The Republican., 1892-07-15

funny to see the little thing laugh and
giggle as the big dog carried her along.
She never was one bit afraid. and
loved Wex as dearly as we did.
Another thing he'd do was to lift her
TO the top of a stone wall, or over
| fence to us. lie used to tear her dress
sometimes. hut mother thought she did
it scrambling through the brush. .
One day mother wanted some blue
berries for pies and sent us boys after
them. keeping Dot in the house until
we were out of sight as il was too far
| for her to follow. Wex went along as
usual, but soon left us-something he
| had never done before. We were sur
| prised and alarmed, fearing he had run
away, and. when our pals were full
and he did not return, we set out for
home in a gloomy frame of mind,
Just back of the house is long, mar
row field, surrounded by broad stone
wall, where the sheep and calves pas
ture. We never went through it be-
| cause there was an ugly buck with the
sheep we were all afraid of. We had
| gotten. nearly 20 this field when we
were surprised to hear Wex barking
and growing at a furious rate. There
were SO many bushes about, we could
see nothing. so Bert Skinned up a tree
to look. "oh, boys" he cried, excited
ly. If Wex amt having a fight with
Judas"
Judas was the ugly buck and Lon
and | were not long in climbing up to
see the fun. Sure enough. there was
the dog and sheep having furious set
TO, hut we thought both acted dread
full funny. The sheep seemed always
trying TO get past wex. which the dog
prevented by knocking him over, Just
by throwing his big body against him.
of course the dog gould have killed the
| sheep in a minute. but he never offered
to bite him, We were quite puzzled by
such curious actions until all at once
caught sight of Dots dress Just back of
where the noble dog had taken his
stand. My heart fairly stood still
minute, then CRYING; "Oh, boys. it's
Dot the buck is trying to get att
was just going to scramble down
and run like mad for the spot, when
saw the brave old dog rush up to the
child, seize her clothes in his mouth
and lifting her from the ground make
dash for the stone wall. Judas rushed
furiously after him, but Wex gained IL
first leaped upon and over it with his
precious burden. Every one of us was
crying like baby as we ran to the
spot to find wee Dot picking posies and
the dog rolling over and over on the
ground in very fit of delight. He
knew he had done brave thing as well
as we did, and when he saw us he be-
gan barking ioyfully, receiving our
words of praise as understandingly as
If he had been human.
| After that mother liked him better.
and never said anything more about
sending him away. She tried to make
friends with him, but he was pretty
offish, He didn't forget how She had
driven him out with the broom. and he
always growled if he saw her with one
in her hand.
| We began going to school that sum
mer. A long lonely two-mile walk
through heavy woods and dark rocky
ravmes Mother did not want us to go,
but father said Wex would take care
of us. and as | was twelve and the
others nine and ten, he thought it was
time we began. SO every day we went,
Wex going as far as the schoolhouse
door and then going home at our com
mand. AT three o'clock father would
say to him "Go for the bows" and he
never failed to meet us at the begin
ming of the wood. Ii went on thus all
summer never anything happening to
make us afraid.
When the term was out we picked
berries FOR mother, helped father what
we could about the crops and gathered
big store of nuts for winter. The
| weather was fine when school began
again in November, and after some
coaNing we We're allowed to go, Wex
always accompanying us as before.
Snow held off late that fall and up to
the first of December the ground was
still bare. II was cold, though, as
Greenland, and our ears and fingers
tmgled more than once before we
reached the schoolhouse. We didn't
care for that. for we were as tough as
young bears, aud enjoyed out-of-door
life, he il hot or cold.
Everything went all right for several
weeks and then one night the dog
failed to meet us. II got dark early in
those days, and the lamps Were ALWAYS
lighted when we reached home. When
we had gone few rods in the dark
woods, and calling and whis;ling failed
to bring WeN. Bert, who You know was
| only nine. began to cry. and then we
| found cut for the first time that the
little fellow was not brave Wen. Lon
and | were sorry for him. and getting
1 hold of his hands, we set off for home
on the trot, was only worried about
the dog, for YOU see he had come to us
and | was always afraid he would some
time go back to his old home, and
didn't see how we were to get on with
ont him. We made the house that night
much sooner than usual. and our FIRST
| inquiry was for him,
To our dismay we found he started at
three as usual ihe never had to be told
any more and no one had seen him
since. He did not return that night.
and tell YOU it was tough to start off
for school next morning without him,
but we did it. Bert was afraid. but he
wouldn't stay at home. promising not