Low as was the tone in which the command was given, Rover heard it; and then, in an instant, off he flew, like an arrow from the bow, with his bushy tail stretched out straight behind, bottle-brush fashion, making him resemble a dark-coloured fox in the distance, with the hounds in full cry after him. The last they saw of him was the end of his tufted tail disappearing over the sea-wall at the place where Bob had secreted the towels, so on they went in the expectation of Rover presently overtaking the party with the towels, which he seldom failed to do before the roadway skirting the other side of the common was reached, the retriever being generally very rapid in his movements. On this occasion, however, the Captain with the boys not only got as, far as the terrace, but arrived at the gate of Mrs Gilmour's house, without there being any appearance of Rover's return. He and the towels were alike "conspicuous by their absence." What could have happened? Listening attentively, they could hear presently the sound of a dog barking in the direction of the sea, and to Bob's mind, at least, there was no doubt that the bark was the bark of Rover. "He cannot get the towels from under the stone," cried Bob, turning back. "It is either that, or somebody has stolen them, or something. I must go and see what's the matter." "We'll all come," said the Captain. "I should like to see the affair out." So saying, he wheeled round too, and with Dick started off in pursuit of Bob, who, going at the run, was already some distance ahead, on his return journey to the beach. The Captain stepped out well, however, and he and Dick got up just in time to settle a little dispute, in which Bob, Rover, and an ugly- looking man, very like a gipsy and evidently a tramp, were the parties interested. The man had one end of the bundle of towels grasped in both his hands, while Rover was holding on like grim death to the other; the dog growling, and tugging away so violently between each growl, that the tramp had hard work to keep hold of his prize. Bob, on his part, had caught up a piece of broken timber, and was advancing to the faithful dog's aid. But a boy like Bob, even with the help of such a valiant protector as the retriever, could do little or nothing against a burly, ruffianly giant, six feet high, and broad in proportion. The arrival of the Captain on the scene with Dick, however, altered the aspect of affairs considerably. The gipsy tramp, who had sworn to Bob, and at him too, that the bundle was his own, and that he was walking quietly along the shore in search of work, when he was assailed by "that savage dog o' yourn there," now said, on the Captain's telling him curtly to drop the towels, or he would have him locked up, that he had "only picked 'em up on the beach, and didn't mean no harm by it to nobody, that he didn't."