"Let go, Caesar!" Franz commanded. "Let go, I say!"
Caesar closed his eyes, took a firmer grip and dragged Father Benjamin six inches backwards through the snow. The angry priest turned to grapple with him.
There was a soft hissing, as though a thousand snowflakes had fallen on a hot stove all at the same time. A bridge of snow, upon which Father Benjamin would have walked had he taken one more forward step, fell in and revealed the yawning chasm across which it had formed.
Caesar released his grip on Father Benjamin's habit, sat down beside the priest, and licked his hand with an apologetic tongue.
"He knew!" Father Benjamin gasped. "That is why he pulled me back!"
Franz said, "Caesar always knows the safe trails."
"Then you should have told us so, little Franz," Father Benjamin said.
"I had not wanted to trespass upon your authority," the boy explained.
Father Benjamin said, "When lives are at stake, it is never a question of authority but one of common sense. Can Caesar guide us safely from here?"