248 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



flying leap over our wee brother's head. We all 

 screamed out, "That's not fair. No! Slop! that's 

 not fair." 



He stood still and looked from one to the other 

 inquiringly, and still we yelled, "That's not fair." 

 After a brief considering of the subject, Slop evidently 

 came to the conclusion that we were justified in pro- 

 testing against his bringing canine agility into the 

 field against our inferior human capabilities. He 

 stood quiet and permitted himself to be caught at 

 once ; and I do not remember that he ever " came the 

 dog " over us in that fashion again. 



Another favourite game was hiding some small 

 object from one of our number who had to find it or 

 pay a forfeit. The one who had to " seek " was blind- 

 folded by some of us, while others crept away with 

 the article to be found. 



This game Slop joined in with more personal 

 enjoyment than in the other. He stood when his 

 turn came, and permitted us to blindfold him. 



We generally put the article under a stone or 

 among the long grass at the foot of a tree. 



When it was carefully deposited Slop was liberated 

 and " Seek 1 Seek ! " was shouted. 



Away he would go, round and round, sometimes quite 

 near the object of the search, when our excitement 

 would become intense; and from that circumstance 

 alone an ordinary dog would have been led to discover 

 the hidden prize, and would have " spotted " it at 

 once. ' But Slop was too clever to take advantage of 



