NUISANCES, INHUMAN AND HUMAN. 213 



which was almost equally injurious. I soon found 

 my only plan was to match my cunning against 

 theirs, and, the moment they appeared, to rush out of 

 the garden, calling them &quot; good dogs,&quot; which was a 

 falsehood of the blackest dye, and pretending I was 

 ready for a romp. By this means they would be in 

 duced to follow me with great hilarity, and occasion 

 ally forget to go back ; but I lost much of my enjoy 

 ment of the garden. 



&quot;When not busy with the flowers, they devoted 

 themselves to the vegetables; Gran was delighted 

 with hunting &quot; hop-toads,&quot; as children call them, and 

 as these abounded in our five acres, and were partic 

 ularly fond of hiding in the water-melon patch, he 

 hunted it over and over again, fairly plowing it up 

 with his nose, crushing the vines, tearing the leaves 

 to pieces, and breaking off the fruit. If he had killed 

 the toads his proceedings might have come to an end 

 with the exhaustion of the game ; but he was too 

 tender-hearted for this, and only pushed them with 

 his nose to make them jump. He pursued this ex 

 citing sport till the water-melons were almost ruined, 

 while Sher devoted himself mainly to hiding under 

 the okras or among the carrots, and darting out at 

 any passers-by in a playful mood. In the course of 

 his strategic movements he broke down most of the 



