y questions on their hearts they obediently
bade him "good night" and went. For a long time, lying on the hay,
they spoke together about Stephen, how he jumped over the bunches of
grass, how the rock turned under him, how he fell, and how Whitie
saved him.

"I am very sorry for Bacha Filina," said Ondrejko. "I can never forget
it. It must pain him--could it be that God is still angry with him?"

"But where is this Stephen?" worried Petrik. "They were the same age,
so he must be just as old now. Perhaps he will tell us some other time
about him." They were stopped from further talking by Fido. Somehow he
had managed to get to them and they were rejoiced. They told him once
more about the hero Whitie and enjoined upon him to follow him. He
wagged his tail, licked their hands and faces, whining for joy as if
he were promising it all, and when the boys slept, he slept with one
eye open because he had to stand guard over his comrades.

CHAPTER THREE

The following week Bacha Filina had much work to do, so he could not
look much after the boys, though they did all they could; they obeyed
him and tried to please him in every way. On Tuesday the doctor came
to look at Ondrejko. He was told where Ondrejko slept, but he only
laughed: "Good for you, boy, that will help you; though your father is
a great lord and a proud Magyar, everything serves in its time. Thus I
trust we shall live to see that the Tatra Mountains will belong to the
Slovaks and also these woods. Because your grandfather lived there as
a great Slovak, you also as a good Slovak will be living. Just learn
the language of your father and draw near to that soil which they once
cultivated." The boys didn't grasp what he meant. They only felt that
he was their friend.

The evening came. They had to make a bed for the doctor beside
themselves on the hay. In the morning he drank the good milk and ate
the black bread with cheese. Then the boys took him as far as the "Old
Hag's Rock." On the way Ondrejko asked about his father. He learned
that he now lived in Paris and did not purpose to come that year for
the summer. The boy breathed more freely because he felt that if his
father came he would have to go to him, away from Bacha Filina and
away from Petrik. That would not please him; he did not want to go at
all. When the doctor took leave of the boys they followed him with
their eyes as long as they could see his straw hat, then they climbed
the rock to see