who were in the guilty
secret.

But, fortunately for Peggy, the most favored of her cherished
possessions was not obliged to be kept secret. That one exception was
an Indian dog! This was also a gift, and had been procured with great
"difficulty" by a "packer" from an Indian encampment on the Oregon
frontier. The "difficulty" was, in plain English, that it had been
stolen from the Indians at some peril to the stealer's scalp. It was
a mongrel to all appearances, of no recognized breed or outward
significance, yet of a quality distinctly its own. It was absolutely and
totally uncivilized. Whether this was a hereditary trait, or the result
of degeneracy, no one knew. It refused to enter a house; it would not
stay in a kennel. It would not eat in public, but gorged ravenously
and stealthily in the shadows. It had the slink of a tramp, and in its
patched and mottled hide seemed to simulate the rags of a beggar. It had
the tirelessness without the affected limp of a coyote. Yet it had none
of the ferocity of barbarians. With teeth that could gnaw through the
stoutest rope and toughest lariat, it never bared them in anger. It
was cringing without being amiable or submissive; it was gentle without
being affectionate.

Yet almost insensibly it began to yield to Peggy's faith and kindness.
Gradually it seemed to single her out as the one being in this vast
white-faced and fully clothed community that it could trust. It
presently allowed her to half drag, half lead it to and fro from school,
although on the approach of a stranger it would bite through the rope
or frantically endeavor to efface itself in Peggy's petticoats. It was
trying, even to the child's sweet gravity, to face the ridicule excited
by its appearance on the road; and its habit of carrying its tail
between its legs--at such an inflexible curve that, on the authority
of Sam Bedell, a misstep caused it to "turn a back somersault"--was
painfully disconcerting. But Peggy endured this, as she did the greater
dangers of the High Street in the settlement, where she had often, at
her own risk, absolutely to drag the dazed and bewildered creature from
under the wheels of carts and the heels of horses. But this shyness
wore off--or rather was eventually lost in the dog's complete and utter
absorption in Peggy. His limited intelligence and imperfect perceptions
were excited for her alone. His singularly keen scent detected her
wherever or how remote she might be. Her pas