86 LOLA 



least idea as to the best manner to assume, whether 

 I ought to be gentle or strict these are but a few of 

 the difficulties I found myself beset by. I was, in 

 short, almost in despair. How could I presume to 

 form an opinion, supposing that, merely to my own 

 shortcomings, the animal remained an animal, that 

 is in as far as I was concerned an " animal " in the 

 same sense that all creatures have been, since time 

 immemorial according to man's opinion ? How 

 should I dare to attempt to add my contribution to 

 man's store of knowledge in so weighty a matter 

 without as much as knowing whether I possessed the 

 requisite patience a genuine gift for imparting 

 tuition, and a sufficient measure of devotion ? Above 

 all, how could I have been so foolhardy as to have 

 undertaken to make my investigations in connexion 

 with a descendant of Rolf's I Indeed, my only 

 excuse could be my intense love of knowledge, my 

 reverence and high regard for science. Science 

 whose temple we may enter only when filled with 

 intensest Will, and with pure Truthfulness vowed 

 to the furtherance of her Servicebe the results sweet 

 or bitter, fraught with success or failure, easy or 

 difficult, new, or along the well-worn paths. It was 

 in this sense that I sought to adventure was bound 

 to venture, for the die was cast. It was, therefore, 

 with all the powers I could bring to my aid that 

 I decided to embark on my quest no matter what the 

 attendant results might force me to acknowledge. 

 I would disregard no test that might prove a con- 

 tribution towards the solving of this new question. 



Vowed to these responsibilities I sat down opposite 

 to my dog and began. Said I to myself : She knows 

 that she has to rap with her paws, and that rapping 

 twice or three times does not mean the same thing ; 



