on his farm mortgage would fall due. And the
meeting of that payment was always a problem. This year he would
be less cruelly harassed by it than before.
Yet, all the more, he desired extra money. For a startlingly
original ambition had awakened recently in his heart--namely, to
pay off a little of the mortgage's principal along with the
interest.
At first the idea had staggered him. But talking it over with
Chum and studying his thumbed-soiled ledger, he had decided there
was a bare chance he might be able to do it.
As he mounted the steps of the store, this evening in late
August, he saw, tacked to the doorside clapboards, a truly
gorgeous poster. By the light of the flickering lamp over the
door, he discerned the vivid scarlet head of a dog in the upper
corner of the yellow placard, and much display type below it.
It was the picture of the dog which checked Link in passing. It
was a fancy head--the head of a stately and long muzzled dog with
a ruff and with tulip ears. In short, just such a dog as Chum.
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