'Will Little Ann be all right?' my oldest sister asked.
'Yes,' I said, 'she'll be all right. She only had one bad wound and we've taken care of that.'
'Old Dan's hurt bad, isn't he?' she said.
I nodded my head.
'How bad is it?' she asked.
'It's bad,' I said. 'He was cut wide open.'
They all started crying.
'Now here,' Mama said, going over, 'you girls get back in bed. You'll take a death of cold being up like this in your bare feet.'
'Mommie,' the little one said. 'God won't let Old Dan die, will He?'
'I don't think so, honey,' Mama said. 'Now off to bed.'
They turned and walked slowly back to their room.
'The way your dogs are cut up,' Papa said, 'it must have been a terrible fight.'
'It was, Papa,' I said. 'I never saw anything like it. Little Ann wouldn't have fought the lion if it hadn't been for Old Dan. All she was doing was helping him. He wouldn't quit. He just stayed right in there till the end. I even had to pry his jaws loose from the lion's throat after the lion was dead.'
Glancing at Old Dan, Papa said, 'It's in his blood, Billy. He's a hunting hound, and the best one I ever saw. He only has two loves-you and hunting. That's all he knows.'
'If it hadn't been for them, Papa,' I said, 'I probably wouldn't be here now.'
'What do you mean,' Mama said, 'you wouldn't be here now?'
I told them how the lion had leaped at me and how my dogs had gotten between him and me.
'They were so close together,' I said, 'when they came up off the ground they looked just like one.'
There was a moaning sigh from Mama. She covered her face with her hands and started crying.
'I don't know,' she sobbed, 'I just don't know. To think how close you came to being killed. I don't think I can stand any more.'
'Now, now,' Papa said, as he walked over and put his arms around her. 'Don't go all to pieces. It's all over. Let's be thankful and do our best for Old Dan.'
'Do you think he'll die, Papa?' I asked.
'I don't know, Billy,' Papa said, shaking his head. 'He's lost an awful lot of blood and he's a mighty sick dog. All we can do now is wait and see.'
Our wait wasn't long. My dog's breathing grew faster and faster, and there was a terrible rattling in his throat. I knelt down and laid his head in my lap.
Old Dan must have known he was dying. Just before he drew one last sigh, and a feeble thump of his tail, his friendly gray eyes closed forever.
At first I couldn't believe my dog was dead. I started talking to him. 'Please don't die, Dan,' I said. 'Don't leave me now.'
I looked to Mama for help. Her face was as white as the bark on a sycamore tree and the hurt in her eyes tore at my heart. She opened her mouth to say something but words wouldn't come out.
Feeling as cold as an arctic wind, I got up and stumbled to a chair. Mama came over and said something. Her words were only a murmur in my ears.
Very gently Papa picked Old Dan up in his arms and carried him out on the porch. When he came back in the house, he said, 'Well, we did all we could do, but I guess it wasn't enough.'
