any moons now there's been a
pack av thim wild dogs a-runnin' through the woods. Many a night have
I listened to the same bayin' and yappin' as they trailed after a
deer."

A flash of understanding came into Jud's face.

"Oh! now I see what you mean," he went on to say. "Wild dogs they
were, that for some reason have abandoned their homes with people, and
gone back to the old free hunting ways of their ancestors. I've heard
about such things. But say! how did it happen they tackled you two?"

Bluff and his guilty companion exchanged looks, and as he scratched
his head the former went on to confess.

"Why, you see, it was this way," he began. "Sandy and I began to get
awful tired of staying indoors after you fellows went away. Three days
of it was just too much for our active natures to stand. So we made
up a plan to take a little walk around, and see if we could run across
any game."

At that Sandy held up a couple of partridges.

"All we got, and all we saw," he remarked, "but they were enough to
set that savage bunch of wild dogs on us. Whew! but they were hungry
and reckless. But you go on and tell the story, Bluff."

"When we saw them heading our way," continued the other, "we thought
they were just ordinary dogs running loose. But as they came closer
both of us began to see that they were a savage looking lot. In the
lead was a big mastiff that looked like a lion to us."

"But you had your guns with you, didn't you?" asked Jud.

"That's right, we did," replied Bluff. "But you see before we made up
our minds the kiyi crowd was dangerous they were nearly on us, yelping
and snapping like everything. That big chap in the lead gave me a
shiver just to look at him; and there were three others coming
full-tilt close behind him."

"We've since made up our minds," again interrupted Sandy, "that they
must have scented our birds, and were crazy to get them. Though even
if we'd thrown the partridges away I believe the pack would have
attacked us like so many tigers."

"At the very last," Bluff went on, "I knew we ought to be doing
something. So I yelled out to Sandy who had the shotgun to pepper that
big mastiff before he could jump us, and that I'd take care of the
next creature."

"Well, I tried to do it," Sandy affirmed, "but my first shot went
wild, because Bluff here knocked my elbow just when I pulled the
trigger. But I had better luck with the second barrel, for I brought
one of the other dogs down flat