him at any price."

"I should say not!" replied the Judge. "That little dog has been his
constant companion for three years when visiting his patients. Be the day
ever so hot or cold, it is never too hot, never too cold for Zip to go
along. In winter he sits up beside the doctor wrapped to the chin in a
big, warm robe, and in summer in a light one to keep the flies from biting
him.

"Here comes my wife down the garden path. She must have heard us drive in
and our not coming to the house has aroused her curiosity and now she's
coming to see what we are doing. Won't she be surprised and delighted when
she sees we have found her silver?"

And she surely was, but even more surprised at the way they had found it
than at the discovery. She looked around to pet Zip and take him to the
house and give him some cake and milk, of which he was very fond, but he
and Tabby had both disappeared.

[Illustration]

The next day it all came out in the Maplewood daily paper, telling how
Zip, Dr. Elsworth's little fox terrier, had tracked the burglar to the
spot where he had buried his booty, and that they had recovered it all,
not losing so much as a spoon. It also recounted how the Judge had ordered
the jeweler to make a solid silver collar for Zip with his name engraved
on it and what he had done to deserve this honor.

When Zip and Tabby came trotting up the front path on their return from
the Judge's, the doctor was sitting on his front porch, reading the
afternoon paper. On seeing Zip, he put it down and exclaimed,

"Well, you rascal, where have you been all this time? And what do you mean
by making me take all my rides alone? You look all draggled and dirty and
as if you had been in mischief. Perhaps you have been getting Tabby into
mischief too, for I see she is with you."

"So you think he has been in mischief, do you?" mewed Tabby in a cross
voice, and she avoided his hand when he attempted to stroke her. She
thought to herself, "The doctor will feel badly when he reads in
tomorrow's paper that Zip, instead of being in mischief, has made himself
the hero of the town."

But Zip did not mind. He knew his looks and behavior were against him, but
that on the morrow all would be explained and the doctor would be as proud
as Punch of him. So he quietly trotted around the corner of the house and
went for a swim in the horse trough.

The next day when the doctor drove into town with Zip by his side,
everyone wanted to pet him