I was surprised when I got near the farther end of the hall, to see a tiny gleam of light shine for an instant from under the dining-room door.  Then it went away again.  The dining-room was the place to eat.  Surely none of the people in the house would be there after the supper we had.

I went and sniffed under the door.  There was a smell there; a strong smell like beggars and poor people.  It smelled like Jenkins.  It was Jenkins.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIV

HOW WE CAUGHT THE BURGLAR

What was the wretch doing in the house with my dear Miss Laura?  I thought I would go crazy.  I scratched at the door, and barked and yelped.  I sprang up on it, and though I was quite a heavy dog by this time, I felt as light as a feather.

It seemed to me that I would go mad if I could not get that door open.  Every few seconds I stopped and put my head down to the doorsill to listen.  There was a rushing about inside the room, and a chair fell over, and some one seemed to be getting out of the window.

This made me worse than ever.  I did not stop to think that I was only a medium-sized dog, and that Jenkins would probably kill me, if he got his hands on me.  I was so furious that I thought only of getting hold of him.

In the midst of the noise that I made, there was a screaming and a rushing to and fro upstairs.  I ran up and down the hall, and half-way up the steps and back again.  I did not want Miss Laura to come down, but how was I to make her understand?  There she was, in her white gown, leaning over the railing, and holding back her long hair, her face a picture of surprise and alarm.

“The dog has gone mad,” screamed Miss Bessie.  “Nurse, pour a pitcher of water on him.”  The nurse was more sensible.  She ran downstairs, her night-cap flying, and a blanket that she had seized from her bed, trailing behind her.  “There are thieves in the house,” she shouted at the top of her voice, “and the dog has found it out.”

She did not go near the dining-room door, but threw open the front one, crying, “Policeman!  Policeman! help, help, thieves, murder!”

Such a screaming as that old woman made!  She was worse than I was.  I dashed by her, out through the hall door, and away down to the gate, where I heard some one running.  I gave a few loud yelps to call Jim, and leaped the gate as the man before me had done.

There was something savage in me that night.  I think it must have been the smell of Jenkins.  I felt as if I could tear him to pieces.  I have never felt so wicked since.  I was hunting him, as he had hunted me and my mother, and the thought gave me pleasure.

Old Jim soon caught up with me, and I gave him a push with my nose, to let him know I was glad he had come.  We rushed swiftly on, and at the corner caught up with the miserable man who was running away from us.