BRUNO 99 



behind her, and snatching it in his teeth, made 

 off with it. 



Bruno could not stand that. It seemed to 

 make a perfect fury of him. I think he felt 

 that the fault was worse, because the coach-dog 

 was so sleek and plump ; there was not even the 

 excuse of hunger. 



Poor fellow! Bruno sent him howling and 

 limping from the yard. 



The call came to an untimely end, our visitors 

 declaring, 



" That great savage brute of yours has almost 

 killed our beautiful dog ! ' 



I am afraid we did not feel very contrite. 

 We never took our "great savage brute " any- 

 where to visit, except when he was especially 

 invited; and besides, we had our own opinion, 

 which was similar to Bruno's, of big dogs that 

 robbed little cats. 



It took a great deal to rouse Bruno, so much 

 that we sometimes mistook his amiability for 

 lack of courage. 



We had often watched him chasing the ani- 

 mals that lax town laws had allowed to roam 

 the streets of the only two villages we had ever 

 known. He would go dashing after a pig or a 

 cow. If the creature ran, he would chase it 



237399B 



