know he was ugly ; he walked about as if he was 

 always thinking of his dignity, and he had that puffed- 

 out and stuck-up air of importance that you only see 

 in small people and bantam cocks who are always 

 trying to appear an inch taller than they really 

 are. 



When the puppies were about a month old, and 

 could feed on porridge or bread soaked in soup or 

 gravy, they got to be too much for Jess, and she used 

 to leave them for hours at a time and hide in the grass 

 so as to have a little peace and sleep. Puppies are 

 always hungry, so they soon began to hunt about for 

 themselves, and would find scraps of meat and porridge 

 or old bones ; and if they could not get anything else, 

 would try to eat the raw-hide nekstrops and reims. 

 Then the fights began. As soon as one puppy saw 

 another busy on anything, he would walk over towards 

 him and, if strong enough, fight him for it. All 

 day long it was nothing but wrangle, snarl, bark and 

 yelp. Sometimes four or five would be at it in one 

 scrum ; because as soon as one heard a row going on 

 he would trot up hoping to steal the bone while the 

 others were busy "fighting. 



It was then that I noticed other things about the 

 odd puppy : no matter how many packed on to him, 

 or how they bit or pulled him, he never once let out 

 a yelp ; with four or five on top of him you would 

 see him on his back, snapping right and left with bare 

 white teeth, gripping and worrying them when he 

 got a good hold of anything, and all the time growling 

 and snarling with a fierceness that was really comical. 



62 



w 1 1 J'A * k^^^-rO^ 



