a shower of sparks the smaller boys began to grow chilly and sleepy when there was a and rustle and snapping of twigs close at hand then the gasp of a breathless dog two dim shapes rushed by a shower of bark fell and a dog began to sing at the foot of the great twisted pine not fifty feet away for tiger the boys but the dog s voice filled all the woods it might have echoed to the mountain tops there was the old they could all see him half way up the tree flat to the great limb they heaped the fire with dry branches till it high now they lost him in a shadow as he twisted about the tree john york fired and brown fired and the boys took a turn at the guns while john henry started to climb a neighboring oak but at last it was who brought the to ground with a lucky shot and the dog stopped his bark and frantic leaping in the and after an astonishing moment of silence crept out a proud victor to his master s feet goodness alive who s this good for by the dog you old handsome why i ll be hanged if it ain t old boys it � old i but could not speak another word they all crowded round the wistful clumsy old dog whose eyes shone bright though his breath was au gone each man patted him and praised him and said they ought to have all the time that it could be nobody but he it was some minutes before brown could trust himself to do anything but pat the sleek old head that was always ready to his hand he must have overheard us i guess he d have come if he d dropped dead half way proclaimed john henry like a prince of the house and his tail as if in honest assent as he lay at his master s side they sat together while the fire was brightened again to make a good light for the hunt supper and had a good half of everything that found its way into his master s hand it was toward midnight when the procession set forth toward home with the two across the fields by the dog the next morning was bright and warm after the hard frost of the night before old was asleep on the in the and his master stood in the yard and saw neighbor price come along the road in her best array with a gay holiday air well now she said eagerly you wa n t out very late last night was you i got up myself to let tiger in he come home au beat out about a quarter past nine i expect you had n t no kind o trouble the the boys was me he weighed most thirty pounds oh no kind o trouble said keeping the great secret gallantly you got the things i sent over bless your heart yes i i d a sight rather have all that good pork an potatoes than any o your wild meat said mrs price smiling with prosperity you see now jane she s given in she did n t re know but t was au talk of bout that dog s bein fifty dollars she says she can t cope with a dog same s he could an she s given me the money you an john york sent over this by the dog an i did n t know but what you d lend me another half a so i could both go to centre an return an see if i could n t make a sale o tiger right over there where they au know about him it s right in the season now s my time ain t it well a little late said shaking laughter as he took the desired sum of money out of his pocket he seems to be a clever dog round the house i don t know s i want to harbor him all winter answered the frankly striking into a good gait as she started off toward the station by aunt no said mrs hand speaking wistfully � no we never were in the habit of keeping christmas at our house mother died when we were all young she would have been the one to keep up with all new ideas but father and grandmother were folks and � well you know how t was then miss nobody took much notice of the day except to wish you a merry christmas they did n t do much to make it merry certain answered miss sometimes nowadays i hear folks o bein with all the christmas work they have to do well others think that it makes a lovely chance for all that you get an opportunity to speak your kind f right out answered mrs hand with a bright smile but there i i shall always keep new year s day too it won t do no by to have an extra day kept an made pleasant and there s many of the real old folks have got pretty things to remember about new year s day aunt s just one of em said miss she s always very if i don t get up to see her last year i missed it on account of a light fall o snow that seemed to make the too bad an she sent a neighbor s boy way down from the mount in to see if i was sick her her to the house altogether now an i have her on my mind a good deal how anybody does get of those that lives alone as they get older i i up only last night with a start if aunt s house should get or anything what she would do way up there all 