30 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



shunning the society of their race, they seemed 

 an isolated community in the midst of strangers. 

 The human voice, no matter how kindly tem- 

 pered, produced no visible effect, except to make 

 them move listlessly on. The last would acknow- 

 ledge sympathy with man, by wagging his tail 

 when spoken to ; but no artifice could induce 

 him to loiter behind, when his companions had 

 once resumed their way. 



Some mysterious feeling appeared to bind 

 them inseparably together. They never dis- 

 agreed, and were always in good condition. We 

 have been assured, by a gentleman of the highest 

 respectability, that his family have repeatedly 

 seen the last, when food was offered him, quietly 

 go and deposit it at the feet of his friends. 



And thus, for several successive seasons, the 

 strange trio were seen in various parts of the 

 crowded city always together, and always by 

 themselves lodging, no one cared where, and 

 eventually disappearing, no one knew how.* 



* One fact, which had nearly escaped our memory, while it 

 proves that even the maternal instinct did not interfere with their 

 bond of attachment, goes to show that the fern ale must, at the period 

 referred to, have had some place of shelter. The last time we saw 

 them, her appearance indicated that she had littered but a few 

 days previous; but where her whelps were concealed, or where she 

 rejoined her companions on their daily rounds, we are unable to 

 say. 



