jumping up from her seat on the rug, she started toward it in quest of mail. So hastily did she rise that she d

le smote the coils of a sleeping copperhead snake in one of the wall's lowest cavities. But Lad heard it.

And, before she had taken three steps, a triangular gray

rty, with a distinct and intricate pattern interwoven on its rough upper body. The head was short, flat, wedge-shaped. B

in brother in murder to the rattler-still infests meadow and lakeside. Smaller, fatter, deadlier than the diamond-back, it gives none of the warning which redeems the lat

ed uncertain-perhaps momentarily dazzled by the light. It stopped within a yard of the child's wizened little

self from the frail embrace a

lie is abjectly afraid and from which he will run for his life. One is a mad dog. The other

arauders who had invaded The Place. More than once, in dashing fearlessness, he had fought with dogs larger than himsel

akingly, sickly afraid. Afraid of the deadly thing that was halting within

appeal to a human in moments of danger, he even pressed closer to the helpless child at his side, as

t, with several letters in his hand. Lad cast a yearning look at him. But the Maste

the child's straying

the peril. Her legs and feet lay inert. The motion jerked the rug's fringe an inch or two, disturbing the co

ook from the rug beside her, and flung it at the serpent. The fluttering book missed its m

er; and then flashed forward. The double move

pperhead struck. It struck for the thin knee, not ten inches away

lips, Baby was knocked flat by a mighty and hai

d's fangs sank de

Baby by the shoulder. The keen teeth did not so much as bruise her so

ad launched himself bodi

ng fangs found a second mark-th

ashing impotently among the grassroots; its back broken, and its

The menace was past.

zzle and jaw were two de

told him at what cost. But his idol was unhurt and he was happy. He bent down to lick

en as he leaned downward he was knocked prone to

he had seen only that the dog had knocked her sick baby flat, and was plunging across her body. Ne

as in lioness-or cow), was aroused. Fearless of danger to herself, the guest rushed to he

the dog. The handle was as large as a woman's fist, and

w felled him, the impromptu weapon arose once more

h. This mad assailant was a woman. Moreover, she was a guest, and as

est-there would right speedily have been a case for a hospital, if not fo

lows. But his splendid body did not cower. And the woman, wild with f

me the

d out in fierce protest at her pet's

racked with anguish. "Mother! Don't! Don'

blow seemed to fall upon the little onlooker's own b

ct her beloved playmate, she tottered forward

n her face went yellow-white; and the p

outh open, her cheeks ashy-staring at the swaying child who clutched her

profanity at sight of his dog's punishment. Now he came to an

ad risen an

had declared, were hopelessly paralyzed-she who could never hope to twi

o have caught, for the moment, some of the paral

t it. Baby's was not the first, nor the thousandth case in pathologic history, in which

ong illness had left her powerless. Country air and new interest in life had gradually built up wasted tissues. A sho

itude, the joyously weeping mother was made to listen to the child's story of the fight wit

d the guest, "and apologize to him. Oh, I wish some of you woul

searchings bring him to view. The Master, returning from a shout-punctuated h

at least once. Probably oftener, and he knew what that meant. Lad knows everything-knew everything, I mean. If he had k

guest. "I-I don't understand. Surely

the Master, "bu

an, he

than we. They try to cause no further trouble to those they have loved. Lad got his death from the copperhead'

She loved the great dog, as she loved few humans

time he was dying from the poison he had saved my child from!

. "And self-forgiveness is the easiest of all lessons to le

r the child's cure. Her uncertain, but always succ

their faces bright. Even the guest mourned frequently, and loudly, and eloquen

use, for his usual before-breakfast cross-country tramp-a tramp on which, for years, La

Something arose stiffly from a porch rug-Somet

ever before sullied the cleanness

apparently, the swelling had begun to recede. The fur, from spine to to

da floor beside the dirt-encrusted brute, and

nd! You're alive again

die. But, thanks to the wolf-strain in his collie blood,

the forest, had done for him what such mud-baths have done for a million wild creatures. It had drawn out

when an idiotic triumph-yell from the Master had summoned the whol

head between his caressing hands. "'Awf