Dick and Brownie | Page 9

to her. "Oh, Dick!" she cried, anxiously, passing her little
hand over him to feel for any hurt. "Poor Dick, you are always getting
knocked about by somebody!"
But Dick was far less concerned than she was. All that really troubled
him was that his enemies had escaped him, and had got off so lightly.
"Huldah! Huldah!" called a frightened voice from the doorway.

"Whatever is happening? Oh, do come in, child, and bring Dick. I am
terrified to be left alone! Come in, both of you, and shut the door;" and
at the sound of her voice Dick gave up his frantic search for his
enemies, and limped quickly back. When the lady who gave him the
ham-bone called, she must never be kept waiting!
CHAPTER III.
WHAT THE MORNING BROUGHT.
It was a very shaken, tremulous trio which stood and faced each other
in the tiny kitchen, after they had locked and bolted the door. Dick
trembled with excitement and eagerness only, but Mrs. Perry was really
frightened.
"But what of my poor hens!" she gasped, as Huldah poured out the
adventures of the night. "Will the thieves come back again? What can I
do? There's twelve of them; I can't bring them all indoors, and yet--oh,
poor dears, and they so tame, and knowing me so well. I'd sooner see
them all dead than in the hands of such men; and they'll be so
frightened."
"They're all safe enough, ma'am," said Huldah, consolingly. "The
thieves didn't as much as open the door before Dick was on them, and
they won't be coming back here again in a hurry; they'll never feel sure
but what Dick's under the wall waiting for them."
Mrs. Perry bent down, and patted Dick's head gratefully. It was the first
time she had actually touched him. "Good dog," she said, warmly. "Oh,
you good doggie, to protect a strange old woman and her belongings!"
and Dick was overcome with pride and gratitude for her condescension.
"Oh, I am glad it has all ended so well," she exclaimed, with a deep
sigh of thankfulness. "What with the shouting and the barking and
confusion, I couldn't make out anything, or hear what you said, and I
thought for certain they'd got away with the poor things;" and she
patted Dick's head again, to his great delight and Huldah's. "I must sit
down, I am that shaken," and she crept over to a chair and dropped into

it wearily, "and I am sure you must be too, child. I wish the fire hadn't
gone out; it seems chilly now, for all 'twas such a hot day,--at least, I
am chilly."
"Let me light up the fire for you?" asked Huldah, eagerly. "You do look
cold, ma'am. Shall I make you a cup of tea, or get you some milk or
something?"
The scene they had just passed through seemed to have broken down
some barrier, and drawn them as close together as though they had
known each other a long time.
Martha Perry hesitated a moment, though not now because she
distrusted Huldah. She was thinking, ought she to afford it?" Yes,
child," she answered, at last. "I don't believe I could sleep if I went to
bed as I am, I feel all unstrung and chilled." Then her mind went back
to the thought which troubled her most--"I wonder if the fowls will be
really all right," she mused, anxiously.
"Oh yes, ma'am." Huldah had no doubts on that point. "Those fellows
would be afraid to come back. Dick did give them a scare, springing
out of the dark on them like that, and they're too hurt about the legs to
want to walk any further than they can help, yet awhile!"
"Oh yes, of course," in accents of great relief, "I'd forgotten. They
wouldn't want to come and face Dick again, and they wouldn't know
but what he was mine, and always living here."
A bright idea came to Huldah. "Would you like me to let Dick out into
the garden again. He'd see that nobody came into it. Nobody wouldn't
dare touch anything with him there, I know!"
The suggestion evidently pleased Mrs. Perry, and relieved her greatly.
"Now that would be a comfort," she said, gratefully. "I'd feel ever so
safe then. On a warm night like this he can't hurt, can he?"
Huldah laughed. "Dick doesn't know what 'tis to sleep in," she said.
"The most he ever had was a sack thrown down under the van, unless

when Charlie was put in a stable, and they'd let Dick go in too, but
Uncle Tom liked best to have him about, to guard the van."
All the time she was talking she was laying in the fire quickly and
deftly. Mrs. Perry watched her