THE PROFESSIONAL SINGER 307 



hand. He gave me an ugly look, but did nothing ; and 

 then came the beginning of our friendship. Day by 

 day we became better friends, and now you can see 

 what footing we are on. The third is Snuppesen, a 

 dark red lady ; she is their sworn friend, and never leaves 

 them. She is the quickest and most active of our dogs. 

 You can see that she is fond of me; she is generally on 

 her hind legs, and makes every effort to get at my face. 

 I have tried to get her out of the way of that, but in 

 vain; she will have her own way. I have no other 

 animals for the moment that are worth showing unless 

 you would care to hear a song. If so, there is Uranus, 

 who is a professional singer. We'll take the trio with 

 us, and you shall hear." 



We made for two black-and-white dogs that were 

 lying by themselves on the snow a little way off, while 

 the three jumped and danced about us. As we ap- 

 proached the other two, and they caught sight of the 

 trio, they both jumped up as though at a word of com- 

 mand, and I guessed that we had found the singer. 

 Lord save us, what an awful voice! I could see that 

 the concert was for Lasse's benefit, and Uranus kept it 

 up as long as we stood in his vicinity. But then my 

 attention was suddenly aroused by the appearance of 

 another trio, which made an extraordinary favourable 

 impression. I turned to my companion for information. 



" Yes," he continued, " those are three of Hanssen's 

 team; probably some of our best animals. The big 



