Everett T. Tomlinson

“ The question amused him, but even while it occurred, the men passed on without stopping, and Robert was dimly aware that his hiding-place had not been discovered after all. The men were gone and he was safe for the present.
As the moments dragged on, his thirst became overpowering. Even life, he persuaded himself, was no longer to be desired if it must be had at the price of such suffering. His lips were parched, his throat burning. At last when the dusk had deepened, he crept from beneath the pile of brush, and in the distance saw the light from the window of the little house on the knoll. ”

“ Suddenly he heard a sound near him that caused him to forget his misery for a moment. A dog was sniffing about the brush heap, and as Robert peered out he could see that it was the same dog which he had felled a little while before in the woods. The blows he had given had not been fatal, he concluded with a sinking of his heart, and his present peril was greatly increased by the presence of the dog near his hiding-place. Even then he could see that the dog had discovered him, for it stood with bristling hair growling and gazing straight at him. ”

“ Still desperate and determined in spite of his own suffering, Robert, when he discovered that he himself was unharmed by the fall, started quickly into the woods by the roadside, and summoning all his strength ran swiftly forward. But a fresh source of alarm appeared as he heard the dog approaching from amongst the trees. It was not barking, and so could not reveal its presence by sound; and stopping for the moment and seizing a club from the ground Robert braced himself against a tree and waited for the dog to approach ”