The Red Cloud chief., 1877-12-13
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.

The fires burn cheerily on the hearth
the great logs crackle and fare up the
wide chimney, up which it is my wont
to say, you could drive a cO'ch-and'
four. l draw my chair nearer to it with
a slight shiver.
What a nightw l say.
as it snOwing?" asks my wife, who is
sitting opposite to me, her books and
work on the table beside her.
EAST. You can scarcely see a yard
before you"
Heaven help any poor" creature on
the moor tonight" says she.
"Who would venture out? It began
showing before dark, and all the people
about know the danger Of being be-
nighted on the moor in a driving snow
storm"
"Yes; but / have known people to
he frozen to death kereabOuts before
now"
My wife was Scotch, and this pleas
ant house in the Highlands was hers.
We were trying a winter in it for the
first time, and found it exceedingly cold
and dull. Mentally l decided that we
should only grace it with u presence
during the shoot ng sasOn.
Presently / 60 to the window and
!ook out; it has ceased showing, and
through a rift in the clouds l see a
tar.
at is beginning to clear" 1 tell my
wife, and also inform her that it is past
leven. AS she lights her candle at a
side table, / hear a whining and scratch
ing at the front door.
There is Laddie loose again" says
she. would you please let him in,
dear?"
did not like facing the cold wind,
but could not refuse to let the poor ami
NAL in. Strangely enough, when 1
opened the door and called to him he
would not come in. He runs up to the
door and looks into my face with mute
~entreaty; then he runs back a few
steps, looking around to see if l am fol-
lowing; and finally he takes my coat in
his mouth and tries with all his might
to draw me out.
"Laddie won't come ill.," 1 call out to
my wife; ION the contrary, he seems to
want me to 60 out and have a game of
snow. ball with him."
She throws a shawl raOund her aud
comes to the door. The collie was hers
before we were married, and she is al
most as fond of him, I tell her, as she is
of Jack, our eldest boy.
"Laddie, Laddie!" she calls, come in,
sir"
He comes obediently at her call. but
refuses to enter the house, and pursues
the same pantOmime he has already
tried on me.
81 shall shut him out. JESSIE" l say.
"a night in the snow won't hurt him.
and 1 prepare to close the door.
"You will do nothing of the kind"
,be replies, with an anxious look; "but
TOu will rouse the servants and follow
Tim at once. Some one is lost in the
now and Laddie knows it."
"Really, Jessie, you are absurd" l re-
by with a laugh. "Laddie is a saga
cious animal, no doubt, but l cannot be-
lieve he is so clever as that. How can
he know whether there is any one lost
in the snow, OF notp"
Because he has found them and has
come back to Us for help. Look at him
now"
cannot but own that the dog seems
restless and uneasy, and he is evidently
endeavoring to coax us to follow him;
he looks at lis with pathetic entreaty in
his eloquent eyes. "Why wont you be.
lieve me?" he seems to ask.
"Come," she continues. "you know you
could not rest while there was a posi-
bility of a fellow creature wanting as
sistance. And I am certain Laddie is
not deceiving us"
What is a poor, hen-pecked mar to
do? 1 grumble, and resist and yield, as 1
have often grumbled and resisted be.
fore, and as 1 doubtless shall do here
after.
"Laddie once found q man in the
snow before, but he was dead" Jessie
SAYS, as she hurries off to fill a flask of
brandy, and get ready some blankets tor
US to take with us.
In the meantime [ rouse the servants
they are all English. with the excep-
ton of Donald. he gardener, and I can
see they are scofingly skeptical of Lad
dies sagacity, and inwardly disguised at
having to turn out of their warm beds
and face the bitter storm of the winter
night. n,.,. ,o.r a.,
Donald say. "The mistress is right
enough; auld Laddie is cleverer than
any a Christian, and will find some
ling in the shaw this night"
Don't sit up, JESSIE" I say. as We
art; I'VE may be out all night on this
ild-goose chase"
.Follow Laddie closely" is the only
aswer she makes.
The dog springs forward with . JOY
Gus bark, constantly looking back to
see if we were following. As we pass
through the avenue gates and emerge
ON to the moor, the moon struggles for
moment through the driving Clouds
and lights no with a sickly CLEAN the
snow-clad country before Us.