ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 261 



to, then left him, and laid himself down by me with his nose 

 along the ground, moving his fragmentary tail ever so slowly 

 the while, and thus ratifying the trust. 



Rollo was a dog so little given to caresses or frolics that 

 he might have been misjudged to be surly, but he could 

 always be reckoned on. The other dogs might or might 

 not be fidgety, he never was. He knew when he could let 

 himself go to sleep with both eyes shut, and when it must 

 be with one open. So long as he lay unconcerned no one 

 need watch or worry, but if he bayed they might be sure 

 it was not for nothing. As to looks, he was ugly as some 

 count ugliness, being drab-coloured with black patches, 

 and scarred all over ; crop-eared, too, on one side, having 

 been worsted in one of a hundred frays. Moreover, being 

 the sort of shaped dog needing a tail to finish him off sym- 

 metrically, he had lost his. A horse had trodden on it, and 

 with F. away when the mischance occurred, perhaps the 

 hurt was improperly treated ; however, when he was told 

 of it on his return prompt indeed was his surgery, for after 

 a short scrutiny he pushed a flat stone under the wounded 

 tail, and in another second had it off ! Rollo stood up, 

 ran round himself two or three times, and straightway forgot 

 all about it, the wound healing very soon, with light dressings 

 to protect it from flies, which last had aggravated the 

 original hurt. 



No money could have bought Rollo. Some one once said 

 in our hearing that he was ' mean-looking.' A less appropri- 

 ate adjective could not have been found, nor was it ever 

 pardoned the speaker, who after all had only proved himself 

 an ignoramus in dogs and dog faces by his remark ; the truth 

 being that this dog was especially magnanimous, showing 

 it at any distribution of bones or tit-bits, when he would 

 stand aside, letting who would snatch away his share — by 

 no means because he could not look after himself, but 

 because he knew so well he could. His ways being known, 



