280 ANECDOTE. 



One circumstance was remarked which was powerfully 

 indicative of animal affection. The dead man's terrier had 

 remained night and day beside his bier, since the morning 

 of his death. Unnoticed, she crept on board the boat that 

 conveyed the coffin to the churchyard ; and when the grave 

 was filled, she was with difficulty carried home by an 

 attendant, but escaping during the night, crossed the estuary 

 by swimming, and again lay down upon the turf, beneath 

 which her beloved master was sleeping. Every care and 

 kindness was bestowed upon her in the Lodge. No one ad- 

 dressed her but as "poor Venney." Notwithstanding, she 

 drooped visibly, and in three weeks after her interment, in 

 death the otter-killer's favourite " bore him company." 



When we reached the Lodge, we made a discovery which, 

 possibly with some people, might lead to an opposite con- 

 clusion, and either prove the security or insecurity of the 

 country. 



Not a living being had remained within the walls, and 

 consequently, for several hours, the house and household 

 goods were abandoned to the mercy of chance and chance 

 travellers. The guardian saint, however, acquitted herself 

 like a gentlewoman. We found every thing in pious order ; 

 and had the Lodge been under the especial care of the 

 glorious Santa Barbara herself, watch and ward could not 

 have been more faithfully maintained. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Weather changes Symptoms of winter Animal appearances Night 

 passage of Barnacles Grey plover Hints for shooting plover Wild 

 geese Swans Ducks Burke transported Evening at the lodge 

 Feminine employments. 



A MONTH had passed : winter comes on with giant strides, 

 and the last lingering recollections of autumn are over. The 

 weather becomes more rainy and tempestuous ; and bogs, 

 which we once crossed easily, owing to the continued wet, 

 are now quite impassable. The swell, which during the 

 summer months came in in long and measured undulations, 

 breaks in masses across the bar, and sends a broken and 



