60 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



the pace, as after a few hours he would return 

 always alone, looking rather disconsolate. 



I have always been partial to dogs of this breed ; 

 not on account of the assistance they have been 

 to me, but because when I have wished to have 

 a dog at my side I have found them more suitable 

 than other kinds for companions. They are not 

 stupid nor restless, but ready to fall in with a 

 quiet mood, and never irritate by a perpetual im- 

 patient craving for notice. A fussy, demonstra- 

 tive dog, that can never efface himself, I object 

 to: he compels your attention, and puts you in a 

 subordinate place: you are his attendant, not he 

 yours. 



Major's appearance attracted me from the first, 

 and he, on his side, joyfully responded to my ad- 

 vances, and at once attached himself to me, follow- 

 ing me about the place as if he feared to lose 

 sight of me even for a minute. My host, however, 

 hastened to warn me not to take him with me 

 when I went out shooting, as he was old and blind, 

 and subject, moreover, to strange freaks, which 

 made him worse than useless. He had formerly 

 been an excellent retriever, he informed me, but 

 even in his best days not wholly to be trusted, and 

 now he was nothing but bad. 



I could scarcely credit the blindness, as he did 

 not show it in his brown intelligent and wistful 

 eyes, and always appeared keenly alive and inter- 

 ested in everything going on about him; but by 

 experimenting I found that he could scarcely see 



