Longears laid
down.
"Stay there!" said Verty.
And smiling, he walked on.
Redbud laughed, and turning round made signs to the dog to follow
them. Longears, however, only moved his head uneasily, and wagged his
tail with eloquent remonstrance.
"Let him come, Verty," said the girl.
Verty smiled, and made a movement of the hand, which, from the
distance of a hundred yards, raised Longears three feet into the air.
Returning from this elevation to the earth again, he darted off over
the fields after the bees and swallows.
The young men and their companions smiled, and strolled on. They
reached the old orchard, and ran about among the trees picking up
apples--now the little soft yellow crab apples--then the huge, round,
ruddy pippins--next the golden-coat bell apples, oblong and mellow,
which had dropped from pure ripeness from the autumn boughs.
Verty had often climbed into the old trees, and filled his cap with
the speckled eggs of black-birds, or found upon the fence here,
embowered in the foliage, the slight nests of doves, each with its
two eggs, white and transparent almost; and the recollection made him
smile.
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