DOGS AND MASTERS. 181 





XIX. 



DOGS AND MASTERS. 



PROBABLY the most forlorn and abject creature 

 to be seen on the face of the earth is a mas- 

 terless dog. Slouching and slinking along, 

 cringing to every human being it chances to 

 meet, running away with its tail between its 

 legs from smaller dogs whom under other 

 circumstances it would accost with a gruff 

 who-the-dickens-are-you sort of growl, it 

 forms the very picture of utter humiliation 

 and self-abasement. Grip and I have just 

 come across such a lost specimen of stray 

 doghood, trying to find his way back to his 

 home across the fields I fancy he belongs to 

 a travelling show which left the village yes- 

 terday and it is quite refreshing to watch 



