bing it in search of insects. A flock of jays, too, came jerking
themselves into the tree-tops, displaying their black and white
feathers, the china-blue patches upon their wings, and one in particular
came quite near, setting up its soft loose crest, and showing its
boldly-marked moustachios as it peered with first one light-blue eye,
then with the other, at the motionless object seated in the sand-pit,
wondering whether it was alive.

Tom saw all these things that morning, for in his excited state they
were forced upon him, though all the time he seemed to be following his
messenger through the wood, keeping up its long steady canter; now
diving between two closely-growing trees, now bounding over a clump of
bracken, and now seeming to catch one end of the neckerchief in a strand
of blackberry thorn, at which the dog tugged till the silk was torn and
freed. Again he saw the dog caught in this fashion, and soon after
watched it reach the edge of the wood and bound down into the lane,
where it soon after encountered a gipsy-like party, who caught sight of
the dog's strange collar, and sought to stop it, and steal the letter,
for which the dog fought fiercely, and finally escaped by leaping back
into the wood and disappearing entirely, so that he could trace it no
more.

All imagination, but as real to him as a troubled dream, till he stooped
once more to clear the opening, and gaze in, shuddering, and afraid to
break the awful stillness around.

Then he crouched again upon his knees to listen, and wonder whether the
dog had reached Heatherleigh yet. Next whether it would ever have the
intelligence to make its way there, and if it did, whether it would not
pretty surely be chased away by David, who would for certain be the
first to see it, and begin throwing stones.

"I wish I had thought of that before," muttered Tom despairingly; and as
the time went on he despaired more and more of seeing the
long-looked-for help arrive. For he told himself that he had been mad
ever to dream of the dog proving a successful messenger, since,
according to his calculation at last, there had been ample time for the
journey to have been made thrice over.

It was of no use to shout for help or to whistle, for nobody ever came
through these woods, save a poacher now and then by night, to set wires
or traps for the rabbits; and at last in despair Tom felt that he must
go.

Then hope came once more, as he thought better of the dog,