66 DOG STORIES 



outside the house early in the morning when 

 the servants got up, and been admitted by 

 them. Pixie is still alive and flourishing, 

 and readily lends himself to experiments, 

 which, however, yield no very definite result. 

 He certainly seems to understand as much of 

 our meaning as it concerns his own comfort 

 to understand, but how he does it I cannot 

 quite determine. I should be sorry to affirm, 

 clever as he is, that he understands French 

 and German, yet it is certainly a fact that he 

 will fall back just as readily if I say 

 "Zuriick!' as if I say "To heel!" and 

 advance to the sound " En avant ! " as well 

 as to " Hold up ! " As in both cases I am 

 careful to avoid any elucidatory gesture or 

 special tone of voice, I am inclined to think 

 that there must be here a species of direct 

 thought transference. At the same time, I 

 am bound to add that without the spoken 

 word I am unable to convey the slightest 

 meaning to him. This, however, may be 

 due to what I believe to be a fact, that it is 

 almost impossible without word or gesture to 

 formulate the will with any distinctness. If 



