Chums

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It being Springtime, all available labor is recruited to work in the fields. The peasants go to their daily toil, leaving the farm house in charge of little Fanny and the dog Ned. A trio of tramps, who have been watching the place, seize the favorable opportunity and force their way into the house, where they make short work of Fanny, who offers resistance. They pick the child up and throw her down the flight of stairs into the cellar, after which the trapdoor is closed upon her. The child is in a high state of excitement and for some time she lies at the foot of the stairs, but soon recovers enough strength to call her dog Ned, who is chained to his little house in the yard. When the dog hears the child's cries, his excitement is so intense that he succeeds in breaking his chain, and in a few bounds he is at the window of the cellar, where he jumps in to his little mistress. Fanny succeeds in making the dog understand the nature of her harrowing plight, and send him off to give the alarm to the family. With one bound the dog goes through the window, and starts for the field, where, by his barking, he makes it known that something is wrong at the house. The excited peasants follow the dog back to the house and take the thieves unawares, just as they are about to leave with their booty. After an exciting battle the miscreants are overpowered, and little Fanny is liberated from her prison.