84 My New Zealand Garden 



This grave where he lies is self-made ; 'twas an elfish design 



of the night. 

 That he might have done worse it is true, for he's now out 



of mind, out of sight.' 



His only successor was a cocker-spaniel, whose 

 digestion did not wait on appetite, I suppose, for 

 whenever he received a good-sized morsel, he must 

 needs deposit it under one of my plants, and he 

 annihilated my most beautiful pansy by his horrid 

 time-honoured custom. I have watched his strong 

 nose replacing the earth over his tit-bit, and always 

 stole it when he was out of sight, to try and teach 

 him that his larder was not a ' safe ' place in one 

 sense. However, this only made matters worse, 

 as he redoubled his energies to find his bone. He 

 was well bred, and his beautiful long, silky ears 

 took him three first prizes ; but at last somebody 

 took him, for he would roam about the town by 

 himself, until, I suppose, someone could resist 

 him no longer. He had a wonderful mechanical 

 laugh, or grin, to show his pleasure on seeing us, 

 when he returned home after his rambles, and, on 

 the whole, he deserved a good reference on his 

 final departure. A large lizard was a contem- 

 porary pet with him, but he was far too much like 

 a young crocodile, both in size and shape, to be 

 pleasant. Snails were his favourite diet, and he 

 had to have them all cracked for him, which was 

 a terrible drawback. His inabilitv to crack them 



