Something had gone wrong. He could hear Leroy’s voice raised in a loud, forlorn bellow, and Mrs. Granger’s voice, tearful and trembling, and Captain MacGregor’s voice, with a slightly exasperated note in it. He entered the sitting room, and there was Mrs. Granger, weeping, and Leroy sobbing. Sandy began to bark. “Oh, Mr. Anderson!” cried Mrs. Granger. “How can you let him do that? Oh, please keep him quiet!” Anderson put the dog outside, and then returned. “But what’s the matter?” he asked. “Leroy’s been bitten by a m-mad d-dog!” cried Mrs. Granger. “Was _not_ a mad dog!” Leroy asserted. “See! Here on his leg!” she went on. “And he never told me! It happened late yesterday!” “There’s no reason to assume that the dog was mad,” interrupted the captain. “It was! Animals adore Leroy! Only a rabid dog would dream of biting him!” “Was _not_ a rabid dog,” Leroy insisted sullenly. “Well, see here!” said Anderson. “If you think—if you’re worried—why not have his leg cauterized?” “Oh, I can’t!” she cried. “My child burned with red-hot irons!” Leroy began to bellow at this inhuman suggestion, and Mrs. Granger clasped him in her arms. “Don’t cry, darling!” she sobbed. “Mother won’t let them hurt you!” And she looked at Captain MacGregor and Mr. Anderson with unutterable reproach. They were silent for a time. “Well, see here!” Anderson suggested. “If you could find the dog, and—keep it under observation for a few days—” This idea appealed to the child. “Sure!” he said. “I’ll find him, mom. You just let me alone, and I’ll find him for you, all right!” “You said you couldn’t remember what the dog was like.” “Yes, I know. But I remember the street where it was, an’ I’ll go back there tomorrow,” Leroy declared. “I could stay out o’ school jist in the mornin’ and jist—ferret it out. I got lots of clews. An’ I bet you—” “I’ll go with you now,” said Anderson. The agitated mother didn’t even thank him. “Perhaps that would be a good idea,” she admitted. “You might try it, anyhow, and see.” So Leroy was fortified against the rain in oilskins and rubbers, and he and Mr. Anderson set forth together in quest of the dog. The small boy was highly pleased with the adventure; he did not often have an opportunity to frolic in the rain, and he made the most of it, caracoling before Anderson like a sportive colt. Sandy, too, would have enjoyed it, but he was tied up. “One dog at a time,” said Anderson. “Now, young feller, let’s hear about it.” “Aw, it was nothin’,” Leroy replied with admirable nonchalance. “Jist a dog ran up an’ bit me. I mean, I was runnin’, an’ I guess I stepped on his paw an’ he bit me.” “Did you tell your mother you stepped on the dog?” “I dunno what all I told her,” Leroy admitted. “Anyway, what’s it matter? Had to do somethin’ to keep her quiet.” Anderson considered that it was not his place to rebuke this child, and he let the disrespect pass. “Where did it happen?”