mahogany-and-snow glinting back the showers of sun-rays that
filtered down through the leaves.

Before the watching girl could take further note of him, the
dog's aspect of tense listening merged into certainty. With no
further shadow of doubt as to direction, he set off at a sweeping
run past the house and toward the point.

He ran with head down; and with tawny ruff abristle. There was
something in his lithe gallop that was as ominous as it was
beautiful. And, nervous at the great collie's approach, the girl
squealed.

It had been a dull morning for Lad. The Mistress was in town for
the day. The Master was shut up in his study, hard at work. And,
for once, he had not remembered to call Lad to a resting place on
the study rug; before closing the door on the outside world.
Alone and bored, the collie had wandered into the woods; in quest
of possible rabbits to chase or squirrels to tree. Finding the
sport tame, he started homeward. Midway down the drive, his
supersensitive nostrils caught the whiff of alien humans on the
Place. At the same time, he heard the raucous gabbling of several
voices. Though his near-sighted eyes did not yet show the
intruders to him, yet scent and sound made it ridiculously easy
for him to trace them.

From early puppyhood, Lad had been the official guardian of the
Place. He knew the limits of its thirty acres; from lake to
highroad; from boundary fence to boundary fence. He knew, too,
that visitors must not be molested as long as they were on the