came round to the office door, and--" Gordon stopped with
a miserable sigh which was almost a groan, and dipped the cloth in the
basin.

"How did you get him off?" asked James.

"I had the whip, and Aaron came in just then with that damned mare. She
had balked. I don't think it is the jugular. It can't be. Damn it, how
he bleeds! Run into the office, Elliot, and get the absorbent cotton and
the brandy. I've got to stop this somehow. Oh, my God!"

James suddenly recognized the man on the ground, and gave an exclamation
which Gordon did not seem to notice. "For God's sake, don't let that
dog out!" he cried. "Don't risk the office door. Go around the house,
the front way! Be quick!"

James obeyed. He rushed around the house, and opened the front door.
Immediately Clemency was clinging to him in the dim vestibule. "Mother
is asleep. I think Uncle Tom must have given her some medicine to make
her sleep. Oh, what is the matter? Who is that man out there, and what
ails him, and what ails the dog? I started to go in the office, but he
leapt against the door, so I didn't. I was afraid he might get out and
run upstairs and wake mother. Oh, what is it all about?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, dear," replied James. "Now you must be
a good little girl, and let me go. Your uncle is in a hurry for some
things in the office." He put away her clinging arms gently, and hurried
on toward the office, but the girl followed him. "If I don't stand ready
to shut the door behind you, that dog will be out," she said. All at
once a conviction as to something seized her, and she cried out in
terror and horror, "Oh, I know it is that man out there, and Jack wants
to get at him. I know."

"It is nothing for you to worry about, dear."

"I know. Is he going to die? Is he hurt much?"

"No, your uncle doesn't think so. Don't hinder me, dear."

"No, I won't. I will stand ready and bang the door together after you
before Jack can get out. Oh, it is that man!" Clemency was
half-hysterical, but she stood her ground. When James opened the office
door cautiously and slipped through the opening, she pushed it together
with surprising strength. "Don't get bitten yourself," she called out
anxiously.

For a moment James thought that he might be bitten, for the dog was so
frenzied that he was almost past the point of recognizing his friends.
He made a powerful leap upon James, the crest upon his back as rigid as
steel, but James snatched at his col