DEER. 287 



and gave him a collar with the name of the regiment 

 on it, and called him Peter. A mutual attachment 

 soon took place between the deer and the dog, and 

 they regularly appeared on parade together. The 

 latter frequented the cook-house, where the cook ill- 

 treated him, which was not forgotten ; and one day 

 when the bathing time was come, at which recreation 

 Peter was first in and the last out of the water, the 

 cook joined the others of his corps ; and Peter, know- 

 ing his power in his own element, pulled him down, 

 and would have drowned him had not the soldiers 

 come to his rescue. 



Both the dog and deer marched with the band, and 

 remained with it when in quarters. The latter was 

 very fond of biscuit ; but if it had been breathed upon 

 he would not touch it, and although many ways of 

 cheating him were tried, he invariably detected the 

 contamination. At one time he became very irritable ; 

 and if a stranger passed between the band and the 

 regiment, he attacked him with his antlers. He was 

 grazing one day, when a cat from the neighbourhood 

 bristled up her hair and set up her back at him ; and 

 the poor deer, seized with a sudden and unaccountable 

 panic, sprang over a precipice two hundred feet high, 

 and was killed on the spot. Peter being close by, 

 rushed to the battlements, and barked and yelled most 

 piteously. His own end was a tragic one. He snarled 

 at an officer who had often ill-used him, and the un- 

 feeling man ordered the poor dog to be shot by those 

 who loved him, and lamented him as long as they lived. 



The smallest of the deer species lives in Ceylon ; a 

 lovely, delicate little creature, with lustrous eyes and 

 of exquisite form. When full-grown it is only tea 



