o had never forsaken him, came up to him, wagging
his tail, and holding something in his mouth. The little, boy took it
from him, and saw it was a handkerchief nicely pinned together, which
someone had dropped and the dog had picked up; and upon opening it he
found several slices of bread and meat, which the little boy ate with
great satisfaction, and felt himself extremely refreshed with his
meal. "So," said the little boy, "I see that if I have given you a
breakfast you have given me a supper, and a good turn is never lost,
not even to a dog."

He then once more attempted to escape from the woods, but it was to no
purpose; he only scratched his legs with the briars, and slipped down
in the dirt, without being able to find his way out. He was just going
to give up all further attempts in despair, when he happened to see a
horse feeding before him, and going up to him saw, by the light of the
moon which just then began to shine a little, that it was the very
same horse he had fed in the morning. "Perhaps," said the little boy,
"this creature that I have been so good to will let me get upon his
back, and he may bring me out of the wood, as he is accustomed to feed
in this neighborhood."

The little boy then went up to the horse, speaking to him and stroking
him, and the horse let him mount his back without opposition, and then
proceeded slowly through the wood, grazing as he went, till he brought
him to an opening which led to the high road. The little boy was much
rejoiced at this and said: "If I hadn't saved the creature's life in
the morning I should have been obliged to have stayed here all the
night. I see by this that a good deed is never lost."

But the poor little boy had yet a greater danger to undergo, for as he
was going along a solitary lane two men rushed out upon him, laid hold
of him, and were going to strip him of his clothes; but just as they
were beginning to do it the little dog bit the leg of one of the men
with so much violence that he left the little boy and pursued the dog,
which ran howling and barking away. In this instant a voice was heard
that cried out: "There are the rascals! Let us knock them down!" which
frightened the remaining man so much that he ran away, and his
companion followed him.

The little boy then looked up, and saw that it was the sailor whom he
had relieved in the morning, carried upon the shoulders of the blind
man whom he had helped out of the pond. "There, my little de