.

Cyril, scared into semi-insanity by sight of the sudden brief battle,
had caught up a stick from the rubbish at his feet. With this, not at
all knowing what he did, he smote the struggling Lad with every atom of
his feeble force, over the head.

Luckily for the gallant dog, the stick was rotten. It broke, in the
blow; but not before its impact had well-nigh destroyed Lad's
precarious balance.

One clawing hindfoot found toe-room in a flaw of rock. A tremendous
heave of all his strained muscles; and Lad was scrambling to safety on
the ledge.

Cyril's last atom of vigor and resistance had gone into that panic blow
at the dog. Now, the child had flung himself helplessly down, against
the wall of the ledge; and was weeping in delirious hysterics. Lad
moved over to him; hesitated a moment, looking wistfully upward at the
solid ground above. Then, he seemed to decide which way his duty
pointed. Lying down beside the freezing child, he pressed his great
shaggy body close to Cyril's; protecting him from the swirling snow and
from the worst of the cold.

The dog's dark, deep-set eyes roved watchfully toward the crevice,
alert for sign of any other marauder that might issue forth. His own
shaggy shoulder was hurting him, annoyingly, from the wildcat's bite.
But to this he gave no heed. Closer yet, he pressed his warm, furry
body to the ice-cold youngster; fending off the elements as valorously
as he had fended off the wildcat.

The warmth of the great body began to penetrate Cyril's numbed senses.
The child snuggled to the dog, gratefully. Lad's pink tongue licked
caressingly at the white face; and the collie whimpered crooning
sympathy to the little sufferer.

So, for a time the dog and the child lay there; Cyril's numb body
warming under the contact.

Then, at a swift intake of the windy air, Lad's whimper changed to a
thunder of wild barking. His nostrils had told him of the search
party's approach, a few hundred yards to the windward.

Their dispiritingly aimless hunt changing into a scrambling rush in the
direction whence came the faint-heard barks, the searchers trooped
toward the ledge.

"Here we are!" shrilled the child, as the Master's halloo sounded
directly above. "Here we are! Down here! A--a lion tackled us, awhile
back. But we licked him;--I and Laddie!"

CHAPTER VII. The Juggernaut

Long shadows were stretching lazily athwart the lawn from the gnarled
old giant trees. Over the whole drows