"It's the fowls!" thought Huldah, thrilling with excitement.
"They're going to steal the fowls. Oh, they shan't! The lady'll
think it's me. Oh, what can I do? How can I tell her? I _must_
stop them, somehow!"

Bill had gone back in search of the sack, and the other thief stood
waiting for him. Huldah had time to think, but no plan came to her.
She did not know her way, nor where to turn for help; and if she
screamed, they would only find her out, and knock her about.
They would steal the fowls all the same. A slight movement beside
her recalled her thoughts, and sent her spirits up with a bound.
"Dick! why, of course Dick would help her!"

Quick as thought she crept to the door, and with one hand on Dick's
collar she gently raised the latch with the other. Bill had
evidently found the sack, for the thieves were together again; she
heard them whispering. One even seemed to be already fumbling with
the latch of the fowls' house door.

"Quick, Dick, catch them!" she whispered, excitedly. "Go for them,
Dick! bring them down!" With one fierce yelp Dick was out of her
grasp and out of her sight.

It had all happened so swiftly that the thieves were bewildered,
dazed, and frightened almost beyond power of speech or movement.
They had heard nothing, and certainly had expected nothing, yet
suddenly, from somewhere quite near by, came a voice, and out of the
darkness came a large dog bounding upon them, growling savagely.
For a second they were too frightened to move; then, with an oath,
they dashed across the garden, making for the wall they had come
over. Fast though they went, Dick was after them and on them, and
Bob, as well as Bill, knew what it was to feel blood trickling down
his leg. Bob yelled, Bill groaned, Dick growled and snarled and
barked furiously with excitement. The frightened hens, startled by
the hubbub, added their share to the uproar.

In the cottage a curtain was drawn back quickly from a window, and a
white frightened face stared out. Huldah caught sight of it, and
coming out of the shelter of the barn, raced eagerly along the path
to the house.

"It's all right," she cried, panting. "It's all right, ma'am, some
fellows come stealing your fowls, but Dick's after them."

Dick was after them, but he could not capture them; he was but a
young dog, and the enemy was two to one. A heavy kick sent him
rolling over, just as the thieves reached the wall, and before he
could pick himself