the ruff than he scrambled to his feet;
ducked under the policeman's arm and set off, around a corner, in
something better than record time. Somehow, the encounter had deprived
him of the nerve and the pluck to stand his ground and to explain that
he had merely been trying to help with the luggage. His only desire,
just then, was to put as many thousand miles as possible between
himself and the tawny demon that had assaulted him.

"Laddie!" gasped the Mistress, unbelieving, as the policeman and most
of the little crowd set off after the fugitive. "LADDIE! What in the
world--?"

"He--he must have been in the car, all the time," gabbled the Master,
brilliantly. "He must have jumped in, while we were at breakfast. See,
he's cleared a space for himself between two of the bags. He's been
there, all the time, and we never--"

"If he hadn't been there," suggested the Mistress, "we'd be looking now
for one or two pieces of luggage that had disappeared. When the Grays
went through here, one of their suitcases was--"

"But what in blazes are we going to do with him?" broke in the Master,
worriedly. "We can't take him all the way home. And I won't trust to
sending him by express. He might get backed onto a siding and be kept
there for days, without food or water. Besides, they won't let a dog go
by express unless he's in a crate. What are we to do?"

"Why," said the Mistress, stooping to stroke the silken head that
rested against her knee, "Why, Laddie seems to have settled that for
us, by coming along. He's surely paid his way. We'll have to take him
the rest of the trip. The Harmons will be glad to see him, I'm sure.
Everybody's always glad to see Laddie, wherever we go. Let's take him.
It's the only thing to do. We can explain to them how it happened."

And so, after more discussion, it was settled. Even as most things had
a way of being settled when the Mistress proposed them.

Three hours later, the car stopped before the entrance of a roomily
beautiful house in a roomily beautiful residence park, in the upper
Catskills.

The welcoming smiles on the faces of host and hostess suffered sudden
eclipse; as a huge mahogany-and-white collie stepped majestically from
the car at the heels of the two guests.

"This is Lad," introduced the Mistress. "I hope you don't mind our
bringing him. I can promise he won't be a bit of trouble to anybody. We
didn't mean to bring him. It just happened. This was the way:--"

While she wa