TWO BIG DOGS AND A LITTLE ONE 277 



But, after all, it is not only big animals that are of use 

 in the world, as the lion found out when the net that 

 held him was gnawed through by a mouse. Little dogs 

 can be very brave, and very clever, too, as the following 

 tale will show. 



No one would ever imagine in looking at the small, 

 short-legged King Charles spaniel that he would be the 

 dog to prevent murder. His long silky ears, which are 

 generally either black, or red and white, hang down on 

 each side of a round, soft little face, very pretty in a 

 lady's drawing-room, but not giving the idea of much 

 intelligence. King Charles II., to be sure, was very fond 

 of this breed, and seldom went out without eight or ten of 

 them hovering about his heels in the Mall ; but then he 

 was a person who set great store by beauty, and was apt 

 to value things and people accordingly. 



However, here is a true story, in which the tiny King 

 Charles was quite as clever as the best Newfoundland or 

 collie that ever lived. 



About the beginning of this century a lady named 

 Mrs. Osburn was occupying a large lonely house in a 

 country place a few miles from London. One day she 

 drove into town to receive a large sum of money which 

 Parliament had voted to her for the discovery of a 

 medicine which was expected to be very useful, and 

 instead of putting it into the bank, as a wise woman would 

 have done, she brought it back in her carriage to her own 

 house. The long day in town had tired her a good deal, 

 and she soon made up her mind to go early to bed and 

 sleep' off her fatigues. She was just stepping into bed 

 when a little King Charles, who always slept in her room, 

 became greatly excited, and when she lay down tugged 

 hard at the bed-clothes, nearly pulling them off her in its 

 struggles. She told him several times to lie down, but he 

 paid no attention, only pulling and dragging the harder. 

 At length, finding it impossible to rouse her in any other 

 way, he jumped on to the bed itself, took the clothes in 



