"You won't let him.

I'd never be afraid of him, if you were there.

Oh, Laddie, you're so darling!" Lad, highly pleased, licked her wizened little face and, sitting down, insisted on shaking hands with her.

He realized he had done something quite wonderful and had made this little chum of his proud of him.
Wherefore, he was proud of himself; and felt young and gay again;--until his next strenuous effort to walk fast.
All night, in her sleep, in the stiflingly hot loft of her father's hovel, which served her and the five other Ruloff children as a dormitory, Sonya was faintly aware of that bright memory.

Her first waking thought was of the shaggy shoulder pressed so protectingly against her side; and of the reassuring thrust of Lad's muzzle into her cupped palm.