And he was a bit unwieldy from weight and from age.
No longer could he lead Wolf and Bruce in the forest rabbit chases.
Wherefore he stayed at home, for the most part and seldom strayed far from the Mistress and the Master whom he worshiped.
Moreover, he deputed the bulk of trespass-repelling to his fiery little son, Wolf; and to the graver and sweeter Bruce;--"Bruce, the Beautiful." Which brings us by needfully prosy degrees to a morning, when two marauders came to the Place at the same time, if by different routes.
They could not well have come at a more propitious time, for themselves; nor at a worse time for those whose domain they visited.
Bruce and Wolf had trotted idly off to the forest, back of the Place, for a desultory ramble in quest of rabbits or squirrels.

This they had done because they were bored.

For, the Mistress and the Master had driven over for the morning mail; and Lad had gone with them, as usual.
Had it been night, instead of morning, neither Wolf nor Bruce would have stirred a step from the grounds.

For both were trained watchdogs, But, thus early in the day, neither duty nor companionship held them at home.

And the autumn woods promised a half-hour of mild sport.
The superintendent and his helpers were in the distant "upper field," working around the roots of some young fruit trees.