The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-05-09

Ynez, where the snow lay white and
still In winterl He had not cared
then. He had his mother, and he did
not need the Man. But he had told
the tale to Pujol, in turn, and he had
remembered. Surely he was sorrow
full enough now, and he had no
friends. Even the Mission Indian
children looked down upon and de-
spised the swineherd, and the Padre
had forgotten him altogether. Now
he would seek the Man. who knows?
Perhaps Pujol had remembered also,
and would lead him. Pujol knew all
the hills. The dog must have reached
the Golden Mountains in his wander
ings with the sheep.
And SO, in the hot afternoon sun
shine, the boy abandoned the swine
In the river-bed and toiled across the
mesa, Pujol at his heels. and on up
the steep peaks where the grass lies
only in those spots sheltered from
tse sea wind. They reached the sum-
NIT at last. and Jose saw before him
other hills, rolling away to the north
ward infinitely, and the highest of
them shone white in the sun. Be-
hind him the mesa ran into the broad
valley of the river, going down to
meet the white line of the surf, and
out in the sea blue islands cleaned.
But Jose looked not backward. There
on the high white hills, reaching into
the sky, must be where the Man
lived--the compassionate Man. 1t
was in December, the soft winter of
that land, and snow lay on the
mountain tops, but snow was in no
part of Jose's small life. He pressed
onward toward the white hills, cross
ing deep canons and climbing many
high ridges. Pujol, faithful always,
kept at his heels. But the dog would
look at the boy and whine, now and
again. Pujol had forgotten the Man
long ago, in the press of more imme-
date duties. and did not understand
this quest.
For, throso days the boy climbed,
the white hills cleaning distant as
ever, aad Pujol followed on. Once,
IN obedience to an order but against
his better instinct, the dog crouched
close behind clump of sage-brush,
lest a shepherd on a distant hill
should sight the fugitives anG turn
them back. Still they went on, and
still the white hills seemed farther
away. PuJol, guided by instinct, led
past all the water-holes, but neither
boy nor dog had eaten since leaving
the Mission. On the fourth day Pujol
caught first a rabbit and then a
ground-squirrel, and laid them at the
boys feet. Jose did not know that
the dog sought to have. him eat, and
the game was untouched by either.
On the fourth day, at sunset, as the
boy sank, utterly exhausted, at the
foot of great live-oak, the dog lay
at his fete for moment and, looking
up, seemed to study the child's face
intently. Presently Jose slept, the
sleep of exhaustion, and then Pujol
arose and galloped swiftly back over
the hills toward the adobe hut on the
mesa. When Jose awoke in the gray
of the morning, shivering, little
lamb lay dead at his feet, and there
was blood on Pujols muzzle. The
dog looked and felt guilty-yet was
strangely self-complacent. 1t had
gone to the dogs heart to murder
one of the lambs he had cared for,
but the necessity of the master salved
conscience. Yet the sacrifice of Pu-
jols honor was without avail. The
boy was faint with hunger, too faint
to care whether he lived or not.
Also, the sight of the blood sickened
him, and he was sleepy. He arose,
staggered few PAGES from the dead
lamb, and fell down fainting. Pujol
dragged the dead lamb to where the
boy lay and licked his hand. Jose,
revived, drew his hand away quickly.
He arose again. and again staggered
little distance before falling.
Wicked Pujol." he said, "you have
killed the lamb. There is blood upon
YOU
The dog looked at him and whined.
1t crept closer, but the boy motioned
1t away. Then Pujol lay down also,
at a little distance, and with the
body of the murdered lamb between
them, these two, No had been
friends, abandoned themselves each
to bitter grief.
AS the sun went down and the long
shadows crept across the canons, Pu-
jol arose, shifted at the dead lamb,
and ventured step toward his mas
ter. There was faint repelling ges-
ture, but the dog crept closer. Closer
and closer, and his cold muzzle
touched colder hand-and IL Pujol
had remembered the Man he would
have known that Jose's quest was
ended. The dog did not remember,
and 1t filled the canyon with bitter
bowling.
For days the dog watched beside
the boys body, soaring away the vul-
lures and fighting vagrant coyotes.
Then, one day, Indians came and
bore the body away to the Mission,
driving off the dog with stones when
II would have stopped them. For
days after that the dog mourned
alone under the live-cak Then one
day the old wild blood that Is in all
the Biscayan breed. away back,
rushed to Pujols head, and that
night the shepherd in the adobe hut
on the mesa heard dogs fighting
among the sheep. In the morning he
found that six sheep had been killed,
and their tbroats torn for blood. His