“Always to hold his ground and never to lose his nerve.”
CHAPTER XI
VAN BECOMES A HERO
VAN by this time knew the Hill-Top from end to end, and for miles and miles on all sides. His four feet and his delicate nose had explored the whole countryside. He hunted with Thatcher, he rode with the expressman, he prowled whole mornings by himself. But, best of all, he loved to chase after Betsy. As the days grew longer, the little maid studied her lessons in the afternoon, and took her walk with Van after dinner. She said to Mary one evening, as she routed Van out of his basket in the kitchen,
“Where’s the whip, Mary? I must take it so Van won’t chase cats.”
“Ah, now, Miss Betsy, he won’t be afther hurtin’ the cats. He just do be havin’ his little fun wit’ ’em.” Mary had no such tender feelings where cats were concerned, and the Boy-Heart, as she called him, should be allowed to follow his pretty little instincts.
“Fox terriers is intinded to chase cats, Miss Betsy, and whin he goes out wit’ me I lets him have his pleasure. He do enj’y himsilf, to be sure!” Mary would not have betrayed him if he had killed half a dozen cats, and she rather unwillingly handed the whip to Betsy, who started off with Van.
They skirted the lawn down by the row of maples, racing through the soft grass, while Van barked at the long shadows, looking himself like a thing of light in the level golden rays of the sinking sun. By the flower garden they turned up, between the two goldfish ponds. Van cared nothing for the ponds—water was only a thing to be avoided, anyway. The biggest one was the very pond into which Thatcher had thrown him when he was a baby. Betsy might stop, if she chose, to watch the darting fish, but Van hurried through a tall hedge beyond. Here there might be some hunting.
But all was still. They crossed back to the walk, and swung around the South Building and into Bow Lane. There was a collie dog in the Lane; he was a friendly old fellow, and Van stopped to pass the time of day with him.
Down Bow Lane they went for a bit, and then turned into the grounds again, this time behind the buildings. An English setter lived there, but he was on a chain and did not count.