HOW ANIMALS GET HOME. 211 
lost sight of it, and on the Wednesday following he re- 
ceived a letter from his mother, stating that the dog had 
-returned to her. Now you will see that the dog went first 
by road, then by market-boat, then through streets, then by 
rail, then by steamer, then through streets again, then by 
rail again, then through streets again, it being dark at the 
time.’ Whether the animal really did follow the back- 
track with all this exactness or not, one thing is certain, 
he had sagacity enough to find his way, and (as is note- 
worthy in all these incidents) did so with astonishing speed. 
The second instance is still more striking, and illustrates 
very forcibly the strong love of home in the dog, which is 
the motive in all these extraordinary and difficult journeys. 
“A gentleman in Calcutta wrote to a friend living near 
Inverkeithing, on the shores of the Frith of Forth, request- 
ing him to send a good Scotch collie dog. This was done 
in due course, and the arrival of the dog was duly acknowl- 
edged. But the next mail bronght accounts of the dog 
having disappeared, and that nothing could be seen or 
heard of him. Imagine the astonishment of the gentle- 
man in Inverkeithing when, a few weeks later, friend 
Collie bounced into his house, wagging his tail, barking 
furiously, and exhibiting, as only a dog can, his great joy 
at finding his master.” Inquiry showed that the dog had 
