Haying time in California is different from that of other parts of the world, for it is in May, and many months ahead of other places.  The fields were dotted with little mounds of yellow hay drying in the sun, and one evening Mrs. Melville told the children she had a new game for the Land of Make-Believe.  The next afternoon they could hardly wait until they reached the hay-fields.

“Now, children,” said their mother, “these are the snow-covered peaks of the Alps that I told you about.  Ruth must be a lost traveller and wander around among these mountains of snow until she is too tired to go any further.  Then she must lie down and pull the hay over her and wait to be rescued from death in the snow.”

As Ruth scampered away, Jan followed her, but Mrs. Melville called him back.  He sat looking at her, but his head turned frequently toward the place he had last seen little Ruth.  Several times he started to get up, but each time he sat down again and waited.

“You, Charlotte, are a monk from the Hospice and Bruin will go with you to search for lost travellers in this terrible snow-storm.”

Jan stood very still, but his tail flapped around in circles while Mrs. Melville fastened a canteen of water to his collar, then she said, “Now, Bruin, go find Ruth!”

“Woof!  Woof!” rang out the big voice, just as the dogs of the Hospice called when they started on the trail.  Followed closely by Charlotte, Jan led the way from one hay mound to another, poking his nose deeply into each.  Charlotte kept calling, “Find Ruth, Bruin!  Go find her!  She’s lost in the snow and will freeze to death if we don’t find her soon!”

Jan forgot it was only the Land of Make-Believe, while he burrowed into the haycocks.  As he ran from one to the other, his bark sounded again and again, for he remembered the lessons Brother Antoine had given him and Rollo, and the canteen that bumped against his breast felt like the little wooden casket he had carried on the trail.  At last he found the lost traveller.  Jan lifted his head and uttered a sharp bark of triumph before his nose began tossing the hay that completely covered Ruth.

“He found her!  He found her!” shrieked Charlotte in greatest excitement, just as though Ruth had really been lost in the snow-drifts.

Both parents ran to watch the game and Ruth’s face appeared in the hay, like a pink Easter egg in a nest.  She squinted up, saw her mother and father, Charlotte and Jan, then remembered that she was lost and shut her eyes quickly.  Jan touched her cheek with his nose, and licked her face.  She could not keep still any longer, because she wanted to sneeze and that would spoil the whole game.  So she opened her eyes, put up her hand and unfastened the canteen from Jan’s collar and swallowed such a big gulp of water that she almost choked.  Her arms went about Jan’s neck and while she clung, he moved slowly away from the mound, his tail waving rapidly and his big eyes full of pride.  Ruth had been saved from a terrible death in the snow-drifts of the Alps!