ick's assailants were.

From time to time Dick gave a little whimper, and Huldah lifted his
head upon her lap; but she was almost afraid to touch him, lest she
should cause him more pain. How long, she wondered miserably, would
it be before help came? Would those cowards throw more stones?
It was horrible to stay there alone with that cowardly heartless pair
hidden behind the hedge, and the feeling that at any moment more
stones might be hurled at Dick. To protect him she placed herself
between him and the hedge.

At last, at long last, when she had begun to wonder anxiously if
night would fall and still find her there; and to think how
frightened Mrs. Perry must be getting already, the sound of wheels
struck on her ears, and it seemed to her the most welcome sound she
had ever heard in her life.

The cowards heard it too, apparently, for "Come on, Bill," called a
low voice, in the direction of the hedge. Huldah gave a great start
of surprise. Where had she heard that voice and those very words
before? Why, of course, it was all plain now. That first night at
the cottage, the barn, the fowl-robbers!--it all came back to her
with a rush. No wonder Dick had been angry when he saw them again,--
and she, in her stupidity, had blamed him for showing temper.
Dear clever, wise, brave Dick! He, too, recognised the voice now,
and growled again with all his former spirit. Huldah's indignation
rose beyond control. "Oh, you cowards!" she called out in a shrill
angry voice, "I know you now. You came robbing a hen-roost, and the
dog drove you off. You ran away from him, but he bit your legs.
No wonder he growled when he saw you again. He knew what you were.
I wish now I hadn't held him in. I wish I'd let him go at you, then
p'raps it would have been you lying in the road howling, not him.
Oh, you thieves and cowards!"

Her voice rang out clear and loud, but how much the men heard no one
will ever know. Probably they did not stay to hear much, for the
last thing they wanted was to meet people, or to run any risk of
being seen.

The wheels drew nearer, then the vicarage pony-carriage came round
the bend. For one moment Miss Carew stared bewildered at the group
in the middle of the road, the little blue-clad girl, the yellow dog,
and the basket of groceries all on the ground in the dust together;
then she saw that something was wrong, and sprang out quickly to
their assistance.

"Why, brownie! What has happened