i86 DOG STORIES 



Prin there was peace, though not affection. 

 There was also another black cat, with white 

 breast, that prowled about, an outlaw cat, 

 who made free with my chickens when he 

 could ! It was a bitter winter, and the snow 

 had lain already for days on the ground. 

 I was walking one Sunday morning in my 

 garden, Prin being out with me. He quitted 

 me to go under a laurel-hedge bounding a 

 shrubbery, and presently began barking 

 loudly. I went towards him, and saw a 

 white-breasted cat sitting stretched under 

 the laurels, with front paws doubled under 

 him, which I took to be Toffy asleep. I 

 scolded Prin for disturbing Toffy, and he 

 stopped barking, but remained on the spot 

 whilst I continued my walk. Presently 

 say two or three minutes after I heard him 

 barking still more loudly than before, and so 

 persistently that I returned to the spot. 

 Noticing that the cat had never moved 

 through all the noise, I crept up under the 

 bushes, and found that it was not Toffy 

 asleep, but the outlaw cat, dead evidently 

 of cold. Thus my poor purblind watch-dog 



