96 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



desire which fear prevents him from translating into action. 

 There is indecision — uncertainty — in the nervous grasp 

 of the paws on the grass, in the quick short coursings to 

 and fro. Would infallible instinct hesitate ? He has no 

 knowledge of yards, feet, and inches — yet he is clearly try- 

 ing to judge the distance. Finally, just as his master 

 disappears through a gateway, the agony of his ' mind ' 

 rises to the highest pitch. He advances to the very brink 

 — he half springs, stays himself, his hinder paws slip down 

 the steep bank, he partly loses his balance, and then 

 makes a great leap, lights with a splash in mid-stream, 

 and swims the remainder with ease. There is, at least, a 

 singular coincidence in the outward actions of the two. 



The gamekeeper, with dogs around him from morning 

 till night, associated with them from childhood, has no 

 doubts upon the matter whatever, but with characteristic 

 decision is perfectly certain that they think and reason in 

 the same way as human beings, though of course in a 

 limited degree. Most of his class believe, likewise, in the 

 reasoning power of the dog : so do shepherds ; and so, 

 too, the labourers who wait on and feed cattle are fully 

 persuaded of their intelligence, which, however, in no way 

 prevents them throwing the milking-stool at their heads 

 when unruly. But the concession of reason is no guarantee 

 against ill-usage, else the labourer's wife would escape. 



The keeper, without thinking it perhaps, affords a 

 strong illustration of his own firm faith in the mind of the 



