Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/152

 moving, then the dog advanced very slowly  and began sniffing delicately at the edge of  Hugh’s coat. For all his size, he seemed to be shy and nervous, jumping back when the boy  sought to lay a hand on his long head, advancing  again when he was not looking to sniff at his  clothes again and determine whether this was  friend or foe. All his dignity disappeared, however, when Hugh brought some food and set it upon the hearth before him. He fell upon it with wolfish ferocity, as though he had not eaten a full  meal in weeks. He tore at the meat, crunched the bones and looked gratefully up at Hugh from  time to time, wagging his long brush of a tail that  swept the floor. But he did not eat all the food, ravenous as he seemed to be. When the first edge of his starvation was dulled, when the  warmth of the fire had dried and warmed him  so that he ceased to shiver, he stopped eating,  went to the door and whined to be gone.

“What’s the matter, old fellow, aren’t you happy here?” Hugh asked, whereat the dog