Evening star., 1923-02-18
G. O III T. L

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are perpendicular. Toward this pond
the old man. with the gun under his
arm and the dog following. went
Here in the silence OF the woods. with
just the two Of them together. was to
be a final test.
On the shelving bank Swygert
| Pickle up stick and tossed 1t into
the middle Of the pond with the COM
mand to fetch" Comet sprang
| eagerly in and retrieved It Twice
this was repeated. But the third
time, as the dog. approached the
shore, Swygert picked up the gun and
fired
Quickly thesdog dropped the stick.
then turned and swan toward the
| other shore. Here, so precipitous were
the banks, he could not get a foot
hold. He turned once more and
struck out diagonally across the
pond. Swygert met him and fired.
Over and over 1t happened. Each
time. after he fred. the old man
stopped down with extended .and
and begged him to come on His face
was grim. and though the day was
cool. sweat stood out on hts brow.
| You'll face the music" he said. cor
you'll drown. Better be dead than
called yellow"
The dog was growing weary. His
head was barely above water. His
efforts to Chamber up the opposite
bank were feeble, frantic. Yet, each
time as he drew near the shore Swy-
gert fired.
He was not using Light loads now
| He was using the regular load Of the
bird hunter. Time had passed for
| temporizing. The sweat was stand
ing all over his face. The sternness
in his eyes was terrible to see, for it
was the sternness Of a man who is
suffering.
A dog can swim for q long time.
The sun dropped over the trees. Still
the firing went on, regularly, like q
minute gun.
| Just before the sun set an ex.
hausted dog staggered toward an old
man. almost as exhausted as he. The
dog had been too near death and was
too faint to care for the gun that was
being fred over his head. On and
on he came. toward the man, disre-
garding the noise Of tho gun. 1t
would not hurt him, that he knew at
last He might have many enemies,
but the gun, in the hands of this man,
! was not one of them. Suddenly old
Swygert sank down and took the
dripping dog in his arms.
| "Old boy" he said, "oId boy"
That night Comet lay before the
fire and looked straight into the ewes
OF man. as he used to took in the
old days.
NEXT season, Larson, glaneing over
his sporting papers. was aston
ished to see that among promising
derbys the fall trials had called forth
was pointer named Comet. He
would have thought it some other dog
than the one who had disappointed
him 80 by turning out gun-shy. In
spite Of all his efforts to prevent. had
II not been for the fact that the en-
try was booked as Comet; owner.
Miss Marian Devant; handler, Wade
Swygert.
Next year he was still more aston.
ished to see in the same paper that
Comet, handled by Swygcrt. had won
| first place in a westerr trial, and
was prominently spoken o. as a ma.
tional champion ship possibility. AS
| for him, he had no young entries TO
offer, but was stalking everything on
al oIor
was to enter Larsen's Peerless II.
1t was strange how things fell out
but things have a habit Of turning
out strangely in field trials, as well
as elsewhere. When Larson reached
Breton Junction, where the national
championship was to be run. there
on the street, straining at the leash
held by old Swygert, whon, he usd to
know, was seasoned Young pointer,
| with white body. hrown head, and
brown saddle spot--the same point
er he had seen two years before turn
| tail and run in that terror a dog
never quite overcomes.
But the strangest thing of all hap
pened that night at the drawing,
| when. according to the slips taken at
| random from a hat, it was declared
| that on the following Wednesday
Comet. the pointer. was to run with
Peerless II.
| 1t gave Larsen a strange thrill, this
announcement.
He lett the meeting and went
straightway to his room. There for
long time he sat pondering. Next
| day at hardware store he bought
| some black powder and some shells.
| The race was to be run next day
and that night in his room he loaded
half a dozen shells. 1t would have
as he bent over his work, on his lips
smile. Into the shells he packed
, all the powder they could stand, all
| the powder his trusted gun could
| stand without bursting. 1t was a
load big enough to kill a bear-to
bring down a buffalo. It was a. load
that would echo and re-echo in the
hills.
, On the morning that Larsen walk
ed out in front Of the judges and the
field, Peerless II at the leash, old
Swygert with Comet at his side, he
glanced around at the field" or
spectators. Among them was a
+! handsome young woman and with
| her, to his amusement. George De-
/ want He could not help chuckling
inside himself as he thought of what
J would happen that day, for once a
gun-shy dog, always a gun-shy dog
that was his experience.
AS for Comet, he faced the straw
fields eagerly, confdently aIready a