“Bobby wullna be lanely here wi’ the coos, bairnie, an’ i’ the morn ye can tak’ a bit rope an’ haud it in a wee hand so he canna brak awa’, an’ syne, in a day or twa, he’ll be forgettin’ Auld Jock.  Ay, ye’ll hae grand times wi’ the sonsie doggie, rinnin’ an’ loupin’ on the braes.”

This argument was so convincing and so attractive that the little maid dried her tears, kissed Bobby on the head again, and made a bed of heather for him in a corner.  But as they were leaving the byre fresh doubts assailed her.

“He’ll gang awa’ gin ye dinna tie ’im snug the nicht, faither.”

“Sic a fulish bairn!  Wi’ fower wa’s aroond ‘im, an’ a roof to ’is heid, an’ a floor to ‘is fut, hoo could a sma’ dog mak’ a way oot?”

It was a foolish notion, bred of fond anxiety, and so, reassured, the child went happily back to the house and to rosy sleep in her little closet bed.

Ah! here was a warm place in a cold world for Bobby.  A soft-hearted little mistress and merry playmate was here, generous food, and human society of a kind that was very much to a little farm dog’s liking.  Here was freedom—­wide moors to delight his scampering legs, adventures with rabbits, foxes, hares and moor-fowl, and great spaces where no one’s ears would be offended by his loudest, longest barking.  Besides, Auld Jock had said, with his last breath, “Gang—­awa’—­hame—­laddie!” It is not to be supposed Bobby had forgotten that, since he remembered and obeyed every other order of that beloved voice.  But there, self-interest, love of liberty, and the instinct of obedience, even, sank into the abysses of the little creature’s mind.  Up to the top rose the overmastering necessity of guarding the bit of sacred earth that covered his master.

The byre was no sooner locked than Bobby began, in the pitch darkness, to explore the walls.  The single promise of escape that was offered was an inch-wide crack under the door, where the flooring stopped short and exposed a strip of earth.  That would have appalled any but a desperate little dog.  The crack was so small as to admit but one paw, at first, and the earth was packed as hard as wood by generations of trampling cattle.

There he began to dig.  He came of a breed of dogs used by farmers and hunters to dig small, burrowing animals out of holes, a breed whose courage and persistence know no limit.  He dug patiently, steadily, hour after hour, enlarging the hole by inches.  Now and then he had to stop to rest.  When he was able to use both forepaws he made encouraging progress; but when he had to reach under the door, quite the length of his stretched legs, and drag every bit of earth back into the byre, the task must have been impossible to any little creature not urged by utter misery.  But Skye terriers have been known to labor with such fury that they have perished of their own exertions.  Bobby’s nose sniffed liberty long before he could squeeze his weasel-like body through the tunnel.  His back bruised and strained by the struggle through a hole too small, he stood, trembling with exhaustion, in the windy dawn.