THE DAY F THE DO tor CVTCHEON THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Geoxgefiaix^CuicKeoii INTO THE DAY OF THE DOG 73 "What is it?" cried Mrs. Dclancy, re covering her balance on the beam. "Let me think for a minute," he an swered, deliberately resting his elbow on an upper round. "It is about time you were doing a little thinking," she said, relief and asperity in her voice. "In another second I should have jumped into that dog's jaws." "I believe it can be done," he went on, ex cited enthusiasm growing in his voice. "That's what bulldogs are famous for, isn't it?" "I don't know what you are talking about, but I do know that whenever they take hold of anything they have to be 74 THE DAY OF THE DOG treated for lockjaw before they will let go. If you don't come up here beside me I'll have a fit, Mr. Crosby." "That's it that's what I mean," he cried eagerly. "If they close those jaws upon anything they won't let go until death them doth part. Gad, I believe I see a way out of this pickle." "I don't see how that can help us. The dog's jaws are the one and only obstacle, and it is usually the other fellow's death that parts them. Oh," she went on, plain tively, "if we could only pull his teeth. Good heaven, Mr. Crosby," sitting up very abruptly, "you are not thinking of under taking it, are you?" THE DAY OF THE DOG 75 "No, but I've got a scheme that will make Swallow ashamed of himself to the end of his days. I can't help laughing over it." He leaned back and laughed heartily. "Hold my coat, please." He removed his coat quickly and passed it up to her. "I insist on knowing what you intend do ing," she exclaimed. "Just wait and see me show Mr. Swallow a new trick or two." He had already taken his watch and chain, his fountain pen, and other effects from his vest, jamming them into his trousers pockets. Mrs. Delancy, in the growing darkness, looked on, puzzled arid anxious. "You might tell me," she argued resent- 76 THE DAY OF THE DOG fully. "Arc you going to try to swim out?" Folding the vest lengthwise, he took a firm grip on the collar, and cautiously de scended the ladder. "I'll not come to the hospital," she cried warningly. "Don't! he'll bite your leg off!" "I'm merely teasing him, Mrs. Delancy. He sha'n't harm my legs, don't fear. Now watch for developments." Pausing just beyond reach of the dog's mightiest leaps, he took a firm hold on the ladder and swung down with the vest until it almost slapped the head of the angry animal. It was like casting a fly directly at the head of a hun- AR, CROSBY SHOWA SWALLOVVf NEW TRJCK -=s^S\ THE DAY OF THE DOG 77 gry pickerel. Swallow's eager jaws closed down upon the cloth and the teeth met like a vice. The heavy body of the brute almost jerked Crosby's arm from the socket, but he braced himself, recovered his poise, and clung gaily to the ladder, with the growl ing, squirming dog dangling free of the floor. Mrs. Delancy gave a little shriek of terror. "Are you going to bring him up here?" she gasped. "Heaven knows where he'll end." "But he will ruin your vest." "I'll charge it up to your account. Item : one vest, fifteen dollars." 78 THE DAY OF THE DOG By this time he was swinging Swallow slowly back and forth, and he afterwards said that it required no little straining of his muscles. "You extravagant thing !" she cried, but did not tell whether she meant his profligacy in purchasing or his wantonness in destroy ing. "And now, pray enlighten me. Are you swinging him just for fun or are you crazy ?" "Everything depends on his jaws and my strong right arm," he said, and he was be ginning to pant from the exertion. Swal low was swinging higher and higher. "Well, it is the most aimless proceeding I ever saw." THE DAY OF THE DOG 79 "I hope not. On second thought, every thing depends on my aim." "And what is your aim, Mr. Hercules?" "See that opening above the box-stall over there?" "Dimly." "That's my aim. Heavens, he's a heavy brute." "Oh, I see !" she cried ecstatically, clap ping her hands. "Delicious ! Lovely ! Oh, Mr. Crosby, you are so clever." "Don't fall off that beam, please," he panted. "It might rattle me." "I can't help being excited. It is the grandest thing I ever heard of. He can't get out of there, can he? Dear me, the sides of that stall are more than eight feet high." 80 THE DAY OF THE DOG "He can't get out of it if I get him in," gasped Crosby. Not ten feet away to the left and some four feet above the floor level there was a wide opening into a box-stall, the home of Mr. Austin's prize stallion. As the big horse was inside munching his hay, Crosby was reasonably sure that the stall with its tall sides was securely closed and bolted. Suddenly there was a mighty creak of the ladder, the swish of a heavy body through the air, an interrupted growl, and then a ripping thud. Swallow's chubby body shot squarely through the opening, "SWALLOW'S CHUBBY BODY SHOT SQUAEELY THROUGH THE OPENING." THE DAY OF THE DOG 81 accompanied by a trusty though somewhat sadly stretched vest, and the deed was done. A cry of delight came from the beam, a shout of pride and relief from the ladder, and sounds of a terrific scramble from the stall. First there was a sickening grunt, then a surprised howl, then the banging of horse-hoofs, and at last a combination of growls and howls that proved Swallow's in vasion of a hornet's nest. "Thunderation !" came in sharp, agon ized tones from the ladder. "What is the matter?" she cried, detect ing disaster in the exclamation. "I am a a blooming idiot," he THE DAY OF THE DOG groaned. "I forgot to remove a roll of bills from an upper pocket in that vest !" "Oh, is that all?" she cried, in great re lief, starting down the ladder. "All? There was at least fifty dollars in that roll," he said, from the floor, not forgetting to assist her gallantly to the bottom. "You can add it to my bill, you know," she said sweetly. "But it leaves me dead broke." "You forget that I have money, Mr. Crosby. What is mine to-night is also yours. I think we should shake hands and congratulate one another." Crosby's sunny nature lost its cloud in an instant, and the two clasped hands at the bottom of the ladder. THE DAY OF THE DOG 83 "I think it is time to cut and run," he said. "It's getting so beastly dark we won't be able to find the road." "And there is no moon until midnight. But come ; we are free. Let us fly the hated spot, as they say in the real novels. How good the air feels !" She was soon leading the way swiftly toward the gate. Night had fallen so quickly that they were in utter darkness. There were lights in the windows of the house on the hill, and the escaped prisoners, with one impulse, shook their clenched hands toward them. "I am awfully sorry, Mr. Crosby, that you have endured so much hardship in com ing to see me," she went on. "I hope you haven't manv such clients as I." 84 THE DAY OF THE DOG "One is enough, I assure you," he re sponded, and somehow she took it as a com pliment. "I suppose our next step is to get to the railway station," she said. "Unless you will condescend to lead me through this assortment of plows, wood piles, and farm-wagons, I'm inclined to think my next step will be my last. Was ever night so dark?" Her warm, strong fingers clutched his arm and then dropped to his hand. In this fashion she led him swiftly through the night, down a short embankment, and into the gravel highway. "The way looks dark and grewsome ahead of us, Mrs. Delancy. As your lawyer, I'd advise you to turn back and find safe lodg ing with the enemy. It is going to storm, I'm sure." THE DAY OF THE DOG 85 "That's your advice as a lawyer, JVIr. Crosby. Will you give me your advice as a friend?" she said lightly. Although the time had passed when her guiding hand was necessary, he still held the member in his own. "I couldn't be so selfish," he protested, and without another word they started olF down the road toward town. "Do you suppose they are delaying the opera in Chicago until you come?" she asked. "Poor Graves ! he said he'd kill me if I didn't come," said Crosby, laughing. "How dreadful !" "But I'm not regretting the opera. Quive does not sing until to-morrow night." "I adore Quive." "You can't possibly have an engagement 86 THE DAY OF THE DOG for to-morrow night cither," he said re flectively. "I don't see how I could. I expected to be on a Pullman sleeper." "I'll come for you at 8 :15 then." "You are very good, Mr. Crosby, but I have another plan." "I beg your pardon for presuming to " he began, and a hot flush mounted to his brow. "You arc to come at seven for dinner," she supplemented delightedly. "What a nice place the seventh heaven is!" he cried warmly. "Sh!" she whispered suddenly, and both stopped stock-still. "There is a man with a lantern at the lower gate. See? Over yonder." THE DAY OF THE DOG 87 "What of it? Who's afraid of a lan tern?" "But it is rather odd that the man should be there. Just see what he is doing with the lantern," she expostulated. "He's putting it on the top of the gate post, that's all." "Well, there must be an object in that." "I'll ask the man." "It is foolish of me to be alarmed, Mr. Crosby, but I feel in my bones that some thing is going to happen." "I agree with you, only I don't feel it in my bones. It affects my stomach. Why should we stand here and discuss a man with a lantern when both of us are starving to death by yards? We have a mile and a half walk ahead of us- "Look ! A buggy is stopping at the gate 88 THE DAY OF THE DOG and there is another. What does it mean ?" Two vehicles, dimly outlined against the darkness, had drawn up at the gate, and the man with the lantern advanced to converse with the occupants. "That you, Mr. Austin?" called a voice from the first buggy, as the lantern advanced. "Yes. How many men have you with you?" "Robert Austin !" gasped the fair watcher, clutching Crosby's arm. "There are five of us, Mr. Austin. I guess we can take him all right." Crosby started violently. THE DAY OF THE DOG 89 "They're after me, Mrs. Delancy," he whispered. A moment later they were off the road and in the dense shadow of the hedge. "Is he still in the barn, Mr. Austin?" demanded the man in the buggy. "I am positive he is. No human being could get away from that dog of mine." Crosby chuckled audibly, and Mrs. Delancy with difficulty suppressed a proud giggle. "Well, we might as well go up and get him then. Do you think he's a desperate character?" "I don't know anything about him, Davis. He says he is a lawyer, but his actions were so strange that I thought you'd 90 THE DAY OF THE DOG best look into his case. A night in the jail won't hurt him, and if he can prove that he is what he says he is, let him go to-morrow. On the other hand, he may turn out to be a very important capture." "Oh, this is rich!" whispered Crosby ex citedly. "Austin is certainly doing the job up brown. But wait till he consults Swal low, the infallible ; he won't be so positive." For a few minutes the party of men at the gate conversed in low tones, the listeners being able to catch but few of the words uttered. "Please let go of my arm, Mrs. De- lancy," said Crosby suddenly. "Where are you going ?" "I am going to tell Austin what I think THE DAY OF THE DOG 91 of him. You don't expect me to stand by and allow a pack of jays to hunt me down as if I were Jesse James or some other des perado, do you?" "Do you suppose they would credit your story? They will throw you into jail and there you'd stay until some one came down from Chicago to identify you." "But a word from you would clear me," he said in surprise. "If they pinned me down to the truth, I could only say I had never seen you until this afternoon." "Great Scott! You know I am Crosby, don't you?" "I am positive you are, but what would you, as a lawyer, say to me if you were 92 THE DAY OF THE DOG cross-examining me on the witness stand? You'd ask some very embarrassing ques tions, and I could only say in the end that the suspected horse thief told me his name and I was goose enough to believe him. No, my dear friend, I think the safest plan is to take advantage of the few minutes' start we have and escape the law." "You mean that I must run from these fellows as if I were really a thief?" "Only a suspected thief, you know." "I'd rather be arrested a dozen times than to desert you at this time." "Oh, but I'm going with you," she said positively. "Like a thief, too? I could not permit THE DAY OF THE DOG 93 that, you know. Just stop and think how awkward for you it would be if we were caught flying together." "Birds of a feather. It might have been worse if you had not disposed of Swallow." "I must tell you what a genuine brick you are. If they overtake us it will give me the greatest delight in the v/orld to fight the whole posse for your sake." "After that, do you wonder I want to go with you?" she whispered, and Crosby would have fought a hundred men for her. The marshal and his men were now fol lowing Mr. Austin and the lantern toward the barn, and the road was quite deserted. Mrs. Delancy and Crosby started off 94 THE DAY OF THE DOG rapidly in the direction of the town. The low rumble of distant thunder came to their ears, and ever and anon the western black ness was faintly illumined by flashes of lightning. Neither of the fugitives uttered a word until they were far past the gate. "By George, Mrs. Delancy, we are for getting one important thing," said Crosby. They were striding along swiftly arm in arm. "They'll discover our flight, and the railway station will be just where they'll expect to find us." "Oh, confusion ! We can't go to the sta tion, can we?" "We can, but Ave'll be captured with humiliating ease." "I know what we can do. Scott THE DAY OF THE DOG 95 Higgins is the tenant on my farm, and he lives half a mile farther from town than Austin. We can turn back to his place, but we will have to cut across one of Mr. Austin's fields." "Charming. We can have the satisfac tion of trampling on some of Mr. Austin's early wheat crop. Right about, face ! But, incidentally, what are we to do after we get to Mr. Higgins's?" They were now scurry ing back over the ground they had just traversed. "Oh, dear me, why should we think about troubles until we come to them?" **I wasn't thinking about troubles. I'm thinking about something to eat." "You are intensely unromantic. But 96 THE DAY OF THE DOG Mrs. Higgins is awfully good. She will give us eggs and cakes and milk and coffee and everything. Won't it be jolly?" Five minutes later they were plunging through a field of partly grown wheat, in what she averred to be the direction of the Higgins home. It was not good walking, but they were young and strong and very much interested in one another and the adventure. "Hello, what's this? A river?" he cried, as the swish of running waters came to his ears. "Oh; isn't it dreadful? I forgot this creek was here, and there is no bridge nearer than a mile. What shall we do? See there is a light in Higgins's house over there. HE WAS SPLASHING THUOUGH THE SHALLOW BROOK. THE DAY OF THE DOG 97 Isn't it disgusting? I could sit down and cry," she wailed. In the distance a dog was heard barking fiercely, but they did not recognize the voice of Swallow. A new trouble confronted them. "Don't do that," he said resignedly. "Remember how Eliza crossed the ice with the bloodhounds in full trail. Do you know how deep and wide the creek is?" "It's a tiny bit of a thing, but it's wet," she said ruefully. "I'll carry you over." And a moment later he was splashing through the shallow brook, holding the lithe, warm figure of his client high above the water. As he set her down upon the opposite bank she gave a pretty sigh of satisfaction, and naively 98 THE DAY OF THE DOG told him that he was very strong for a man in the last stages of starvation. Two or three noisy dogs gave them the first welcome, and Crosby sagely looked aloft for refuge. His companion quieted the dogs, however, and the advance on the squat farmhouse was made without resist ance. The visitors were not long in ac quainting the good-natured and astonished young farmer with the situation. Mrs. Higgins was called from her bed and in a jiffy was bustling about the kitchen, from which soon floated odors so tantalizing that the refugees could scarcely suppress the de sire to rush forth and storm the good cook in her castle. "It's mighty lucky you got here when you did, Mrs. Delancy," said Higgins, THE DAY OF THE DOG 99 peering from the window. "Looks 's if it might rain before long. We ain't got much of a place here, but, if you'll put up with it, I guess we can take keer of you over night." "Oh, but we couldn't think of it," she protested. "After we have had something to eat we must hurry off to the station." "What station?" asked Crosby senten- tiously. "I don't know, but it wouldn't be a bit nice to spoil the adventure by stopping now." "But we can't walk all over the State of Illinois," he cried. "For shame! You are ready to give up the instant something to eat comes in sight. Mr. Higgins may be able to sug gest something. What is the nearest- "I have it," interrupted Crosby. "The 100 THE DAY OF THE DOG Wabash road runs through this neighbor hood, doesn't it? Well, where is its nearest station ?" "Lonesomeville about four miles south," said Higgins. "Do the night trains stop there?" "I guess you can flpg 'em." "There's an east-bound train from St. Louis about midnight, I'm quite sure." While the fugitives were enjoying Mrs. Higgins's hastily but adorably prepared meal, the details of the second stage of the flight were perfected. Mr. Higgins gladly consented to hitch up his high-boarded farm wagon and drive them to the station on the Wabash line, and half an hour later Hig- THE DAY OF THE DOG 101 gins's wagon clattered away in the night. To all appearances he was the only passen ger. But seated on a soft pile of grain sacks in the rear of the wagon, completely hidden from view by the tall "side-beds," were the refugees. Mrs. Delancy insisted upon this mode of travel as a precaution against the prying eyes of persistent mar shal's men. Hidden in the wagon-bed they might reasonably escape detection, she argued, and Crosby humored her for more reasons than one. Higgins threw a huge grain tarpaulin over the wagon-bed, and they were sure to be dry in case the rain storm came as expected. It was so dark that neither could see the face of the other. He 102 THE DAY OF THE DOG had a longing desire to take her hand into his, but there was something in the atmos phere that warned him against such a de lightful but unnecessary proceeding. Naturally, they were sitting quite close to each other; even the severe jolting of the springless wagon could not disturb the feel ing of happy contentment. "I hope it won't storm," she said ner vously, as a little shudder ran through her body. The wind was now blowing quite fiercely and those long-distant rolls of thun der were taking on the sinister sound of near-by crashes. "I don't mind thunder when I'm in the house." "And under the bed, I suppose," he laughed. THE DAY OF THE DOG 103 "Well, you know, lightning could strike this wagon," she persisted. "Oh, goodness, that was awfully close!" she cried, as a particularly loud crash came to their ears. The wagon came to an abrupt stop, and Crosby was about to crawl forth to demand the reason when the sound of a man's voice came through the rushing wind. "What is it?" whispered Mrs. Delancy, clutching his arm. "Sh !" he replied. "We're held up by highwaymen, I think !" "Oh, how lovely!" she whispered rap turously. "How far are you goin'?" came the strange voice from the night. "Oh, 's far ag'in as half," responded Higgins warily. THE DAY OF THE DOG "That you, Scott?" demanded the other. "Yep." "Say, Scott, gimme a ride, will you? Goin' as far as Lonesomeville ?" "What you doin' out this time o' night?" demanded Higgins. "Lookin' for a feller that tried to steal Mr. Austin's horses. We thought we had him cornered up to the place, but he got away somehow. But we'll get him. Davis has got fifty men scouring the country, I bet. I been sent on to Lonesomeville to head him off if he tries to take a train. He's a purty desperate character, they say, too, Scott. Say, gimme a lift as far as you're agoin', won't you?" THE DAY OF THE DOG 105 "I I well, I reckon so," floundered the helpless Higgins. "Really, this is getting a bit serious," whispered Crosby to his breathless com panion. The deputy was now on the seat with Higgins, and the latter, bewildered and dis mayed beyond expression, was urging his horses into their fastest trot. "How far is it to Lonesomeville?" asked the deputy. '"Bout two mile." "It'll rain before we get there," said the other significantly. "I'm not afeared of rain," said Higgins. "What are you goin' over there this time o' night for?" asked the other. "You ain't got much of a load." 106 THE DAY OF THE DOG p m l' m takin' some meat over to Mr. Talbert." "Hams?" "No; jest bacon," answered Scott, and liis two hearers in the wagon-bed laughed silently. "Not many people out a night like this," volunteered the deputy. "Nope." "That a tarpaulin you got in the back of the bed? Jest saw it by the lightnin'." "Got the bacon kivcred to keep it from gittin' wet 'n case it rains," hastily inter posed Scott. He was discussing within himself the advisability of knocking the THE DAY OF THE DOG 107 deputy from the seat and whipping the team into a gallop, leaving him behind. "You don't mind my crawlin' under the tarpaulin if it rains, do you, Scott?" "There ain't no no room under it, Harry, an' I won't allow that bacon to git wet under no consideration." A generous though nerve-racking crash of thunder changed the current of conver sation. It drifted from the weather imme diately, however, to a one-sided discussion of the escaped horse thief. "I guess he's a purty slick one," they heard the deputy say. "Austin said he had him dead to rights in his barn ! That big 108 THE DAY OF THE DOG bulldog of his had him treed on a beam, but when we got there, just after dark, the darned cuss was gone, an' the dog was trapped up in a box-stall. By thunder, it showed how desperate the feller is. He evi dently come down from that beam an' jest naturally picked that tumble bulldog up by the neck an' throwed him over into the stall." "Have you got a revolver?" asked Hig- gins loudly. "Sure! You don't s'pose I'd go up against that kind of a man without a gun, do you?" "Oh, goodness !" some one whispered in Crosby's ear. "But he ain't armed," argued Higgins. "If he'd had a gun don't you s'pose he'd THE DAY OF THE DOG 109 shot that dog an' got away long before he did?" "That shows how much you know about these crooks, Higgins," said the other loftily. "He had a mighty good reason for not shooting the dog." "What was the reason?" "I don't know jest what it was, but any darned fool ought to see that he had a rea son. Else why didn't he shoot? Course he had a reason. But the funny part of the whole thing is what has become of the woman." "What woman?" , "That widder," responded the other, and Crosby felt her arm harden. "I never thought much o' that woman. You'd think she owned the whole town of Dexter to see 110 THE DAY OF THE DOG her paradin' around the streets, showin' off her city clothes, an' all such stuff. They do say she led George Delancy a devil of a life, an' it's no wonder he died." "The wretch !" came from the rear of the wagon. "Well, she's up and skipped out with the horse thief. Austin says she tried to pro tect him, and I guess they had a regular family row over the affair. She's gone an' the man's gone, an' it looks darned suspi cious. He was a good-lookin' feller, Austin says, an' she's dead crazy to git another man, I've heard. Dang me, it's jest as I said to Davis : I wouldn't put it above her to take up with this good-lookin' thief an' skip off with him. Her husband's been dead more'n two year, an' she's too darned THE DAY OF THE DOG 111 purty to stay in strict mournin' longer'n she has to But just then something strong, firm, and resistless grasped his neck from behind, and, even as he opened his mouth to gasp out his surprise and alarm, a vise-like grip shut down on his thigh, and then, he was jerked backward, lifted upward, tossed out ward, falling downward. The wagon clat tered off in the night, and a tall man and a woman looked over the side of the wagon- bed and waited for the next flash of light ning to show them where the official gos- siper had fallen. The long, blinding, flash came, and Crosby saw the man as he picked himself from the ditch at the roadside. "Whip up, Higgins, and we'll leave him so far behind he'll never catch us," cried Crosby eagerly. The first drops of rain 112 THE DAY OF THE DOG began to fall and Mrs. Delancy hurriedly crawled beneath the tarpaulin, urging him to follow at once. Another flash of light ning revealed the deputy, far back in the road waving his hands frantically. "I'm glad his neck isn't broken. Hurry on, Mr. Higgins ; it is now more urgent than ever that you save your bacon." "'Tain't very comfortable ridin' for Mrs. Delancy," apologized Higgins, his horses in a lope. "If the marshal asks you why you didn't stop and help his deputy, just tell him that the desperado held a pistol at your head and commanded you to drive like the devil. Holy mackerel, here comes the deluge!" THE DAY OF THE DOG 113 An instant later he was under the tarpaulin, crouching beside his fellow fugitive. Con versation was impossible, so great was the noise of the rain-storm and the rattle of the wagon over the hard pike. He did his best to protect her from the jars and bumps incident to the leaping and jolting of the wagon, and both were filled with rejoicing when Higgins shouted "Whoa!" to the horses and brought the wild ride to an end. "Where are we?" cried Crosby, sticking his head from beneath the tarpaulin. "We're in the dump-shed of the grain elevator, just across the track from the depot." "And the ride is over?" 114 THE DAY OF THE DOG "Yep. Did you get bumped much?" "It was worse, a thousand times, than sitting on the beam," bemoaned a sweet, tired voice, and a moment later the two refugees stood erect in the wagon, neither quite sure that legs so tired and stiff could serve as support. "It was awful; wasn't it?" Crosby said, stretching himself painfully. "Are you not drenched to the skin, Mr. Higgins?" cried Mrs. Delancy anxiously. "How selfish of us not to have thought of you before!" "Oh, that's all right. This gum coat kept me purty dry." He and Crosby assisted her from the wagon, and, while the former gave his THE DAY OF THE DOG 115 attention to the wet and shivering horses, the latter took her arm and walked up and down the dark shed with her. "I think you are regretting the impulse that urged you into this folly," he was say ing. "If you persist in accusing me of faint heartedness, Mr. Crosby, I'll never speak to you again," she said. "I cast my lot with a desperado, as the deputy insinuated, and I am sure you have not heard me bewail my fate. Isn't it worth something to have one day and night of real adventure? My gown must be a sight, and I know my hair is just dreadful, but my heart is gayer and bright er to-night than it has been in years." "And you don't regret anything that has 116 THE DAY OF THE DOG happened?" he asked, pressing her arm ever so slightly. "My only regret is that you heard what the deputy said about me. You don't be lieve I am like that, do you?" There was sweet womanly concern in her voice. "I wish it were light enough to see your face," he answered, his lips close to her ear. "I know you are blushing, and you must be more beautiful Oh, no, of course I don't think you are at all as he painted you," he concluded, suddenly checking himself and answering the plaintive question he had almost ignored. "Thank you, kind sir," she said lightly, THE DAY OF THE DOG 117 but he failed not to observe the tinge of con fusion in the laugh that followed. "If you'll watch the team, Mr. Crosby," the voice of Higgins broke in at this timely juncture, "I'll run acrost to the depot an' ast about the train." "Much obliged, old man ; much obliged," returned Crosby affably. "Are you afraid to be alone in the dark?" he asked, as Hig gins rushed out into the rain. The storm had abated by this time and there was but the faintest suggestion of distant thunder and lightning, the after-fall of rain being little more than a drizzle. "Awfully," she confessed, "but it's safer here than on the beam," she added, and his 118 THE DAY OF THE DOG heart grew very tender as lie detected the fatigue in her voice. "Anyhow, we have the papers safely signed." "Mrs. Delancy, I I swear that you shall never regret this day and night," he said, stopping in his walk and placing his hands on her shoulders. She caught her breath quickly. "Do you know what I mean ?" "I I think I'm not quite sure," she stammered. "You will know some day," he said huskily. When Mr. Higgins appeared at the end of the shed, carrying a lighted lantern, he saw a tall young man and a tall young woman standing side by side, awaiting his THE DAY OF THE DOG 119 approach with the unconcern of persons who have no interest in common. "Ah, a lantern," cried Crosby. "Now we can see what we look like and and who we are." Higgins informed them that an east- bound passenger train went through in twenty minutes, stopping on the side track to allow west-bound No. 7 to pass. This train also took water near the bridge which crossed the river just west of the depot. The west-bound train was on time, the other about five minutes late. He brought the wel come news that the rain was over and that a few stars were peeping through the western sky. There was unwelcome news, however, in the statement that the mud was ankle 120 THE DAY OF THE DOG deep from the elevator to the station plat form and that the washing out of a street culvert would prevent him from using the wagon. "I don't mind the mud," said Mrs. Delancy, very bravely indeed. "My dear Mrs. Delancy, I can and will carry you a mile or more rather than have one atom of Lonesomeville mud bespatter those charming boots of yours," said Crosby cheerfully, and her protestations were useless against the argument of both men. The distance was not great from the sheds to the station and was soon covered. Crosby was muddy to his knees, but his fair passenger was as dry as toast when he lowered her to the platform. THE DAY OF THE DOG 121 "You are every bit as strong as the hero in the modern novel," she said gaily. "After this, I'll believe every word the author says about his stalwart, indomitable hero." To say that Higgins was glad to be homeward bound would be putting it too mildly. The sigh of relief that came from him as he drove out of town a few minutes later was so audible that he heard it himself and smiled contentedly. If he expected to meet the unlamented Harry Brown on the home trip, he was to be agreeably disap pointed. Mr. Brown was not on the road way. He was, instead, on the depot plat form at Lonesomeville, and when the westbound express train whistled for the station he was standing grimly in front of 122 THE DAY OF THE DOG two dumbfounded young people who sat sleepily and unwarily on a baggage truck. The feeble-eyed lantern sat on the plat form near Crosby's swinging feet, and the picture that it looked upon was one sugges tive of the cheap, sensational, and blood curdling border drama. A mud-covered man stood before the trapped fugitives, a huge revolver in his hand, the muzzle of which, even though it wobbled painfully, was uncomfortably close to Mr. Crosby's nose. "Throw up your hands !" said Brown, his hoarse voice shaking perceptibly. Crosby's hands went up instantly, for he was a man and a diplomat. THE DAY OF THE DOG 123 "Point it the other way !" cried the lady, with true feminine tact. "How dare you! Oh, will it go off? Please, please put it away! We won't try to escape!" "I'm takin' no chances on this feller," said Brown grimly. "It won't go off, ma'am, unless he makes a move to git away." "What do you want?" demanded Crosby indignantly. "My money? Take it, if you like, but don't be long about it." "I'm no robber, darn you." "Well, what in thunder do you mean then 124 THE DAY OF THE DOG by holding me up at the point of a revol ver?" "I'm an officer of the law an' I arrest you. That's what I'm here for," said Brown. "Arrest me?" exclaimed Crosby in great amazement. "What have I done?" "No back talk now, young feller. You're the man we're after, an' it won't do you any good to chew the rag about it." "If you don't turn that horrid pistol away, I'll faint," cried femininity in col lapse. Crosby's arm went about her waist and she hid her terror-stricken eyes on his shoulder. "Keep that hand up!" cried Brown threateningly. "Don't be mean about it, old man. Can't you see that my arm is not at all danger ous?" "I've got to search you." "Search me? Well, I guess not. Where is your authority?" "I'm a deputy marshal from Dexter." "Have you been sworn in, sir?" "Aw, that's all right now. No more rag chewin' out of you. That'll do you! Keep your hands up !" "What am I charged with ?" "Attempted horse stealin', an' you know it." "Have you a warrant? What is my name?" "That'll do you now ; that'll do you." "See here, my fine friend, you've made a sad mistake. I'm not the man you want. I'm ready to go to jail, if you insist, but it will cost you every dollar you have in the 126 THE DAY OF THE DOG world. I'll make you pay dearly for call ing an honest man a thief, sir." Crosby's indignation was beautifully assumed and it took effect. "Mr. Austin is the man who ordered your arrest," he explained. "I know Mrs. Delancy here all right, an' she left Austin's with you." "What are you talking about, man? She is my cousin and drove over here this evening to see me between trains. I think you'd better lower your gun, my friend. This will go mighty hard with you." "But " "He has you confused with that horse thief who said his name was Crosby, Tom," THE DAY OF THE DOG 127 said she, pinching his arm delightedly. "He was the worst-looking brute I ever saw. I thought Mr. Austin had him so secure with the bulldog as guardian. Did he escape?" "Yes, an' you went with him," exclaimed Brown, making a final stand. "An* I know all about how you come over here in Scott Higgins's wagon too." "The man is crazy!" exclaimed Mrs. Delancy. "He may have escaped from the asylum up north of here," whispered Crosby, loud enough for the deputy to hear. "Here comes the train," cried she. "Now we can ask the train men to disarm him and 128 THE DAY OF THE DOG send him back to the asylum. Isn't it awful that such dangerous people can be at large ?" Brown lowered his pistol as the engine thundered past. The pilot was almost in the long bridge at the end of the depot when the train stopped to wait for the east- bound express to pass. The instant that Brown's revolver arm was lowered and his head turned with uncertainty to look at the train, Crosby's hand went to his coat pock et, and when the deputy turned toward him again he found himself looking into the shiny, glittering barrel of a pistol. "Throw that gun away, my friend," said Crosby in a low tone, "or I'll blow your brains out." THE DAY OF THE DOG 129 "Great Scott!" gasped Brown. "Throw it away !" "Don't kill him," pleaded Mrs. Delancy. Brown's knees were shaking like leaves and his teeth chattered. His revolver sailed through the air and clattered on the brick pavement beyond the end of the plat form. "Don't shoot," he pleaded, ready to drop to his knees. "I won't if you are good and kind and obliging," said Crosby sternly. "Turn around face the engine. That's right. Now listen to me. I've got this pistol jammed squarely against your back, and if you make a false niove well, you won't 130 THE DAY OF THE DOG have time to regret it. Answer my ques tions too. How long is that bridge?" "I I do don't kno ow." "It's rather long, isn't it?" "With the fill and trestle it's nearly half a mile." "What is the next stop west of here for this train?" "Hopville, forty mile west." "Where does the east-bound train stop next after leaving here?" "It don't stop till it gits over in Indiana, thirty mile or more." "I'm much obliged to you. Now walk straight ahead until you come to the blind end of the mail car." At the front end of the mail car Crosby THE DAY OF THE DOG 131 and his prisoner halted. Every one knows that the head end of the coach just back of the engine tender is "blind." That is, there is no door leading to the interior, and one must stand outside on the narrow platform if, perchance, he is there when the train starts. As the east-bound train pulled in from the bridge, coming to a stop on the track beyond the west-bound train, Crosby commanded his erstwhile captor to climb aboard the blind end of the mail coach. "Geewhillikers, don't make me do that," groaned the unhappy Brown. "Get aboard and don't argue. You can come back to-morrow, you know, and you're perfectly safe if you stay awake and don't 132 THE DAY OF THE DOG roll off. Hurry up! If you try to jump off before you reach the bridge I'll shoot." A moment later the train pulled into the bridge and Crosby hurried back to his anx ious companion. Brown was on his way to a station forty miles west, and he did not dare risk jumping off. By the time the train reached the far end of the bridge it was running forty miles an hour. "Where is he?" she cried in alarm as he rushed with her across the intervening space to the coveted "east-bound." "I'll tell you all about it when we get inside this train," he answered. "I think Brown is where he can't telegraph to head us off any place along the line, and if we once get into Indiana we are comparatively safe. Up you go !" and he lifted her up the car steps. THE DAY OF THE DOG 133 "Safe," she sighed, as they dropped into a seat in a coach. "I'm ashamed to mention it, my dear ac complice, but are you quite sure you have your purse with you? With the usual luck of a common thief, I am penniless." "Penniless because you gave your for tune to the cause of freedom," she supple mented, fumbling in her chatelaine bag for her purse. "Here it is. The contents are yours until the end of our romance." The conductor took fare from him to Lafayette and informed the mud-covered gentleman that he could get a train from that city to Chicago at 2:30 in the morn ing. "We're all right now," said Crosby after the conductor had passed on. "You are H-.AVA 134 THE DAY OF THE DOG tired, little woman. Lie back and go to sleep. The rough part of the adventure is almost over." He secured a pillow for her, and she was soon resting as comfortably as it was possible in the day coach of a pas senger train. For many minutes he sat beside her, his eyes resting on the beautiful tired face with its closed eyes, long lashes, pensive mouth, and its frame of dark hair, disarranged and wild. "It's strange," he thought, almost aloud, "how suddenly it comes to a fellow. Twelve hours ago I was as free as a bird in the air, and now " " 'GOOD HEAVENS !' 'WHAT is IT?' HE CRIED. 'YOU ARE NOT MARRIED, ARE YOU ?' ' THE DAY OF THE DOG 135 Just then her eyes opened widely with a start, as if she had suddenly come from a rather terrifying dream. They looked squarely into his, and he felt so abashed that he was about to turn away when, with a little catch in her voice, she exclaimed: "Good heavens!" "What is it?" he cried. "You are not married, are you?" "NO! ! !" Like a culprit caught she blushed furi ously, and her eyes wavered as the lids fell, shutting from his eager, surprised gaze the prettiest confusion in the world. 136 THE DAY OF THE DOG "I It just occurred to me to ask," she murmured. Crosby's exhilaration was so great that, after a long, hungry look at the peaceful face, he jumped up and went out into the vestibule, where he whistled with all the ardor of a school-boy. When he returned to his seat beside her she was awake, and the little look of distress left her face when he appeared, a happy smile succeeding. "I thought you had deserted me," she said. "Perish the thought." "Mr. Crosby, if you had a pistol all the time we were in the barn, why did you not shoot the dog and free us hours before you did?" she asked sternly. THE DAY OF THE DOG 137 "I had no pistol," he grinned. From his pocket he drew a nickel-plated menthol in haler and calmly leveled it at her head. "It looked very much like a pistol in the dark ness," he said, "and it deserves a place among the cherished relics descending from our romance." The next night two happy, contented persons sat in a brilliant Chicago theatre, and there was nothing in their appearance to indicate that the day and night before had been the most strenuous in their lives. "This is more comfortable than a cross beam in a barn," she smiled. . "But it is more public," he responded. Three months later but Crosby won both suits. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles PS 3525