But, next morning, there was quite another phase of life awaiting
him. Like most Great Moments, this exploit of Lad's was not on
the free list. And Trouble set in;--grim and sinister trouble.

Breakfast was over. The Mistress and the Master were taking their
wonted morning stroll through the grounds. Lad cantered along,
ahead of them. The light bullet-scratch on his foreleg did not
lame or annoy him. He inspected everything of canine interest;
sniffing expert inquiry at holes which might prove to be rabbit
warrens; glaring in truculent threat up some tree which might or
might not harbor an impudent squirrel; affecting to see objects
of mysterious import in bush clumps; crouching in dramatic threat
at a fat stag-beetle which scuttled across his path.

There are an immense number of worth-while details for a very
young collie, in even the most casual morning walk; especially if
his Mistress and his Master chance to be under his escort. And
Laddie neglected none of these things. If a troop of bears or a
band of Indians or a man-eating elephant were lurking anywhere in
the shrubbery or behind tree-trunks, Lad was not going to fail in
discovering and routing out such possible dangers to the peace of
mind of his two adored deities.

Scent and sight presently were attracted by a feeble fluttering
under a low-limbed catalpa tree in whose branches a pair of
hysterical robins were screeching. Lad paused, his tulip ears at
attention, his plumed tail swaying. Then he pushed his long
muzzle through a clump of grass and emerged carrying a flapping
and piping morsel between his mighty jaws. The birds, on the limb