you about it,--I
supposed it was that black bear of Laddie's,--when we had the next
puncture. And that made me forget all about it;--till now. Of course,
it never occurred to me it could be Lad. Because Barret had said he was
in the truck. But--but oh, it WAS Laddie! He--he was fastened, or
caught, in some way. I know he was. Why, I could see him struggle to--"

"Come on!" broke in the Master, hustling into his mackinaw. "Unless
you'll stay here, while I--"

"No," she protested. "I'm going. And I'm going because I'm thinking of
the same thing that's troubling you. I'm thinking of those forest fires
and of what you said about the wind changing and--"

"Come on!" repeated the Master; starting for the garage.

Which shows how maudlinly foolish two otherwise sane people can be;
when they are lucky enough to own such a dog as Sunnybank Lad.
Naturally, the right course, at so cold and late an hour of the autumn
night, and after a long day of packing and motoring and unpacking, was
to go to bed; and to trust to luck that the wise old collie would find
his way back again. Instead, the two set off on a twenty-mile wildgoose
chase, with worried faces and fast-beating hearts. It did not occur to
either of them to stay at home; or to send someone else on the long,
frosty drive in search of the missing dog.

Lad had watched the preparations for departure with increasing worry.
Also, the abnormally sensitive old fellow was wretchedly unhappy.
Except at dog-shows, he had never before been tied up. And at such
shows, the Mistress and the Master were always on hand to pet and
reassure him. Yet, here, he had suffered himself to be tied by a smelly
rope to the rotting post of a lean-to, by a comparative stranger. And,
in the open ground below the hillock, his deities moved back and forth
without so much as an upward glance at him.

Then, to his dismay, truck and car had made off down the mountainside;
and he had been left alone in his imprisonment. Except for a single
unheard bark of protest, Lad made no effort to call back the departing
humans. Never before had they forsaken him. And he had full trust that
they would come back in a few minutes and set him free.

When the car halted, a half-mile below, Lad felt certain his faith was
about to be justified. Then, as it moved on again, he sprang to the end
of his short rope, and tried to break free and follow.

Then came the dying away of the chugging motor's echoes; and silence
ro