John Pym 



John Pym was a smaller dog" than Crab, of more 

 fashionable blood, being a son of Mr. Sommer's 

 famous SHEM, whose father and brother are said 

 to have been found dead in a drain into which the 

 hounds had run a fox. It had three entrances ; 

 the father was put in at one hole, the son at 

 another, and speedily the fox bolted out at the 

 third, but no appearance of the little terriers, and, 

 on digging, they were found dead, locked in each 

 other's jaws ; they had met, and it being dark, 

 and there being no time for explanations, they 

 had throttled each other. John was made of the 

 same sort of stuff, and was as combative and 

 victorious as his great namesake, and not unlike 

 him in some of his not so creditable qualities. 

 He must, I think, have been related to a certain 

 dog to whom "life was full o' sairiousness," but 

 in John's case the same cause produced an opposite 

 effect. John was gay and light-hearted, even 

 when there was not " enuff o' fechtin," which, 

 however, seldom happened, there being a market 

 every week in Melrose, and John appearing most 

 punctually at the cross to challenge all comers, 

 and being short legged, he inveigled every dog 

 into an engagement by first attacking him, and 

 then falling down on his back, in which posture 

 he latterly fought and won all his battles. 



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