"Little Hans! Little Hans!" cried one of them, "this fine cousin of yours has forgotten your dog."
"Forgotten my dog!" said Hans. "What do you mean?"
"He was asleep behind the stove at the inn," said the soldier cousin, who looked very much ashamed of himself.
"And he never missed him until now," cried the friends. "Think of that—a great dog like Prince!"
Hans looked from one to another with tears in his eyes; but they were all too busy with their joking to notice him. Only the soldier cousin, who was really sorry for his carelessness, tried to comfort him.
"He'll be here," he said, patting Hans on the head, "by milking-time, I warrant; for he is wise enough to take care of himself anywhere."
"Wiser than you," laughed the rest; and they all went off merrily, leaving the little boy standing in the road.
He scarcely saw them go, for he was thinking of the night so near at hand, and the winds and the snow-slides. How could the dear dog find his way through the darkness alone?
"I will go for him in the morning, if he does not come home to-night," called the soldier cousin.
But morning seemed very far away to the dog's anxious little master, and the big tears began to roll down his cheeks.