Frank of Freedom Hill

this morning of all mornings the boy belonged back there in the yard he knew well enough, but all his efforts to keep him there had failed. He had tried to divert his mind. He had loitered behind.

camped down there in his master's woods. As for him, he had smelled them the night before after everybody was asleep. He had barked a while in their general direction, then gone down ther

ther, drove off in the car. He had stood there while Marian Earle, the boy's mother, went off across the orchard in another direction with a basket of fruit for a neighbour.

els. Tommy's objective he knew well enough. A few days before Steve Earle had brought them both through this very corn, into the woods, to the creek. The father had poin

o looking at fish himself. But now, with every step the boy took his anxiety increased. For it was beside the pool t

turn-down straw hat with the blue-ribbon band. In the deep-furrowed rows dust puffed up from under the hurrying little sandalled feet. Int

. He stopped and sat down firmly on his haunches. The

ank!" he sai

ld and rattled the blades of corn and tossed u

gry. "Come on,

orn row, Frank sat where he was and looked everywher

en!" said Tomm

against his judgment, is the penalty a dog has to

sunlight pierced the dense foliage and touched leaves and tree trunks with silver spots. Down the heavy-wooded slope the boy went, but more cautiously now. Suddenly he stopped br

her cheeks were spots of red. She, too, glanced at boy and dog, then joined the talk of the men. "No! No!" she cried. They brushed her aside; she ran quickly back to them; they brushe

hildren to puppies, answered the man's questions in his clear boy's voice. Many times before, at Tom Belcher's store, at the Hunt Club, at country fairs, strangers had

was saying, "apples, peaches, circus things.

ommy, breathles

me. The lady wants to sho

ed-up tent strapped on behind was striped red-and-white like tents at the fair: merry-go-round tents, tents with shawled women who held your hand and told you what was going to happen. The woods

ed like the man who stands in front of tents and shouts for people to come in and see. Half concealed by the curtains and by bundles, the woman, her face strangely white except for red spots, sat on the back seat. Valises an

husky. "We're goin' to take you to your ma. You ain't got no

mmy dr

F'ank

t the dog

the unused wood road. It was stifling hot in here with the curtains down, but old Frank, wedged in between bundles and suitcases, was

ed space was breathing fast. The crimson, sleazy shirtwaist rose and fell. Her face, in spite of the red spots, was pasty, as if she might faint.

the way! T

his mouth. And old Frank, rearing up in the crowded confusion, buried his shining fangs deep in that ha

he gasped. "They'll find

ing backward; the man sprang once more into the front seat. The car darted away, Frank after it, barking h

e sprang into the bushes and disappeared from sight. After that he did not show himself again. Where he could, he stayed in the woods, running parallel to the road like a swift, silent outrider. At open places he lagged shrewdly behind; by shor

sun that beat down on his heavy red coat, his eyes were like a mad dog's eyes. But from the top of a long hill over which it had disappeared h

as constant shade in which to stop and pant, there were frequent streams in which to lie for a moment, half submerged, and cool his boiling blood. Noon passed without any halt. The sultry afternoon wore

he watched every turn of that car, always on the alert, always ready to spring aside into the bushes if it stopped. That ma

ush. The sun had just set. Yonder through a gap in the trees rose the dome of a heavy-wooded mountain. Above it a vast pink and white evening cloud boiled motionless into th

let the boy know he was here. Every muscle quivered; he choked and swallowed; he looked off as if to avoid temptation. But one of the men pulled a shotgun out of the ca

the cheap pageantry of their trade, went the same way. They were staking everything on the prize that had walked into their hands that morning, coming

up at her and holding to his hat. She spoke to him low and huskily, her face white. Then, as he perforce went with her, Frank heard him cryi

ill, where a creek gurgled, the man with the gun turned.

up!" h

ed; the convulsi

ut

had dropped the bundles and was on her knees before the boy, her arm about his heaving shoulders. Frank saw the whitene

t help i

ing up with quivering face at the man. The woman picked up her bundles, rose, and took his hand once more.

m. Then he went to the car, found a big chunk of side-meat wrapped in a paper under the back seat, made his meal off his enemies, and came guardedly back, licking his chops. T

road like snakes, and dived into the foliage below. His tongue hung out; he was gaunt, dust-covered, weary-eyed. The few mountaineers he passed looked at

ss went out of his muscles, his heart gave a great bound. Four sportsmen, such as he and his master associated with, bobbed comfortably up and down in the capacious s

old man?"

ection of that other car, wheeled, and ran back. He jumped up on the step wi

left him behi

d if the road were not too narrow they would turn round, give him a lift and his people a piece of their minds. They threw h

heard in the road far below the sound of their car. Even their voi

S O S! We ought to have followed hi

who, whether we be man or woman or dog, daily pa

st astray it bumped and swayed across a desolate field of broomstraw with borders that plunged abruptly off into space. In the middle of the field grew a black thicket of stunted pines, huddled

onging seized the dog to rush forward, to let the boy know he, too, was here. But there were the men close by; and in the car was the gun. Again he

He glanced at the woman and the boy, then towa

back in that ca

ut his upturned face was white in the dusk,

ou hea

ed, Joe!" snap

quick movement the woman had pushed the boy behind her. "Don't you touch him, Joe!" she flashed. A moment

ed straight into the bushes where he lay. Certainly for a moment he had pulled back on the woman's hand. Then he wen

done him. He was hungry for food, and hungry for human companionship. He wanted to go to the car, to rear up on the side to scratch at the curtains. But

ened with gratitude and trust. The man wouldn't hurt him, she was telling the boy. Sometimes he

" the boy a

. That's it

nk go ho

he wen

dog in th

e seeing things, old scou

. Without a word to them she gathered up something to eat and came qu

t the fire talked low and mumbling between long intervals. Presently the heavy man rose, skirted the thicket, and stumbled off across the fie

he gone?"

he lay of

him, her knees drawn u

oe

el

's got m

she pleaded, her voice rising. "Let's make a clean breast of it. Let's begin all over again. Let's be straight. They'll give us a chance-I know they will. They're like

he threw her off again, his face distorted in the moonlight. "I'm tired of thi

ke him!" s

y'll come across or I'l

she sc

athing. She turned and stumbled toward the car, the curtains clos

re breakfast. There were times that day when, if the men had looked behind, they must have seen him. There were times when he would not have cared if they had. Close around the bends, within sight sometimes where the road straightened, h

a hammer. Eyes bright in an instant, he watched the man climb stiffly out of the car ahead. The other and bulkier man clambered from between the curtains of the rear where he had ridden all t

id the man who had driven the car. "I

e can?" asked the heav

last night, didn't yo

ut of the car, then h

you want to keep

came fr

ou hea

ded muffled in

s,

emember! I'm

omething that flashed brilliantly, even pleasantly, in the sun, he put on his coat, picked up the can, and started down the shaded road. And old Fran

s into their faces. He had never had a human enemy before. But now he stalked this man as his ancestors had stalked big game-muscles ten

nto a village that straggled up the sides of mountains. There were glimpses of white cottages clinging to abrupt hillsides, or

ig, black, dust-covered car in front. Women in white, children with nurses, sallow mountain folk, were abroad in the first coolness of the afternoon. I

hrilling to make friends with such a big dog, then pulled back, distrustful of the look in his eyes. Man, then dog, passed the drug store where behind plate-glass windows cool-dressed men and women sat

n tragedies that brood over such places, remnants of feuds that hang on to the skirts of civilization. Two muffled pistol shots broke the peace and securit

of crowding men cam

kill that dog! Can't yo

the big man in the broad-brimmed h

agged backward across the cement floor. In the door of a glass-

he gentleman that just came with his wife-we got a man down he

ing to the dog's collar. He was quiet now. But the blood that dripped slowly on the floor was no redder than

aid, "they're comin' now. Mu

here. This fellow's

it

That's

is mark on that

s collar. Still through the glass windows the crowd sta

"No use to tear the house down.

wn back, upraised eyes aglow, heart pounding against his lean ribs. But it was the look in his young mistress's eyes that brought him

e gasped, her hands clenche

em out of the town, up the shaded road across which slanting sunbeams gently sifted. He led them to that car he had followed sec

ank! Steady

ore they reached the car the heavy man scrambled out, stared for a mom

sely, his heavy face aquiver.

hining eyes he sprang into the front, over the seat, into the rear. Tommy's arms w

didn't go home. I sa

o-day-didn't I?" She snatched him to her and kissed him fiercely. She opened the door. "Good-bye,

eir faces, the flash of the sun on the boy's curls, the smiles of the men who looked on. Then the shadow of terrible days and nights fell across h

beside her, looking up at the sheriff with fierce, pleading eyes. But the sheriff still held her arm, and the dog growled,

caught the woman's skirt with both

He knew it was all right now, even when the woman sank down on the car step and sobbed brokenly, her face bur

looking up at him, and th

out this, gentlemen," Ear

oward the wide-screened dining-room door. He had already had his suppe

steaks-raw," Stev

n Earle had added with a smile, for

ff was telling th

-that's the thing! They never saw him, and he never left them. That's what put us on the trail. That's the reason

ed at h

tried to do. But they didn't catch on. Might have, but didn't. Next day they read in the pa

e mother and went upstairs with

f his mouth and looked at the questi

thing to do with it

feet. He met them at the door, he stood beside the boy while the people gathere

ed hall. "He can't get us any more. The sheriff he locked him up in a jail.

s still talking while his mother undressed him. Then before he got into bed a spasm of virtuous reaction seized him. He and F'

down at the little figure in borrowed p

the silent darkness of that night he barked hoarsely in the agony of a dream. For