"Shut the gate fast, and don't come in again!" added the man, assuming a stern voice.
They turned away, with a lingering gaze at the dog and then reluctantly left, shouting "Good-by, Nero! Good-by!"
When the gentleman descended to the kitchen and said to the cook,—
"I wish you to see that the gate is kept fastened for a few days. Some little boys have been in the habit of coming in to see Nero, and may do so again."
She looked in the face of her usually kind master and was going to remonstrate, when, seeing his expression of decision, she refrained, and in a moment, he was gone.
When Joseph returned from school at noon, after a glance at the windows, he gently tried the gate, but found it bolted; but at night, a man happened to be carrying in something, and it was ajar.
"I mean to go right in," he said to Dexter; "I don't see that cross old man about anywhere."
"I don't want to," was Dexter's response; "'cause he told us we mustn't."
Joseph ran forward, muttering, "I don't care," but presently, with a loud scream of pain, fell to the ground. Nero had caught his leg and bitten it severely.
Dexter sprang forward to help his companion, when a strong arm caught him and placed him outside the enclosure. One glance showed him that the act was performed by the gentleman they had seen at the window, and that his face was deathly pale.