There was some one else ready to do something for them, however.
The dog had almost reached the hindmost and smallest of the boys when Jack Sheldon suddenly came out of one of the cottages.
He saw the danger of the boys in an instant and plunged forward as if making a tackle in a game of football.
The dog was right in front of him at this moment and six feet away.
Suddenly the weight of a boy of a hundred and twenty-five pounds was dropped upon the dog’s back with a force that laid him flat and gave him a start for which he was not looking.
In an instant he was flat on his belly on the ground with all the breath and the greater part of his desire to injure some one knocked out of him.
He was able to give one yelp and then Jack suddenly sprang off his back, gave him a contemptuous shove with his foot and said:
“Get out of here and go about your business!”
With his tail between his legs and a yelp of fright the dog suddenly turned and went down the road as fast as he had come up.
“Well! that was some way of dealing with a mad dog!” said Billy, with a laugh. “You knocked all the fight out of him in a jiffy.”