Graham guardian., 1922-02-07
'CcoPYRIGHT BY CHARLES ScRIBNER'S SONS

seen wnat sne ala after she come out
.ookS as If he wanted to talk and tell
rs, don't he?"
Barney was certainly giving q good
imitation of that. or some Othr anx-
ETY.. He was frisliing about and bark
ng. leaping up now and then TO snap
It an imaginary fly in the air. Daddy
'auSht him hy his lower jaw and held
him immovable. "Go find her, Bar
ney" he commanded; good dog-go
find herr
The instant he was released the col
lic acted as If he understood perfectly
hat was wanted of him. Springing
aside. he began to circle again, nose
20 the ground, and within half min
ute he was on. this time heading into
I, dim trail th3 led away diagonally
down the mouttain, not in the direc-
rion Of Atropia. hut rather on the 9th
er leg Of n tr&ngle, one side of which
might be the desep edge. one the trail
We had folkAyed from the Atropia
road, and the third ti1e route we were
now taking to tine eastward.
1t must have beeh within an hour
or So of midnight when we left the
mountain forests behind and got into
the region of barren foothills. Here
the collie seemed mIGh surer of his
ground. ami we had Ohr work cut out
for us In the effort to keep up with
him. In the starlight ] made out the
line of 9legraph poles as we ran. and
pretty soon oUr dog leader swung off
to the right 9lld we found ourselves
trotting on line parallel to the rail-
road track and only little way from
II.
Pretty soon the dog disappeared;
and then we hesII iSm barktQg at a
little dist;sice to the left Of the paral-
lei tracks. When we went TO see what
he had found, the mystery suddenly
took another tack ,And veered off into
new channel. In small grassy hoi-
low between two,Uf tftc hills we came
upon the dog and rise calico pony. The
bride rcins had ';lips-st over the bron-
cos head. and Barney had them be-
tween his teeth and maS backing and
tugging and apparently Erying to pull
the pony vSmg.
Wei, IN be dlng-.iigeered" said
Daddy, but c0uldn't sniOad quite
that eI'ily. nnr me the rRieriess pony
meant IN accitent OF ssne sort.
"Heavens" gasrets; "cb you sup
pose shes been ,hrowp, aad-mnybe
crippled?"
"Who--.Iemiie? Why. hess your
heart, SlanrSe, son, she can ride 'em
wild And that calico wouldn't bnck
baby off. No. boy, don't yos 10 TO
frettin' about notein' like that. When
she got out a that saddle, II was cause
she was good aIsl ready and wantaI
to-"
When she got off to take the train,
she tried to make Barney lead the pony
home suggested "Would she be
likely To do tlEit?"
Daddy Elram slapped his leg.
You've hit ii exactly. son! Don't
know why didn't think o. that at first.
It's an old trick that she taught the
collie when he was III pup. And
Barney, he tried, and whelr he couldn't
make the pinto leave Off grain, he
come for us. Sure that was the
way of il. What say If we 10 back to
the edge o the timber and fa,sp clown?
! reckon there amt nouiirr TO be
gained by hittin' the trail af1e we've
had li'l' rest-up slell. is there?
had no objection 90 offer. you may
he sure; and after we had found
spot, and had picketed the
pony with the light rope that Jeanie
always carried tied bO the cantte of her y
saddle, we made good fire to serve \
In lieu of the blankets that we didn't
have and stretched ourselves out IL \
sleep the sleep of the tagged and leg. y
weary.
The next thing knew--and II seem.
I'd to be just about minute after I
had closed my eyes-Daddy was shak-
Ing me awake.
Time to be moggin' along, II we II
aim to get home for breakfast, sonny"
he announced. At the break Of day we 4
were coming into the Cinnabar.Atro-
pia road at precisely the point at
which we left 1t the evening before.
The sun was just beginning TO Ia Il
Ihe upper heights Of Old Clnnebar
when we trailed over the broad plateau
bench below the mine and headed for
the slope that led up to the dump head.
As we topped this last hill there was Il
nm amazing surprise awaiting us-s
surprise and shock. Gu the level
spot which served as dooryard for
The Twomhly cabin stood horse, sad
died and bridled, its dropped ears and
hanging head showing that II had been
ridden far and hard. And ON the cabin \
doorstep sitting at ease and calmly \
chewing a half-burned cigar, was