The Skye Terrier. 307 



head of a perfect terrier, beautiful dark eyes 

 beaming with intelligence, and, barring his 

 soft coat, he was a dog of extraordinary excellence. 

 Although he could barely see through the hair which 

 hung down over his eyes he was a keen hunter, a 

 splendid water dog, and in a fight or general turn-up 

 the gamest of the game. As a fact, it was said that 

 the dog had belonged to an old lady, who, becoming 

 tired of what once had been a favourite, gave it to 

 her servant, who transferred it, where her heart had 

 already gone, to a barman dog fancier. He kept it 

 for a bit ; a time came when his master wished 

 to try a fighting bull terrier, so he bought Cloudy for 

 ten shillings to be practised upon. However, the 

 tables were turned, for the Skye was a " glutton " at 

 the work, and speedily chawed up the fighting dog, 

 rendering it hors de combat in less than a quarter of 

 an hour. Then Cloudy fell into better hands, was 

 shown successfully, and ultimately purchased by the 

 writer, who found the dog to have an extraordinary 

 nose, and if not kept chained up he would hunt my 

 footsteps through crowded streets, though I had gone 

 on two hours before. This faculty of scent, Mr. Pratt 

 tells me, was very marked in his strain, of which the 

 following story may be interesting. 



Mr. Pratt kept a number of Skye terriers, which 

 it was his custom to take out for walking exercise in 



X 2 



