is heels everywhere he went,
but at night insisted upon extending his giant frame before the boy's
doorsill from which vantage ground neither threats nor persuasions
could stir him. In consequence the lonely hours the lad might have
experienced were put to rout by the companionship of this silent
comrade.

The Airedales, on the other hand, were less successfully won over to a
new allegiance. Although Richard, who owned them, took not the
smallest care of them and serenely passed them over to some one else
to be ministered unto, nevertheless they apparently sensed the
arrangement was one of convenience and returned scant gratitude for
what was done for them. They were polite, tolerant, but never
whole-heartedly cordial. Dick was their master and they would have no
other.

Fortunately Miss Nancy's Sealyham, Rags, was more responsive;
nevertheless, although she frolicked about Walter's feet and accepted
food from his hand it was more because she loved to play and was
hungry than because her affection for the boy went very deep.

As for the troupe of Pekingese, with aristocratic noses tilted high in
air, they submitted to being washed, brushed, and fed by Walter much
as they would have accepted the services of any other maid or valet.
They seemed to be conscious of their pedigree and claim attention as
their right. An occasional wag of the tail or the rare passage of a
rough little tongue across one's hand was all the gratitude His
Highness ever received from them.

With the Crowninshield family, however, the boy made better progress
and as he and Dick became acquainted many a pleasant hour did they
spend together. Not infrequently, when the eager yelps of the dogs
heralded the fact that they were off for their afternoon run, the New
York lad would join the party and while the animals raced this way and
that the two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
interests.

[Illustration: The two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and kindred
interests. _Page_ 76.]

"Do you happen to know anything about wireless?" inquired Richard one
day when, with Achilles prancing far ahead and Boy Blue, Jack Horner,
and Rags dashing to keep up with him, the group strode along the
beach.

"I ought to," was Walter's smiling response. "I've a brother who is an
operator at the Seaver Bay station."

"No! Really?" The exclamations voiced both surprise and admiration.
"How old is he?"

"Twenty-two or three."

"Gee! And he can r