on the swing. He was none the worse, however, and 

 was the picture of contentment as he lay beside me 

 in the ring facing the fire. 



But Jess was a puzzle. From the time that she 

 had come hobbling back to us, carrying her one foot 

 in the air and stopping to rub her mouth on her paws, 

 we had been trying to find out what was the matter. 

 The foot trouble was clear enough, for there was a 

 quill fifteen inches long and as stiff and thick as a lead 

 pencil still piercing the ball of her foot, with the needle- 

 like point sticking out between her toes. Fortunately 

 it had not been driven far through and the hole was 

 small, so that once it was drawn and the foot bandaged 

 she got along fairly well. It was not the foot that 

 was troubling her ; all through the evening she kept 

 repeating the movement of her head, either rubbing 

 it on her front legs or wiping her muzzle with the 

 paws, much as a cat does when washing its face. She 

 would not touch food and could not lie still for five 

 minutes ; and we could do nothing to help her. 



