oop by the feet of his father and mother and his own sturdier tread,
and rested his head against the casing of the cabin door when he gave
the command. The tip of the dog's nose touched the gravel between his
paws as he crouched flat on earth, with beautiful eyes steadily watching
the master, but he did not move a muscle.

"Bel, come here!"

Twinkles flashed in the eyes of the man when he repeated the order,
while his voice grew more imperative as he stretched a lean, wiry
hand toward the dog. The animal's eyes gleamed and his sensitive nose
quivered, yet he lay quietly.

"Belshazzar, kommen Sie hier!"

The body of the dog arose on straightened legs and his muzzle dropped
in the outstretched palm. A wind slightly perfumed with the odour of
melting snow and unsheathing buds swept the lake beside them, and lifted
a waving tangle of light hair on the brow of the man, while a level ray
of the setting sun flashed across the water and illumined the graven,
sensitive face, now alive with keen interest in the game being played.

"Bel, dost remember the day?" inquired the Harvester.

The eager attitude and anxious eyes of the dog betrayed that he did not,
but was waiting with every sense alert for a familiar word that would
tell him what was expected.

"Surely you heard the killdeers crying in the night," prompted the man.
"I called your attention when the ecstasy of the first bluebird waked
the dawn. All day you have seen the gold-yellow and blood-red osiers,
the sap-wet maples and spring tracing announcements of her arrival on
the sunny side of the levee."

The dog found no clew, but he recognized tones he loved in the suave,
easy voice, and his tail beat his sides in vigorous approval. The man
nodded gravely.

"Ah, so! Then you realize this day to be the most important of all the
coming year to me; this hour a solemn one that influences my whole after
life. It is time for your annual decision on my fate for a twelve-month.
Are you sure you are fully alive to the gravity of the situation, Bel?"

The dog felt himself safe in answering a rising inflection ending in his
name uttered in that tone, and wagged eager assent.

"Well then," said the man, "which shall it be? Do I leave home for the
noise and grime of the city, open an office and enter the money-making
scramble?"

Every word was strange to the dog, almost breathlessly waiting for a
familiar syllable. The man gazed steadily into the animal's eyes. After
a l