CHAPTER V. The Stowaway
There were but three collies on the Place, in those days. Lad; hisdainty gold-and-white mate, Lady; and their fluffy and fiery wisp of ason, little Wolf.
When Wolf was a spoiled and obstreperous puppy of three months or so,Lady was stricken with distemper and was taken to a veterinaryhospital. There, for something more than three months she was nursedthrough the scourging malady and through the chorea and pneumonia whichare so prone to follow in distemper's dread wake.
Science amuses itself by cutting up and otherwise torturing helplessdogs in the unholy name of vivisection. But Science has not yettroubled itself to discover one certain cure or preventive for thedistemper which yearly robs thousands of homes of their loved caninepets and guards. Apparently it is pleasanter for scientists to watch ascreaming dog writhe under the knife in a research laboratory than totrouble about finding a way to abolish distemper; and thus of riddingthe dog world of its worst scourge.
This is a digression from our story. But perhaps it is worth yourremembering,--you who care about dogs.
Altogether, Lady was away from the Place for fifteen weeks.
And, in her absence, the unhappy Lad took upon himself the task ofturning little Wolf from a pest into something approaching a decentcanine citizen. It was no sinecure, this educating of the hot-temperedand undisciplined youngster. But Lad brought to it an elephantinepatience and an uncannily wise brain. And, by the time Lady was broughtback, cured, the puppy had begun to show the results of his sire'sstern teachings.
Indeed, Lady's absence was the best thing that could have befallenWolf. For, otherwise, his training must needs have devolved upon theMistress and the Master. And no mere humans could have done the jobwith such grimly gentle thoroughness as did Lad. Few dogs, exceptpointers or setters or collies, will deign to educate their puppies tothe duties of life and of field and of house. But Lad had done the workin a way that left little to be asked for.
When Lady came home, her flighty brain seemed to have forgotten thefact that young Wolf was her once-adored son. Of her earlier capriciousdevotion to him, no trace remained. She sniffed in stand-offish inquiryat him; as at a stranger. And the scatterbrain pup remembered her nobetter than she remembered him. There is a wide gulf in intelligencebetween a three-month puppy and one six months old.
Yet,--perhaps because they were both excitable and mischievous andloved romping,--and because each was a novelty to the other--mother andson quickly formed a new friendship. From the more sedate anddiscipline-enforcing Lad, the youngster turned eagerly to chum-shipwith this flighty gold-white stranger. And Lady, for similar reason,seemed to find ten times as much congeniality and fun in romping withWolf as in playing with the less galvanically agile Lad.
In brief, Lady and little Wolf became inseparable companions;--this tothe semi-exclusion of Lad.
The great collie did not resent this exclusion; nor did he try toregain his fast-slipping hold on Wolf's affections. Yet, in fashionthat was more pathetic than ludicrous, he sought to win back Lady'swaning affection. A bit clumsily, he tried to romp and gambol with her,as did Wolf. He tried to interest her, as of yore, in following hislead in break-neck forest gallops after rabbits or in gloriouslyexhilarating swims in the fire-blue lake at the foot of the lawn. Tothe pityingly on-looking Mistress and Master, he seemed like somegeneral or statesman seeking to unbend in the games and chatter of aparty of high school boys and girls.
But it was no use.
True, in the cross-country runs or the swirling charges after rabbits,neither Lady nor Wolf could keep up with Lad's flying stride. And along swim, which scarce breathed Lad, would exhaust either or both ofthem.
But, they were young; and he was middle-aged. And, as in humanrelationships, that one sentence told the whole tragic story.
As well expect a couple of flyaway children to give up a game of tag inorder to listen to the solemn discourse of an elderly uncle; as to makethe fun-loving Lady and Wolf widen their selfish comradeship to includein it the steadier and older and infinitely wiser Lad.
Perforce, Lad was thrown more and more on the society of the Mistressand the Master. And, in their friendship, he was happy;--until he wouldchance to see his mate and his little son playing in wild ecstasy witha stick or ball, and would frisk bulkily over to join them. In a baresecond or two, the demeanor of both showed him just what a grosslyunwelcome interloper he was.
Whereat, after a wistfully miserable glance from one to the other ofthe exclusive pair, Lad would trot slowly back to his human deities;and, with a queerly sobbing little sigh, he would curl up at theMistress's feet.
"It's a shame, Laddie!" declared the Mistress, at one such time. "It'sa SHAME! Why, you are worth a million of those crazy playdogs! You're amillion times wiser and beautifuller and more lovable. Why do youbother with them? Master and I are ever so much better company for you;and we love to have you with us. Stay right here, and forget them."
Lad, perhaps, understood the actual meaning of one word in ten of theadvice. But he understood and loved the Mistress's sweet voice and thecaress of her cool little hand; and the sympathy in her tone. It allmeant much to Laddie. Very much indeed. And he laid his mighty headagainst her knee; happy in the comfort of touch and voice.
Nevertheless, that wistful glint was ever lurking in his deep-set eyes,nowadays. And his gayly trumpeting bark rang out less often and lessjubilantly than of old. He took to moping. And he spent more time thanbefore in his beloved "cave," under the music-room piano.
Moping and solitude are no more beneficial to dogs than to humans. TheMaster racked his brain for some way of bringing the splendid collieback to his olden spirits.
Luck, or fate, took the matter out of his hands.
The Mistress and the Master were invited to spend a week with somefriends whose house stood in an ultra-restricted residential park, highup in the Catskills. By leaving the Place at sunrise, they could reachthe Park, by motor, in time for afternoon tea.
At dawn, the car was brought to the door. Its tonneau was piled withluggage; and all was ready for a start as soon as the unappetizinglyearly breakfast could be swallowed.
Wolf and Lady, after following the car from the garage to the door,wearied of the uninspiring wait; and set forth at a hand-gallop for thewoods. There, at dawning, the dew would lie heavy. And wet ground everholds scent better than does dry. It would be easy to pick up andfollow rabbit trails, through the damp.
Lad made as though to follow them. He ran out of the house and half-wayup the drive in pursuit of their flashing gold-and-white flight.Neither turned a head at sound of his following steps. Neitherslackened pace to include him in the hunt.
Always abnormally sensitive, the big collie noted this aloofness. Andhe came to an irresolute halt. For a moment, he stared after the twovanishing runaways; his plumed tail swaying ever so little, ingroundless expectation of an invitingly glance or yelp from Lady. Then,tail and crest adroop, he turned slowly back toward the house.
From puppyhood, an odd trait of Lad's had caused amusement at thePlace. Whenever he was unhappy or considered himself ill-treated, itwas his way to hunt for something wherewith he might comfort himself.For instance, as a pup, a scolding for some petty misdeed would sendhim in search of his cherished flannel doll or his squeaking ball. Inlater years, the car had taken the place of these babyhood comforters.
Lad cared more for motoring than for any other amusement. In moments ofstress he sometimes ran to the garage and curled himself up in thetonneau; as though in hope someone might take pity on his unhappinessand give him a drive. And, usually, somebody did.
Now, turning back, rebuffed, from the forest gallop, he caught sight ofthe car. Not in the garage, either; but at the front door; where itspresence could mean nothing except an immediate ride.
With one high spring, Lad had cleared the ground and was over theclosed tonneau door and amid a ruck of luggage and rugs. The rear seatwas filled by a steamer-trunk, strapped tightly in place there. And thebottom
of the car was annoyingly crowded by bumpy bags and other gear.
Still, by the simple and ancestral process of turning himself aroundseveral times, Lad was able to clear enough space on the floor topermit of his lying down; albeit in a very compact bunch.
He settled himself into place on the floor with a satisfied jouncewhich loosened a car-rug draped over the trunk. Down slithered the rug;and fell athwart the dog's shaggy back and one of the bags. It was notheavy enough to annoy Lad or hurt his feelings. And its draped foldsserved as the top of a sort of cave for him. On the whole, Lad ratherenjoyed the rug's descent. It made his narrow resting-place snugger andwarmer on this chilly early morning. Patiently, Lad lay there; waitingfor the car to start.
He did not have long to wait. In another minute or two, the Mistressand the Master came out from breakfast; and got into the front seat.Then the car was breasting the winding slope of the drive, in firstspeed; the faint jar of the engine sending undulations over themahogany-and-white coat of the stowaway dog. And, in a minute more,they were out on the smooth highway, headed for the distant Catskills.
Now, Lad had not the remotest notion he was a stowaway. On the fewtimes when it had not been convenient to take him on drives, the Masterhad always bidden him stay at home. And when, at such times, the dogchanced already to be its the car, he had been ordered back to earth.There, was no way for Lad to know, this morning, that neither of thecar's other occupants had seen him as he lay curled up on the floor,three-quarters hidden under the fallen rug. The luggage had beenarranged in the tonneau, before breakfast. And nobody had given asecond glance at it since then.
The sun was rising over a new-made world, alive with summer glory andthrilling with bird-songs. The air, later in the day, would be warm.But, at sunrise, it was sharp and bracing. The mystic wonder and thehush of dawn were still brooding over the earth. The hard white roadstretched out, like a winding river, between banks of dew-gleamingverdure. The mountain-tops were glowing with the touch of the sun. Inthe deeper valleys floated a shimmering dusk.
The car sped swiftly along the empty highway; slowing down only as itspun through half-awakened villages; or checked its pace to allow asleepy boy to drive a straggling bunch of cows across the road topasturage.
For an hour or more, Lad lay cuddled under the rug in contentedlaziness. Then the recumbent posture tired him; and he sat up. As arule, one or the other of his deities was wont to turn around, atintervals, and speak to him or pet him. Today, neither of them paid himthe slightest attention. Still, the ride was a joy. And the surroundingcountry was new and interesting. So Lad had a good time, in spite ofhuman neglect. After another hour or so, he curled up again, among thebags, and fell to drowsing.
A six-hour run, over good roads, brought the car to Kingston, at thegateway to the Catskills. Here, at a hotel entrance, the machine cameto a standstill. The Master got out, and turned to help the Mistress toalight. It was the place they had decided on for luncheon. Anotherthree hours, at most, would carry them to their destination.
A negro boy, loafing aimlessly at the street corner, had begun towhistle industriously to himself as the car slowed down. And he hadwakened into active motion. Apparently, he remembered all at once animportant mission on the other side of the street. For he set off at aswinging pace.
His course took him so near the back of the car that he had to turnout, a step or so, to avoid collision with it. He accompanied thisturning-out maneuver by another which was less ostentatious, but morepurposeful. Timing his steps, so as to pass by the rear of the car justas the Master was busy helping his wife to descend, the youth thrust anarm over the side of the tonneau, with the speed of a striking snake.His hand closed on the handle of a traveling bag, among the heap ofluggage. Never slackening his pace, the negro gave a fierce yank at hisplunder, to hoist it over the closed door.
In that tourist-ridden city, bag-stealing offered much profit. In therare chance of detection when he was at work, the boy had only to pleadover-zeal in trying to earn an honest dime by helping lift the luggageto the sidewalk.
It was a pretty bit of theft; and it betokened long and carefulpractice. Thus,--from the thief's standpoint,--it was almost a pity thebrilliant effort was wasted. For wasted it was.
This young negro prided himself on his powers of speed and of silence,in plying his trade. And, today, though he proceeded to excel in thefirst of these qualities, he disgraced himself most woefully asregarded the second.
For he jerked his hand out of the tonneau far faster than he had thrustit in. As he did so, he woke the echoes with the most blood-curdlingscreech his leathern lungs could compass.
As his dusky fingers had closed on the bag, something viselike andrelentless had fastened upon those same expert fingers; breaking two ofthem, and rending the flesh of the lower hand.
Lad, in rising to his feet, after his pleasant nap, at the slowing ofthe car, had been aware of that predatory hand; as it groped for thebag. Now, from puppyhood, Lad had been taught to regard everything inthe car as under his own careful guardianship. Hence, he lunged forwardand sank his terrible white teeth deep into the groping fingers.
By main force the youth tore free. With a second screech, he reeledback from the unseen peril which had assailed him. But Lad would nothave it so.
There was a harsh-breathed growl, from down in the tonneau; and, on theinstant, a tawny giant shape came catapulting over the top of the shutdoor and hurled itself upon the staggering negro.
The Master, turning at sound of the yell, was just in time to see theattack. The collie,--supposedly ninety miles away, and peacefullyguarding the Place,--was hurtling through the air and crashing againstthe chest of a gray-faced and pop-eyed young negro. To earth went thetwo; in a cloud of dust; a second before the Master's sharp callbrought Lad reluctantly away from his prey, and just as a policeman anda score of idlers came running up.
The thief did not wait to explain. No sooner did he see the Mastercatch the infuriated dog by the ruff than he scrambled to his feet;ducked under the policeman's arm and set off, around a corner, insomething better than record time. Somehow, the encounter had deprivedhim of the nerve and the pluck to stand his ground and to explain thathe had merely been trying to help with the luggage. His only desire,just then, was to put as many thousand miles as possible betweenhimself and the tawny demon that had assaulted him.
"Laddie!" gasped the Mistress, unbelieving, as the policeman and mostof the little crowd set off after the fugitive. "LADDIE! What in theworld--?"
"He--he must have been in the car, all the time," gabbled the Master,brilliantly. "He must have jumped in, while we were at breakfast. See,he's cleared a space for himself between two of the bags. He's beenthere, all the time, and we never--"
"If he hadn't been there," suggested the Mistress, "we'd be looking nowfor one or two pieces of luggage that had disappeared. When the Grayswent through here, one of their suitcases was--"
"But what in blazes are we going to do with him?" broke in the Master,worriedly. "We can't take him all the way home. And I won't trust tosending him by express. He might get backed onto a siding and be keptthere for days, without food or water. Besides, they won't let a dog goby express unless he's in a crate. What are we to do?"
"Why," said the Mistress, stooping to stroke the silken head thatrested against her knee, "Why, Laddie seems to have settled that forus, by coming along. He's surely paid his way. We'll have to take himthe rest of the trip. The Harmons will be glad to see him, I'm sure.Everybody's always glad to see Laddie, wherever we go. Let's take him.It's the only thing to do. We can explain to them how it happened."
And so, after more discussion, it was settled. Even as most things hada way of being settled when the Mistress proposed them.
Three hours later, the car stopped before the entrance of a roomilybeautiful house in a roomily beautiful residence park, in the upperCatskills.
The welcoming smiles on the faces of host and hostess suffered suddeneclipse; as a huge mahogany-and-white collie s
tepped majestically fromthe car at the heels of the two guests.
"This is Lad," introduced the Mistress. "I hope you don't mind ourbringing him. I can promise he won't be a bit of trouble to anybody. Wedidn't mean to bring him. It just happened. This was the way:--"
While she was recounting the adventure to Mrs. Harmon, their host drewthe Master to one side.
"Say, old man," began Harmon, with visible discomfort, "please don'tmisunderstand me or anything. But I'm a little bothered about just whatto do. This is the idea: There was a mad dog scare here in DaylightPark, last month, when a Pom puppy snapped at some kids that wereteasing it. Then, a day or so later, a Persian cat had fits and chasedold Mrs. Cratchitt across a lawn and gave her a spell of palpitation ofthe heart. And the next day an Angora goat that the Varian children hadas a pet got loose and chewed up several hundred dollars' worth oflingerie off a line. Then the Clives' spaniel took to barking underRutherford Garretse's study window. And--"
"You needn't be afraid of Lad's doing any of those fool things,"bragged the Master. "He behaves as well as any human. Better than mostof them. He--"
"That isn't the point," said his host, with growing uneasiness. "Yousee, Daylight Park is run as a club. Home government and all that sortof thing. Well, these livestock fracases raised such a row that theclub's Board of Governors has passed an ordinance, forbidding thekeeping of any pet animals in the whole park. Nothing bigger than acanary bird can be harbored here. It's a hard-and-fast rule. It seemedthe only way to save our whole summer colony from disruption. You knowa livestock squabble can cause more ructions in a small communitythan--"
"I see," mused the Master, staring glumly after Lad who was justvanishing into the house in the wake of the Mistress and the unhappyMrs. Harmon. "I see. H'm!"
He pondered for an instant, while his host shifted from foot to footand looked apologetic. Then the Master spoke again.
"The only way out, that I see," he hazarded, "is for me to drive backhome with Lad; and leave him there and come on here, tomorrow. I can--"
"Nothing of the sort!" protested Harmon, "There's an easier way thanthat. Wittsville is only a mile or so from the Park gates. They've gota fine boarding kennel there. Several of the Park's dogs were exiled toit, when our ordinance went into effect. Jump into the car, and we'lltake your collie there in ten minutes. He'll be well treated. And youand your wife can go to see him, every day you're here. Come along.I--I hate to seem inhospitable about this thing. But you see foryourself how it is. We--"
"Certainly," assented the Master. "I'll go in and get him and explainto my wife. Don't let it make you feel uncomfortable. We bothunderstand."
Which accounts for the fact that Lad, within the next half hour, waspreparing to spend his first night away from home and from the twopeople who were his gods. He was not at all happy. It had been aninteresting day. But its conclusion did not please Laddie, in anymanner.
And, when things did not please Lad, he had a very determined fashionof trying to avoid them;--unless perchance the Mistress or the Masterhad decreed otherwise.
The Master had brought him to this obnoxious strange place. But he hadnot bidden Lad stay there. And the collie merely waited his chance toget out. At ten o'clock, one of the kennelmen made the night rounds. Heswung open the door of the little stall in which Lad had been lockedfor the night. At least, he swung the door halfway open. Lad swung itthe rest of the way.
With a plunge, the collie charged out through the opening portal,ducked between the kennelman's legs, reached the open gate of theenclosure in two more springs; and vanished down the road into thedarkness.
As soon as he felt the highway under his feet, Lad's nose droopedearthward; and he sniffed with all his might. Instantly, he caught thescent he was seeking;--a scent as familiar to him as that of his ownpiano cave; the scent of the Place's car-tires.
It had taken Harmon and the Master the best part of ten minutes todrive through the park and to the boarding kennels. It took Lad lessthan half that time to reach the veranda of the Harmon house. Circlingthe house and finding all doors shut, he lay down on the mat; andsettled himself to sleep there in what comfort he might, until theMistress and the Master should come down in the morning and find him.
But the Harmons were late risers. And the sun had been up for somehours before any of the household were astir.
If Lad had been the professionally Faithful Hound, of storybooks, hewould doubtless have waited on the mat until someone should come to lethim in. But, after lying there until broad daylight, he was moved toexplore this new section of the world. The more so, since house afterhouse within range of his short vision showed signs of life andactivity.
Several people passed and repassed along the private roadway in frontof the Harmons' door; and nearly all of these paused to peer at Lad, inwhat seemed to the collie a most flattering show of interest.
At last, the dog got to his feet, stretched himself fore-and-aft, intrue collie fashion; and trotted down the paved walk to the road. Therefor a moment, he stood hesitant. As he stood, he was surveying thescene;--not only with his eyes, but with those far stronger senseorgans, his ears and his nostrils. His ears told him nothing ofinterest. His nose told him much. Indeed, before he had fairly reachedthe road, these nostrils had telegraphed to his brain an odor that notonly was highly interesting, but totally new to him. Lad's experiencewith scents was far-reaching. But this smell lay totally outside allhis knowledge or memory.
It was a rank and queer smell;--not strong enough, out there in theopen, to register in a human-brain; but almost stingingly acute to thehighly sensitized dog. It was an alluring scent; the sort of odor thatroused all his curiosity and seemed to call for prompt investigation.
Nose to ground, Lad set off to trace the smell to its source. Strong asit was, it grew stronger and fresher at every step. Even a mongrelpuppy could have followed it. Oblivious to all else, Lad broke into acanter; nose still close to earth; pleasurably excited and keenlyinquisitive.
He ran along the private road for perhaps a hundred yards. Then, hewheeled in at another paved walk and ran up a low flight of verandasteps. The front door of a house stood invitingly open to the cool airof the morning. In through the doorway went Lad; unheeding the gobblingcall of a maid-servant who was sweeping the far end of the veranda.
Lad did not know he was committing trespass. To him an open door hadalways meant permission to enter. And the enticingly rank scent wastenfold stronger indoors than out. Across a hallway he trotted, stillsniffing; and up a flight of stairs leading to the second story of thehouse.
At the stairhead, a room door stood wide. And into this room led theodor. Lad went in. He was in a large and sunlit room; but in the mostdisorderly room he had ever set eyes on. The room needed airing, too.For all its four windows were closed, except one which was open forperhaps six inches from the top.
Lad circled the room, twice; from door to windows, and thence to centertable and around the walls; pausing at one window sill and again at thethreshold; picking his way daintily over heaps of litter on the floor.Yes, the room was full of the scent. But, whence the scent emanated,Lad could not, for the life of him, tell. The room gave him no clew.And, after a few minutes of futile investigation, he turned to depart.
At the stairhead, he came upon the same servant he had seen sweepingthe veranda. She cried: "Shoo!" at him and brandished her broom. Lad,in offended dignity, stalked past her and out of the house.
His quest having proven vain, he betook himself to the Harmons',arriving there as the Mistress and the Master emerged upon the verandain company with their hosts. In wild delight, Lad scampered up to theMistress; his whole stately body wriggling in eager welcome, his tinywhite forepaws patting at her feet, his muzzle thrusting itself intoher cupped hand.
"Why, Lad!" she cried. "Laddie! We were so worried about you. They justphoned from the kennels that you had gotten away. I might have knownyou'd find your way to us. We--"
She got no further. Up the walk, from the road
, came running anapoplectically red and puffing man of late middle age;--a man whoseface bore traces of lather; and who was swathed in a purple bathrobe.Flapping slippers ill-covered his sockless feet.
The Master recognized the fast-advancing newcomer. He recognized himfrom many pictures in newspapers and magazines.
This was Rutherford Garretse, world-famed author and collector; theliterary lion and chief celebrity of the summer colony at DaylightPark. But what eccentricity of genius could account for his costume andfor this bellicose method of bearing down upon a neighbor's home, wasmore than the Master could guess.
Nor did the visitor's first words clear up the mystery. Halting at thefoot of the steps, Rutherford Garretse gesticulated in dumb anguish,while he fought for breath and for coherent speech. Then, disregardingHarmon's wondering greeting, the celebrity burst into choking staccatospeech.
"That dog!" he croaked. "That--that--DOG! The maid saw him go into thehouse. Saw him go up to my study. She was afraid to follow, at first.But in a few minutes she did. She saw him coming out of my study!COME!!! I demand it. All of you. COME!"
Without another word, he wheeled and made off down the road, pausingonly to beckon imperiously. Marveling, the group on the verandafollowed. Deaf to their questions, he led the way. Lad fell into linebehind the perplexed Mistress.
Down the road to the next house, stalked Rutherford Garretse. At thedoorway, he repeated his dramatic gesture and commanded:
"COME!"
Up the broad stairs he stamped. Behind him trailed the dumfoundedprocession; Laddie still pattering happily along with the Mistress. Atthe open door of a large room at the stairhead, the author stood asideand pointed in silent despair through the doorway.
"What's up?" queried Harmon, for perhaps the tenth time. "Isanything--?"
His question ended in a grunt. And, like the others, he stared aghaston the scene before him.
The room, very evidently, was a study. But much of its floor, just now,was heaped, ankle high, with hundreds of pages of torn and crumpledpaper.
The desk-top and a Sheraton cabinet and table were bare of allcontents. On the floor reposed countless shattered articles of glassand porcelain; jumbled together with blotters an pastepot and shearsand ink-stand and other utensils. Ink had been poured in grotesquepattern on rugs and parquetry and window curtains.
In one corner lay a typewriter, its keys twisted and its carriagebroken. Books--some of them in rare bindings,--lay gutted andink-smeared, from one end of the place to the other.
Through the daze of general horror boomed the tremblingly majesticvoice of Rutherford Garretse.
"I wanted you to see!" he declaimed. "I ordered everything left as itwas. That mess of papers all over the floor is what remains of thefirst draft of my book. The book I have been at work on for six months!I--"
"And it was the dog, there!" sputtered the maid-servant; emotion ridingover discipline. "I c'n swear the room was neat and all dusted. Not ablessed thing out of place; and all the paper where Mr. Garretse hadstacked 'em in his portfolio, yonder. I dusted this study and then thedining room. And then I went out to sweep the veranda; like I alwaysdo, before breakfast. And maybe ten minutes later I see this brute trotout of Mr. Harmon's place, and along the road, and come, asnuffing upthe steps and into the house. And when I followed him upstairs andscatted him out, I saw the room looking like it is, now; and I yells toMr. Garretse, and he's shaving, and--"
"That will do, Esther!" snapped the author. "And, now, sir--"
"But, Mr. Garretse," put in the Mistress, "Lad never did such a thingas this, in all his life! He's been brought up in the house. Even as apuppy, he was--"
"The evidence shows otherwise," interrupted Garretse, with a visiblestruggle at self-control. "No human, unless he were a maniac, wouldhave done such a wantonly destructive thing. No other animal has beenhere. The dog was seen entering and leaving this room. And my work ofsix months is not only destroyed by him, but many of the very bestpieces in my glass-and-porcelain cabinet."
"But--"
"I consented to stay on at Daylight Park, only on the solemn assuranceof the Governors that no animal should be allowed again within the Parkprecincts. I detest animals. Particularly dogs. And now I see mydislike is not mere prejudice. May I ask what the owners and--and theharborer--of the cur mean to do about this outrage? Notice, please,that I am speaking with studied moderation, in asking this vitalquestion. I--"
"It is my fault,--or rather, it is a mistake,--that Lad is in thePark," spoke up the Master. "Mr. Harmon is wholly innocent in thematter. I can testify to that. If there is any fine or other penalty inconnection with my dog's being here, I'm ready to settle for it. But ifyou expect me to believe that Laddie did all this weird damage to yourmanuscript and your collection and your room,--why, that's absurd!Utterly absurd! Lad, never in his life,--"
"The courts will think otherwise!" blazed Garretse, losing a fractionof his hard-held selfmastery. "And the case shall go through everycourt in the land, since you persist in this idiotic denial of a provenfact. I warn you, I shall--Look there!" he broke off, furiously,leveling a shakily vehement forefinger at Lad. "Watch him! He'sprowling around, even now, in search of more things to injure. He--"
The author finished his sentence by catching up a heavy metalpaperweight and drawing it back as if for a throw. His muscles flexed.The Mistress moved, as by accident, between the raging man and the dog.
The Master, for the moment, lacked presence of mind to do even thatmuch for his canine chum's safety. He was too much taken up in glaringunbelievingly at Lad.
The sedate collie, after following the bevy of excited humans upstairs,had stood gravely, just inside the threshold; looking with keeninterest from one to the other of the gesticulating and noisy group.Then, as a sharp whiff of that same baffling scent assailed his nose,he began a new tour of the room.
The odor was fresher than before. And Lad's curiosity was roused to thefull. He sniffed to right and left, exploring the floor rubbish withinquiring muzzle, and circling the despoiled writing desk.
It was then that Garretse called attention to him. And it was then thatLad's nose suddenly pointed skyward. In another moment, he had boundedeagerly toward one of the windows,--the window that was slightly openfrom the top.
From that direction, the scent now came; and it was more potent than atany earlier time in his quest.
Even as the astonished eyes of the group followed Lad window-ward,those same eyes were attracted by a partial darkening of the open spaceat the window's top.
Into the room, through the narrow aperture wiggled a hairy form, movingwith eel-like speed.
Thence, it leaped to the floor. For the fraction of a second, theintruder crouched there; peering about, to determine into what companyhis jump had landed him.
He was a gray monkey, small, infinitely aged and withered of aspect.His paws and forearms were black with half-dry ink. Here and there, allover his fuzzy gray body, ink-blobs were spattered. In one skinny pawhe still clutched the splintered fragment of a Satsuma vase.
By the time the gaping humans could get a single good look at themonkey, Lad was at him. Here at last was the solution of thatmysterious scent, so new to the collie.
Lad galloped toward the wizened and malodorous gray bunch; more intenton investigation than on attack. The monkey did not wait for him. Withan incredibly agile leap, he was on the spattered window curtains andswarming up to the rod at the top. There he squatted, well out ofreach; grimacing horribly and chattering in simian wrath.
"It's--it's a devil!" stammered Rutherford Garretse; his nearsightedeyes squinting as he sought to take in the motley details of thecreature's appearance. "I--"
"It's Mrs. McMurdle's pest of a monkey, sirs" blithered the maid."Asking your pardon. The one she made such a fuss about sending away,last month, when all beastees was barred from the Park. It must 'a'strayed back from where she sent it to, the crafty little nuisance!It's--"
"Incidentally," said the Master, "it is the
creature that wrecked yourroom. See the ink on it. And that bit of porcelain it's brandishing atus looks like a match for some of these smashed bits on the floor. Itgot in here, I suppose, through that window, earlier,--and--"
"No," corrected the Mistress, wiser at deduction. "Through the doorway,downstairs. From somewhere outside. Probably while the maid was dustingthe dining-room. It came in here and began destroying things; asmonkeys love to. And Laddie struck its trail and followed it up here.It heard Lad coming and it got out through the window. Then, just now,something outside scared it; and it climbed back in again. I wonderif--"
As she talked, the Mistress had moved toward the nearest window.
"See?" she finished, in triumph, as she pointed out and down.
On the patch of back lawn, below, stood a very much flustered old lady,her worried gaze upraised to the study. In one hand she carried aleash, in the other a half-peeled banana.
"It's Mrs. McMurdle!" exclaimed Harmon. "The maid was right. She musthave disobeyed the ordinance and had the miserable monkey hidden in herhouse all the time. It must have gotten out, this morning; and shehunted around till she saw it perched on the top of the window cornice.I suppose it dived back in here, at sight of her. She--"
"Come on, Laddie!" whispered the Mistress, under cover of a newoutbreak of multiple talk. "YOU'RE acquitted, anyhow. And the rest ofthe scene is really no business of ours. The sooner we get you to theboarding kennels again, the less chance there is of trouble. And Masterand I will come to see you there, every single day, till we go backhome."
A week later, the car turned in again at the gates of the Place. Thistime, Lad rode in state atop the flat trunk on the rear seat. As thecar halted at the veranda, he sprang to earth without waiting for thetonneau door to be opened.
For, dashing toward him from the direction of the lake, Lady hove insight. Behind her, and trotting more leisurely, came Wolf. At sight andscent of her returned mate, Lady fairly squealed with delight. Shewhirled up to Lad, frantically licking his face and spinning about himwith little staccato yelps of joy.
Lad was deliriously happy. Not only was he at home again; but Lady waswelcoming him with an effusion that she had not shown him for many asorrowful month. He could not understand it. Nor did he try to. He wascontent to accept the miracle; and to rejoice in it with all his greathonest heart.
Knowing nothing of feminine psychology, he could not realize that aweek of Puppy Wolf's sole and undiluted companionship had bored Ladyhorribly and had begun to get on her nerves;--nor that she had learnedto miss and yearn for the big, wise, ever-gentle mate whom she had solong neglected.
It was enough for Lad to know that he was no longer a neglectedoutsider, in the Place's canine family; but that his worshiped mate waswild with joy to see him again.
"Look!" said the Master. "The old chap has forgiven her for every bitof her rottenness to him. He's insanely happy, just because she choosesto make much of him, once more."
"Yes," assented the Mistress, cryptically "Sometimes dogs arepitifully--human!"