with that ugly instrument would soon have stopped his singing.

Now, just above the verandah was a half-opened window, and into this
Mathias peered anxiously.

No signs of Mike.

A voice was heard now calling to the faithful guardian of the house to
be silent, but Mike refused emphatically to be comforted; thereupon,
the person very imprudently called the dog to her and tied him up.

This did not quiet him.

So the person in question tripped down the garden to see if there was
really any reason for the dog's singular beheaviour.

In passing down the path she went so close to the verandah, that the
skirts of her dress actually brushed aside the creeping plants which
garnished the trellis work.

"Snarling, barking little beast!" quoth Marietta to herself, "and all
about nothing; I wish they would lose him."

But when she got to the bottom of the garden and discovered the garden
door open, she altered her tone.

"How very silly of me to leave the door unlocked," she said to herself.
"Poor little fellow, poor Mike, I'm coming, good dog. Heard someone, I
suppose. Good gracious, what's that? I thought I saw something move
there. I'm getting as nervous as a cat ever since those men stopped us