his path."

But if the Mistress remained moveless, Lad did not. Seeing her
peril even more swiftly than did she, he made one lightning dive
from his perch on the car seat.

He did not leap at random. Lad's brain always worked more quickly
than did his lithe body; flyingly rapid as were that body's
motions. As he gathered himself for the spring, his campaign was
mapped out.

Down upon the charging beast swooped a furry whirlwind of
burnished mahogany-and-snow. Down it swooped with the whirring
speed and unerring aim of an eagle. Sixty-odd pounds of sinewy
weight smote the lunging mongrel, obliquely, on the left
shoulder; knocking the great brute's legs from under him and
throwing him completely off his balance. Into the dust crashed
the two dogs; Lad on top. Before they struck ground, the collie's
teeth had found their goal ire the side of the larger dog's
throat; and every whalebone muscle in Lad's body was braced to
hold his enemy down.

It was a clever hold. For the fall had thrown the mongrel on his
side. And so long as Lad should be able to keep the great foaming
head in that sideways posture, the other dog could not get his
feet under him again. With his legs in their present position, he
had no power to get up; but lay thrashing and snapping and
snarling; and trying with all his cramped might to free himself
from the muscular grip that held him prostrate.