Josh could not deny the charge, but he lifted his nose toward the low ceiling and uttered howl after howl in a manner that frightened his mistress exceedingly, for Josh was not “given to howling,” she told Frank a minute later, as she begged him to go and see what it all meant.
“O, Mrs. Dobson, it’s nothing, I know—only one of Kate’s tricks,” said Frank; “but to please you, I’ll go.”
Josh began to prance and leap, and bark with joy, as he followed, with Frank, Kate’s footprints across the dusty road; but when he bounded over the fence, Frank stopped—
“See here, old fellow!” he cried, “I’m not going into that grass to please you; I’ve too much respect for snakes, sir.” And to the dog’s intense disgust, the boy turned back and reëntered the house.
“It’s nothing,” he again assured Mrs. Dobson. “The dog only wanted me to race in the lot with him.”
“The lot!” cried the little woman, running up the stairway to get a good outlook. “You don’t s’pose, do you, that your sister tried to go home ’cross lots?”
“Just like her to do it,” replied Frank, who had followed her up the stairs.
“And got into the swamp-mud,” continued Mrs. Dobson, just as though Frank had not interrupted her, “and sent Josh home with her bonnet on, to let us know?” she finished, all in one breath.
Mrs. Dobson and Frank were already looking across the fields; but the salt meadows, where Kate was prisoned, were hidden from sight by the strip of woodland.
“I might have known better than to look,” said Mrs. Dobson, going down. “You must run up to Mr. Bryan’s, and get someone to go where the dog leads. It’s just noon time, and the men folks’ll be at home.”