CH. III.] Pepper and Wasp. 65 



one a badly bred spaniel, and the other a 

 terrier of doubtful parentage. They are both 

 nice cheerful young dogs that it is a pleasure 

 to see either at play or work, but they are 

 yet young and too apt to get excited and 

 wild. They zvill^ when a rat is out of his 

 hole, in a hedge, dash up and down the 

 entire length of the field, making enormous 

 jumps in the air, during which time they 

 listen keenly for the rustle of the rat in the 

 grass ; and once, but only once. Pepper gave 

 a yap when so rushing about, but I spoke 

 to him so severely about this disgustingly 

 low habit that he has never done it again. 



Wasp is specially good at water, and I 

 have taught him to come to me directly a 

 rat is bolted with a plunge into a pond, and 

 I carry her high up in my arms round the 

 pond, and when the rat approaches the side, 

 Wasp from her high vantage ground will 

 dive down upon it and have it in an instant. 



