Bruce | Page 8

Hazen. "And I'd promised him,
hadn't I? And, last time he had one of those 'turns,' didn't Doc Colfax

say we mustn't let him fret and worry any more'n we could help? Well,
if he had to take that dog back to-day, it'd have broke his heart. He'd
have felt like we were his enemies, and he'd never have felt the same to
us again. And it might have hurt his health too--the shock and all. So--"
"But I tell you," she persisted, "I won't have a dirty little female--"
"We aren't going to," he assured her. "Keep your hair on, till I've
finished. Tonight, after Dick's asleep, I'm going to get rid of her. He'll
wake up in the morning and find she's gone; and the door'll be open.
He'll think she's run away. He'll go looking for her, and he'll keep on
hoping to find her. So that'll ease the shock, you see, by letting him
down bit by bit, instead of snatching his pet away from him violent-like.
And he won't hold it up against US, either, as he would the other way. I
can offer a reward for her, too."
There was a long and thought-crammed pause. The woman plunged
deep into the silences as her fat brain wrought over the suggestion.
Then--
"Maybe you HAVE got just a few grains of sense, after all, Ed,"
grudgingly vouchsafed Mrs. Hazen. "It isn't a bad idea. Only he'll
grieve a lot for her."
"He'll be hoping, though," said her husband. "He'll be hoping all the
while. That always takes the razor-edge off of grieving. Leave it to
me."
That was the happiest day Dick Hazen had ever known. And it was the
first actively happy day in all Lass's five months of life.
Boy and dog spent hours in a ramble through the woods. They began
Lass's education--which was planned to include more intricate tricks
than a performing elephant and a troupe of circus dogs could hope to
learn in a lifetime. They became sworn chums. Dick talked to Lass as if
she were human. She amazed the enraptured boy by her cleverness and
spirits. His initiation to the dog- masters' guild was joyous and
complete.

It was a tired and ravenous pair of friends who scampered home at
dinner-time that evening. The pallor was gone from Dick's face. His
cheeks were glowing, and his eyes shone. He ate greedily. His parents
looked covertly at each other. And the self-complacency lines around
Hazen's mouth blurred.
Boy and dog went to bed early, being blissfully sleepy and full of
food--also because another and longer woodland ramble was scheduled
for the morrow.
Timidly Dick asked leave to have Lass sleep on the foot of his cot-bed.
After a second telegraphing of glances, his parents consented. Half an
hour later the playmates were sound asleep, the puppy snuggling deep
in the hollow of her master's arm, her furry head across his thin chest.
It was in this pose that Hazen found them when, late in the evening, he
tiptoed into Dick's cubby-hole room. He gazed down at the slumberous
pair for a space, while he fought and conquered an impulse toward fair
play. Then he stooped to pick up the dog.
Lass, waking at the slight creak of a floorboard, lifted her head. At
sight of the figure leaning above her adored master, the lip curled back
from her white teeth. Far down in her throat a growl was born. Then
she recognized the intruder as the man who had petted her and fed her
that evening. The growl died in her throat, giving place to a welcoming
thump or two of her bushy tail. Dick stirred uneasily.
Patting the puppy lightly on her upraised head, Hazen picked up Lass
in his arms and tiptoed out of the room with her. Mistaking this move
for a form of caress, she tried to lick his face. The man winced.
Downstairs and out into the street Hazen bore his trustful little burden,
halting only to put on his hat, and for a whispered word with his wife.
For nearly a mile he carried the dog. Lass greatly enjoyed the ride. She
was pleasantly tired, and it was nice to be carried thus, by some one
who was so considerate as to save her the bother of walking.
At the edge of the town, Hazen set her on the ground and at once began

to walk rapidly away in the direction of home. He had gone perhaps
fifty yards when Lass was gamboling merrily around his feet. A kick
sent the dismayed and agonized puppy flying through the air like a
whimpering catapult, and landed her against a bank with every atom of
breath knocked out of her. Before she had fairly struck ground,--before
she could