shoulders. When he was quite able to grasp the situation he found himself
on the broad of his back, with a big mastiff lying on his chest, one paw
on either side of his head, and a long, warm tongue lolling in his face
with affectionate familiarity. The expression in the dog's eye, he
noticed, was decidedly genial, but its attitude was firm. The amiable eye
reassured him; he was not going to be eaten, but at the same time he was
given to understand that that dog would do his duty though the heavens
fell.

A minute later the mastiff was whistled off; Dick was taken by the ear
and gently assisted to his feet, and stood defiantly under the stern eye
of a rugged, spare-boned, iron-grey Scotchman, six feet high, and framed
like an iron cage. Jock retained his hold on the boy's ear.

'Eh, eh, what is it, laddie?' he said, 'enterin' an' stealin', enterin'
an' stealin'. A monstrous crime. Come wi' me.'

Dick followed reluctantly, but the grip on his ear lobe was emphatic, and
in his one short struggle for freedom he felt as if he were grappling
with the great poppet-legs at the Silver Stream. Summers paused for a
moment.

'Laddie,' he said, 'd'ye mind my wee bit dog?'

The dog capered like a frivolous cow, flopped his ears, and exhibited
himself in a cheerful, well-meaning way.

'If ye'd rather, laddie, the dog will bring ye home,' continued the man.

'Skite!' said Dick, with sullen scorn; but he went quietly after that.