t night. They buried him in a few days. The old
woman was left all alone. The night after the funeral, when she put out
the light, she thought that she heard a feeble howl in the still air,
and stopped and listened. But she never heard that sound again. The next
morning she opened the door and looked out. There, under a bench where
his master had often caressed him in the summer evenings of many years,
lay the body of old Faithful, dead. He had never ceased to watch the
house, and had died true. 'Tis the best thing that we can say of any
living creature, man or dog, he was true-hearted.

"Remember the story. It will make you better. The storm is clearing."

The cloud had passed over, leaving behind the blue sky of spring.

"That was an awful good dog to have," said John Hanks. "There are human
folks wouldn't 'a' done like that."

"I wouldn't," said one of the men. "But here, I declare, comes the old
woman. Been out neighborin', and got caught in the storm, and gone back
to Pigeon Creek. We won't have to tell that there story about her and
the wig, and Johnnie Kongapod here. She'll tell it to you herself,
elder--she'll tell it to you herself. She's a master-hand to go to
meetin', and sing, and tell stories, she is.--Here, elder--this is Aunt
Olive."

The same woman that Jasper had met on his way to Pigeon Creek came into
the blacksmith's shop, and held her hands over the warm fire.

"Proper smart rain--spring tempest," said she. "Winter has broke, and we
shall have steady weather.--Found your way, elder, didn't you? Well, I'm
glad. It's a mighty poor sign for an elder to lose his way. You took my
advice, didn't you?--turned to the right and kept straight ahead, and
you got there. Well, that's what I tell 'em in conference-meetin's--turn
to the right and keep straight ahead, and they'll get there; and then I
sing out, and shout, 'I'm bound for the kingdom!' Come over and see me,
elder. I'm good to everybody except lazy people.--Abraham Lincoln, what
are you lazing around here for?--And Johnnie Kongapod! This ain't any
place for men in the spring of the year! I've been neighborin'. I have
to do it just to see if folks are doin' as they oughter. There are a
great many people who don't do as they oughter in this world. Now I am
goin' straight home between the drops."

The woman hurried away and disappeared under the trees.

The cloud broke in two dark, billowy masses, and red sunset, like a sea,
spread over the prair