THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 133 



and tail wrapped in a double knot. Having been 

 told to take a seat this form of retort was not al- 

 together satisfactory; yet his obedience was other- 

 wise uniformly prompt. 



Between the tiny Monte and the huge Hilda ex- 

 isted some secret understanding. They were pups 

 together, and spent their large leisure in chasing one 

 another up and down the driveway or running after 

 a ball and quarreling as to whose was the right to 

 bring it back to the thrower. But one unlucky day 

 a monstrous paw descended on a wee back and a 

 sorrowful little dog came creeping for human con- 

 solation — not yelping, but crying softly after the 

 manner of the breed. Never again did Monte run 

 after balls with Hilda. But the strange tie was not 

 broken, only grew more secretive in its manifesta- 

 tions. Once I succeeded in shooting them with the 

 camera during the performance of their mystic 

 rites. The immense St. Bernard lay on the edge of 

 the porch, her intent gaze fixed on the scrap of a 

 dosr a few yards distant. Step by step, touching the 

 ground as though it were redhot, his tail so tightly 

 curled that it seemed surely as if it must snap in 

 two, Monte slowly approached his friend. Gradual- 

 ly the dogs were close enough to rub noses. This 

 ceremony was no doubt intended for an expression 

 of affection, but whatever it may have been, never 

 was it performed before eye witnesses — that is, if 

 either dog was aware of a witness. 



Passing allusion has been made to the psychic 

 qualities of the breed — possibly an inheritance from 

 the wild. Little Betsinda, for instance, who during 



