“Let go of Allarm! Let go of my dog, or I’ll teach you!” he cried, and swung the ax high above his head. Then grey-legs sneaked slowly away after the others. He turned once and howled, and showed his teeth, and then disappeared among the bushes.
Far down in a hole in the snow lay Allarm. He was so bitten that he could not jump to his feet; and, when Viggo lifted him, the blood dripped down on the snow. His whole body shivered, but he licked Viggo’s hand.
Just then Old Hans the Grenadier stood by Viggo’s side. When he had gained his breath after his hurried run, the old man cried very angrily: “If I did what you deserve I should have to whip you. Do you think it fit for a youngster like you to rush against a pack of wolves? If they had eaten you up alive before you had a chance to make a sound, what would you have said then?”
“Then I would have said: ‘One thing is a shame, and that is to turn your back before “retreat” is called,’” said Viggo, and looked sharply at the Grenadier.
“Well said, my boy! The nose has not quite the right curve yet, but the eyes are there, and I do believe the heart, too,” said Old Hans. He took the dog from Viggo, and went home with both of them.
THE BLACK POND
“Hurrah, the Black Pond is frozen! The ice is more than an inch thick, and there’s a crowd of boys down there!” shouted one of Viggo’s classmates one morning, as he thrust his frost-covered head through the door and swung his skates. It didn’t take Viggo long before he got his skates down from the nail, and ran off with his friend. And he was so anxious to get down to the lake that he forgot to whistle for Allarm.
But Allarm had a fine nose. Just as soon as he had swallowed his breakfast he understood that Viggo was gone. Then he ran out hunting through the yard for Viggo’s trail, and when he noticed that it didn’t lead to the school he knew he might follow. Then he rushed madly after him over the fields, and had caught up with him long before Viggo had reached the cottage of Hans the Grenadier, which lay close by the lake.
One thing Viggo had promised his father before he got permission to go, and that was that he would be very careful and not skate far out from the shore. Near the middle of the lake there was an air hole through which warm air rose to the surface, and there the ice was never thick.
And Viggo meant honestly to do what his father had told him, but now you shall hear what happened.