"Go home! Go!"
The setter rose, dropped her head, and, turning dejectedly, disappeared with drooping tail in the tall grass. Both boys exclaimed at once:
"Don't drive her off, sir! Poor little Vic."
"Well, go and see if you can coax her back. If she returns with you she may go."
The boys ran eagerly into the grass, and soon I heard them soothing and pitying the dog, telling her it was all right and she could go. But it was evident she doubted their authority to give her permission to join us, for Henry presently came running towards me.
"She won't come, sir. She keeps moving slowly back in the direction of the fort. She looks so sorry and so tired. Only think how badly she feels, and it is a long distance to Whipple. Can't she stay with us until morning?"
"Then she will not come in with you?"
"No. She has always followed me unless you told her not to. She never disobeys you."
"But she followed me here; that looks very much like disobedience."
"Did you tell her not to come?"