"Here, mother, you stand back whilst I undo the door," directed Dick.
Mrs. Wilkins, not without some slight misgivings, did as she was bid. Meanwhile Dick went to the door—his small face pale with anticipation—and withdrew the heavy bolts. This done, he lifted the latch, and as a result a gust of storm-wind swept into the cottage kitchen, and a crouching, shivering retriever entered.
"Oh!" cried the child. "What a poor wretched thing! See, mother," he continued, as he shut the door and followed the dog into the centre of the room, "he's soaked to the skin, and there's a rope round his neck with a big stone at the end of it! I know; I see what that means. Some one has been trying to drown him in the river yonder."
"I reckon your guess isn't far out, Dick," agreed the widow. "Here, you poor creature, let me look at you. Why, you're cold as ice, and one of your paws is bleeding!"
Then, turning her kind face to her little son, who stood looking down on their visitor with pitying eyes, she went on,—
"Throw a few kindling sticks on those embers, child; and take the bellows and blow the fire into a blaze. 'Tisn't often you and I get a chance of doing good, 'cos we're so poor; but we'll do the best we can for this miserable creature, though he is but a dog."
"He's a real retriever, I believe," said the enthusiastic little boy, hastily placing some sticks crosswise on the dying coals, and reaching forward for the bellows. "See how affectionately he's licking my hand, mother! Why, what are you going to do to him with that great cloth you've got?"
"Dry him a bit, to be sure," was the woman's answer. And straightway she knelt down and began to rub the animal's rain-sodden coat. "We shall never get him warm as he is," she continued, "for he's so wet the water is running off him into pools on the floor. Try and take off the rope, Dick. And when you've done it, get me a rag and a piece of string, and I'll bandage up his paw—it's very sore; I find he can hardly bear me to touch it."
Dick wanted no second bidding. Setting to work with nimble fingers, he soon succeeded in untying the knotted rope that had in some places rubbed the dog's neck into wounds. This done, he went to a cupboard and took from it a ragged but clean apron of his sister's, which Mrs. Wilkins split into strips and bound round the retriever's injured foot.
Having at length dried the dog to their satisfaction, they coaxed him on to an old sack that they had spread in front of the hearth; and dumb though he was, the intelligent creature raised his brown eyes to their faces as if to thank them for their mercy and compassion. Little Dick brought some scraps left over from the children's supper and laid them before the animal; he also offered him some warm milk and water to drink. But so great was the dog's exhaustion that he made no effort to drink or eat; instead, he lay back with a sigh of contentment, and extended his cramped limbs towards the comforting blaze. In this position, he was soon asleep.