240 KINGSBRIDGE 



be impossible for boats to approach near enough to the 

 shore for a rope to be thrown to any one there, the word is 

 given to a dog, and immediately away he plunges into the 

 waves. He may be buffeted, knocked back by the surf, 

 perhaps lost to sight for some time; still the faithful creature 

 will not give up, but perseveres till he gets hold of the rope, 

 and returns to the beach, grasping it firmly between his 

 teeth, until he delivers it up to the men (or women) in 

 waiting, who then haul in the boat, which perhaps contains 

 the weather-beaten master, who is come back from his 

 night's toil. When once the boat is close on the shore, the 

 dogs are on the look out for the pieces of wood, technically 

 called ways, which are placed underneath the boats to draw 

 them up on the beach. It is very rarely that a single way 

 is lost, owing to the careful guardianship exercised over 

 them by the dogs. But with all their good qualities we are 

 bound to confess they sometimes manifest a propensity to- 

 wards cheating the revenue ! Here is an instance, related by 

 the dog's master. " One night I was out with the dog when 

 it was dark, and presently he began snuffing about, and then 

 dashed off into the waves, and soon returned, lugging along 

 something, which he dropped, and began digging a pit in 

 order to bury it in the sand. It proved to be a tub of 

 brandy, which I brought home, and was very glad of, as my 

 missus had been ordered to take brandy." Another time, 

 a dog, probably the same, brought in two tubs of this much- 

 desired liquor, and again, "he brought in quite a lot of 

 them" — but alas for the smuggling trade, those blue-and- 

 white gentry, the coastguard, have pretty nearly put a stop 

 to these proceedings, both of dog and man. 



It is not only property which the dogs thus watch over, 

 for many a time they have been the means of rescuing 



