FOUR-FOOTED PRIZE-FIGHTERS. 



263 



brutes which the Dutch colonies inflict on the mother- 

 country, but. he had never failed either to kill or to rout 

 his foe. His triumphs became such foregone conclu- 

 sions that the bets were chiefly against time, wagers 

 on his ability to crush his foe in more or less than so 

 many minutes. In 1875, Klaas had been king for three 

 years, and his courtiers became so numerous that his 

 master got tired of their visits and sent him every Sun- 

 day to an inn on the Prinzengraacht, where he received 

 callers from nine to eleven A.M. No pasha of nine tails 

 could have displayed more conscious dignity. At home 

 Klaas had the reputation of being the laziest dog in 

 North Holland, but in the hotel he declined to sit down. 

 He seemed to know that the guests had come for his 

 sake, and kept walking up and down with a leonine 

 strut, now and then vouchsafing to accept the homage 

 of a new visitor or to acknowledge the greeting of an 

 old acquaintance. Strange dogs he received with a stiff 

 grandezza. He refused to permit them any familiarities, 

 but sometimes scrutinized the big ones with a sort of 

 professional interest. They took care to give him a 

 wide berth. Klaas weighed two hundred pounds, but 

 there was not an ounce of superfluous tissue under his 

 hide, unless a number of welt-like scars could be con- 

 sidered expletive. Toy-terriers, though, will rush in 

 where not angels only but bull-dogs would fear to tread, 

 and there were cases on record of several puny yelpers 

 having done their utmost to provoke the King's wrath. 



