"Bring him in and I'll give him a bone and rub the sore place with liniment."
"Let me feed him," I begged. "I want to make friends with him."
"You'd best not put your hands on him. He don't make free with strangers."
I took the bone; to my regret it was picked nearly bare, and I idly resolved Tiger should have a good solid dinner the next day, if he and I survived the mishaps of the night.
"Poor fellow! I am very, very sorry I have caused you so much pain," I said, giving him the bone and patting his huge head fearlessly.
"Look out!" Daniel said, warningly.
"You needn't be afeard," his mother said. "Tiger knows quality."
Whether he was as knowing in this respect as she asserted, he gnawed his bone and let me stroke his shaggy coat, while Mrs. Blake bathed his bruised back.
"There, he'll be all right now in no time; and Dan'el, you get the lantern and we'll go back to Oaklands with Miss Selwyn."
Daniel got up wearily, and did as his mother bade. After his hard day's work in the mill he would willingly, no doubt, have been excused escorting damsels in distress to their homes.