They had little trouble taking the baskets farther in among the trees, where a spring bubbled up between moss-covered stones, to wander away in a clear streamlet. The air was redolent of the fragrance of the needles, and the shadows and sun played all sorts of fantastic games with each other as the wind stirred the boughs so high above the children’s heads.
They took off shoes and stockings and paddled in the clear water, and chased each other laughing over the brown needles, silky soft to their bare feet. They sang and laughed, and Gabriel showed them a new game with a ball he had brought. Then came the picnic, and they ate every morsel, including a cold chicken, whose bones alone they threw to Alphonse. He was so clever catching them that they couldn’t praise him enough, nor he be done wagging his tail.
Then Gabriel told them there was a wonderful view of the bay to be had from a nearby hilltop, and offered to lead them there. They packed up the baskets neatly, put on their shoes and stockings, and then started away, Alphonse in the lead, sniffing the breeze and dashing after squirrels, which chattered at him mockingly from a branch just beyond reach.
They had not gone very far before they came to another path branching from the one they had been following. Gabriel was not sure which way to take, so he asked them to wait at the junction while he explored a bit. Off he went, while Alphonse lay down beside the girls, whose hands were full of flowers plucked on the walk.
Evangeline told them of her life on the farm, and of the festival soon to occur, a Saint’s day when all the village turned out to dance and play games, dressed in its best. She was to have a new gown, her father had promised her.
Suddenly, as they talked, Alphonse sprang up with a deep growl, his hair bristling all over him, his eyes flashing. Startled, the girls sprang to their feet, but there was nothing to be seen.
“I wish Gabriel were back,” exclaimed Evangeline. “What can be wrong, that Alphonse acts so strangely?”
Still growling hoarsely, Alphonse began to crawl up the path which had not been taken by Gabriel. Then with a loud bark, he sprang forward and disappeared.
Catching each other by the hand, their hearts thumping, the three girls stared after him.
There was another sharp bark, then an angry whine, and Alphonse reappeared, running, frightened but fierce. Behind him a huge brown shadow rolled, a shadow that resolved itself into a great hairy beast in no time at all.