Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/122

 Oscar told the story as calmly as though it concerned some one quite other than himself. He would indeed have dropped the narrative there had Hugh not urged him on with impatient  questions.

“Yes, by the third day we were badly off. So when it was twilight I let little Hendrik out to go  down to the spring and drink. Would you think it mattered to them whether a little black dog  lived or not? They knew that I—I liked him a good deal, I suppose, for they killed him halfway  across the clearing. I heard a shot and a yelp and ran out to him, but when I got there he was  dead.”

“You ran out? Didn't they shoot at you?” Hugh exclaimed.

“Yes, and hit me too, but I didn't even notice it at the time. I carried little Hendrik back, and if I was determined to hold out before, I was a  hundred times more determined then. It rained that night and I caught a little water in a bucket  by the window, so I had that to go on, but I never  really knew quite how long the fight lasted. The