TRAMP MORE CLEVER THAN THOR 267 



remained in that locality to denote a passage. I confess to 

 have been angered by this incident, as I did not think that 

 there was a man who, in the daylight and at a risk of being 

 seen, would have attempted to steal anything of mine ; so, as a 

 last hope, I ordered my man to run off to a distant hill, where 

 he could command a view of the low lands on one side, and I 

 sent two of the woodmen, who had been by when I killed the 

 deer, also in different directions : the steps of all three of these 

 men were more or less stained with the blood of the deer, and 

 they had all handled her in pulling her from the bog to a 

 dry place. To this I beg the reader's particular attention. The 

 men having gone on their several missions, I made the usual sign 

 to Thor that I had adopted to put him on the scent of a stricken 

 deer, which he tracked very well, if the trail was quite fresh, 

 nearly as well as a hound ; and I endeavoured to obtain assist- 

 ance through him. But it was of no avail; he always went 

 back to the spot where the doe had lain dead. While en- 

 deavouring to make Thor understand my loss, Tramp, who was 

 at my heels, stepped in front, and, looking up in my face with 

 a very peculiar expression, suddenly put his nose to the ground, 

 trotted a little way, and looked back to see if I observed him. 

 I did observe him, and became at once convinced that he was 

 about to aid me; indeed, so peculiar was his manner and 

 method, that there was no mistaking it. He went off at a long, 

 dejected-looking trot, more resembling a mad dog's action than 

 his own graceful method when on game, and I followed him 

 in the greatest possible anxiety. When he came to the spot 

 on which my man and the two woodmen, strangers to him and 

 both tainted with the deer, had severed and gone different ways, 

 Tramp came to a check, tried each track, and seemed perplexed, 

 looking up to me for aid, which I had no power to give. All I 

 could do was to say, " Good dog Tramp," and to encourage him 

 quietly. To my infinite joy he again took up the running on a 

 strange line that had nothing to do with the steps of my 

 people, and on we went over bog and hill and at last down to 

 the railway. I had both my guns on my shoulders, the rifle 



