76 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



magistrate, in his Memoirs, tells a story of how he found 

 his dog it was not one of the smooth variety, however, 

 what it cost him to have it restored, and how, in the end, 

 he contrived to give one of the thieves a quid pro quo. 



The dog was named Rob, and so great a favourite was 

 he with his master that every precaution was taken to 

 prevent his being stolen at a time when dog thieves were 

 having a good old time a huge gang of them working 

 together, and exporting all the stolen canines for which they 

 could not obtain a suitable reward. One Sunday morning 

 Rob was missing. Rewards were offered for his recovery, 

 and the police were notified of the theft. Weeks passed 

 by. Then one night a man called to see Mr. Williams, and 

 after beating around the bush somewhat, said " he knew a 

 man who, for 20, would restore the missing favourite. 

 An appointment was made, the barrister promised secrecy, 

 and one cold, wet night Rob was restored to his owner at 

 Bishopsgate-street station, and the 20 paid. The thieves 

 had known the value of the dog in question, had watched 

 the house for days until the opportunity came. Rob was 

 enticed from the door-step, bundled into a cart kept handy 

 for the purpose, and so transferred from the sweets 

 of fashionable West-end to the purlieus of unsavoury 

 Shoreditch. 



Two years later Mr. Montagu Williams was called upon 

 to prosecute for dog stealing a man who had frequently 

 been charged and convicted for similar offences, and in the 

 dock was the very fellow who had taken the 20 for 

 restoring the counsel's own dog. The recognition was 

 mutual, but not by any means satisfactory to the prisoner, 

 who grinned a ghastly grin when the learned counsel cast 

 his eye on the fellow he was to prosecute. The case was 



