the two people who were his gods. He was not at all happy. It had
been an interesting day. But its conclusion did not please
Laddie, in any manner.

And, when things did not please Lad, he had a very determined
fashion of trying to avoid them;--unless perchance the Mistress
or the Master had decreed otherwise.

The Master had brought him to this obnoxious strange place. But
he had not bidden Lad stay there. And the collie merely waited
his chance to get out. At ten o'clock, one of the kennelmen made
the night rounds. He swung open the door of the little stall in
which Lad had been locked for the night. At least, he swung the
door halfway open. Lad swung it the rest of the way.

With a plunge, the collie charged out through the opening portal,
ducked between the kennelman's legs, reached the open gate of the
enclosure in two more springs; and vanished down the road into
the darkness.

As soon as he felt the highway under his feet, Lad's nose drooped
earthward; and he sniffed with all his might. Instantly, he
caught the scent he was seeking;--a scent as familiar to him as
that of his own piano cave; the scent of the Place's car-tires.

It had taken Harmon and the Master the best part of ten minutes
to drive through the park and to the boarding kennels. It took
Lad less than half that time to reach the veranda of the Harmon
house. Circling the house and finding all doors shut, he lay down
on the mat; and settled himself to sleep there in what comfort he