* * * * * “Do have a cup of coffee, Miss Jule, dear. You must be done up,” said Anna Maria, who also looked awry and as if she had been up all night, as she bustled into the stable with coffee-pot and cups on a tray, which she set on top of the nearest feed-bin, while Martin emerged from below, where he had been ducking his head in a pail of water in order to appear fully awake. “And the doctor here, too; he must be faintin’, for he was the fore half of the night at the Ridge with Squire Burley’s old mare, the drivin’ boy says,” she added, hurrying back to the house. Miss Jule filled two cups, and handed one to the doctor. Anna Maria had forgotten the spoons, so they stirred the coffee with stout straws. Miss Jule raised the cup to her lips, and then paused, saying, “To the friendship of two faithful dogs, Ben Uncas and Jim,” and they drank the coffee slowly and in silence. * * * * * Quick was to have gone to his youthful new owners that same day, and Mr. Hugh thoughtfully slipped over and took him away before Miss Jule awoke from her belated sleep, so that two members of the hunting club vanished at the same time, and it disbanded as if by mutual consent; for Waddles and Tip at least seemed to comprehend what had happened, and Colin, who was himself growing old, became more reliable, and seldom left his mistress. “Let’s go up and hug Miss Jule and tell her how sorry we are, and lend her the sixlets for a week to ’muse her,” said tender-hearted Tommy, when he heard the news. “Better not,” said Anne, who understood; “if it was Waddles, I would rather be let alone.” And when she, turning quickly, asked Waddles the familiar question, “Where is Ben? where is Mr. Wolf?” instead of cheering and trotting off toward the gate as usual, to meet his friend, he never stirred, but gave her a reproachful look, and throwing back his head, bayed dismally. CHAPTER XIV THE BARBED WIRE FENCE Mr. Hugh’s promised field day with supper at Robin Hood’s Inn had, for various reasons, been postponed so often that, as Anne remarked, “first it was to have been a hazel-nut party, then a hunt for hickory and chestnuts, but now both are over, so if it doesn’t happen soon, it will have to be a skating party, which won’t be a bit of fun for the dogs.” The delay was nobody’s fault, however, for it had taken some time to clear the old farm and woodlots of briers and thorny bushes, so that it was fit for people to explore either afoot or on horseback. Then Mr. Hugh had to go away to meet some other wise chemists who also spent their time, as Anne once said of her friend, “in mixing queer things together that were of no use to make something that was,” and tell them of a perfectly new smell he had discovered.