RAB AND HIS FRIENDS 



knife, worn away obliquely to a point, and 

 always keen. I put its edge to the tense 

 leather ; it ran before it ; and then ! one 

 sudden jerk of that enormous head, a sort of 

 dirty mist about his mouth, no noise and 

 the bright and fierce little fellow is dropped, 

 limp and dead. A solemn pause : this was 

 more than any of us had bargained for. I 

 turned the little fellow over, and saw he was 

 quite dead : the mastiff had taken him by the 

 small of the back like a rat, and broken it. 



He looked down at his victim appeased, 

 ashamed, and amazed, snuffed him all over, 

 stared at him, and, taking a sudden thought, 

 turned round and trotted off. Bob took the 

 dead dog up, and said, "John, we'll bury 

 him after tea." " Yes," said 1, and was off 

 after the mastiff. He made up the Cowgate 

 at a rapid swing ; he had forgotten some en- 

 gagement. He turned up the Candlemaker 

 Row, and stopped at the Harrow Inn. 



There was a carrier's cart ready to start, 

 and a keen, thin, impatient, black-a-vised 



