Turning aside, and passing through the ill-hung gate, I
approached the dwelling. Slowly the gate swung on its wooden
hinges, and the rattle of its latch, in closing, did not disturb
the air until I had nearly reached the porch in front of the
house, in which a slender girl, who had noticed my entrance,
stood awaiting my arrival.
A deep, quick bark answered, almost like an echo, the sound of
the shutting gate, and, sudden as an apparition, the form of an
immense dog loomed in the doorway. At the instant when he was
about to spring, a light hand was laid upon his shaggy neck,
and a low word spoken.
"Go in, Tiger," said the girl, not in a voice of authority, yet
in her gentle tones was the consciousness that she would be
obeyed; and, as she spoke, she lightly bore upon the animal with
her hand, and he turned away and disappeared within the dwelling.
"Who's that?" A rough voice asked the question; and now a heavy
looking man took the dog's place in the door.
"How far is it to G----?" I asked, not deeming it best to say, in
the beginning, that I sought a resting-place for the night.
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