was kept; but again Achilles was in his path.

"Get out of my way, you beggar!" smiled Walter, playfully attempting
to shake the creature off. "What is it? Are you clean starved? If you
are you must stand out of the way so I can get you something to eat."

But the dog refused to move.

Planting himself squarely in the lad's pathway he began to bark
furiously.

Then he raced to the gate, sniffed, and struggled to get out.

"What on earth has struck you, you giant?" inquired Walter, regarding
the great creature in bewilderment. "Don't you want your dinner?"

It was plain in an instant that no matter what the lure of a bone
might ordinarily be to-day, it held no charms for the big police dog.
He had one wish and only one, and that was to be released from the
wire enclosure in which he was penned and left free to follow some
plan of his own which evidently absorbed him. So insistent was his
demand that it was not to be denied and Walter slipped the bolt and
allowed him to race away. Then the boy turned his attention to feeding
the other dogs.

"Achilles probably has a bone buried somewhere," he muttered to
himself, "and is going to dig it up. Just why he prefers stale food to
fresh I can't see; but apparently he does."

Nevertheless His Highness had scarcely finished giving the dogs their
dinner before Achilles was back again, and with no bone, either. On
the contrary he was hot, breathless, and panting from what had
obviously been a long run through the woods. Pine needles clinging to
his furry coat attested that he had been over in the grove that
flanked the estate on the west.

"Couldn't find your hidden treasure, eh, old boy?" commented Walter.
"Gone, was it? Some other dog taken it?"

But Achilles failed to accept the jest with the cordiality such jokes
commonly evoked. He neither wagged his tail nor stretched his jaws
into a grin. Instead he began to yelp and bound back and forth upon
the lawn.

"You act possessed. What on earth is the matter?" asked the boy,
coming toward the gate and starting to open it.

No sooner was his hand on the latch, however, than the Belgian raced
up with sharp barks of delight.

"Want me to come out, do you? Got something to show me?"

Again Achilles barked joyfully.

"Aren't you the tyrant, though?" remarked Walter. "I've just been to
walk and am tired as the deuce. What do I wish to go tramping over the
country again for?"

Nevertheless, despite his grudging protest