eight feet above the ground.
Dagobert, still leaning over, encouraged his dog with voice and gesture: “Search, old fellow, search! If there is any one there, pin him—your fangs are strong—and hold him fast till I come.”
Original
But Spoil-sport found no one. They heard him go backwards and forwards, snuffing on every side, and now and then uttering a low cry like a hound at fault.
“There is no one, my good dog, that’s clear, or you would have had him by the throat ere this.” Then, turning to the maidens, who listened to his words and watched his movements with uneasiness: “My girls,” said he, “how were these panes broken? Did you not remark?”
“No, Dagobert; we were talking together when we heard a great crash, and then the glass fell into the room.”
“It seemed to me,” added Rose, “as if a shutter had struck suddenly against the window.”
Dagobert examined the shutter, and observed a long movable hook, designed to fasten it on the inside.
“It blows hard,” said he; “the wind must have swung round the shutter, and this hook broke the window. Yes, yes; that is it. What interest could anybody have to play such a sorry trick?” Then, speaking to Spoil sport, he asked, “Well, my good fellow, is there no one?”
The dog answered by a bark, which the soldier no doubt understood as a negative, for he continued: “Well, then, come back! Make the round—you will find some door open—you are never at a loss.”
The animal followed this advice. After growling for a few seconds beneath the window, he set off at a gallop to make the circuit of the buildings, and come back by the court-yard.
“Be quite easy, my children!” said the soldier, as he again drew near the orphans; “it was only the wind.”
“We were a good deal frightened,” said Rose.
“I believe you. But now I think of it, this draught is likely to give you cold.” And seeking to remedy this inconvenience, he took from a chair the reindeer
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