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They would miss him sorely should he go the way of the six steers.

She hurried up and pulled open the kitchen door.

“Mammy,” she said excitedly to the gaunt woman shelling peas by the table, “I’ve found something in the cañon. I wonder—should I meddle?”

Mrs. Allison laid her wrinkled brown hands on the edge of the pan and looked at her daughter.

“It’s according,” she said soberly, “does it need meddlin’?”

“That’s what I don’t know. I found a Collie dog—a savage dog for that breed—and a little child hiding in a cave. I couldn’t get near to them, but they act like they know what they’re doing—they had watched me from behind a rock and crawled to the cave in line with it when I turned. I only saw the child’s foot—but it was a thin little thing—and the old jeans pant-leg was weathered to rags. There wasn’t a sign of camp—nothing. What could it mean?”

The anxiety of a universally loving heart was in Nance’s voice. “Did I do right to come away—or should I have tried some more to see them? It couldn’t be done, though—the dog is on guard. He’ll have to be handled slowly, I’m sure of that.”