time to time Gabriel ran races with him, and no boy at school could
beat Gabriel at running, so Topaz had a lively morning.

By the time the sun was high in the heavens they were both hungry and glad
to rest. They found the shade of a large tree, and there Gabriel opened his
package again, and when he tied it up it made a very small bundle on the
end of the stick he carried over his shoulder.

There was not so much running this afternoon. Gabriel and Topaz had come a
long way, and toward evening they began to see the roofs of the town ahead
of them.

The dog no longer raced to right and left after butterfly and bird, but
trotted sedately at the boy's heel, and after a time Gabriel picked him up
and carried him, for the thought came that perhaps Topaz could earn them a
place to sleep, and Gabriel wished to rest the little legs that could be so
nimble.

It was nearly dusk when they reached a cultivated field and then a
farmhouse. Some children were playing in the yard, and when they saw a
dusty boy turn in at the gate, they ran to the house crying that a beggar
was coming.

Their mother came out from the door, and the expression of her face told
plainly that she meant to drive the dusty couple away.

Gabriel set down the dog and took off his hat, and his clear eyes looked
out of his grimy face.

"I am not a beggar," he said simply. "I go to the town to return this dog
to its master, but night is coming on, and we should like to sleep on the
hay."

"How do I know you are not a thief?" returned the woman. "It is not a very
likely story that you are tramping way to town to give back a yellow dog."

"He is a dog of high degree," declared Gabriel, "and if you will let us
sleep in your barn he will dance for you."

Upon this the children begged in chorus to see the dog dance, and the
mother consented; so Topaz, when he was bade, sat up, and then, as Gabriel
whistled, the dainty, dusty little white feet began to pirouette, and the
children clapped their hands for joy and would have kept the dancer at his
work until dark, but that Gabriel would not have it so.

"We have come far," he said. "Let us rest now, and in the morning Topaz
will dance for you again."

So all consented and escorted the strangers to the barn, where there was a
clean, sweet hay-loft.

The little dog remembered the night before, and whined under his breath and
wagged his tail as he looked at Gabriel, as if begging the boy not to leave
him.