At all events Rob showed no signs of any fighting ancestry.

He was as gentle as a calf.

Even Blinks was a better watch-dog.

But then, Rob was only a year old, and he might improve in time.
But, in spite of his general inutility, Rob was a capital companion on a country ramble.
And so it happened, one bright day toward the close of April, that he and Harry and Kate went out together into the woods, beyond Aunt Matilda's cabin.

Kate's objects in taking the walk were wild flowers and general spring investigations into the condition of the woods; but Harry had an eye to business, although to hear him talk you would have supposed that he thought as much about ferns and flowers as Kate did.
Harry had an idea that it might possibly be a good thing to hire negroes that year to pick sumac for him.