THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 137 



ing at night, except for cause, however, was the 

 unpardonable sin on my ranch, and even the rather 

 stupid Hilda, the lamented Bravo's successor, had 

 to learn her lesson. 



About the time Bravo arrived at my home Peter, 

 another Mexican pup, was brought to me, also with 

 a flaming character. But Peter was from the first 

 just Cur, and Bravo loathed him with loathing in- 

 expressible except by violent action. As for Cortes, 

 he would not even look at the creature, but tiptoed 

 away with snarling lip and tight curled tail; it was 

 a case of Dignity and Impudence reversed. The 

 relations between the two guard dogs were mutually 

 unpleasant, even in puphood. For some hours of 

 each day they were tied as part of their training, but 

 the moment they were loosed they flew to battle, 

 and instantaneously two wrestling fuzzy objects 

 were rolling on the ground. For a time the enter- 

 tainment was a harmless and amusine one but when 

 it developed into the perennial dressing of wounds 

 the affair ceased to be a joke. If Peter was tied 

 Bravo was too much of a gentleman to molest him; 

 not so Peter, who would spring upon his chained 

 enemy — and receive a thrashing from me for his 

 pains ! But when in addition to these currish man- 

 ners he took to sneaking up behind my visitors and 

 gripping them by an ankle, the time came when the 

 ugly mongrel had to be painlessly disposed of — a 

 deed performed during my temporary absence from 

 home. At this point Bravo deserves further men- 

 tion as a person of character. 



Peter was suitably interred far up the ranch. On 



