COLLIES, OB SHEEP DOGS 271 



the food he could bear it no longer, and began to lap 

 madly, though he never failed to keep to his own side of 

 the dish, and let her pick up anything she could get. 



Another of Hector's tricks, and one of which he could 

 never be cured, was to tear round the room like a wild 

 thing, a few seconds before old Hogg finished his daily 

 family prayer ; and this was all the more strange as the 

 old man prayed out of his own head, and the length of 

 the prayer varied. It never seems to have occurred to 

 any of the family to shut the dog up, and they all puzzled 

 in vain over the reason for his conduct, when suddenly 

 the true explanation darted into the head of the shepherd 

 himself. ' Hector is all day long pointing the cat ; now, 

 when he sees us kneeling with our heads on our hands, 

 exactly as he does, he takes for granted that we are 

 pointing her too, and the moment that he can tell from 

 our father's voice that the prayer is coming to an end, 

 he springs to his feet, saying to himself : " It is no good 

 for them to try, I am the first in the field." 



Like many Scotch dogs, Hector was fond of going to 

 church, when his friends would have preferred him to 

 remain at home, and he also enjoyed taking part in the 

 music. The church at Ettrick, where the Hoggs lived, 

 was small, and the singing very bad, which vexed the 

 shepherd, who determined to try to improve it. This 

 he would very likely have managed to do if it had not 

 been for Hector, who, however carefully he had been shut 

 up at home, always contrived to escape, and would he 

 seen stalking up the aisle to the terror of his master, who 

 knew what he had to expect. The moment the first 

 notes sounded, in struck Hector; higher and higher rose 

 the man's voice, louder and louder became the dog's, 

 while the rest of the congregation hid their faces in their 

 plaids, and laughed till they nearly fell off their seats. 

 For some time Hogg stuck to it from sheer obstinacy, but 

 at length Hector proved too much for him, and he gave up 

 the singing to some one who owned a less musical dog ! 



