How Animals Talk 



I was in perplexity, or had heard bad news and 

 was brooding over it, hardly would I be away in 

 thought, forgetful of Don's existence on a trail 

 I must follow alone, when his silky head would 

 slide under my hand, and I would find his brown 

 eyes searching my face with something inex- 

 pressibly fine and loyal and wistful in their ques- 

 tioning deeps. 



Thus repeatedly, unexpectedly, Don seemed to 

 enter into my moods by some subtle, mysterious 

 perception for which I have no name, and no 

 explanation save the obvious one that a man's 

 will or emotion may fill a room with waves or 

 vibration as real as those streaming from a fire or 

 a lighted candle, and that normal animals have 

 some unused bodily faculty for receiving precisely 

 such messages or vibrations. But we are not yet 

 quite ready for that part of our trail; it will come 

 later, when we can follow it with more under- 

 standing. 



Should this record seem to you too personal 

 (I am dealing only with first-hand impressions of 

 animal life), here is the story of another dog 

 not a blue-blooded or highly trained setter, but 

 just an ordinary, doggy, neglected kind of dog 

 submitted by a scientific friend of mine, who very 

 cautiously offers no explanation, but is content to 

 observe and verify the facts: 



[80] 



