THE WILD DOG. 117 



sharpest and largest teeth, would have small 

 hope of escape with a pack of hungry dogs, 

 yapping and barking all around, just waiting for 

 an opening to rush in. 



Then think how much better chance a pack 

 of dogs have of finding and keeping their scent 

 than a single dog. One dog loses the scent, 

 another dog picks it up, and with tongue and 

 wagging tail tells the other dogs of its happy 

 find. 



Then the searching, spreading dogs gather 

 together at the joyful well-understood signal, 

 and with noses to the ground and tails in the air 

 away they go fast on the trail of the unhappy 

 animal they are hunting. 



The writer has many times seen two terriers 

 who knew perfectly well that it was wrong 

 to go a-hunting, gambolling round each other, 

 in the most innocent manner playing about his 

 law r n, and trying to make believe that they 

 were not thinking of doing any wrong. All the 

 time, the two rascals had hunting in their hearts, 

 and in their play were getting further and 

 further away from their master, till at last away 

 they went, no shouting would then stop them, 

 to return some hours afterwards dirty, with their 

 tails between their legs, and a most woe-begone 

 look in their faces, having probably caught and 

 torn to pieces a rabbit or two. 



