THE OLD BLACK- AND-TAN TERRIER. 183 



went well for a time, Whankey affecting to 

 ignore their presence. One very precocious 

 young cockerel, however, soon took to leaving 

 the others and marching up the steps of the 

 verandah in front of the drawing-room windows. 

 One day he ventured to come close and look 

 into the room, when Whankey was instantly on 

 the alert and growled angrily at the intrusion. 

 Growing bolder as he came to know the verandah 

 better, the cockerel at last walked through the 

 window into the room where I was sitting at 

 the time. Whankey showed such anger at his 

 audacity that I was glad to throw the bird 

 some crumbs and get him back on to the lawn, 

 and as Whankey then quieted down no more 

 was thought about the matter. 



The following day, when I returned from a drive, 

 I found Whankey in her usual place in the drawing- 

 room with the window open, and noticing some 

 earth on her nose and paws, I said to her, " What 

 have you been burying, Whankey ? " On this, 

 instead of greeting me, she got up and walked out 

 of the room. In the evening when the chicks were 

 penned in their coop there was a hue and cry, one 

 was missing, and this turned out to be the little 

 pert cockerel. A few days afterwards his body 

 was found buried under the shrubs at the far end 

 of the garden, and of course there were all sorts of 

 conjectures as to the manner of his death. Some 

 were of the opinion that a stray cat had done it, 

 but the mystery was not cleared up till many 



