teeth sharp as needles which punctured noses and 

 feet and tore ears, were most unpleasant. But apart 

 from that, they found there was nothing to be gained 

 by righting him : they might roll him over time 

 after time, but he came back again" and worried 

 them so persistently that it was quite impossible to 

 enjoy the bone they had to keep on fighting for it. 

 At first I drew attention to these things, but there 

 was no encouragement from the others ; they merely 

 laughed at the attempt to make the best of a bad job. 

 Sometimes owners of other puppies were nettled by 

 having their beauties compared with " The Rat," 

 or were annoyed because he had the cheek to fight 

 for his own and beat them. Once, when I had 

 described how well he had stood up to Billy's pup, 

 Robbie caught up " The Rat," and placing him on the 

 table, said : " Hats off to the Duke of Wellington 

 on the field of Waterloo." That seemed to me the 

 poorest sort of joke to send five grown men into fits 

 of laughter. He stood there on the table with his 

 head on one side, one ear standing up, and his stumpy 

 tail twiggling an absurd picture of friendliness, 

 pride and confidence ; yet he was so ugly and ridicu- 

 lous that my heart sank, and I whisked him away. 

 They made fun of him, and he did not mind ; but it 

 was making fun of me too, and I could not help 

 knowing why ; it was only necessary to put the puppies 

 together to see the reason. 



After that I stopped talking about 

 him, and made the most of 

 the good points he showed, 



64 



