n't old Rover, boys; _it's old Rover_!" But Isaac
could not speak another word. They all crowded round the wistful,
clumsy old dog, whose eyes shone bright, though his breath was all
gone. Each man patted him, and praised him, and said they ought to
have mistrusted all the time that it could be nobody but he. It was
some minutes before Isaac Brown could trust himself to do anything but
pat the sleek old head that was always ready to his hand.

"He must have overheard us talkin'; I guess he 'd have come if he 'd
dropped dead half-way," proclaimed John Henry, like a prince of the
reigning house; and Rover wagged his tail as if in honest assent, as he
lay at his master's side. They sat together, while the fire was
brightened again to make a good light for the coon-hunt supper; and
Rover had a good half of everything that found its way into his
master's hand. It was toward midnight when the triumphal procession
set forth toward home, with the two lanterns, across the fields.

V.

The next morning was bright and warm after the hard frost of the night
before. Old Rover was asleep on the doorstep in the sun, and his
master stood in the yard, and saw neighbor Price come along the road in
her best array, with a gay holiday air.

"Well, now," she said eagerly, "you wa'n't out very late last night,
was you? I got up myself to let Tiger in. He come home, all beat out,
about a quarter past nine. I expect you had n't no kind o' trouble
gittin' the coon. The boys was tellin' me he weighed 'most thirty
pounds."

"Oh, no kind o' trouble," said Isaac, keeping the great secret
gallantly. "You got the things I sent over this mornin'?"

"Bless your heart, yes! I 'd a sight rather have all that good pork
an' potatoes than any o' your wild meat," said Mrs. Price, smiling with
prosperity. "You see, now, 'Liza Jane she 's given in. She did n't
re'lly know but 't was all talk of 'Bijah 'bout that dog's bein' wuth
fifty dollars. She says she can't cope with a huntin' dog same 's he
could, an' she 's given me the money you an' John York sent over this
mornin'; an' I did n't know but what you 'd lend me another half a
dollar, so I could both go to Dipford Centre an' return, an' see if I
could n't make a sale o' Tiger right over there where they all know
about him. It's right in the coon season; now 's my time, ain't it?"

"Well, gettin' a little late," said Isaac, shaking with laughter as he
took the desired sum of mone