Failing to find a jack under the seat, the driver climbed over
into the adjoining field in search of two or three big stones to
serve the same purpose in holding up the axle. For several
minutes the men worked fast and tensely; blind and deaf to
anything except the need of haste.
Thus it was that neither of them saw a tawny-and-snow
collie,--huge and shaggy except for a pair of absurdly tiny white
forepaws,--come pacing majestically along the road from the
direction in which they were heading. The car lamps played but
faintly upon the advancing Lad; for the dimmers had been applied.
The big dog was taking his usual before-bedtime stroll. Of old,
that evening stroll had been confined to the Place's grounds, a
quarter-mile beyond. But, lately, his new obsession for finding
treasures for the Mistress had lured him often and oftener to the
highway.
Tonight, as for a day or so past, he had drawn blank in his
quest. The road had been distressingly bare of anything worth
carrying home. But, now, as he moved along, his near-sighted eyes
were attracted by a dim blur of white, behind a bush, at the
road-edge; just within the dim radiance of the car-lamps.
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