Explorers of the Dawn

ing the pressure of the top bar on our young stomachs. We sang to keep warm, for Mrs. Handsomebody had decreed that no reefers we

n that flute-like treble of his, that

ember the fift

, treason

aph added hi

ason why gun

ever be

outed it a

iven us for our share in the treasure hunt, came out

se way, "is affecting my wife's health delete

ut him out," sug

y, yet I thought I percei

I explained. "You see,

or all you know I might be his direct descendant. If you must celebrate his undoing, better take these

Pegg, in his shiny top hat and neat Prince Albert moved away in the ruddy November sunlight as in a halo of opulence. Never before had we appreciated the princely turn of his toes beneath their drab spats, the flash of his twirled walking-sti

g, having been charmed by our singing, had presented us each with a sixpence, with the earnest injunction that t

to take a bite till we're back home

ically, "she knows they'll

wife in a little wooden stall, where she took in the

his eyes were large with pity as he stood on tiptoe to hand our three sixpences through the little wicket. The grocer's wife

epened to horror. "You must

for what, my

, will it hu

hild. What d

" I explained. "I th

he rear of the shop where the grocer had set out three glasses of ginger beer and a plate of mixed cakes. Five minutes of unalloyed bliss

id, laconically. "Nosin' a

'is tile," s

nd followed in his wake, scenting adventure in the littered yard

ed an empty can from the heap, produced a piece of string from his pocket, and grasped the terrier by the collar. But only for a moment. With a rush

"'e's bit me sumpfin' cruel! You

it. The terrier dropped its sausage

ulse, flung ourselves

ch that dog,"

Nosey Parker?" sneered the bo

lly turned his back on the boy and bent over the te

then? 'E's arf starved, 'e is. Yer ought to be 'ad up f

he strayed away. He'll be jolly glad to get home again-won'

e tying of the string to the little dog's collar, though he cast a longing look at its stout

in rapt admiration of the little black paws that padded along in such a business-like fashion beside us

t street we stopped. The Ser

e him mine

trained-animal posture, with short fore-legs crossed on his plump hairy breast. How often had we longed for the joyous companionship of our old four-footed

bars of her gate. Therefore, it was with sad foreboding that we watched the bun disappear. The Scotty held it between his forepaws and bit off decent

homeward, he leaped playfully at his leash, and catc

wn by habit and necessity to the place where, we knew

him upstairs wrapped in my coat, and hide him under the bed. Maybe he'd get so awful good he'

himself on his hind quarters, paddling the air with his forepa

hrown open, and Mary Ellen, her cap a

shelves, an' she got up on a chair to see whether I'd maybe missed the top one, an' I must have left a knob of soap on the chair, for the next thing I knew she was stretched on the flure, an'

sault; then Angel turned two; then the Scotty sat up,

was genuine

them, the women can suffer all they like, more shame to them." She was so worked up that she did not notice that the little dog had followed us into the house, until he w

w, it's a darlin' wee thing, isn't it?" For the Scotty, seeing that she had seated he

f the bullet-headed boy, and the garbage heap, and e

e find the owner of it! Mrs. Handsomebody will never know, for he can l

is I'll never marry you, s

al, under the fire of Angel's pleading, "but moind, if she iver finds