houted. Away went
the man, and away went the dog.

Up the road, into the brush, out again, and then into a field, down a
hill, nip and tuck! At Tom Riley's fence, Rob got him by the leg, but
the trowsers were old and the piece came out: and then the man dashed
into Riley's old tobacco barn, and slammed the door almost on the dog's
nose.

Rob ran around the house to see if there was an open window, and finding
none, he went back to the door and lay down to wait.

Harry and Kate ran home as fast as they could, and after a while Rob
came too. He had waited a reasonable time at the door of the barn, but
the man had not come out.

CHAPTER XII.

TONY ON THE WAR-PATH.

"She did it all," said Harry, when they had told the tale to half the
village, on the store-porch.

"I!" exclaimed Kate. "Rob, you mean."

"That's a good dog," said Mr. Darby, the storekeeper; "what'll you take
for him?"

"Not for sale," said Harry.

"Rob's all very well," remarked Tony Kirk; "but it won't do to have a
feller like that in the woods, a fright'nin' the children. I'd like to
know who he is."

Just at this moment Uncle Braddock made his appearance, hurrying along
much faster than he usually walked, with his eyes and teeth glistening
in the sunshine.

"I seed him!" he cried, as soon as he came up.

"Who'd you see?" cried several persons.

"Oh! I seed de dog after him, and I come along as fas' as I could, but
couldn't come very fas'. De ole wrapper cotch de wind."

"Who was it?" asked Tony.

"I seed him a-runnin'. Bress my soul! de dog like to got him!"

"But who was he, Uncle Braddock?" said Mr. Loudon, who had just reached
the store from his house, where Kate, who had run home, had told the
story. "Do you know him?"

"Know him? Reckon I does?" said Uncle Braddock, "an' de dog ud a knowed
him too, ef he'd a cotched him! Dat's so, Mah'sr John."

"Well, tell us his name, if you know him," said Mr. Darby.

"Ob course, I knows him," said Uncle Braddock. "I'se done knowed him fur
twenty or fifty years. He's George Mason."

The announcement of this name caused quite a sensation in the party.

"I thought he was down in Mississippi," said one man.

"So he was; I reckons," said Uncle Braddock, "but he's done come back
now. I'se seed him afore to-day, and Aunt Matilda's seed him, too. Yah,
ha! Dat dere dog come mighty nigh cotchin' him!"

George Mason had been quite a noted character in that neighborhood five
or six yea