A Little Dog-Comedy 



the rocks. There Nip's courage failed him. He 

 was a little dog with a big bark; and the sight of 

 the grizzled veteran with back against a stone 

 and both flanks protected probably made him 

 realize that it is one thing to chase a chuck which 

 runs away, but quite another thing to enter his 

 cave while he stands facing you, his beady eyes 

 snapping and his big teeth bare. So after a spell 

 of brave barking Nip had rushed off to fetch a 

 larger dog. 



All that was natural enough, and very doglike; 

 at least it so appeared to me, after seeing other 

 little dogs play a similar part; but the amazing 

 feature of this particular comedy was that Nip 

 had no difficulty in getting help from a champion 

 who had refused to be interested up to that critical 

 moment. Through the wall I saw him lead Don 

 straight to the rocks. The old dog thrust in his 

 head, yelped once as he was bitten, dragged out 

 the chuck, gave him a shake and a quieting crunch ; 

 then, without the slightest evident concern, he 

 left Nip to worry and finish and brag over the 

 enemy. 



It is part of the fascination of watching any 

 animal comedy that it always leaves you with a 

 question; and the unanswerable question here 

 was, How did Nip let the other dog know what he 

 wanted ? 



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