A BLANK FISHING DAY. 113 



" I have related the calamity of another ; but I, 

 too, have been a sufferer, although, thank God ! not 

 in person. 



" A setter of uncommon beauty was presented to me 

 by a gentleman under peculiar circumstances. He 

 had been the favourite companion of his deceased wife ; 

 and, during her long and hopeless illness had seldom 

 left her chamber. He begged me to allow him a place 

 in the Lodge, and not subject him to the restraint of 

 the kennel. His wishes were obeyed, and Carlo was 

 duly installed into all the rights and privileges of a carpet- 

 dog. 



" I left home on a shooting- visit, and, luckily, brought 

 a brace of my best setters with me. A week after my 

 departure, an express reached me to say that Carlo 

 ' was very odd, would not eat, and bit and worried 

 every dog he met with.' I took alarm instantly, and 

 returned home without delay. I found the household 

 in desperate alarm, and Carlo was confined in a separate 

 out-house, but not until he had worried and torn every 

 dog in my possession ! 



" I went to reconnoitre him through an iron-stan- 

 chioned window : he was in the last and frightfullest 

 stage of confirmed hydrophobia. I sent for a rifle and 

 terminated the animal's life. 



" I was at first afraid to inquire into the extent of my 

 calamity. I mustered courage to enter the kennel, and 

 personally investigated the state of my dogs. Every 

 one of them, ten in number, had been bitten, and several 

 of them were fearfully mutilated by the rabid animal 

 I had despatched. Even the terriers had not escaped ; 

 and they, poor animals ! were necessarily included 

 in the general order for execution that I issued to the 



