him. "NO! ! He can't have him! Nobody can! Why Chum's my dawg!
I've learned him to fetch cows an' shake hands an'--an'
everything! An' he drug me out'n the lake, when I was
a-drowndin'! An' he done a heap more'n that fer me! He's drug me
up to my feet, out'n wuthlessness, too; an' he's learned me that
livin' is wuth while! He's my--my--he's my dawg!" he finished
lamely, his scared eyes sweeping the circle of faces in panic
appeal.

"That will do, Ferris!" coldly exhorted the colonel. "We wish no
scenes here. You will take this seventyfive dollar check which
Mr. Gault has so kindly made out for you, and you will go."

"Leavin' Chum behind?" babbled Ferris, aghast. "Not leavin' Chum
behind? PLEASE not!"

He pulled himself together with an effort that drove his nails
bitingly into his palms and left his face gray. He saw the
uselessness of pleading with these people of polished iron, who
could not understand his fearful loss. For the sake of Chum--for
the sake of the self-respecting man he himself had become--he
would not let himself go to pieces. Forcing his shaken voice to a
dry steadiness, he addressed the uneasily squirming Gault.

"What d'j' you pay for Chum when you bought him off'n that Hudson
River feller--that Glenmuir chap?" he demanded.

"Why, as a matter of fact," responded Gault, "as Colonel Marden
has told you, I couldn't have hoped to get such a promising
collie at any price it--"