ore. Their faintest echoes always brought the dog in eager
response. But tonight, a dozen wait-punctuated blasts brought no other
response than to set the distant village dogs to barking.

The Mistress went back into the house, genuinely worried. Acting on a
sudden idea, she called up the Place's superintendent, at the gatelodge.

"You were down here when the truck came to the house this afternoon,
weren't you?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," said the man. "I was waiting for it. Mike and I helped
Simmons to unload."

"Did you see which way Lad went, when he jumped out of the truck?"
pursued the Mistress. "Or have any of you seen him since then?"

"Why, no, ma'am," came the puzzled answer. "I haven't seen him at all.
I supposed he was in the car with you, and that maybe he'd been in the
house ever since. He wasn't on the truck: That's one sure thing. I saw
it stop; and I stayed till they finished emptying it. Lad wasn't there."

There was a moment's pause. Then, the Mistress spoke again. Her voice
slightly muffled, she said:

"Please find out if there is plenty of gas in my car;--enough to take
it--say, forty miles. Thank you."

"What on earth--?" began the Master, as his wife left the telephone and
picked up an ulster.

"Laddie didn't come home on the truck," she made tremulous reply. "And
he wasn't with us. He hasn't come home all."

"He'll find his way, easily enough," returned the Master, albeit with
no great assurance. "Lad's found his way farther than that. He--"

"If he was going to find his way," interrupted the Mistress, "he'd have
found it before now. I know Laddie. So do you. He is up there. And he
can't get back. He--"

"Nonsense!" laughed the Master. "Why, of course, he--"

"He is up there," insisted the Mistress, "and he can't get back. I know
him well enough to be, sure he'd have overtaken us, when we stopped all
those times to fix the tires;--if he had been left behind. And I know
something else: When we started on, after that first puncture, we were
about half a mile below the knoll. And as we went around the bend,
there was a gap in the trees. I was looking back. For a second, I could
see the lean-to, outlined ever so clearly against the sky. And
alongside of it was standing some animal. It was far away; and we
passed out of sight so suddenly, that I couldn't see what it was;
except that it was large and dark. And it seemed to be struggling to
move from where it stood. I was going to speak to