358 ALL ABOUT DOGS 



who told the story, added, " It is just as true as you sit 

 there, I had it word for word, nay, I have had it, word 

 for word, twenty times, from Squire Mills himself." 



Of course in a long career of dog showing and judg- 

 ing I have come into contact with all classes of exhib- 

 itors, and I am bound to say, as a general rule, have 

 met with the greatest courtesy and had many a kind 

 turn done me at different times, nor was I ever, but 

 once, the subject of any of the practical jokes which 

 used to be, more than they are now, so very frequent, 

 and sometimes very rough, and unpleasant in their 

 nature. 



The one exception was when I was stopping at 

 Sydenham, on the occasion of a Crystal Palace show, 

 and when I rose in the morning to go up and see 

 my dogs before breakfast, my boots could nowhere be 

 found, but as I knew there was a very lively team stop- 

 ping at the same hotel, I felt certain it was their doing, 

 and resolved to checkmate them by going to see the 

 dogs all the same and saying nothing about it, so as I 

 always carried in my bag a pair of Indian leather moc- 

 casins, I put them on, and went over to the Palace, 

 where I presently met one of the squad I suspected of 

 " lifting my boots," he said, " What funny shoes you 

 have on, Mr. Lane." I said, " Yes, they are a little out 

 of the common, but, the fact is, some of the jokers at 

 my hotel, have taken a fancy to my boots and 

 probably supposed I should be kept a prisoner 

 in the hotel all day, and so I put on these," 

 he said, "You don't mean to say, your boots 

 were taken. They've taken the wrong man's ; no one 



