“Oh, Dick, Dick dear! what have they done to you?” she cried, dropping on her knees in the dust beside him.  The dog tried to struggle to his feet, but could not; every movement caused him to yelp with pain.  He looked up at her imploringly, and licked her hand, as she put her arm under him to raise him, and the pain and helplessness in his loving eyes made her tears overflow.  What was she to do?  He was too big and heavy for her to carry all the way home.  She looked about her helplessly, but there was no one in sight, or likely to be at that time of the day; only those two cowards hiding behind the hedge; for it had not taken Huldah long to guess who Dick’s assailants were.

From time to time Dick gave a little whimper, and Huldah lifted his head upon her lap; but she was almost afraid to touch him, lest she should cause him more pain.  How long, she wondered miserably, would it be before help came?  Would those cowards throw more stones?  It was horrible to stay there alone with that cowardly heartless pair hidden behind the hedge, and the feeling that at any moment more stones might be hurled at Dick.  To protect him she placed herself between him and the hedge.

At last, at long last, when she had begun to wonder anxiously if night would fall and still find her there; and to think how frightened Mrs. Perry must be getting already, the sound of wheels struck on her ears, and it seemed to her the most welcome sound she had ever heard in her life.

The cowards heard it too, apparently, for “Come on, Bill,” called a low voice, in the direction of the hedge.  Huldah gave a great start of surprise.  Where had she heard that voice and those very words before?  Why, of course, it was all plain now.  That first night at the cottage, the barn, the fowl-robbers!—­it all came back to her with a rush.  No wonder Dick had been angry when he saw them again,—­ and she, in her stupidity, had blamed him for showing temper.  Dear clever, wise, brave Dick!  He, too, recognised the voice now, and growled again with all his former spirit.  Huldah’s indignation rose beyond control.  “Oh, you cowards!” she called out in a shrill angry voice, “I know you now.  You came robbing a hen-roost, and the dog drove you off.  You ran away from him, but he bit your legs.  No wonder he growled when he saw you again.  He knew what you were.  I wish now I hadn’t held him in.  I wish I’d let him go at you, then p’raps it would have been you lying in the road howling, not him.  Oh, you thieves and cowards!”

Her voice rang out clear and loud, but how much the men heard no one will ever know.  Probably they did not stay to hear much, for the last thing they wanted was to meet people, or to run any risk of being seen.

The wheels drew nearer, then the vicarage pony-carriage came round the bend.  For one moment Miss Carew stared bewildered at the group in the middle of the road, the little blue-clad girl, the yellow dog, and the basket of groceries all on the ground in the dust together; then she saw that something was wrong, and sprang out quickly to their assistance.