"Scotty" felt the dog's legs, and noted the breadth of his chest. "What
do you want for him, Ben?"

"Would ten dollars be too much?" asked the boy, eagerly.

"Ten dollars would be too little," quickly exclaimed the Woman. "You see
we are getting ahead of all the others who do not know his fine points
yet, and we should be willing to pay something extra for this
opportunity. Do you think that twenty-five dollars would be fair,
considering that we are in on the ground floor?"

"Yes, ma'am, that's lots more'n I expected. But it ain't so much the
money I'm gittin' as the home he's gittin' an' the trainin' an' all."

"Well, that's a bargain, then; come to my husband's office--Darling and
Dean, on Front Street, you know--the first time you are in town, and we
will give you a check; and you can bring Baldy with you then."

"I guess," slowly, "you'd better take him now. It 'ud be easier fer me
t' let him go while I'm kinda worked up to it. Mebbe ef I thought about
it fer a few days I wouldn't be able t' do it, an' he mightn't have
another chanct like this in his whole life."

He drew a frayed bit of rope from a torn pocket, and tied it to the old
strap that served as Baldy's collar--handing the end to "Scotty."

In the deepening shadows of the chill November dusk the boy's face was
ashen. He stooped over as if to see that the knot in the rope was secure
at the dog's neck--but the Woman knew in that brief instant the