was assured.

Even in the months of ganglingly leggy awkwardness which
generally separate furry puppyhood from dignified collie
maturity, he gave sure promise of his quality. He was such a dog
as is found perhaps once in a generation; the super-collie that
neither knows nor needs such things as whip and chain; and that
learns the Law with bewildering swiftness. A dog with a brain and
a mighty heart, as well as an endless fund of loveableness and of
gay courage.

Month by month, the youngster developed into a massive giant; his
orange-mahogany coat a miracle of thickness and length, his deep
chest promising power as well as wolflike grace. His mind and his
oddly human traits developed as fast as did his body.

After the first month or so he received privileges never to be
accorded to any other of the Place's dogs in Lad's lifetime. He
slept at night under the music-room piano, in the "cave" that was
his delight. At mealtimes he was even admitted into the sacred
dining-room, where he lay on the floor at the Master's left hand.
He had the run of the house, as fully as any human.

It was when Lad was eighteen months old that the mad-dog scare
swept Hampton village; and reached its crawly tentacles out
across the lake to the mile-distant Place.

Down the village street, one day, trotted an enormous black
mongrel; full in the center of the roadway. The mongrel's heavy
head was low, and lolled from side to side with each lurching