Evening star., 1921-09-18

kin sit on this stone, and If they come
near this ditch ye holler at them and
trouble. much" he amended.
Stephen sat on the stone as exhort-
ed and surveyed his command. There
were seven Of them. and they were
they plodded along. smiling and blow
ing at the grass. already little stin
for their pleasure. Stephens nerves
relaxed. but his spirits did not as
eend. Even though terror had de-
parted. complete and absorbing
had been better than this at the home.
They had had lots of good times on
afternoons when school was over
With the cruel vividness Of youth he
Pete Elkins had built behind the
woodshed. and how they had saved
a boiled potato from their dinner and
fried 1t In broken saucer. He re-
their base ball and the Christmas tree
they had had last year with candles
and long strings of popcorn and
cranberries. He took out OF his
ton had given him in the kitchen be-
fore he left, but he had no appetite
What was the matter? He liked
doughnuts. but his throat refused to
swallow and his eyes smarted.
white hairs in her left eyebrow ceased
her grass shifting and eauntered
casually in Stephens direction. She
didn't look at him. but she pretended,
with mean diplomacy. that she was
sn'S ssrolls' os"! STEPHEN @ s stood sl up and re.
garded her He remembered Zeke
told him to holler-but the sound that
came from his mouth would have In
Inundated not even q a. meadow ..asl ~ tark; TX
COW ignored him and came on
slowly. insxorably. Perhaps she
heard the gurgle Of the muddy water
in the ditch. Perhaps she was as In
nocent at heart as her aflecta IN citations tions
but Stephen was in no mood for
60 back. go back he .,dS shouted; |.
90 back. 60 D. .ca His " voice ses was
On came the red COW with the white
hairs in her eyebrow. She was like
fate, like impending catastrophe, IKE
disaster. 1t was the end. She would
kill him first and then plunge into the
muddy crack and drown. What would
Zeke say? Stephen was sobbinG OPEN
ly now.
cUDDENLY there came the sound OF
- yipping, high pitched and joyous.
In the dead leaves and dusty golden
rod that bordered the ditch was tre-
mendous smiling and seurrying. With
one splendid leap q dog cleared the
ditch and trotted over to the boy, his
body wriggling with the pleasure OF
anticipated welcome. Stephen had not
moved. In his hand he still held the
stan Of discipline, but his lips were
blue with fright, and terror spoke
from his eyes.
For q second the dog stopped and
pondered. Then. with tremendous
blum Of authority he ran yippins psh,nd ana
that high pitched barking was note
Of determination. The red cow capitu-
lated. Not without 4 show OF dignity
she turned in q clumsy circle and re-
treated. pretending this had all along
fooled. The ghost of that collie an
cestor had come into his own.
Gay with his easy triumph, the dog
came scampering back. In q paroxysm
Of friendliness he wriggled and
waggsd his tail and licked stephens
out of a rough, unoordisl world had
the hrst noisy greetings were finished
Stephen sat down on the stone and
suip the dog boited his share and
jolly light in his amber eyes, while
Stephen ate his. Curious how much
easier 1t was to swallow. With q
sense almost of pleasure he discov-
cred he was hungry.
All afternoon the boy and the dog
ramped together. There are ever 20
many games one can play with dog
with Imagination; retrieving, tag, and
hide and seek. The Stranger possessed
q marked talent, too, for searching
out Held mice and gophers. Best OF
all, one had never worry shout the
J critters. Even the red COW with the