at
little lady was the first lady to give me a present in my life. I was
raised up by men-folks. My mammy she wa'n't there long after I come.
Reckon that's why I never was much of a hand with wimmin-folks. I wa'n't
used to 'em. And I don't care how old and ornery a man is; the first
time he gets a present from a gal, it kind of hits him where he
breathes. And if it don't make him feel warm inside and mighty proud of
bein' who he is, why, it's because he's so dog-gone old he can't think.
I ain't tellin' no secret when I say that the little lady put her name
in that watch alongside of mine. And her name bein' there is what makes
that present a big thing--bigger than any piano that was ever built.

"Why, just a spell ago I was settin' in my office, madder'n a cat what
had tore his Sunday pants, 'cause at twelve o'clock I was goin' over to
the saloon to fire that young ranger, Lusk, for gettin' drunk. I pulled
out this here watch, and I says to myself: 'Bud, it was clost around
twelve o'clock by a young fella's watch onct when he was filled up on
liquor and rampin' round town when he ought to been to work. And it was
the ole foreman's gal that begged that boy's job back for him, askin'
her daddy to give him another chanct.' And the boy he come through all
right. I know--for I owned the watch. And so I give Lusk another
chanct."

Dorothy stepped to Shoop's chair, and, stooping quickly, kissed his
cheek. Bondsman, not to be outdone, leaped jealously into Bud's lap and
licked the supervisor's face. Shoop spluttered, and thrust Bondsman
down.

"Things is comin' too fast!" he cried, wiping his face. "I was just
goin' to say something when that dog just up and took the words right
out of my mouth. Oh, yes! I was just wishin' I owned a piano factory."

CHAPTER XXXIII

_The Fires of Home_

Bud Shoop read the newspaper notice twice before he realized fully its
import. The Adams House at Stacey was for sale. "Then Jim and Annie's
patched it up," he soliloquized. And the genial Bud did not refer to the
Adams House.

Because his master seemed pleased, Bondsman waited to hear the rest of
it with head cocked sideways and tail at a stiff angle.

"That's all they is to it," said Shoop.

Bondsman lay down and yawned. He was growing old. It was only Bud's
voice that could key the big Airedale up to his earlier alertness. The
office was quiet. The clerk had gone out for his noon meal. The fall
sunshine slanted lazily thr