44 Studies in Rat Catching, [ch. hi. 



young one about a year old who was going 

 to be " put away " on account of the tax. I 

 got the oldest I have now in the kennel in 

 this way. It followed George Adams, the 

 carrier, home one night, and to this day has 

 never been claimed ; and when the tax- 

 collector spoke to him about it, he offered it 

 to me, and I took it and gave it the name of 

 " Come-by-chance," but in the family and 

 among friends she is now called *' Chance." 

 If Chance is of any family I should think 

 her mother was a setter and her father a bob- 

 tail sheep-dog ; but, then, I can't make out 

 where she got her legs ! She is red and 

 white, with a perfect setter's head. She has 

 the hind parts of a sheep-dog and evidendy 

 never had a tail ; and her legs, which are very 

 thick, would be short for a big terrier. Such 

 are her looks, which certainly are not much to 

 speak of ; but if I had the pen of a Sir Walter 

 Scott I could not do credit to the perfection 



