ver,
was never hit, for he kept a respectful distance from his enemies.

Their work done, the men got into the cart and drove away, without
having noticed the two boys crouching beside the pile of soil in
the shadow. The dog began running backwards and forwards along the
edge of the pit, which being only lately dug was still deep, though
filling up very fast in these terrible days of drought and heat.

The boys rose up and called to him kindly. He did not notice them
at first, but finally came, and looked up in their faces with
appealing eyes, as though he begged of them to give him back his
master.

"Touch him not, Ben," said Joseph to his brother, who would have
taken the dog into his embrace, "he has been in a plague stricken
house. Let us coax him to yon pool, and wash him there; and then,
if he will go with us, we will take him and welcome. It may be he
will be a safeguard from danger; and it would be sorrowful indeed
to leave him here."

The dog was divided in mind between watching the pit's mouth and
going with the kindly-spoken boys, who coaxed and called to him;
but at last it seemed as though the loneliness of the place, and
the natural instinct of the canine mind to follow something human,
prevailed over the other instinct of watching for the return of his
master from this strange resting place. Perhaps the journey in the
cart and the promiscuous burial had confused the poor beast's mind
as to whether indeed his master lay there at all. With many wistful
glances backwards, he still followed the boys; and when they paused
at length beside a spring of fresh water, he needed little urging
to jump in and refresh himself with a bath, emerging thence in
better spirits and ravenously hungry, as they quickly found when
they opened their wallet and partook of a part of the excellent
provisions packed up for them by their mother.

The young travellers were by this time both tired and sleepy, and
finding near by a soft mossy bank, they lay down and were quickly
asleep, whilst the dog curled himself up contentedly at their feet
and slept also.

When the boys awoke the sun was up, although it was still early
morning. They were bewildered for a few moments to know where they
were, but memory quickly returned to them, and with it a sense of
exhilaration at being no longer cooped up within the walls of a
house, but out in the open country, with the world before them and
the plague-stricken city behind. Even the pres