no time they were rolling and struggling in the dust 

 Jock's little grunts barely audible in the noise made 

 by the other one. Billy's pup was big and strong, 

 and he was not a coward ; but Jock was worrying his 

 ear vigorously, and he could not find anything to bite 

 in return. In less than a minute he began to howl, 

 and was making frantic efforts to get away. Then 

 Jock let go the ear and tackled the bone. 



After that he had no more puppy fights. As soon 

 as any one of the others saw Jock begin to walk slowly 

 and carefully towards him he seemed to suddenly get 

 tired of his bone, and moved off. 



Most dogs like most people when their hearts 

 fail them will try to hide the truth from one another 

 and make some sort of effort or pretence to keep their 

 dignity or self-respect or the good opinion of others. 

 You may see it all any day in the street, when dogs 

 meet and stop to ' size ' each other up. As a rule 

 the perfectly shameless cowards are found in the two 

 extreme classes the outcasts, whose spirits are broken 

 by all the world being against them ; and the pam- 

 pered darlings, who have never had to do anything 

 for themselves. Many dogs who are clearly anxious 

 to get out of fighting will make a pretence of bravery 

 at the time, or at least cover up their cowardice, with 

 a * wait-till-I-catch-you-next-time ' air, as soon as 

 they are at a safe distance. Day after day at the out- 

 spans the puppies went through every stage of the 

 business, to our constant amusement and to my 

 unconcealed pride ; for Jock was thenceforth cock 

 of the walk. If they saw him some distance off 



77 



