In how many raids had Larry not been
Christian's trusted leader! What stolen dainties had they not shared,
what punishments not endured together! Larry's three years of
seniority had only deepened the reverence and loyalty that he had
inspired in his youngest follower; he had never presumed upon them; he
had been a chieftain worthy of homage, and he had Had all Christian's.
There are some people who appear to change their natures when they
grow up. They may have been pleasing as little boys or girls; they may
be equally agreeable as men and women, but there is no continuity and
no development. They have become new creatures. Christian, alone of
her family, was essentially as she had ever been, and, being of those
whose inward regard is as searching as their outward observation, she
knew it. Now, Larry had come back again, and in half-a-dozen sentences
she knew that neither had he changed, and that with him her ancient
leader had returned.
The Wood of Nad (which, being interpreted, means a nest) filled a
pocket on the side of Lissoughter Hill, and had thence spread over the
crest of the hill, and ended near the cross-roads at which the hounds
had met.
"Don't holloa away an old fox. I want to kill a cub if I can. I'll let
you know if the hounds get away below. You needn't be afraid I won't!
Open the gate!"
Thus, magisterially, the Master, standing at the gate into the wood,
with the hounds crushing round his horse's heels, "Leu in there!"
With a squeal or two of excitement from Dido and her brethren-puppies,
the hounds squeezed through the narrow gateway, and were swallowed up
by the wood.
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