Evening star., 1925-04-12

| attention on Ruth.
Presently his waiting was reward
ed. Ruth's gaze. dropping confus-
edly under Malvern's eager eyes,
rested for the first time on Bobby
Bruce. She stretched out her hand
to pat him, speaking to him at the
same time in the cooingly affection
ate tone that the collie loved
| Loris broke in on her caress with
a growl. The wolfhound was keenly
| jealous of any ones attention to any
other dog than himself. He showed
his resentment by look and by voice.
! "Quiet, Loris"' called Ruth sharply,
mortified at her dogs rudeness. She
| enforced her command this time with
a flick of her glove across the borZoi's
long nose.
The sting and the public humila-
ton were too much for Loris' ILL
disciplined and frayed temper. With
wolf snarl. he snapped ferociously
| at the girls receding hand.
The attack was so sudden, so
wholly unforeseen, that Ruth had
neither time nor presence of mind to
avoid il. The long, rending eye-teeth
| threatened to meet in her soft palm
! before she could grasp the idea that
! her temperamental pet had turned on
her. With a cry of dismay, Ruth
sought to snatch her hand from the
/
! started to the rescue. Both man and
! girl were far too slow to avert the
mishap. But Bobby Bruce was not.
Perhaps the collie had read Loris'
| eyes in the momentary interval be-
| tween the flick of the glove and the
| snap of the murderous jaws Perhaps
he acted only on the uncanny instinct
| of his breed. IN either case. he flung
himself forward like a furry catapult
. H.
| flashing teeth buried themselves in
the collie's shoulder instead of in the
girls hand
An instant later collie and wolf
| hound were gripped in an embrace.
They reared and tore and snarled and
grappled and snapped in the throes
of highly meloramatic and vulgar
dog fight.
The borzoi had the advantage of
height and of weight. Also his
smoldering temper was finding a legiti-
mate outlet at last. But a collie has
ways of his own in battle-ways that
make him anything but a pleasant or
reliable opponent. Bobby Bruce was
fighting as fought his earliest an
cestors-and Loris' hereditary foes
the wolves.
Ruth, in surprise and terror, shrank
back, close, deliciously close, to Dick
Malvern.
oh" she gasped. Stop them.
Make them stop
Bobby shouted Dick, throwing
himself into the fray
The voice pierced the battle mists
in Bobby Bruce's brain. Bobby was
having a beautiful time. He hated
the thought of desisting. Yet from
earliest puppyhood Malvern's lightest
command had been his life law. Re-
In 20, . tI1- D,
ter's side.
And Loris, foaming of jaw, sprang
madly after him.
Malvern scarce had time to step
between the combatants, thrusting
back the raging borzoi, before Loris'
teeth had raked the mans forearm.
Dick, needless of the bruising pain,
caught the wolfhound by the throat
with his one free hand and pinioned
the madly struggling brute. All
Dicks prowess was taxed by the ef-
fort to hold him.
X X
D UTH, shaking off her terror, ran
forward. Taking from her pocket
the borzoTs chain and leather leash;
she clamped its end into the ring of
Loris' collar. disregarding Malvern's
cry of protest at the danger she ran
from the wildly swapping jaws. Then
deftly she wound the leash's other
end about the tough trunk of little
oak sapling.
There" she exclaimed as Loris
strained, howling. at his bonds. He's
safe now. Whatever made him do
such thing, I wonder"
She broke off, shuddering a little
from reaction and staring perpIexedIy
at the leashed wolfhound. Dick NAL
vern took advantage of her momen-
tary absorption to pick up the Spring
oVercoat he had dropped and to hang
1t hurriedly over his torn sleeve. And
he replied as Ruth turned her un-
happy gaze from Loris to him:
Just brainstorm. And you'd
been away so long that you'd lost a
bit of your control over him. He'll
be all right when he's had a few
minutes to quiet down"
But why should 1 have lost control
over him just by being away three
months?" she demanded, the shock
ruff1fng her nerves. You told me
that Bobby Bruce hadn't forgotten
you or single thing you had taught
him all the whole year you were in
France"
Oh explained Dick incautiousIy.
that's different. You see, Bobby
Bruce is-Bobby Bruce. Besides, he's
cOlne. And--
And just because poor Loris is
wolfhound, of course, he"
Hold on" laughed Dick You're
probably remembering what McGilead
said at the show. McGilead is a
Scotchman. And so he's prejudfced
in favor of collies. There are lots of
collies that have been so badly
brought up that they aren't worth
their salt. And there are lots of
splendid wolfhounds that"
He completed his sentence by a
caveman demonstration that was
wholly impromptu. With a gasp he
snatched the amazed girl bodily from
the ground and swung her behind him.
deep into the hazel thicket on whose
edge they had been standing In the
copse's center grew a dwarf hickory
with gnarled and low-fiung limbs
A single heave of Dicks arms and
Ruth was seated preoariously on one
such limb, five feet above ground.
Then it was that the much-jo -jostled
Ruth saw what he had seen and heard
half second earlier, 900 pounds of