370 



ALL ABOUT DOGS 



ants, and letting him see how pleased I was, caressed 

 him for full five minutes, and then when I retired, did 

 so in a most marked and stealthy manner, which he, 

 close at my heels, immediately adopted. Now suppose 

 some thoughtless or inconsiderate master with such a 

 dog as this had upon his refusal to hunt, beaten or 

 kicked him for disobedience, which would really have 

 deserved the punishment, the sensible dog, or the silly 

 man? 



" On taking up my residence at Beacon Lodge, 

 and, for years after, Wolf was still in or out of the 

 house, my constant companion and closely observant of 

 all I did or desired. When first the wild white rabbits 

 began to appear at Beacon, I never shot them, but very 

 frequently killed the brown ones by their side. In 

 hunting any outlying place, if by chance there was a 

 white rabbit, I used to stop Wolf from hunting it up 

 to my gun, and by observation the dog convinced him- 

 self that a rabbit so coloured was on no account to be 

 molested. When the whites had become more common, 

 one evening I went out to kill some rabbits for the ta- 

 ble, or to give away, and seeing a very fine young white 

 one, I shot it. The rabbit lay dead on the contrary 

 side of a fence, and Wolf had not seen it killed, but at a 

 sign from me, flew over to pick up whatever might be 

 there. The rabbit lay kicking with its hinder legs, and 

 Wolf seeing the motion in the grass, dashed up, but in- 

 stantly made the snap with his jaws, dropped his stern 

 and came back with a sheepish look, as if to tell me I 

 had done wrong. I praised and made much of him, 

 and taking him with me up to the rabbit encouraged 



