ing automobile he found
Villa Kennan, and, chain removed, sat beside her and between her and
Harley

As the machine purred along the two miles of road that wound up the side
of Sonoma Mountain, Michael scarcely looked at the forest-trees and
vistas of wandering glades. He had been in the United States three
years, during which time he had been kept a close prisoner. Cage and
crate and chain had been his portion, and narrow rooms, baggage cars, and
station platforms. The nearest he had come to the country was when
chained to benches in the various parks while Jacob Henderson studied
Swedenborg. So that trees and hills and fields had ceased to mean
anything. They were something inaccessible, as inaccessible as the blue
of the sky or the drifting cloud-fleeces. Thus did he regard the trees
and hills and fields, if the negative act of not regarding a thing at all
can be considered a state of mind.

"Don't seem to be enthusiastic over the ranch, eh, Michael?" Harley
remarked.

He looked up at sound of his old name, and made acknowledgment by
flattening his ears a quivering trifle and by touching his nose against
Harley's shoulder.

"Nor does he seem demonstrative," was Villa's judgment. "At least,
nothing like Jerry,"

"Wait till they meet," Harley smiled in anticipation. "Jerry will
furnish enough excitement for both of them."

"If they remember each other after all this time," said Villa. "I wonder
if they will."

"They did at Tulagi," he reminded her. "And they were full grown and
hadn't seen each other since they were puppies. Remember how they barked
and scampered all about the beach. Michael was the hurly-burly one. At
least he made twice as much noise."

"But he seems dreadfully grown-up and subdued now."

"Three years ought to have subdued him," Harley insisted.

But Villa shook her head.

As the machine drew up at the house and Kennan first stepped out, a dog's
whimperingly joyous bark of welcome struck Michael as not altogether
unfamiliar. The joyous bark turned to a suspicious and jealous snarl as
Jerry scented the other dog's presence from Harley's caressing hand. The
next moment he had traced the original source of the scent into the
limousine and sprung in after it. With snarl and forward leap Michael
met the snarling rush less than half-way, and was rolled over on the
bottom of the car.

The Irish terrier, under all circumstances amenable to the control of the
master as are few