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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Day of the Dog, by George Barr McCutcheon
+#4 in our series by George Barr McCutcheon
+
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+Title: The Day of the Dog
+
+Author: George Barr McCutcheon
+
+Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5759]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on August 28, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAY OF THE DOG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+THE DAY OF THE DOG
+
+by
+
+GEORGE BARR MCCUTCHEON
+Author of "Grauslark"
+"The Sherrods etc"
+
+With Illustrations by
+Harrison Fisher
+and decorations by
+Margaret & Helen Maitland Armstrong
+
+New York
+1904
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+SWALLOW (in color) Frontispiece
+CROSBY DRIVES TO THE STATION
+THE HANDS HAD GONE TO THEIR DINNER
+THE BIG RED BARN
+THE TWO BOYS
+MRS. DELANCY AND MRS. AUSTIN
+MR. AUSTIN
+MRS. DELANCY PLEADS WITH SWALLOW
+THEY EXAMINE THE DOCUMENTS
+"SHE DELIBERATELY SPREAD OUT THE PAPERS ON THE BEAM" (in color)
+SWALLOW
+SHE WATCHES HIM DESCEND INTO DANGER
+MR. CROSBY SHOWS SWALLOW A NEW TRICK
+"SWALLOW'S CHUBBY BODY SHOT SQUARELY THROUGH THE OPENING" (in color)
+THE MAN WITH THE LANTERN
+MR. HIGGINS
+"HE WAS SPLASHING THROUGH THE SHALLOW BROOK" (in color)
+HE CARRIES HER OVER THE BROOK
+MRS. HIGGINS
+THEY ENJOY MRS. HIGGINS'S GOOD SUPPER
+LONESOMEVILLE
+THE DEPUTY SHERIFF
+CROSBY AND THE DEPUTY
+MRS. DELANCY FALLS ASLEEP
+THEY GO TO THE THEATRE
+"'GOOD  HEAVENS!' 'WHAT IS IT?' HE  CRIED. 'YOU ARE NOT MARRIED, ARE
+YOU?'"
+(in color)
+"CROSBY WON BOTH SUITS"
+
+
+
+
+THE DAY OF THE DOG
+
+PART I
+
+
+"I'll catch the first train back this evening, Graves. Wouldn't go down
+there if it were not absolutely necessary; but I have just heard that
+Mrs. Delancy is to leave for New York to-night, and if I don't see her
+to-day there will be a pack of troublesome complications. Tell Mrs.
+Graves she can count me in on the box party to-night."
+
+"We'll need you, Crosby. Don't miss the train."
+
+[Illustration: Crosby Drives to the Station]
+
+"I'll be at the station an hour before the train leaves. Confound it,
+it's a mean trip down there--three hours through the rankest kind of
+scenery and three hours back. She's visiting in the country, too, but I
+can drive out and back in an hour."
+
+"On your life, old man, don't fail me."
+
+"Don't worry, Graves; all Christendom couldn't keep me in Dexter after
+four o'clock this afternoon. Good-by." And Crosby climbed into the
+hansom and was driven away at breakneck speed toward the station.
+
+Crosby was the junior member of the law firm of Rolfe & Crosby, and his
+trip to the country was on business connected with the settlement of a
+big estate. Mrs. Delancy, widow of a son of the decedent, was one of the
+legatees, and she was visiting her sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert Austin, in
+central Illinois. Mr. Austin owned extensive farming interests near
+Dexter, and his handsome home was less than two miles from the heart of
+the town. Crosby anticipated no trouble in driving to the house and back
+in time to catch the afternoon train for Chicago. It was necessary for
+Mrs. Delancy to sign certain papers, and he was confident the
+transaction could not occupy more than half an hour's time.
+
+At 11:30 Crosby stepped from the coach to the station platform in
+Dexter, looked inquiringly about, and then asked a perspiring man with a
+star on his suspender-strap where he could hire a horse and buggy. The
+officer directed him to a "feed-yard and stable," but observed that
+there was a "funeral in town an' he'd be lucky if he got a rig, as all
+of Smith's horses were out." Application at the stable brought the first
+frown to Crosby's brow. He could not rent a "rig" until after the
+funeral, and that would make it too late for him to catch the four
+o'clock train for Chicago. To make the story short, twelve o'clock saw
+him trudging along the dusty road covering the two miles between town
+and Austin's place, and he was walking with the rapidity of one who has
+no love for the beautiful.
+
+The early spring air was invigorating, and it did not take him long to
+reduce the distance. Austin's house stood on a hill, far back from the
+highway, and overlooking the entire country-side.
+
+The big red barn stood in from the road a hundred yards or more, and he
+saw that the same driveway led to the house on the hill. There was no
+time for speculation, so he hastily made his way up the lane. Crosby had
+never seen his client, their business having been conducted by mail or
+through Mr. Rolfe. There was not a person in sight, and he slowed his
+progress considerably as he drew nearer the big house. At the barn-yard
+gate he came to a full stop and debated within himself the wisdom of
+inquiring at the stables for Mr. Austin.
+
+He flung open the gate and strode quickly to the door. This he opened
+boldly and stepped inside, finding himself in a lofty carriage room.
+Several handsome vehicles stood at the far end, but the wide space near
+the door was clear. The floor was as "clean as a pin," except along the
+west side. No one was in sight, and the only sound was that produced by
+the horses as they munched their hay and stamped their hoofs in
+impatient remonstrance with the flies.
+
+"Where the deuce are the people?" he muttered as he crossed to the
+mangers. "Devilish queer," glancing about in considerable doubt. "The
+hands must be at dinner or taking a nap." He passed by a row of mangers
+and was calmly inspected by brown-eyed horses. At the end of the long
+row of stalls he found a little gate opening into another section of the
+barn. He was on the point of opening this gate to pass in among the
+horses when a low growl attracted his attention. In some alarm he took a
+precautionary look ahead. On the opposite side of the gate stood a huge
+and vicious looking bulldog, unchained and waiting for him with an eager
+ferocity that could not be mistaken. Mr. Crosby did not open the gate.
+Instead he inspected it to see that it was securely fastened, and then
+drew his hand across his brow.
+
+"What an escape!" he gasped, after a long breath. "Lucky for me you
+growled, old boy. My name is Crosby, my dear sir, and I'm not here to
+steal anything. I'm only a lawyer. Anybody else at home but you?"
+
+An ominous growl was the answer, and there was lurid disappointment in
+the face of the squat figure beyond the gate.
+
+"Come, now, old chap, don't be nasty. I won't hurt you. There was
+nothing farther from my mind than a desire to disturb you. And say,
+please do something besides growl. Bark, and oblige me. You may attract
+the attention of some one."
+
+By this time the ugly brute was trying to get at the man, growling, and
+snarling savagely. Crosby complacently looked on from his place of
+safety for a moment, and was on the point of turning away when his
+attention was caught by a new move on the part of the dog. The animal
+ceased his violent efforts to get through the gate, turned about
+deliberately, and raced from view behind the horse stalls. Crosby
+brought himself up with a jerk.
+
+"Thunder," he ejaculated; "the brute knows a way to get at me, and he
+won't be long about it, either. What the dickens shall I--by George,
+this looks serious! He'll head me off at the door if I try to get out
+and--Ah, the fire-escape! We'll fool you, you brute! What a cursed idiot
+I was not to go to the house instead of coming--" He was shinning up a
+ladder with little regard for grace as he mumbled this self-condemnatory
+remark. There was little dignity in his manner of flight, and there was
+certainly no glory in the position in which he found himself a moment
+later. But there was a vast amount of satisfaction.
+
+The ladder rested against a beam that crossed the carriage shed near the
+middle. The beam was a large one, hewn from a monster tree, and was free
+on all sides. The ladder had evidently been left there by men who had
+used it recently and had neglected to return it to the hooks on which it
+properly hung.
+
+When the dog rushed violently through the door and into the carriage
+room, he found a vast and inexplicable solitude. He was, to all
+appearances, alone with the vehicles under which he was permitted to
+trot when his master felt inclined to grant the privilege.
+
+Crosby, seated on the beam, fifteen feet above the floor, grinned
+securely but somewhat dubiously as he watched the mystified dog below.
+At last he laughed aloud. He could not help it. The enemy glanced upward
+and blinked his red eyes in surprise; then he stared in deep chagrin,
+then glared with rage. For a few minutes Crosby watched his frantic
+efforts to leap through fifteen feet of altitudinal space, confidently
+hoping that some one would come to drive the brute away and liberate
+him. Finally he began to lose the good humor his strategy in fooling the
+dog had inspired, and a hurt, indignant stare was directed toward the
+open door through which he had entered.
+
+"What's the matter with the idiots?" he growled impatiently. "Are they
+going to let this poor dog snarl his lungs out? He's a faithful chap,
+too, and a willing worker. Gad, I never saw anything more earnest than
+the way he tries to climb up that ladder." Adjusting himself in a
+comfortable position, his elbows on his knees, his hands to his chin, he
+allowed his feet to swing lazily, tantalizingly, below the beam. "I'm
+putting a good deal of faith in this beam," he went on resignedly. The
+timber was at least fifteen inches square.
+
+"Ah, by George! That was a bully jump--the best you've made. You didn't
+miss me more than ten feet that time. I don't like to be disrespectful,
+you know, but you are an exceedingly rough looking dog. Don't get huffy
+about it, old fellow, but you have the ugliest mouth I ever saw. Yes,
+you miserable cur, politeness at last ceases to be a virtue with me. If
+I had you up here I'd punch your face for you, too. Why don't you come
+up, you coward? You're bow-legged, too, and you haven't any more figure
+than a crab. Anybody that would take an insult like that is beneath me
+(thank heaven!) and would steal sheep. Great Scott! Where are all these
+people? Shut up, you brute, you! I'm getting a headache. But it doesn't
+do any good to reason with you, I can see that plainly. The thing I
+ought to do is to go down there and punish you severely. But I'll--
+Hello! Hey, boy! Call off this--confounded dog."
+
+Two small Lord Fauntleroy boys were standing in the door, gazing up at
+him with wide open mouths and bulging eyes.
+
+"Call him off, I say, or I'll come down there and kick a hole clear
+through him." The boys stared all the harder. "Is your name Austin?" he
+demanded, addressing neither in particular.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the larger boy, with an effort.
+
+"Well, where's your father? Shut up, you brute! Can't you see I'm
+talking? Go tell your father I want to see him, boy."
+
+"Dad's up at the house."
+
+"That sounds encouraging. Can't you call off this dog?"
+
+"I--I guess I'd better not. That's what dad keeps him for."
+
+"Oh, he does, eh? And what is it that he keeps him for?"
+
+"To watch tramps."
+
+"To watch--to watch tramps? Say, boy, I'm a lawyer and I'm here on
+business." He was black in the face with indignation.
+
+"You better come up to the house and see dad, then. He don't live in the
+barn," said the boy keenly.
+
+"I can't fly to the house, boy. Say, if you don't call off this dog I'll
+put a bullet through him."
+
+"You'd have to be a purty good shot, mister. Nearly everybody in the
+county has tried to do it." Both boys were grinning diabolically and the
+dog took on energy through inspiration. Crosby longed for a stick of
+dynamite.
+
+"I'll give you a dollar if you get him away from here."
+
+"Let's see your dollar." Crosby drew a silver dollar from his trousers
+pocket, almost falling from his perch in the effort.
+
+"Here's the coin. Call him off," gasped the lawyer.
+
+"I'm afraid papa wouldn't like it," said the boy. The smaller lad nudged
+his brother and urged him to "take the money anyhow."
+
+"I live in Chicago," Crosby began, hoping to impress the boys at least.
+
+"So do we when we're at home," said the smaller boy. "We live in Chicago
+in the winter time."
+
+"Is Mrs. Delancy your aunt?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I'll give you this dollar if you'll tell your father I'm here and want
+to see him at once."
+
+"Throw down your dollar." The coin fell at their feet but rolled
+deliberately through a crack in the floor and was lost forever. Crosby
+muttered something unintelligible, but resignedly threw a second coin
+after the first.
+
+"He'll be out when he gets through dinner," said the older boy, just
+before the fight. Two minutes later he was streaking across the barn lot
+with the coin in his pocket, the smaller boy wailing under the woe of a
+bloody nose. For half an hour Crosby heaped insult after insult upon the
+glowering dog at the bottom of the ladder and was in the midst of a
+rabid denunciation of Austin when the city-bred farmer entered the barn.
+
+"Am I addressing Mr. Robert Austin?" called Crosby, suddenly amiable.
+The dog subsided and ran to his master's side. Austin, a black-
+moustached, sallow-faced man of forty, stopped near the door and looked
+aloft, squinting.
+
+"Where are you?" he asked somewhat sharply.
+
+"I am very much up in the air," replied Crosby. "Look a little sou' by
+sou'east. Ah, now you have me. Can you manage the dog? If so, I'll come
+down."
+
+"One moment, please. Who are you?"
+
+"My name is Crosby, of Rolfe & Crosby, Chicago. I am here to see Mrs.
+Delancy, your sister-in-law, on business before she leaves for New
+York."
+
+"What is your business with her, may I ask?"
+
+"Private," said Crosby laconically. "Hold the dog."
+
+"I insist in knowing the nature of your business," said Austin firmly.
+
+"I'd rather come down there and talk, if you don't mind."
+
+"I don't but the dog may," said the other grimly.
+
+"Well, this is a nice way to treat a gentleman," cried Crosby
+wrathfully.
+
+"A gentleman would scarcely have expected to find a lady in the barn,
+much less on a cross-beam. This is where my horses and dogs live."
+
+"Oh, that's all right now; this isn't a joke, you know."
+
+"I quite agree with you. What is your business with Mrs. Delancy?"
+
+"We represent her late husband's interests in settling up the estate of
+his father. Your wife's interests are being looked after by Morton &
+Rogers, I believe. I am here to have Mrs. Delancy go through the form of
+signing papers authorizing us to bring suit against the estate in order
+to establish certain rights of which you are fully aware. Your wife's
+brother left his affairs slightly tangled, you remember."
+
+"Well, I can save you a good deal of trouble. Mrs. Delancy has decided
+to let the matter rest as it is and to accept the compromise terms
+offered by the other heirs. She will not care to see you, for she has
+just written to your firm announcing her decision."
+
+"You--you don't mean it," exclaimed Crosby in dismay. He saw a
+prodigious fee slipping through his fingers. "Gad, I must see her about
+this," he went on, starting down the ladder, only to go back again
+hastily. The growling dog leaped forward and stood ready to receive him.
+Austin chuckled audibly.
+
+"She really can't see you, Mr. Crosby. Mrs. Delancy leaves at four
+o'clock for Chicago, where she takes the Michigan Central for New York
+to-night. You can gain nothing by seeing her."
+
+"But I insist, sir," exploded Crosby.
+
+"You may come down when you like," said Austin. "The dog will be here
+until I return from the depot after driving her over. Come down when you
+like."
+
+Crosby did not utter the threat that surged to his lips. With the wisdom
+born of self-preservation, he temporized, reserving deep down in the
+surging young breast a promise to amply recompense his pride for the
+blows it was receiving at the hands of the detestable Mr. Austin.
+
+"You'll admit that I'm in a devil of a pickle, Mr. Austin," he said
+jovially. "The dog is not at all friendly."
+
+"He is at least diverting. You won't be lonesome while I'm away. I'll
+tell Mrs. Delancy that you called," said Austin ironically.
+
+He turned to leave the barn, and the sinister sneer on his face gave
+Crosby a new and amazing inspiration. Like a flash there rushed into his
+mind the belief that Austin had a deep laid design in not permitting him
+to see the lady. With this belief also came the conviction that he was
+hurrying her off to New York on some pretext simply to forestall any
+action that might induce her to continue the contemplated suit against
+the estate. Mrs. Delancy had undoubtedly been urged to drop the matter
+under pressure of promises, and the Austins were getting her away from
+the scene of action before she could reconsider or before her solicitors
+could convince her of the mistake she was making. The thought of this
+sent the fire of resentment racing through Crosby's brain, and he fairly
+gasped with the longing to get at the bottom of the case. His only hope
+now lay in sending a telegram to Mr. Rolfe, commanding him to meet Mrs.
+Delancy when her train reached Chicago, and to lay the whole matter
+before her.
+
+Before Austin could make his exit the voices of women were heard outside
+the door and an instant later two ladies entered. The farmer attempted
+to turn them back, but the younger, taller, and slighter of the
+newcomers cried:
+
+"I just couldn't go without another look at the horses, Bob."
+
+Crosby, on the beam, did not fail to observe the rich, tender tone of
+the voice, and it would have required almost total darkness to obscure
+the beauty of her face. Her companion was older and coarser, and he
+found delight in the belief that she was the better half of the
+disagreeable Mr. Austin.
+
+"Good-afternoon, Mrs. Delancy!" came a fine masculine voice from
+nowhere. The ladies started in amazement, Mr. Austin ground his teeth,
+the dog took another tired leap upward; Mr. Crosby took off his hat
+gallantly, and waited patiently for the lady to discover his
+whereabouts.
+
+"Who is it, Bob?" cried the tall one, and Crosby patted his bump of
+shrewdness happily. "Who have you in hiding here?"
+
+"I'm not in hiding, Mrs. Delancy. I'm a prisoner, that's all. I'm right
+near the top of the ladder directly in front of you. You know me only
+through the mails, but my partner, Mr. Rolfe, is known to you
+personally. My name is Crosby."
+
+"How very strange," she cried in wonder. "Why don't you come down, Mr.
+Crosby?"
+
+"I hate to admit it, but I'm afraid. There's the dog, you know. Have you
+any influence over him?"
+
+"None whatever. He hates me. Perhaps Mr. Austin can manage him. Oh,
+isn't it ludicrous?" and she burst into hearty laughter. It was a very
+musical laugh, but Crosby considered it a disagreeable croak.
+
+"But Mr. Austin declines to interfere. I came to see you on private
+business and am not permitted to do so."
+
+"We don't know this fellow, Louise, and I can't allow you to talk to
+him," said Austin brusquely. "I found him where he is and there he stays
+until the marshal comes out from town. His actions have been very
+suspicious and must be investigated. I can't take chances on letting a
+horse thief escape. Swallow will watch him until I can secure
+assistance."
+
+"I implore you, Mrs. Delancy, to give me a moment or two in which to
+explain," cried Crosby. "He knows I'm not here to steal his horses, and
+he knows I intend to punch his head the minute I get the chance." Mrs.
+Austin's little shriek of dismay and her husband's fierce glare did not
+check the flow of language from the beam. "I AM Crosby of Rolfe &
+Crosby, your counsel. I have the papers here for you to sign and--"
+
+"Louise, I insist that you come away from here. This fellow is a fraud--
+"
+
+"He's refreshing, at any rate," said Mrs. Delancy gaily. "There can be
+no harm in hearing what he has to say, Bob."
+
+"You are very kind, and I won't detain you long."
+
+"I've a mind to kick you out of this barn," cried Austin angrily.
+
+"I don't believe you're tall enough, my good fellow." Mr. Crosby was
+more than amiable. He was positively genial. Mrs. Delancy's pretty face
+was the picture of eager, excited mirth, and he saw that she was
+determined to see the comedy to the end.
+
+"Louise!" exclaimed Mrs. Austin, speaking for the first time. "You are
+not fool enough to credit this fellow's story, I'm sure. Come to the
+house at once. I will not stay here." Mrs. Austin's voice was hard and
+biting, and Crosby also caught the quick glance that passed between
+husband and wife.
+
+"I am sure Mrs. Delancy will not be so unkind as to leave me after I've
+had so much trouble in getting an audience. Here is my card, Mrs.
+Delancy." Crosby tossed a card from his perch, but Swallow gobbled it up
+instantly. Mrs. Delancy gave a little cry of disappointment, and Crosby
+promptly apologized for the dog's greediness. "Mr. Austin knows I'm
+Crosby," he concluded.
+
+"I know nothing of the sort, sir, and I forbid Mrs. Delancy holding
+further conversation with you. This is an outrageous imposition, Louise.
+You must hurry, by the way, or we'll miss the train," said Austin,
+biting his lip impatiently.
+
+"That reminds me, I also take the four o'clock train for Chicago, Mrs.
+Delancy. If you prefer, we can talk over our affairs on the train
+instead of here. I'll confess this isn't a very dignified manner in
+which to hold a consultation," said Crosby apologetically.
+
+"Will you be kind enough to state the nature of your business, Mr.
+Crosby?" said the young woman, ignoring Mr. Austin.
+
+"Then you believe I'm Crosby?" cried that gentleman triumphantly.
+
+"Louise!" cried Mrs. Austin in despair.
+
+"In spite of your present occupation, I believe you are Crosby," said
+Mrs. Delancy merrily.
+
+"But, good gracious, I can't talk business with you from this confounded
+beam," he cried lugubriously.
+
+"Mr. Austin will call the dog away," she said confidently, turning to
+the man in the door. Austin's sallow face lighted with a sudden
+malicious grin, and there was positive joy in his voice.
+
+"You may be satisfied, but I am not. If you desire to transact business
+with this impertinent stranger, Mrs. Delancy, you'll have to do so under
+existing conditions. I do not approve of him or his methods, and my dog
+doesn't either. You can trust a dog for knowing a man for what he is.
+Mrs. Austin and I are going to the house. You may remain, of course; I
+have no right to command you to follow. When you are ready to drive to
+the station, please come to the house. I'll be ready. Your Mr. Crosby
+may leave when he likes--IF HE CAN. Come, Elizabeth." With this defiant
+thrust, Mr. Austin stalked from the barn, followed by his wife. Mrs.
+Delancy started to follow but checked herself immediately, a flush of
+anger mounting to her brow. After a long pause she spoke.
+
+"I don't understand how you came to be where you are, Mr. Crosby," she
+said slowly. He related his experiences rapidly and laughed with her
+simply because she had a way with her.
+
+"You'll pardon me for laughing," she giggled.
+
+"With all my heart," he replied gallantly. "It must be very funny.
+However, this is not business. You are in a hurry to get away from here
+and--I'm not, it seems. Briefly, Mrs. Delancy, I have the papers you are
+to sign before we begin your action against the Fairwater estate. You
+know what they are through Mr. Rolfe."
+
+"Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Crosby, to say to you that I have decided to
+abandon the matter. A satisfactory compromise is under way."
+
+"So I've been told. But are you sure you understand yourself?"
+
+"Perfectly, thank you."
+
+"This is a very unsatisfactory place from which to argue my case, Mrs.
+Delancy. Can't you dispose of the dog?"
+
+"Only God disposes."
+
+"Well, do you mind telling me what the compromise provides?" She stared
+at him for a moment haughtily, but his smile won the point for him. She
+told him everything and then looked very much displeased when he swore
+distinctly.
+
+"Pardon me, but you are getting very much the worst of it in this deal.
+It is the most contemptible scheme to rob that I ever heard of. By this
+arrangement you are to get farming lands and building lots in rural
+towns worth in all about $100,000, I'd say. Don't you know that you are
+entitled to nearly half a million?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no. By right, my share is less than $75,000," she cried
+triumphantly.
+
+"Who told you so?" he demanded, and she saw a very heavy frown on his
+erstwhile merry face.
+
+"Why--why, Mr. Austin and another brother-in-law, Mr. Gray, both of whom
+are very kind to me in the matter, I'm sure."
+
+"Mrs. Delancy, you are being robbed by these fellows. Can't you see that
+these brothers-in-law and their wives will profit immensely if they
+succeed in keeping the wool over your eyes long enough? Let ME show you
+some figures." He excitedly drew a packet of papers from his pocket and
+in five minutes' time had her gasping with the knowledge that she was
+legally entitled to more than half a million of dollars.
+
+"Are you sure?" she cried, unable to believe her ears.
+
+"Absolutely. Here is the inventory and here are the figures to
+corroborate everything I say."
+
+"But THEY had figures, too," she cried in perplexity.
+
+"Certainly. Figures are wonderful things. I only ask you to defer this
+plan to compromise until we are able to thoroughly convince you that I
+am not misrepresenting the facts to you."
+
+"Oh, if I could only believe you!"
+
+"I'd toss the documents down to you if I were not afraid they'd join my
+card. That is a terribly ravenous beast. Surely you can coax him out of
+the barn," he added eagerly.
+
+"I can try, but persuasion is difficult with a bulldog, you know," she
+said doubtfully. "It is much easier to persuade a man," she smiled.
+
+"I trust you won't try to persuade me to come down," he said in alarm.
+
+"Mr. Austin is a brute to treat you in this manner," she cried
+indignantly.
+
+"I wouldn't treat a dog as he is treating me."
+
+"Oh, I am sure you couldn't," she cried in perfect sincerity. "Swallow
+doesn't like me, but I'll try to get him away. You can't stay up there
+all night."
+
+"By Jove!" he exclaimed sharply.
+
+"What is it?" she asked quickly.
+
+"I had forgotten an engagement in Chicago for to-night. Box party at the
+comic opera," he said, looking nervously at his watch.
+
+"It would be too bad if you missed it," she said sweetly. "You'd be much
+more comfortable in a box."
+
+"You are consoling at least. Are you going to coax him off?"
+
+"In behalf of the box party, I'll try. Come, Swallow. There's a nice
+doggie!"
+
+Crosby watched the proceedings with deepest interest and concern and not
+a little admiration. But not only did Swallow refuse to abdicate but he
+seemed to take decided exceptions to the feminine method of appeal. He
+evidently did not like to be called "doggie," "pet," "dearie," and all
+such.
+
+"He won't come," she cried plaintively.
+
+"I have it!" he exclaimed, his face brightening. "Will you hand me that
+three-tined pitchfork over there? With that in my hands I'll make
+Swallow see--Look out! For heaven's sake, don't go near him! He'll kill
+you." She had taken two or three steps toward the dog, her hand extended
+pleadingly, only to be met by an ominous growl, a fine display of teeth,
+and a bristling back. As if paralyzed, she halted at the foot of the
+ladder, terror suddenly taking possession of her.
+
+"Can you get the pitchfork?"
+
+"I am afraid to move," she moaned. "He is horrible--horrible!"
+
+"I'll come down, Mrs. Delancy, and hang the consequences," Crosby cried,
+and was suiting the action to the word when she cried out in
+remonstrance.
+
+"Don't come down--don't! He'll kill you. I forbid you to come down, Mr.
+Crosby. Look at him! Oh, he's coming toward me! Don't come down!" she
+shrieked. "I'll come up!"
+
+Grasping her skirts with one hand she started frantically up the ladder,
+her terrified eyes looking into the face of the man above. There was a
+vicious snarl from the dog, a savage lunge, and then something closed
+over her arm like a vice. She felt herself being jerked upward and a
+second later she was on the beam beside the flushed young man whose
+strong hand and not the dog's jaws had reached her first. He was obliged
+to support her for a few minutes with one of his emphatic arms, so near
+was she to fainting.
+
+"Oh," she gasped at last, looking into his eyes questioningly. "Did he
+bite me? I was not sure, you know. He gave such an awful leap for me.
+How did you do it?"
+
+"A simple twist of the wrist, as the prestidigitators say. You had a
+close call, my dear Mrs. Delancy." He was a-quiver with new sensations
+that were sending his spirits sky high. After all it was not turning out
+so badly.
+
+"He would have dragged me down had it not been for you. And I might have
+been torn to pieces," she shuddered, glancing down at the now infuriated
+dog.
+
+"It would have been appalling," he agreed, discreetly allowing her to
+imagine the worst.
+
+"How can I ever thank you?" cried she impulsively. He made a very
+creditable show of embarrassment in the effort to convince her that he
+had accomplished only what any man would have attempted under similar
+circumstances. She was thoroughly convinced that no other man could have
+succeeded.
+
+"Well, we're in a pretty position, are we not?" he asked in the end.
+
+"I think I can stick on without being held, Mr. Crosby," she said, and
+his arm slowly and regretfully came to parade rest.
+
+"Are you sure you won't get dizzy?" he demanded in deep solicitude.
+
+"I'll not look down," she said, smiling into his eyes. He lost the power
+of speech for a moment. "May I look at those figures now?"
+
+For the next ten minutes she studiously followed him as he explained the
+contents of the various papers. She held the sheets and they sat very
+close to each other on the big beam. The dog looked on in sour disgust.
+
+"They cannot be wrong," she cried at last. Her eyes were sparkling. "You
+are as good as an angel."
+
+"I only regret that I can't complete the illusion by unfolding a strong
+and convenient pair of wings," he said dolorously. "How are we to catch
+that train for Chicago?"
+
+"I'm afraid we can't," she said demurely. "You'll miss the box party."
+
+"That's a pleasure easily sacrificed."
+
+"Besides, you are seeing me on business. Pleasure should never interfere
+with business, you know."
+
+"It doesn't seem to," he said, and the dog saw them smile tranquilly
+into each other's eyes.
+
+"Oh, isn't this too funny for words?" He looked very grateful.
+
+"I wonder when Austin will condescend to release us."
+
+"I have come to a decision, Mr. Crosby," she said irrelevantly.
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"I shall never speak to Robert Austin again, and I'll never enter his
+house as long as I live," she announced determinedly.
+
+"Good! But you forget your personal effects. They are in his house." He
+was overflowing with happiness.
+
+"They have all gone to the depot and I have the baggage checks. My
+ticket and my money are in this purse. You see, we are quite on the same
+footing."
+
+"I don't feel sure of my footing," he commented ruefully. "By the way, I
+have a fountain pen. Would you mind signing these papers? We'll be quite
+sure of our standing at least."
+
+She deliberately spread out the papers on the beam, and, while he
+obligingly kept her from falling, signed seven documents in a full,
+decisive hand: "Louise Hampton Delancy."
+
+"There! That means that you are to begin suit," she said finally,
+handing the pen to him.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE DELIBERATELY SPREAD OUT THE PAPERS ON THE BEAM."]
+
+"I'll not waste an instant," he said meaningly. "In fact, the suit is
+already under way."
+
+"I don't understand you," she said, but she flushed.
+
+"That's what a lawyer says when he goes to court," he explained.
+
+"Oh," she said, thoroughly convinced.
+
+At the end of another hour the two on the beam were looking at each
+other with troubled eyes. When he glanced at his watch at six o'clock,
+his face was extremely sober. There was a tired, wistful expression in
+her eyes.
+
+"Do you think they'll keep us here all night?" she asked plaintively.
+
+"Heaven knows what that scoundrel will do."
+
+"We have the papers signed, at any rate." She sighed, trying to revive
+the dying spark of humor.
+
+"And we won't be lonesome," he added, glaring at the dog.
+
+"Did you ever dream that a man could be so despicable?"
+
+"Ah, here comes some one at last," he cried, brightening up.
+
+The figure of Robert Austin appeared in the doorway.
+
+"Oho, you're both up there now, are you?" he snapped. "That's why you
+didn't go to the depot, is it? Well, how has the business progressed?"
+
+"She has signed all the papers, if that's what you want to know," said
+Crosby tantalizingly.
+
+"That's all the good it will do her. We'll beat you in court, Mr.
+Crosby, and we won't leave a dollar for you, my dear sister-in-law,"
+snarled Austin, his face white with rage.
+
+"And now that we've settled our business, and missed our train, perhaps
+you'll call off your confounded dog," said Crosby. Austin's face broke
+into a wide grin, and he chuckled aloud. Then he leaned against the
+door-post and held his sides.
+
+"What's the joke?" demanded the irate Crosby. Mrs. Delancy clasped his
+arm and looked down upon Austin as if he had suddenly gone mad.
+
+"You want to come down, eh?" cackled Austin. "Why don't you come down? I
+know you'll pardon my laughter, but I have just remembered that you may
+be a horse thief and that I was not going to let you escape. Mrs.
+Delancy refuses to speak to me, so I decline to ask her to come down."
+
+"Do you mean to say you'll keep this lady up here for--" began Crosby
+fiercely. Her hand on his arm prevented him from leaping to the floor.
+
+"She may come down when she desires, and so may you, sir," roared Austin
+stormily.
+
+"But some one will release us, curse you, and then I'll make you sorry
+you ever lived," hissed Crosby. "You are a black-hearted cur, a cowardly
+dog--"
+
+"Don't--don't!" whispered the timid woman beside him.
+
+"You are helping your cause beautifully," sneered Austin. "My men have
+instructions to stay away from the barn until the marshal comes. I,
+myself, expect to feed and bed the horses."
+
+Deliberately he went about the task of feeding the horses. The two on
+the beam looked on in helpless silence. Crosby had murder in his heart.
+At last the master of the situation started for the door.
+
+"Good-night," he said sarcastically. "Pleasant dreams."
+
+"You brute," cried Crosby, hoarse with anger. A sob came from his tired
+companion and Crosby turned to her, his heart full of tenderness and--
+shame, perhaps. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her shoulders
+drooped dejectedly.
+
+"What shall we do?" she moaned. Crosby could frame no answer. He gently
+took her hand in his and held it tightly. She made no effort to withdraw
+it.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry," he said softly. "Don't cry, little woman. It will
+all end right, I know."
+
+Just then Austin reentered the barn. Without a word he strode over and
+emptied a pan of raw meat on the floor in front of the dog. Then he
+calmly departed, but Crosby could have sworn he heard him chuckle. The
+captives looked at each other dumbly for a full minute, one with wet,
+wide-open, hurt eyes, the other with consternation. Gradually the sober
+light in their eyes faded away and feeble smiles developed into peals of
+laughter. The irony of the situation bore down upon them irresistibly
+and their genuine, healthy young minds saw the picture in all of its
+ludicrous colorings. Not even the prospect of a night in mid-air could
+conquer the wild desire to laugh.
+
+"Isn't it too funny for words?" she laughed bravely through her tears.
+
+Then, for some reason, both relapsed into dark, silent contemplation of
+the dog who was so calmly enjoying his evening repast.
+
+"I am sorry to admit it, Mr. Crosby, but I am growing frightfully
+hungry," she said wistfully.
+
+"It has just occurred to me that I haven't eaten a bite since seven
+o'clock this morning," he said.
+
+"You poor man! I wish I could cook something for you."
+
+"You might learn."
+
+"You know what I mean," she explained, reddening a bit. "You must be
+nearly famished."
+
+"I prefer to think of something more interesting," he said coolly.
+
+"It is horrid!" she sobbed. "See, it is getting dark. Night is coming.
+Mr. Crosby, what is to become of us?" He was very much distressed by her
+tears and a desperate resolve took root in his breast. She was so tired
+and dispirited that she seemed glad when he drew her close to him and
+pressed her head upon his shoulder. He heard the long sigh of relief and
+relaxation and she peered curiously over her wet lace handkerchief when
+he muttered tenderly:
+
+"Poor little chap!"
+
+Then she sighed again quite securely, and there was a long silence,
+broken regularly and rhythmically by the faint little catches that once
+were tearful sobs.
+
+"Oh, dear me! It is quite dark," she cried suddenly, and he felt a
+shudder run through her body.
+
+"Where could you go to-night, Mrs. Delancy, if we were to succeed in
+getting away from here?" he asked abruptly. She felt his figure
+straighten and his arm grow tense as if a sudden determination had
+charged through it.
+
+"Why--why, I hadn't thought about that," she confessed, confronted by a
+new proposition.
+
+"There's a late night train for Chicago," he volunteered.
+
+"But how are we to catch it?"
+
+"If you are willing to walk to town I think you can catch it," he said,
+a strange ring in his voice.
+
+"What do you mean?" she demanded, looking up at his face quickly.
+
+"Can you walk the two miles?" he persisted. "The train leaves Dexter at
+eleven o'clock and it is now nearly eight."
+
+"Of course I can walk it," she said eagerly. "I could walk a hundred
+miles to get away from this place."
+
+"You'll miss the New York train, of course."
+
+"I've changed my mind, Mr. Crosby. I shall remain in Chicago until we
+have had our revenge on Austin and the others."
+
+"That's very good of you. May I ask where you stop in Chicago?"
+
+"My apartments are in the C--- Building. My mother lives with me."
+
+"Will you come to see me some time?" he asked, an odd smile on his lips.
+
+"Come to see you?" she cried in surprise. "The idea! What do you mean?"
+
+"I may not be able to call on you for some time, but you can be very
+good to me by coming to see me. I'll be stopping at St. Luke's Hospital
+for quite a while."
+
+"At St. Luke's Hospital? I don't understand," she cried perplexed.
+
+"You see, my dear Mrs. Delancy, I have come to a definite conclusion in
+regard to our present position. You must not stay here all night. I'd be
+a coward and a cur to subject you to such a thing. Well, I'm going down
+to tackle that dog."
+
+"To--tackle--the--dog," she gasped.
+
+"And while I'm keeping him busy you are to cut and run for the road down
+there. Then you'll have easy sailing for town."
+
+"Mr. Crosby," she said firmly, clasping his arm; "you are not to leave
+this beam. Do you think I'll permit you to go down there and be torn to
+pieces by that beast, just for the sake of letting me cut and run, as
+you call it? I'd be a bigger brute than the dog and--and--"
+
+"Mrs. Delancy, my mind is made up. I'm going down!"
+
+"That settles it! I'm coming too," she proclaimed emphatically.
+
+"To be sure. That's the plan. You'll escape while I hold Swallow."
+
+"I'll do nothing of the sort. You shall not sacrifice yourself for my
+sake. I'd stay up here with you all the rest of my life before I'd
+permit you to do that."
+
+"I'll remind you of that offer later on, my dear Mrs. Delancy, when we
+are not so pressed for time. Just now you must be practical, however. We
+can't stay up here all night."
+
+"Please, Mr. Crosby, for my sake, don't go down there. To please me,
+don't be disfigured. I know you are awfully brave and strong, but he is
+such a huge, vicious dog. Won't you please stay here?"
+
+"Ten minutes from now it will be too dark to see the dog and he'll have
+an advantage over me. Listen: I'll meet you at the depot in an hour and
+a half. This is final, Mrs. Delancy. Will you do as I tell you? Run for
+the road and then to town. I'll promise to join you there."
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" she moaned, as he drew away from her and swung one
+foot to the ladder. "I shall die if you go down there."
+
+"I am going just the same. Don't be afraid, little woman. My pocket
+knife is open and it is a trusty blade. Now, be brave and be quick.
+Follow me down the ladder and cut for it."
+
+"Please, please, please!" she implored, wringing her hands.
+
+But he was already half-way down the ladder and refused to stop.
+
+Suddenly Crosby paused as if checked in his progress by some
+insurmountable obstacle. The dog was at the foot of the ladder, snarling
+with joy over the prospective end of his long vigil. Above, Mrs. Delancy
+was moaning and imploring him to come back to her side, even threatening
+to spring from the beam to the floor before he could reach the bottom.
+
+"By George!" he exclaimed, and then climbed up three or four rounds of
+the ladder, greatly to the annoyance of the dog.
+
+"What is it?" cried Mrs. Delancy, recovering her balance on the beam.
+
+"Let me think for a minute," he answered, 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, excited 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 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, plaintively, "if we could only pull his teeth. Good
+heaven, Mr. Crosby," sitting up very abruptly, "you are not thinking of
+undertaking it, are you?"
+
+"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 doing," 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 and anxious.
+
+"You might tell me," she argued resentfully. "Are you going to try to
+swim out?"
+
+Folding the vest lengthwise, he took a firm grip on the collar, and
+cautiously descended 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 hungry 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 growling, 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."
+
+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 destroying. "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 beginning to pant from the exertion. Swallow was swinging higher
+and higher.
+
+"Well, it is the most aimless proceeding I ever saw."
+
+"I hope not. On second thought, everything 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, clapping 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."
+
+"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.
+
+[Illustration: "SWALLOW'S CHUBBY BODY SHOT SQUARELY THROUGH THE
+OPENING"]
+
+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, 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 invasion of a hornet's nest.
+
+"Thunderation!" came in sharp, agonized tones from the ladder.
+
+"What is the matter?" she cried, detecting disaster in the exclamation.
+
+"I am a--a--blooming idiot," he groaned. "I forgot to remove a roll of
+bills from an upper pocket in that vest!"
+
+"Oh, is that all?" she cried, in great relief, 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.
+
+"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 coming to see me," she went on. "I hope you haven't many such clients
+as I."
+
+"One is enough, I assure you," he responded, and somehow she took it as
+a compliment.
+
+"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 lodging with the
+enemy. It is going to storm, I'm sure."
+
+"That's your advice as a lawyer, Mr. 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 off 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 for to-morrow night either," he
+said reflectively.
+
+"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 are 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."
+
+"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 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 excitedly. "Austin is certainly
+doing the job up brown. But wait till he consults Swallow, 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. Delancy," said Crosby suddenly.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to tell Austin what I think 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 desperado, 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 cross-examining me on the witness stand? You'd ask some very
+embarrassing questions, 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 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 world 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 following Mr. Austin and the lantern
+toward the barn, and the road was quite deserted. Mrs. Delancy and
+Crosby started off rapidly in the direction of the town. The low rumble
+of distant thunder came to their ears, and ever and anon the western
+blackness 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 forgetting 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 station, can we?"
+
+"We can, but we'll be captured with humiliating ease."
+
+"I know what we can do. Scott 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 satisfaction 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 scurrying
+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 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. 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.
+
+[Illustration: "HE WAS SPLASHING THROUGH THE SHALLOW BROOK"]
+
+"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 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 resistance. The
+visitors were not long in acquainting 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
+desire 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, 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 sententiously.
+
+"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 suggest something. What is the
+nearest----"
+
+"I have it," interrupted Crosby. "The Wabash road runs through this
+neighborhood, 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 flag '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 Higgins's wagon clattered away in the night. To all
+appearances he was the only passenger. 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
+marshal'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 rainstorm came as expected. It was so dark
+that neither could see the face of the other. He had a longing desire to
+take her hand into his, but there was something in the atmosphere that
+warned him against such a delightful but unnecessary proceeding.
+Naturally, they were sitting quite close to each other; even the severe
+jolting of the springless wagon could not disturb the feeling of happy
+contentment.
+
+[Illustration: THEY ENJOY MRS HIGGIN'S GOOD SUPPER]
+
+"I hope it won't storm," she said nervously, as a little shudder ran
+through her body. The wind was now blowing quite fiercely and those
+long-distant rolls of thunder 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.
+
+"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 rapturously.
+
+"How far are you goin'?" came the strange voice from the night.
+
+"Oh, 's far ag'in as half," responded Higgins warily.
+
+"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?"
+
+"I--I--well, I reckon so," floundered the helpless Higgins.
+
+"Really, this is getting a bit serious," whispered Crosby to his
+breathless companion.
+
+The deputy was now on the seat with Higgins, and the latter, bewildered
+and dismayed 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."
+
+"I'm--I'm takin' some meat over to Mr. Talbert."
+
+"Hams?"
+
+"No; jest bacon," answered Scott, and his 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 kivered to keep it from gittin' wet 'n case it rains,"
+hastily interposed Scott. He was discussing within himself the
+advisability of knocking the 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
+conversation. It drifted from the weather immediately, 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 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 evidently come down from that
+beam an' jest naturally picked that turrible bulldog up by the neck an'
+throwed him over into the stall."
+
+"Have you got a revolver?" asked Higgins 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 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 reason. 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 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 protect 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 suspicious.
+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 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 outward, falling downward. The
+wagon clattered 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 lightning to
+show them where the official gossiper 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 began to fall and
+Mrs. Delancy hurriedly crawled beneath the tarpaulin, urging him to
+follow at once. Another flash of lightning 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!"
+
+An instant later he was under the tarpaulin, crouching beside his fellow
+fugitive. Conversation 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?"
+
+"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 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 saying.
+
+"If you persist in accusing me of faintheartedness, 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 brighter to-night than it has been
+in years."
+
+"And you don't regret anything that has 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 believe 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, but he failed not to observe
+the tinge of confusion 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 Higgins 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 heart grew very tender as he 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 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 welcome 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
+deep from the elevator to the station platform 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.
+
+"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 disappointed. Mr. Brown was not on
+the roadway. He was, instead, on the depot platform at Lonesomeville,
+and when the westbound express train whistled for the station he was
+standing grimly in front of two dumbfounded young people who sat
+sleepily and unwarily on a baggage truck.
+
+The feeble-eyed lantern sat on the platform near Crosby's swinging feet,
+and the picture that it looked upon was one suggestive of the cheap,
+sensational, and bloodcurdling 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.
+
+"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 by holding me up at the point of
+a revolver?"
+
+"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 collapse. 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 dangerous?"
+
+"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 cost you every
+dollar you have in the world. I'll make you pay dearly for calling 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," 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 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 eastbound 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 pocket, 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."
+
+"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 platform. "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
+move--well, you won't have time to regret it. Answer my questions 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 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 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 anxious 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.
+
+"Safe," she sighed, as they dropped into a seat in a coach.
+
+"I'm ashamed to mention it, my dear accomplice, 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 fortune to the cause of freedom," she
+supplemented, 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 morning.
+
+"We're all right now," said Crosby after the conductor had passed on.
+"You are 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
+passenger 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--"
+
+[Illustration: "THEY GO TO THE THEATRE"]
+
+[Illustration: '"GOOD HEAVENS!" "WHAT IS IT?" HE CRIED. "YOU ARE NOT
+MARRIED, ARE YOU?'"]
+
+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 furiously, and her eyes wavered as the
+lids fell, shutting from his eager, surprised gaze the prettiest
+confusion in the world.
+
+"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.
+
+"I had no pistol," he grinned. From his pocket he drew a nickel-plated
+menthol inhaler and calmly leveled it at her head. "It looked very much
+like a pistol in the darkness," 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.
+
+[Illustration: CROSBY WON BOTH SUITS.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Day of the Dog, by George Barr McCutcheon
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAY OF THE DOG ***
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