the village people's looks and remarks were gone from
her mind now. She was shaking with nervousness and excitement and
fears for Dick, and could think of nothing else.

How she did her errands she never knew, for the scare had driven
almost everything else out of her head, her one idea being to hurry
home as quickly as possible, and get herself and Dick into safety.
The men were strangers to her, and she hoped they would never find
out where she and Dick lived.

All the way back until she got past the gateway she still clutched
Dick by the collar, much to his surprise and annoyance, for there was
much to interest him on a walk like that, and he had quite forgotten
his anger and the strangers who had aroused it.

When they had got safely past the dreaded gateway, Huldah's fears
calmed down a little.

The men had departed, and all the road ahead of them looked empty.

"You may run now, Dickie," she said, with a sigh of relief, "and
don't go getting into any more rows, for I can't bear it."

Dick, with a joyous flick of his tail and a bark of delight, bounded
forward delightedly, and Huldah, free at last to attend to other
things, looked over her parcels anxiously, to see if she had
forgotten anything, for she had really only had half her wits about
her when she was in the shop.

"Tea, sugar, box of matches--" A sharp yell made her look up
quickly, her heart seeming to stand still with terror. It was Dick's
voice, and Dick was in the middle of the road rolling about and
crying out sharply, in evident pain.

"Dick! Dick! Come here, what has happened? Oh, Dick!" she called
frantically, as she flew to his side; but before she could reach him
a big stone came whizzing from the hedge, and another sharp cry of
pain showed that poor Dick had been struck again.

"Oh, Dick, Dick dear! what have they done to you?" she cried,
dropping on her knees in the dust beside him. The dog tried to
struggle to his feet, but could not; every movement caused him to
yelp with pain. He looked up at her imploringly, and licked her
hand, as she put her arm under him to raise him, and the pain and
helplessness in his loving eyes made her tears overflow. What was
she to do? He was too big and heavy for her to carry all the way
home. She looked about her helplessly, but there was no one in
sight, or likely to be at that time of the day; only those two
cowards hiding behind the hedge; for it had not taken Huldah long to
guess who D