house, all of them broken-heartedly weeping, having given up all hope of
ever hearing again of their Helen, when "Spot", the shepherd dog, the
playmate of the children, came racing towards them, swinging a rag, that
he held between his sharp teeth, playfully about his head. He had been
awakened by his mistress's calls for her child, and the lighted lanterns
they carried had fooled the intelligent canine into reasoning that this
was to be a prolongation of the Christmas festivities of the preceding
night, and he had promptly entered into the spirit of the game.

Mrs. McDonald called the dog to her side, and examined the supposed rag
the beast had played with, and found it to be the first clue that she
had thus far discovered, as it was little Helen's red flannel
undergarment. Reeling but upheld by the thought that she might not yet
be too late, poor Mrs, McDonald ordered her boys to take securely hold
of Spot, and then she ran as fast as her fright and weakened feet would
carry her, to the dog's house, but its interior and the usual slim
appearance of the watch dog, disproved the terrible notion which had
caused her to make the hasty trip, that Spot had made a meal of her
baby. Grateful from the bottom of her heart for even this small relief
in her terrible perdicament, she rejoined her boys, and as sort of
forlorn hope, she rubbed Helen's tiny garment against the dog's nose,
and ordered the collie to go and find the missing child.

The intelligent animal seemed to understand what was demanded of him,
for presently, whining as if to appeal to them to go with him, he rushed
forward, and as they followed he led them to the pond, then across the
tracks where he stopped by a small pile of clothes, which proved to be
every stitch of little Helen's garments--shoes, stockings and all, with
the sole exception of a tiny gold locket containing her parents'
pictures, which Mrs. McDonald had hung by its gold chain around the