Page:A Girl of the Limberlost.djvu/127

Rh "The poor little souls!" she mused. "I think the Almighty put them in my way to show me real trouble. I won't be likely to spend much time pitying myself while I can see them." She glanced at the lunch box. "What on earth do I carry this for? I never had anything that was so strictly ornamental! One sure thing! I can't take this stuff to the high school. You never seem to know just what is going to happen to you while you are there." As if to provide a way out of her difficulty a big dog arose from a lawn, and came toward the gate wagging his tail. "If those children ate the stuff, it can't possibly kill him!" thought Elnora, so she offered the bologna. The dog accepted it graciously, and being a pedigreed beast he trotted around to a side porch and laid the bologna before his mistress. The woman snatched it, screaming, "Come, quick! Some one is trying to poison Pedro!" Her daughter came running from the house. "Go see who is on the street. Hurry!" cried the excited mother. Ellen Brownlee ran and looked. Elnora was a half block away, and no one nearer. Ellen called loudly, and Elnora stopped. Ellen came running toward her. "Did you see any one give our dog something?" she cried as she approached. Elnora saw no escape. "I gave it a piece of bologna myself," she said. "It was fit to eat. It wouldn't hurt the dog." Ellen stood and looked at her. "Of course, I didn't know it was your dog," explained Elnora. "I just had