318 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PINCHEB 



was no fit arena for military prowess. Besides, he had 

 reduced the dogs of the district to order, and his appear- 

 ance, like that of the British Flag on the high seas of old, 

 was saluted by tails down. Pincher looked for new 

 worlds to conquer. He took his stand, like some adven- 

 turous knight of old, in a pass perilous. He kept that 

 thronged thoroughfare, the Dairy Eoad, against all comers. 

 No collie, or bull-terrier, or Dandie could pass, but must 

 cross teeth with Pincher. In the Dairy Eoad he compro- 

 mised nobody ; unrecognised, like the Black Knight at 

 Ashby-de-la-Zouch in ' Ivanhoe,' he reaped his laurels. 



Battle was not Pincher's only joy. He loved sacred 

 music. Certain anthems and hymn tunes, when per- 

 formed on the piano, moved Pincher to an ecstasy which 

 he expressed in rhythnuc howls. To secular music he 

 was deaf, or dumb ; he .Sid not wed his voice to profane 

 melody. Hence he for long remained apparently 

 indifferent to barrel-organs. But, at last, Pincher was 

 missing from his wonted stand. He kept the pass of the 

 Dairy Road no longer. He had found a wandering 

 musician, proprietor of a barrel-organ, who had the ' Old 

 Hundredth ' in his machine. Him Pincher constantly 

 attended in George Square, in Princes Street, in The 

 Pleasance, everywhere. Pincher's family would meet an 

 enthusiastic crowd, who listened with rapt attention while 

 Pincher accompanied the ' Old Hundredth ' with vocal 

 and heartfelt psalmody. The musician profited not a 

 little by Pincher's performances. 



Pincher could not abide his neighbour, Professor 

 Blackie. The extraordinary liveliness of that scholar 

 found vent in a kind of dance, a sort of waltz in which he 

 indulged as he paced the street. Observing this, and not 

 liking it, Pincher would rush from his lair in the area, 

 circling round the Professor, and leaping up at the tails of 

 his plaid. The learned Professor was obliged to walk like 

 other men in Pincher's neighbourhood. 



The Highlands were the home of Pincher's most 



