60 BRUNO 



ing unpleasant followed, he became from that 

 moment an enthusiastic 'possum-hunter, and 

 used to bring one in every night or two. I 

 usually cooked them for him, and he ate them 

 with a relish, which we thought was fortunate, 

 as we were about twelve miles from a butcher. 

 Another substitute for beef we found in the 

 Florida gopher. This is a grass-eating tortoise, 

 which digs a house for itself in the sand. 



Bruno soon became a most ardent gopher- 

 hunter. Their hard shells make them difficult 

 to handle, as they promptly draw in the head 

 and legs on being approached; so Bruno would 

 nose one over until he could seize the shovel, a 

 protruding piece of the lower shell. Getting 

 this small bit between his side teeth, he balanced 

 the weight by holding his head stiffly sideways, 

 and came trotting in. The shadow of the house 

 reached, he dropped the gopher, carefully turn- 

 ing it over on its back, and lay down beside it, 

 to cool off and rest. Then off he would go for 

 another. 



He kept this up day after day, sometimes 

 having as many as a dozen around the place 

 at once. As often as the creatures managed to 

 flop over so they could use their feet again 

 and start to escape, Bruno, yelping and bark- 



