nearly reached the little porch in front of the house, in which a
slender girl, who had noticed my entrance, stood awaiting my
arrival.

A deep, quick bark answered, almost like an echo, the sound of the
shutting gate, and, sudden as an apparition, the form of an immense
dog loomed in the doorway. I was now near enough to see the savage
aspect of the animal, and the gathering motion of his body, as he
prepared to bound forward upon me. His wolfish growl was really
fearful. At the instant when he was about to spring, a light hand
was laid upon his shaggy neck, and a low word spoken.

"Don't be afraid. He won't hurt you," said a voice, that to me
sounded very sweet and musical.

I now came forward, but in some doubt as to the young girl's power
over the beast, on whose rough neck her almost childish hand still
lay. The dog did not seem by any means reconciled to my approach,
and growled wickedly his dissatisfaction.

"Go in, Tiger," said the girl, not in a voice of authority yet in
her gentle tones was the consciousness that she would be obeyed;
and, as she spoke, she lightly bore upon the animal with her hand,
and he turned away, and disappeared within the dwelling.

"Who's that?" A rough voice asked the question; and now a
heavy-looking man took the dog's place in the door.

"Who are you? What's wanted?" There was something very harsh and
forbidding in the way the man spoke. The girl now laid her hand upon