Then came the dying away of the chugging motor's echoes; and
silence rolled up and engulfed the wilderness hilltop.
Lad was alone. They had gone off and left him. They had with
never a word of goodby or a friendly command to watch camp until
their return. This was not the dog's first sojourn in camp. And
his memory was flawless. Always, he recalled, the arrival and the
loading of the truck and the striking of tents had meant that the
stay was over and that at the party was going home.
Home! The charm and novelty of the wilderness all at once faded.
Lad was desperately lonely and desperately unhappy. And his
feelings were cruelly hurt; at the strange treatment accorded
him.
Yet, it did not occur to him to seek freedom and to follow his
gods to the home he loved. He had been tied here, presumably by
their order; certainly with their knowledge. And it behooved him
to wait until they should come to release him. He knew they would
come back, soon or late. They were his gods, his chums, his
playmates. They would no more desert him than he would have
deserted them.
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