"'He is punishing him pretty badly, I'll admit,' said the stranger, so
calmly that Jim nearly exploded.

"'If you don't call that dog o' yourn off,' he yelled, purple with rage,
'by all that's holy, I will, and 'twill be with a shot-gun.'

"The man saw he meant it, so he whistled softly."

"And all this time Bull was being punished?" said Mrs. Wescott.

"Yes; he was simply down and out. He didn't seem to have the power to
move a muscle. When his master whistled, the big collie stood still,
cocked one ear, and then trotted over, as if what he had done to poor
Bull were just in the day's work.

"'You brute!' Jim raged. 'I don't know which is worse, you or your dog!'

"The man only patted his dog, and said, 'You've done a good day's work,
old man.'

"This last shot was lost on Jim, for he was already bending over Bull,
patting his poor old mangled head and calling him all the endearing names
he could think of. Finally, seeing that Bull was either too weak or too
ashamed to get up and could only wag his stub of a tail, he picked him up
very tenderly and started for home.

"That was anything but a triumphal journey. An army returning after
overwhelming defeat could not have attracted more attention than those
two old warriors. Heads popped out of every door and window, and before
he was halfway home he had a train of small boys following him. I
declare, when I saw the old man, he was almost crying. When I went up to
him and patted the dog's head, he said, brokenly, 'He's all I've got, and
now they've even gone and done him up!'"

"Poor old Jim," said Mrs. Wescott. "Everyone hated Bull, but you can't
help feeling sorry for him and his master when they're down and out."

"Oh, it was really pitiful," said Lucile, "and it made me so desperate to
see all those thoughtless cruel boys following him, hooting at him, and
laughing at him and calling poor old battered Bull all sorts of names. So
I turned around and looked at them. I saw that little Bob Fletcher was
one of the crowd.

"'Bob,' I said, 'suppose your Rover had been hurt--would you like to be
laughed at?'

"'I'd like to see anybody that'd try,' said he, manfully.

"'Then why do you turn round and make fun of Bull when he's in trouble?
It seems to me you're acting mighty like cowards!'

"The words had a magical effect. I don't suppose it had struck the boys
in that light before, but it was more than their manhood could stand to
be called cowards.

"'We ain'