FROM THE " SPECTA TOR." 185 



persons were hiding in the shrubbery between 

 the house and the road, whom I supposed to 

 be burglars. I called out, "Who's there?" 

 without, of course, eliciting any answer, and, 

 after a time, I heard the click of the further 

 gate (there being two, one opposite my 

 house, the other opposite its semi-detached 

 neighbour, and out of my si^ht), after which 

 all was quiet. But I had noticed that from 

 the moment of my getting out of bed Prin 

 had not uttered a sound. The same thing 

 happened seven or eight times, and always 

 in the same way, Prin growling or barking 

 till he heard me get out of bed, and then 

 holding his tongue, as feeling that he had 

 fulfilled his duty in warning his master, and 

 that all responsibility now devolved upon me. 

 The secret of the matter I discovered to be 

 that poachers, with no burglarious intentions 

 towards me, used the shrubbery as a hiding- 

 place before getting over the opposite paling 

 into the wood. 



One other instance of Prin's sagacity I will 

 also mention. I had a black cat, with white 

 breast, named Toffy, between whom and 



