Crippy's life would be a dismal failure.

"I'm doin' this so's you won't have to be killed, Crippy," whispered
Dan, as he held the
goose tightly clasped in his arms "an' it does seem's if you might help
a feller, instead of tryin' to wake up father an' mother."

Perhaps Crippy was weary with struggling,- Dan thought he began to
realize his position,
- for he ceased all protests after his master's last appeal, and, with
his head tucked under
Dan's coat, submitted quietly to the rescue.

If he had not repeated to himself so many times that he was not running
away from home,
but simply going to uncle Robert's, to save poor ~ Crippy's life, Dan
would have felt that he was doing something wrong because of the
warning cries uttered by everything around. The stable door, when he
tried to close it softly, shut with a spiteful clatter, and even the
snow gave forth a sharp, crunching sound, such as he had never heard
before. But he must keep on, for to remain would be to see the plump,
brown body of poor Crippy on the Thanksgiving dinner-table, while to go
on would be, at the worst, but a few
hours' discomfort, with Crip's life as the reward.

Once they were out-of-doors Crippy behaved much as if he had suddenly
realized how important it was for him to get away from the Hardy farm,
and Dan had no trouble with him while he was passing the house.

There seemed to be an unnatural stillness everywhere, amid which the