Dan waited almost twelve hours before he had an opportunity to carry out the plan he had so suddenly formed.  When he became tired of sitting still and began to feel the cravings of appetite, he went into the woods and shot four squirrels which Bose treed for him.  These he roasted over a fire and divided with his four-footed friend.  When it began to grow dark he went back to his hiding-place, where he remained until he thought it time to take up a new position.  This was by the side of the road, and a short distance from the big gate, which opened into the lane leading to the negro quarters.  There Dan lay for almost four hours, stretched out behind a log, with the hound by his side.  He saw several negroes pass in and out of the gate, and, although some of them walked by within ten feet of him, no one saw him, and the well-trained hound never betrayed his presence by so much as a whimper.

Finally, to Dan’s great relief, the lights in the General’s house were put out, then a door or two was slammed loudly in the quarters, and after that all was still.  Dan had grown tired of watching and must have fallen asleep, for he knew nothing more until a low growl from the hound aroused him.  He was wide awake in an instant, and having quieted the animal by placing his hand on his neck, he looked all around to see what it was that had disturbed him.  He heard footsteps in the field on the opposite side of the road, and presently two figures appeared and clambered over the fence.  They crossed to the gate, which they opened and closed very carefully and went down the lane.

“Them’s our fellers, Bose,” whispered Dan, who was highly excited.  “They’ve got bags slung over their shoulders, an’ they think they’re goin’ to play smash stealin’ them birds of our’n; but me and you will see how many they’ll get, won’t we?”

As soon as Bob and Lester were out of hearing Dan arose, and holding the hound firmly by the neck with one hand he opened the gate with the other, and moved noiselessly down the lane toward the quarters.  His plan was to make sure that Bob and his friend had come there to force an entrance into the cabin in which the quails were confined, and if he found that that was their object, he would make a pretence of setting Bose upon them.  He did not intend to do so in reality, for he knew the dog too well.  The animal always did serious work when he began to use his teeth, and Dan didn’t want either of the young thieves killed or maimed.  He knew that if he could excite the hound and induce him to give tongue, the rest of the pack would be on the ground in two minutes’ time; and as they were all young dogs (Carlo was shut up in the barn every night to do guard duty there), they would not be likely to take hold of the boys, if left to themselves.  They would not permit them to escape, either.  They would surround them and keep them there until morning, and that was what Dan wanted.  He could not afford to watch the cabin every night, and he thought it would be a good plan to give Bob and his friend a lesson they would not forget.