Frank of Freedom Hill

best who

both great

ar God who

and lo

had sensed it yesterday afternoon. The boy had not come out of the house until long after dinner. Then he had strolled off forlornly and in silence toward the garage. His frowsy head had been bowed as if he were studying

o the dog's heart. Since hunting season was over he had been self-appointed guardian of this boy. The two had come to underst

; the screen door had slammed in his face. He had strolled off, tail depressed; he had lain down in the shade of the front-walk hedge, his ears pricked toward the big white house with the columned porch. I

oad. Frank met him as he got out of his car, looked up anxiously into his spectacled face, whiffed the strange-smelling satchel he carried, escorted him gravely u

Marian Earle, the boy's mother, but not the boy, prick his ears as he would. He sat down on his haunches, panting and whining softly to himself. He lay down, head between

t his nose. The rest was easy and he went silently down the hall. He stopped in the bedroom doorway. The boy was the centre of attention: he was

led; in contrast with the brilliant out of doors it looked dim in here, like late afternoon. The mother was smoothing the boy's hair

one seemed to notice him, though he was a big fellow and red. He took another step into the room, his eyes fastened longingly on the bo

'a

"I told Frank he mustn't c

he stay wif

g he kept on till he got it. The dog watched closely while Steve Earle lifted him out of the mother's lap and placed him on the bed. Then he m

pectacled man out of the r

on,

's face, then dropped his head between his pa

on, ol

re on the bed; he tried to catch the mother's eye-sometimes she interposed

his car. "They can take better care of him there. The roads are good

der the eaves was a ditch the boy had been digging to take off water. He had worked on it all one rainy morning shortly before, a cool, gusty morning

stood near by, its idle tongue on the ground. Tail wagging, the dog whiffed the shovel, the ditch, the wagon. Then h

the back seat of the car with his mother. They were going to Greenville, the father said. When they came back he could sit on the front seat like a man. Aunt Cindy handed in the valise; just a glimpse the dog got of the little upturned sandals on the ba

curtain upstairs was waving out in the slight breeze, but from all the windows came no sound. He trotted down the avenue and stopped, nose pointed in the direction in which the car had gone. He galloped to the shining road

ked down on his heavy red coat, the road flew dizzily underneath. He could not stand this pace much longer on such a day-he could not stand it at all if Earle took a notion to

ck hom

s ground, pantin

and was

fangs showing with the contraction of his pant

iling grimly. "What ha

the boy's voic

you must lie

im go,

ckly: "Take h

s and cars and people-strange sights to his country eyes. He lost all sense of direction when, honking, feeling his way, Earle turned down this street and

h white porches running across the front, Earle lifted the boy out of the car and Marian got out with t

stay

e the boy's face, saw the three disappear through the wide door. People were passing, wagons clattering, cars honking; but he kept his eyes fastened on the door. A breath of air brought to his nose from the buildi

another, then knocked the ashes out on the banisters and went into the house. The dog heard him telephoning; heard the names Marian and Tommy; listened till it was over, then came down t

e he left Earle chai

etter," he

watched the performa

she declared; "h

ng, "the way the boy worries him,

he love to be bothered by chillun. Dis

istant city. He could see across the orchard where one day not long before Tommy had picked up June apples off the ground and put them in a basket, down the hill to the creek bottoms. H

ar as he could to meet it, his tail slapping the taut chain. When Earle drove into the yard and tur

man," said Earle gen

nt, his conferences with Aunt Cindy briefer, the worry in his gray eyes deeper. The dog saw it plainer at night than at any other time, when out on the porch Earle lit his pipe; read it unmistakably in the flarin

lours, as if autumn had miraculously come. Out of her cabin hurried Aunt Cindy and toward the garage, her white apron like a flag of truce flapping against the oncoming storm. He watched her put the shovel into the little wagon a

nst the lot fence was blown down prostrate on the ground. Earle didn't want any supper, he told Aunt Cindy as he went into the house. He did not come out on the porch that night, and the

e hall. As he neared the bedroom door a quick obsession seized him that the boy might be in there. Ears pricked, he stepped quickly in and put his hea

long time before he dropped it and unlaced the other. Half undressed, he sat silent, looking steadily into the dog's eyes. Sometimes when they were together this way he talked as if to anoth

that alarm bell still sounded in the vacant house, up the broad stairs, into the empty bedrooms above. Earle came back and got into his clothes, his hands as he laced his shoes trembling a bit. He hurri

lmost as swiftly away as if he were standing still in the road staring idly after it. Every muscle straining, he followed it, until the light melted into the distance. Even then, nose to the ground, he rushed the trail of those familiar

rle ran up the steps. The night was warm, the front door open, and he hurried do

nding at the foot glanced at him with a contraction of the muscles about the corners of the mouth. From the bed over which

must have been going on long before he came. The young doctor stepped quietly to him. The fever had started rising

heart, Steve's low-pitched quest

ld you sa

owly and solemnly in the eyes. "H

kly. "Is there an

or shook

tled as she passed the door. Earle sat down

'a

ed was shrill and complaining.

e. Mother's h

e?" asked

his head.

'a

the corridor, out on the porch. He sank o

pered, "I can'

, Marian met him in the middle of the room, h

ited. He's wearing hims

mson, the eyes half closed; through the narrowed slits

abou

ill it take

hou

ould go-r

itting beside the bed. "It won't matt

ook he

raced over the heaving little chest, his eyes drin

were incr

he choked in

sed the stone mileposts flash past. He glanced now and then at the clock in the front of the car. He had set an almost impossible time. But he was halfway home at midnight. As

. He had gotten a glimpse, a whiff-he had thought he knew it. But that car was going the

in the sky was a glow unlike the glow of coming day. It grew brighter with the passing miles. It drew him on. The distance would have meant little to him, except for the tremendous speed at which he had been travelli

low him stretched rows of twinkling lights that, all together, made up the glow in the s

ng. Sides heaving, he scraped his back against them, his heavy tail wagging with inward satisfaction, the glow from thos

prang wildly to his feet. The wind rushed past as

behind the car. Once more it was leaving him. In his desperation he began to bark as he ran.

" cried

d swiftly over black, moist, oily streets, past interminable lights. Every muscle of the dog

oser. The car turned in toward the curb. Earle spoke quickly. But the dog had leaped over the door of the car and landed in the middle of the sidewalk. He took the step

man!" he sa

, his mistress had sprung to her feet. There were others in here-a man, a woman in white-but he hardl

is face. She was smiling down eagerly into the strange, up-turning eyes. "Look!" she w

so close he could feel the pounding of

She slipped her arm under the pillow and turned the burning face toward the dog. "Now!" she smiled. "You

tle smile up into the mother's face; long after his eyes had closed in that profound sleep which marks the

uiringly into the face of the mother who sat besid

ie down now, and nodded at the floor at he

and pink and gradually suffusing the room Tommy Earle opened his eyes. First they looked up into the happy face of the m

e floor. He wanted to leap on the bed, to rush round the room.

was as gentle and clear as the chirp of

k?" h

urses and internes, and looked at him. He lay beside the bed, relaxed now, but panting slightly, his eyes still aglow. They said it was a wonderful th

at he's done