The Story of the Red Cross as told to The Little Colonel | Page 5

too old a man, and with his one arm too helpless
to attempt to stop it, but he remembered that Hero had once shared the
training of some collies for police service, before it had been decided to
use him as an ambulance dog. They were taught to spring at the bridles
of escaping horses.
"I was doubtful if Hero remembered those early lessons," said the
Major, "but I called out to him sharply, for the love of heaven to stop it
if he could, and that instant he was at the horse's head, hanging on with
all his might. Bravo, old fellow!" he continued, turning to the dog as he
spoke. "We are proud of you this day!"
They were in the corridor of the hotel now, and the Little Colonel,
kneeling beside Hero and putting her arms around his neck, finished

her sobbing with her fair little face laid fondly against his silky coat.
"Oh, you deah, deah old Hero," she said. "You saved me, and I'll love
you fo' evah and evah!"
The crowd was still in front of the hotel, and the corridor full of excited
servants and guests, when Mr. and Mrs. Sherman hurried in. They had
taken the first carriage they could hail and driven as fast as possible in
the wake of the runaway. Mrs. Sherman was trembling so violently that
she could scarcely stand, when they reached the hotel. The clerk who
ran out to assure them of the Little Colonel's safety was loud in his
praises of the faithful St. Bernard.
Hero had known many masters. He had been taught to obey many
voices. Many hands had fed and fondled him, but no hand had ever lain
quite so tenderly on his head, as the Little Colonel's. No one had ever
looked into his eyes so gratefully as she, and no voice had ever thrilled
him with as loving tones as hers, as she knelt there beside him, calling
him all the fond endearing names she knew. He understood far better
than if he had been human, that she loved him. Eagerly licking her
hands and wagging his tail, he told her as plainly as a dog can talk that
henceforth he would be one of her best and most faithful of friends.
If petting and praise and devoted attention could spoil a dog, Hero's
head would certainly have been turned that day, for friends and
strangers alike made much of him. A photographer came to take his
picture for the leading daily paper. Before nightfall his story was
repeated in every home in Geneva. No servant in the hotel but took a
personal pride in him or watched his chance to give him a sly
sweetmeat or a caress. But being a dog instead of a human, the
attention only made him the more lovable, for it made him feel that it
was a kind world he lived in and everybody was his friend.
CHAPTER II
HERO'S STORY
Late that afternoon the Major sat out in the shady courtyard of the hotel,

where vines, potted plants, and a fountain made a cool green garden
spot. He was thinking of his little daughter, who had been dead many
long years. The American child, whom his dog had rescued from the
runaway in the morning, was wonderfully like her. She had the same
fair hair, he thought, that had been his little Christine's great beauty; the
same delicate, wild-rose pink in her cheeks, the same mischievous
smile dimpling her laughing face. But Christine's eyes had not been a
starry hazel like the Little Colonel's. They were blue as the flax-flowers
she used to gather--thirty, was it? No, forty years ago.
As he counted the years, the thought came to him like a pain that he
was an old, old man now, all alone in the world, save for a dog, and a
niece whom he scarcely knew and seldom saw.
As he sat there with his head bowed down, dreaming over his past, the
Little Colonel came out into the courtyard. She had dressed early and
gone down to the reading-room to wait until her mother was ready for
dinner, but catching sight of the Major through the long glass doors,
she laid down her book. The lonely expression of his furrowed face, the
bowed head, and the empty sleeve appealed to her strongly.
"I believe I'll go out and talk to him," she thought. "If grandfathah were
away off in a strange land by himself like that, I'd want somebody to
cheer him up."
It is always good to feel that one is welcome, and Lloyd was glad that
she had ventured into the courtyard, when she saw the smile that
lighted the Major's face at sight of her, and when the dog,