trudging along the same road with his cap in his hand, a long rifle over one
shoulder and a dog trotting at his heels. Now and then the boy would look
back and scold the dog and the dog would drop his muzzle with shame, until
the boy stooped to pat him on the head, when he would leap frisking before
him, until another affectionate scolding was due. The old mare turned her
head when she heard them coming, and nickered. Without a moment's hesitation
the lad untied her, mounted and rode up the mountain. For two days the man
and the boy had been "riding and tying," as this way of travel for two men
and one horse is still known in the hills, and over the mountain, they were
to come together for the night. At the foot of the spur on the other side,
boy and dog came upon the tall man sprawled at full length across a
moss-covered bowlder. The dog dropped behind, but the man's quick eye caught
him:

"Where'd that dog come from, Chad?" Jack put his belly to the earth and
crawled slowly forward--penitent, but determined.

"He broke loose, I reckon. He come tearin' up behind me 'bout an hour ago,
like a house afire. Let him go." Caleb Hazel frowned.

"I told you, Chad, that we'd have no place to keep him."

"Well, we can send him home as easy from up thar as we can from hyeh--let him
go."

"All right!" Chad understood not a whit better than the dog; for Jack leaped
to his feet and jumped around the school-master, trying to lick his hands,
but the school-master was absorbed and would none of him. There, the
mountain-path turned into a wagon-road and the school-master pointed with one
finger.