Dick and Brownie | Page 8

was dark still; even the moon had gone. She was just about to
lie wearily down again, when a real, not a dream sound, caught her ear.
The sound of nailed boots on stones, and stealthy footsteps.
"It really is someone climbing the wall and coming up the garden," she
thought to herself, and her mouth and throat grew dry with terror, and
her heart beat suffocatingly. "Dick!" she gasped, in a low voice. "Dick,
they're coming, they've found us. Listen!"
Dick raised himself on his haunches, with his ears cocked. Huldah was
seized with sudden fear that he would growl, and so betray their
hiding-place, for her uncle would recognise Dick's growl in a moment.
She laid her hand on his collar firmly. "Quiet!" she commanded, firmly,
and knew that he would obey. She tried to peer out through the chinks,
but it was hard to move without rustling the straw, and all without was
black as pitch.

Then suddenly, quite close to her on the other side of the planking,
sounded a whisper, and Huldah never knew afterwards whether she was
most frightened or relieved--frightened by the nearness of somebody,
or relieved that the somebody was not her "uncle."
"Bill, where's the sack?" the voice asked, impatiently.
"I dunno!" answered another voice, sourly. "You had it. I've cut my
knee on that there wall; I can feel the blood running down my leg."
"You always manages to do something," was all the sympathy Bill got.
"We've got to 'ave the sack, so you'd better find it. How're we to carry
the birds without it? In our hats?"
"It's the fowls!" thought Huldah, thrilling with excitement. "They're
going to steal the fowls. Oh, they shan't! The lady'll think it's me. Oh,
what can I do? How can I tell her? I must stop them, somehow!"
Bill had gone back in search of the sack, and the other thief stood
waiting for him. Huldah had time to think, but no plan came to her. She
did not know her way, nor where to turn for help; and if she screamed,
they would only find her out, and knock her about. They would steal
the fowls all the same. A slight movement beside her recalled her
thoughts, and sent her spirits up with a bound. "Dick! why, of course
Dick would help her!"
Quick as thought she crept to the door, and with one hand on Dick's
collar she gently raised the latch with the other. Bill had evidently
found the sack, for the thieves were together again; she heard them
whispering. One even seemed to be already fumbling with the latch of
the fowls' house door.
"Quick, Dick, catch them!" she whispered, excitedly. "Go for them,
Dick! bring them down!" With one fierce yelp Dick was out of her
grasp and out of her sight.
It had all happened so swiftly that the thieves were bewildered, dazed,
and frightened almost beyond power of speech or movement. They had

heard nothing, and certainly had expected nothing, yet suddenly, from
somewhere quite near by, came a voice, and out of the darkness came a
large dog bounding upon them, growling savagely. For a second they
were too frightened to move; then, with an oath, they dashed across the
garden, making for the wall they had come over. Fast though they went,
Dick was after them and on them, and Bob, as well as Bill, knew what
it was to feel blood trickling down his leg. Bob yelled, Bill groaned,
Dick growled and snarled and barked furiously with excitement. The
frightened hens, startled by the hubbub, added their share to the uproar.
In the cottage a curtain was drawn back quickly from a window, and a
white frightened face stared out. Huldah caught sight of it, and coming
out of the shelter of the barn, raced eagerly along the path to the house.
"It's all right," she cried, panting. "It's all right, ma'am, some fellows
come stealing your fowls, but Dick's after them."
Dick was after them, but he could not capture them; he was but a young
dog, and the enemy was two to one. A heavy kick sent him rolling over,
just as the thieves reached the wall, and before he could pick himself up
again they were over it, and making good their escape.
At the sound of Dick's cry Huldah went flying back to the spot whence
the sound came. "Oh, Dick, Dick, what have they done!" she cried,
terrified.
Dick, though, was not one to make a fuss about anything. Kicks he was
well accustomed to. Men, according to his experience, were given to
kicking. Limping heavily, but mightily pleased with his fray, he came
running up to her. Huldah knelt down in the path beside him, and
hugged him