200 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



shift for himself. Up in the mountain snows 

 this was hard. No one had any interest in him, 

 and as for food, there was almost none to be 

 found. Now that he was homeless, the other 

 dogs in camp were snarly, and daily the bad 

 boys had stoned him. Driven from his home 

 camp, he was fated to receive unkindness at the 

 first place where he stopped. 



The bulldog sprang upon Joe, and a circle 

 of miners closed in to see the fight. Joe was a 

 large, shaggy fellow, and when not starved was 

 exceptionally powerful. 



At the start he easily held his own, and 

 prevented the bulldog from doing him serious 

 injury or from getting a deadly hold. Of course, 

 in his famished condition, it would be a question 

 of only a few minutes until he would weaken and 

 be a victim of a bestial bulldog. 



"Stop this fight!" came a sudden intense com- 

 mand from a tall miner with a gray beard. He 

 thrust men right and left and broke through the 

 circle as he gave the command. "Let them 

 fight, " roared a few. "Choke off your bulldog," 

 he sternly demanded. "Choke him off/' he 

 repeated, "or I'll attend to you both," he said 

 with terrible energy, as he glared at the owner 

 of the bulldog. There were shouts and cheers 

 as the owner of the bulldog made all haste and 

 stopped the fight. 



