apparal until
they looked like crouching figures, and make the bits of broken quartz
glisten like skulls, you'd begin to understand how big a contract that
man and that yellow dog undertook.

"They went into possession that afternoon, and old Hard Times set out
to cook his supper. When it was over he sat down by the embers and lit
his pipe, the yellow dog lying at his feet. Suddenly 'Rap! rap!' comes
from the door. 'Come in,' says the man, gruffly. 'Rap!' again. 'Come
in and be d--d to you,' says the man, who has no idea of getting up to
open the door. But no one responded, and the next moment smash goes
the only sound pane in the only window. Seeing this, old Hard Times
gets up, with the devil in his eye, and a revolver in his hand,
followed by the yellow dog, with every tooth showing, and swings open
the door. No one there! But as the man opened the door, that yellow
dog, that had been so chipper before, suddenly begins to crouch and
step backward, step by step, trembling and shivering, and at last
crouches down in the chimney, without even so much as looking at his
master. The man slams the door shut again, but there comes another
smash.

"This time it seems to come from inside the cabin, and it isn't until
the man looks around and sees everything quiet that he gets up, without
speaking, and makes a dash for the door, and tears round outside the
cabin like mad, but finds nothing but silence and darkness. Then he
comes back swearing and calls the dog. But that great yellow dog that
the boys would have staked all their money on is crouching under the
bunk, and has to be dragged out like a coon from a hollow tree, and
lies there, his eyes starting from their sockets; every limb and muscle
quivering with fear, and his very hair drawn up in bristling ridges.
The man calls him to the door. He drags himself a few steps, stops,
sniffs, and refuses to go further. The man calls him again, with an
oath and a threat. Then, what does that yellow dog do? He crawls
edgewise towards the door, crouching himself against the bunk till he's
flatter than a knife blade; then, half way, he stops. Then that d--d
yellow dog begins to walk gingerly--lifting each foot up in the air,
one after the other, still trembling in every limb. Then he stops
again. Then he crouches. Then he gives one little shuddering leap--not
straight forward, but up,--clearing the floor about six inches, as if--"

"Over something," interrupted the Ju