How Animals Talk 



spot, and in all that time I did not see him move 

 a muscle. He was apparently sound asleep. Sud- 

 denly he heaved up on his rheumatic legs, sniffed 

 the air alertly, and turned his head this way, that 

 way, as if wary of something. 



The human labor had proceeded lazily, for the 

 day was warm ; there was no change in the environ- 

 ment, so far as I could discern ; the only sounds in 

 the air were the sleepy lap of wavelets and the 

 creaking of pulleys ; yet my instant thought was, 

 "That dog is frightened; but at what?" After 

 a few moments of watching he moved off a dozen 

 yards and threw himself flat on his side to sleep 

 again. His body was hardly relaxed when a 

 guy-rope parted, and the iron-bound mast of the 

 derrick crashed down on the wharf. 



It was certainly "touch and go" for me; I felt 

 the wind of the thing as it fell, and was almost 

 knocked off the wharf; but I was not thinking 

 then of my own close call. With my interest at 

 high pitch I examined the mast, and found it 

 lying squarely athwart the impression left by the 

 dog in the dust of the road. 



"Merely a coincidence," you say; which in- 

 dicates that we are apt to think alike and in set 

 formulas. That is precisely what I .said at the 

 time a mere coincidence, but a startling one, 

 which made me think of luck (a most foolish no- 



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