butsupernatural, and it doubled his love for the dog.
That afternoon, by way of experiment, Ferris took Chum along when hewent to drive the sheep back from pasture to the fold. By the time heand the dog were within a hundred yards of the pasture gate Chum beganto dance, from sheer anticipation; mincing sidewise on the tips of histoes in true collie fashion, and varying the dance by little rushesforward.
Link opened the crazy gate. Waiting for no further encouragement thedog sped into the broad field and among the grazing sheep that weredistributed unevenly over the entire area of the lot.
Ordinarily--unless the sheep were ready to come home--it was a matterof ten or fifteen minutes each evening for Link to collect them andstart them on their way. To-day, in less than three minutes, Chum hadthe whole flock herded and trotting through the opening, to the laneoutside.
Nor, this time, did the sheep flee from him in the same panic dread asin the morning. They seemed to have learned--if indeed a sheep can everlearn anything--that Chum was their driver, not their enemy.
From the fold Link as usual went to the woodlot where his five head oflean milch cattle were at graze. Three of the cows were waiting at thebars for him, but one heifer and a new-dry Holstein were hiddensomewhere in the recesses of the second-growth timber.
The afternoon was hot; it had been a hot day. Link was tired. Hedreaded the labor of exploring ten acres of undergrowth for his twomissing cattle. An inspiration came to him. Pointing to the threestolidly waiting cows at the bars he waved his arm in the generaldirection of the lot and called on Chum.
"Go find 'em! Bring 'em in!"
Almost before the words were spoken Ferris regretted them. He hated todim the luster of his dog's earlier exploits by giving him a job beyondhis skill. And this time Chum did not flash forward with his formerzest. He stood, ears cocked, glancing uncertainly from Link to thethree cows already waiting.
Then, as he still peered doubtfully, one of the bovine trio took frightat the dog and trotted clumsily away toward the woods. Link gave chase.He had not gone three steps before Chum caught the idea. Whirling pastFerris he headed off the surprised, indignant cow, and by dint of aflurry of barks and dashes started her back toward the bars.
Her bell jangled dolefully as she obeyed the noisy urge. And fromsomewhere among the bushes, two hundred yards away, a second cowbellsounded in answer. At this distant tinkle Chum evidently grasped themeaning of his master's earlier mandate. For he galloped away in thedirection of the sound.
And presently, with much crashing of undergrowth, appeared therebellious heifer, driven on by Chum. After depositing her, sulky andplunging, at the bars, Chum vanished again--in apparent response toanother far-off bell jangle. And in three minutes more he was back atthe bars with the fifth cow.
"Lucky one was a heifer an' the other one dry!" commented Link to thecollie, after petting him and praising him for the exploit. "I'll haveto learn you to drive milch cows easy an' quiet. You can't run 'em likeyou run sheep an' yearlin's. But apart from that, you sure done grand.You can lop off an hour a day of my work if I c'n send you reg'lar forthe critters. That ought to be worth the price of your keep, by itself.Now if I c'n learn you how to milk an' maybe how to mow--well,'twouldn't be a hull lot queerer'n the stunts you done to-day!"
It was perhaps a week later that Link Ferris received his quarterlycheck from the Paterson Vegetable Market. These checks hitherto hadbeen the brightest spots in Link's routine. Not only did the money forhis hard-raised farm products mean a replenishing of the always scantlarder and an easing of the chronic fiscal strain between himself andthe Hampton general store's proprietor, but sometimes enough spare cashwas left over to allow Ferris to get very satisfactorily drunk.
Since Chum's advent, the old gnawing of loneliness had not goaded Linkto the Hampton tavern. As a consequence, he had a dollar or two more onhand than was usual at such times. This wealth was swelled stillfurther by the fact that a boost in vegetable prices had fattened hisquarterly check beyond its wonted size.
All this and his long abstinence seemed to call for a real celebration.And Link looked forward with a thrill of merry anticipation to thecoming of night.
As soon as he could clear away his evening chores and swallow somesupper he fared forth to the village. This was going to be one of thosenights to date time from. Not a miserable half-jag, stopped inmid-career by lack of funds and of credit--a nipped-in-the-bud debauch,such as so often had sent him home cranky and unsatisfied and railingagainst poverty. No, this was going to be the real thing--a recordperformance, even for these pre-prohibition times.
Ferris fed the collie and shut him into the kitchen, pending his ownreturn from Hampton. If Link were going to become blissfully andhelplessly drunk, as he had every hope of being, someone might takeadvantage of his condition to steal his precious dog. Therefore Chumwas best left safe at home. This Link explained very carefully to theinterestedly listening collie. And Chum, with head and brush a-droop,walked meekly into the kitchen at his master's behest.
Link set off for the village, happy in the feeling that his home was sowell guarded and that he would find a loving friend waiting to welcomehim on his return. What with ready money and a real friend and theprospect of getting whole-souledly drunk the world was not such arotten place to live in after all!
As a rule, on these occasions, Ferris first went to the Hampton store.There he was wont to cash his check, pay his longstanding bill, orderhis new supplies--and then, with a free heart, sally forth to theHampton tavern. But to-night, having money in his pocket apart from thecheck, he decided to pay a preliminary call at the tavern, just by wayof warming up, before going on to the store.
There were few people in the barroom at so early an hour of the eveningand on so early an evening of the week. Link nodded affably to one ortwo men he knew and bade them line up at the bar with him. After thesecond drink he prepared to leave. To the tavern's proprietor, who wasmildly surprised at the brevity of his call, Ferris explained that hewas going across to the store to get his check cashed and that he wouldbe back later.
Whereat the proprietor kindly offered to save Link the journey bycashing the check for him; a suggestion Ferris gladly accepted. Hepassed the indorsed check across the bar and received for it acomfortably large wad of wilted greenbacks which he proceeded to internwith tender care in an inside pocket of his vest, where he moored themwith a safety-pin. Then he ordered another drink.
But to this new order there was an instant demurrer. Two strangers, whohad been drinking at a corner table, bore down upon Link rightlovingly; and recalled themselves to his memory as companions of his ona quite forgotten debauch of a year or two back.
Link did not at all remember either of the two. But then he oftenfailed to recall people he had met on a spree, and he did not like tohurt these cordial revelers' feelings by disclaiming knowledge of them.Especially when they told him merrily that, for this evening at least,his money was made of wood and that he must be their guest.
Never before had he met with such wholesouled hospitality. One drinkfollowed another with gratifying speed. Once or twice Ferris madehalfhearted proffers to do some of the buying. But such hints seemed tohurt his hosts' feelings so cruelly that he forbore at last, andsuffered himself to drink entirely at their expense.
They were much the nicest men Link had ever met. They flattered him.They laughed uproariously at his every witticism. They had a genius fornoting when his glass was empty. They listened with astonishedadmiration to his boastful recital of Chum's cleverness. One of them,who, it seemed, was an expert in dog lore, told him how to teach thecollie to shake hands and to lie down and to "speak." They weremagnificent men, in every way. Link was ashamed to have forgotten hisearlier meetings with such paragons.
But the call of duty never quite dies into silence. And finally Linkremembered he had still his store bill to pay and his supplies toorder. So he announced that he must go. The store, he knew, closed atnine. He looked up at the barroom clock. But its face was hazy
and itseemed to have a great many hands. There was no use trying to learn thehour from so dissolute a timepiece.
His two friends persuaded him to have one more drink. Then theyvolunteered to go across to the store with him. He left the tavern,with one of the two walking on either side of him. He was glad to be inthe center of the trio; for, as the night air struck him, he becameunaccountably dizzy. His friends' willing arms were a grand support tohis wavering legs.
On the unlighted threshold of the tavern Link stumbled heavily oversomething--something that had been lying there and that sprang eagerlytoward him as he debouched from the doorway. The reason he stumbledover it was that the creature, which had bounded so rapturously towardhim, had come to a sharp halt at noting his condition. Thus, Ferrisstumbled over it; and would have fallen but for the aid of his friends.
The single village street was pitch black. Not a light was