Lad: A Dog

as held the great North Jersey Livestock Fair-a fair whose awards established for the next twelv

y prize sheep-the playthings of a man to whom the title of Wall Street Farmer had a lure of its own-a

ter of The Place. And the Gentleman Farmer had decided to break his

aside a disused horse-paddock for the woolly visitors' use. Into this

is Highland heart. The duty of working for the Wall Street Farmer had added

r owner their weight in merino wool. A dog-especially a collie-that does not know sheep, is prone to consider them

ed all his collies, except Lad, into the car, and had shipped them off, th

ce's foreman, with a questioning nod at Lad, a

top of the veranda steps. The Master look

easly imported sheep. He won't bother t

uddy, filed down the drive, from the highroad, a

Lad rose from his rug on the veranda. His nostrils itching with the unfamiliar odor, his soft

w, these twenty fat, woolly, white things might be fighters who would attack him in a body, and who might even menace the safety of his gods; and the glum

pwhirled; but before the staff could descend on the furry defe

upon the veranda and had s

he cried

halted midwa

ve them alone! Do you hear, Lad?

s and their staff-brandishing guide were friends of the Mistress he must not driv

veranda. He thrust his cold nose into the Mistress' warm little hand and looked up eagerly

ly patted his silke

do, Laddie; but we mustn't let any

he twenty priceless shee

ir, won't they?" asked the Mistress civilly, as McGil

urtesy of a member of his race and class who feels he is be

down toward the paddock to superintend the task of locking up the sheep. The Mistress did not detain him.

were the first sheep he had ever seen. Yet his ancestors, for a t

wolf in him-not only in body but in brain, and the wolf was the sheep's official murderer, as far back as t

light with a myriad half-memories; his sensitive no

conscientious heart possessed no pride-pride being one of the seven deadly sins, and the sheep not being his own; but the fl

rinos, nor was the Scot satisfied with the strength of the corral. Its wire fencing

ime during the night to press his heavy bulk against the gate or against some of the rustier wire str

in reading human faces as is any professional dead beat. Lad saw the dislike in McGillicuddy's heavy-thatched eyes; co

thrust his pointed nose skyward, and sniffed. McGillicuddy was too much an animal man not to read the

runabout. On the seat beside him sat his pasty-faced, four-year-old son. At his feet

. Lad, who had returned from the impromptu sheep-fold, stood beside them. At sight and scent of this new bat

d's life, yet he loved them, loved them as a big-hearted and big-bodied do

m of guest. Lad recognized the thing as a dog-yet no such dog as ever he had seen.

here all safe? Good! I knew they would. McGillicuddy's a genius; nothing he can't do with sheep. You remember Mortimer?" lifting the lanky youngs

led Morty darli

delightedly that every white front tooth showed. Morty flung himself forward to greet the huge dog, but the Wall Street F

iercely demanded the Wall Street Farmer. "You peopl

d, "he's smiling. That's Lad's way. Why, he'd let him

his son on the veranda. Morty flung himself bodily upon Lad

r, attempted such treatment, the curving white eyeteeth w

e performance; but the Mistress was not worried as to her

ars; and moistly he strove to kiss the wizened little face that was on a level with his own. Morty repaid this attention by sl

n tones, was calling attention to the secon

nde!" h

n Old English sheep-dog and a dachshund; straw-colored fur enveloped the scrawny body; a miserable apology for a bushy tail hung limply between crooked hind legs; evil little ey

es is he?" as

eed ever imported to America. Cost me a clean $1100 to buy her from a Chicago man who brought her

man. He's the original genius who sold all the land between New York and Jersey City for a thous

esses of his own heart. Aloud, he blithered some complimentary lie

aggy shoulder to meet the onslaught. And Melisande found herself gripping nothing but a mouthful of his soft hair. He made no move to resent t

lf-grown peacock chicks-the joy of the Mistress' summer-strutting a

ned to give the fowls a wide berth; so the pretty little peacock

lf-control at the slaughter of her pet. The Master hastily said something that was lost in the louder vo

along in his wake. "I'm sorry this happened, but you must overlook it. You see, Melisande is so

ne to pick up the killed peacock and stroke its rumpled plumage. So the Master allowed himself th

ithout being beaten or sworn at. If he is the worst-then it's wisest for his owner to hunt up some Easy Mark and sell the cur to him for $1100. You'll notice I said his 'owner'-not his 'master.' There's all t

ng of his wife's pet had made him speak so to a guest-even to a self-invited and undesired guest. Then the Wall Str

t was led away, kennelward, by the gardener. Recoveri

n sheep-dog before. Is she

s young, so we haven't tried to train her for shepherding. Two or three times we have taken her into the pasture-always on leash-but she flies at the s

ntation-prolonged and leather-lung

the visitor in panic

alling, he ran up the veranda steps and into the ho

r veranda-contracted his powers. Bored by the stupid talk of grown folk, wearying of L

replace was an enormous and cavernous couch. In the precise center of the couch was cur

led and stretched-thereby revealing itself as no ball, but a superfurry gray kitten-the Mist

e person needs to be told the basic difference between the heart of a cat and the heart of a dog. Nor will any student of Per

at four geometrically regular red marks on the back of his own pudgy hand. Tipperary had not done her persec

he nape of the neck-to be safe from teeth and whizzing claws-and stamped across toward the high-burning fire with her. His a

; treating the temperamental Persian always with marked c

another wise dog has gone, before and since, Lad quietly stepped between Morty and the hearth.

at the dog had not been able to block his progress until only

intolerable. It bit through his thick coat and into

screeches. Lad's back was higher than the child's eyes. Yet Mort

ws viciously therein, and thence leaping to the floor, from which she sprang

e of immolation for the cat, but finding his path to i

rred the way. Morty went insane with wrath at this new interference with his sweet plans.

h into the collie's back, wrenching and tearing at the thick fur, stamping with his booted

ased their volume from moment to moment. Lad did not stir. The kicking and beating and gouging and hair-pulling were not ple

lief expedition, the Wall

son's bleeding hand, the irate father swu

w him

od descended. The chair missed him by a fraction of an inch and splintered into p

Guest Law by growling at a vouched-for visitor. But surely this

aster very gently, his

ut obedient, dro

eet Farmer right dramatically as he caught the howling

Master was saying over and over to himself. "Lor

ress cam

to think of the wrecked heirloom chair. "He loves children. Here,

y! I twied to. I twied to frow her in ve fire. But ve mizz

s mouth fle

tily interposed the Mistress, "and see if the

g-room. During the rest of that day he did not avail himself of his high privilege. He kept out

and of their certain victory over all comers in the fair the Wall Street

lit in a score of places-split into a most horrible cac

of many feet. It burst out all at once in full force, lasting f

re the house's inhabitants trooped down into the lower hall. There the Wall Street Far

otten at them. He's slaughtering them. I heard the poor things

g of Lad," blazed

ed the Mistress. "Let me open that d

The Scot, awakened like the rest, had gone to the paddock. He ha

tak' oath to it. I ken it's him. I suspeecioned him

The murderous brute! First, he tries to kill

white little hand, in the darknes

est as the four made their way paddock-ward, lighting a path with the electric f

ster; then at the to

amble-and presently Lad appeared in the

the Master the voice to call him back. The momentary glimpse of the great collie, in the m

His well-groomed coat was rumpled. His eyes were fire-bal

artbreak-was the first sound from the

sn't true!" stoutly

nd the tracks of many little hoofs on the dewy ground. And he was following the trail. The

at they dreaded to see-the mangled body of some slain

mile they cam

ny hillock that rose from the meadow at the forest e

summit sat Lad. He was sitting there in a queer attitude, one of his snowy forepaws pinning something to the

roke the tense silence w

circling the hillock on census duty. "There's na a sheep gone,

he hillock crest. The light revealed, under Lad's gently pinioning forep

other and longer tour of inspection. Pres

port the Master had guessed at the m

she had gone to the paddock. There she had easily worried loose the crazy

er sex, Melisande was no opponent for him. And he had treated her accordingly. Melisande had snapped at him, cutting

that a million of his ancestors had won their right to a livelihood by their almost supernatural skill

ded to round up the scattered sheep. He was in the midst of the process when the Master called him. Merely

ringed" on the hillock. And, still keeping the Prussian sheep d

Having rounded up his flock Lad had not the remotest idea what to do with them. So he merely he

not a scratch or a stain on any of them. Then he told i

dawn was crawling over the eastern mountains, throwing a ghostly glow on the shepherd's dour and craggy visage. Drawing a long breath of

s side o' Kirkcaldy Brae. Gin ye'll tak' an auld fule's apology for wrangin' ye, an' an auld fule'

, not even the Wall Street Farmer. The shepherd was gravely s

m the kneeling shepherd outstretched to him. His eyes glinted in wise friendliness as they met th

pell by rising abruptly to his fee

n speirin' will ye sell him. But-but

s mumbled words. "Good idea! He is a fine dog. I see that now. I was prejudiced. I freely admit it. A r

tled each other in his throat. Before any of these could shame

you mind hurrying back ahead of us and seeing that