284 MUSTARD AND PEPPER 



he found himself at liberty and unshackled, he, without 

 any warning, gave leg-bail to his temporary custodian, 

 or that he speedily made ' tracks ' for what he regarded 

 as home, without consulting or even making the 

 acquaintance of a single dog in Strathdearn ? Three 

 days after the, to him, sad day when he first became 

 acquainted with a steamboat, the poor wee doggie 

 appeared at the Ardachie kennels, trotting very limply, 

 and rather woe-begone in appearance ! With the last 

 little wag left in his tired tail he languidly sidled up to 

 his old friend the keeper, and with a kindly recognitory 

 glint of the eye sunk wearily down as his quondam 

 companion Pepper appeared and welcomed him In that 

 frisky and brain-penetrating, barky w^ay dogs have 

 made their own. Mustard was very stiff and exhausted 

 for some days, but quickly recovered, and was soon as 

 sprightly and lively as ever. This is only another 

 instance of the wonderful intelligence possessed by 

 dogs, and of the distances through unknown districts 

 they travel in order to regain homes in which they 

 have been happy. Terriers, unlike sporting dogs, do 

 not hold themselves bound by any rules. They think, 

 observe, and act for and by themselves. Mustard 

 may have trotted by the highroad from Strathdearn to 

 Craggie, thence up Strathnairn to Stratherrick, and so 

 to Fort Augustus ; or what is more probable, he may 

 have taken a line across country (entirely moorland), 

 and so dropped down on Ardachie. He must have 

 taken his bearings from the moment the steamer 

 slipped away from the pier at Fort Augustus ; and 

 whenever he reached Strathdearn, the fact seems to 

 have been borne in upon his little mind that he had 

 traversed what was practically two sides of a triangle, 



