CANINE SAGACITY. 205 



satisfaction. The result of the battle was, that the mastiff came off 

 the conqueror, and gave his opponent a tremendous beating. TV hen 

 he had quite satisfied himself as to the result, this great avenger from 

 Kent scarcely waited to receive the recognition of his master, who had 

 been sent for immediately on the dog's arrival, but at once marched 

 out of the stable, to the door of which the little terrier accompanied 

 him, and was seen no more. Some few days afterward, however, the 

 gentleman received a letter from his steward in the country, inform- 

 ing him of the sudden appearance of the terrier there, and his as sud- 

 den disappearance along with the large mastiff; and stating that the 

 latter had remained away three or four days, during which they had 

 searched in vain for him, but had just then returned home again. It 

 then, of course, became quite clear that the little dog, finding him- 

 self unable to punish the town bully, had thought of his " big broth- 

 er " in the country, had traveled over the sixty miles which separated 

 them, in order to gain his assistance, and had recounted to him his 

 grievance ; it was plain also that the mastiff had consented to come 

 and avenge his old friend, had traveled with him to London, and, hav- 

 ing fulfilled his promise, had returned home, leaving the little fellow 

 free from annoyance in the future. 



The following well-known story is a strong example of the great 

 intelligence which may be developed in a dog by careful training : 

 A fashionably-dressed English gentleman was one day crossing one 

 of the bridges over the Seine at Paris, when he felt something knock 

 against his legs, and, looking down, he found that a small poodle-dog 

 had rubbed against him, and covered his boots with mud. He was, 

 of course, much annoyed, and execrated the little brute pretty freely ; 

 but when he got to the other side of the bridge, he had the boots 

 cleaned at a stand for the purpose, and thought no more about the 

 matter. Some days after this occurrence, however, he had occasion 

 again to cross that bridge, and the same little incident occurred. 

 Thinking this somewhat odd, he resolved to watch where the little 

 dog went to ; and, leaning against the side of the bridge, he followed 

 with his eye the movements of his dirty little friend. He saw him 

 rub against the feet of one gentleman after another, till he had ex- 

 hausted all the mud off his once white skin, then rush off down the 

 bank of the river, and there roll himself in the mud collected at the 

 side. Having thus got a new supply of dirt, the little animal ran up 

 to the bridge again, and proceeded to transfer it to the boots of the 

 passers-by, as before. Having watched his movements for some time, 

 the gentleman noticed that on one occasion, instead of running down 

 to the river, he went off to the proprietor of the stand for cleaning 

 boots, at the other end of the bridge, who received him very cordially. 

 The truth then for the first time dawned on him, that the little animal 

 belonged to the man who cleaned the boots, and was trained by him 

 to perform these mischievous deeds, for the purpose of bringing in 



