148 THE EASTERN HUNTERS. 



mad jackal which ran into his house, and -another 

 time by a dog, and yet he is alive to this day. Ho 

 was an awfully fat fellow ; perhaps that had some- 

 thing to do with the immunity he enjoyed.'' 



"Gad! if I thought that," said Hawkes, laugh- 

 ingly, " I should cultivate obesity at once, as an 

 armour of proof. One wouldn't mind the incon- 

 venience of an external layer of fat, if it acted as a 

 preserver from madness. But do you fancy all dogs 

 which get the credit of it are mad 1 " 



" No, decidedly not," was the reply. " But be- 

 sides that, some veterinary surgeons consider that 

 only a small proportion of those bitten by rabid 

 dogs go mad and die. I forget the proportion ; on 

 that, however, I believe there is much difference of 

 opinion." 



" I have had to shoot two dogs of my own," said 

 Norman, " from both of which, if they were really 

 mad, I had narrow escapes. But I am very doubtful 

 about their being so. I was one day playing with 

 one of them, not having observed any symptoms of 

 madness, and at the time had my hand actually in 

 the little beast's mouth, when she for it was a 

 terrier bitch left me, and, without any apparent 

 cause, ran at the tailor, who chanced just then to 

 come into my room, and bit him. He was working 

 in the house, and she knew him quite well. How- 



