"On the first day of the second week of the holidays, I had sauntered away from the house, and was hunting for nuts in a little wood or plantation, not far from the grounds of Squire Aveling. I was absorbed in my occupation until I heard a scream in the adjoining lane, and the terrified voice of a girl exclaim, 'Oh! papa! papa! do come!' and then another scream, followed by the deep bay of a dog. I bounded from the wood, cleared the old palings which separated it from the lane with one jump, and was just in time to throttle a big brute of a dog round the neck, as it was in the very act of springing upon a little girl, who, in terror, was crouching down in the road.
"The dog was strong, and I found it no easy matter to hold the brute, and restrain its savage attempts to catch some part of my person between its jaws. But just at the moment when I thought I could hold on no longer, and should be compelled to relinquish my grasp, and while tumbling over and over in the dust, a voice cried out—while I could hear rapid steps approaching,—'Hold on; I'll be with you in a minute;' and almost at the same instant the dog was pulled from my grasp, and a heavy whip descended upon its back and flanks, causing it to yell out so lustily that the wood echoed again.
"By the time I had risen to my feet, and shaken some of the dust from my clothes, the dog had run howling away, while as pretty a looking little girl as ever I saw was clinging round the neck of a tall gentleman, who was endeavouring to hush her terrified sobs. This was soon accomplished, for what child does not feel safe in its father's arms? and the gentleman, turning to me, held out his hand, and, with a smile, said,—
"'Let me thank you heartily and warmly for saving my little girl from that savage dog.'
"'Oh, sir,' I replied, blushing up to the roots of my hair, 'it was not much; I should have been a coward had I not done as I did.'
"'My little maid here does not think it was a mere nothing, neither do I. I don't think many boys would have had the courage to do what you did.'
"'I think, sir, that you can't know much about boys to say that, for I could bring no end of a number who would have done the same thing; aye, and better than I did.'
"'Well, I won't contradict you; but what is your name? and where do you come from?'
"'My name, sir,' I replied, 'is Hall—Arthur Hall, and I am one of the boys from Ascot House.'
"'But how is it you are here—I thought it was holiday-time?'