370 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



Here, after a score of years had elapsed, the faithful 

 hound was true to his master, his friend, his companion 

 of early days. In the revolution of time he had not 

 been carried, away, but lived to greet his master. His 

 strength was gone, his eyes fast growing dim ; he 

 could not bound to meet him, as in days of yore ; but 

 the love-light still shone in his eyes, and he longed to 

 crawl and lick the feet of his long-absent friend. 



The. constancy and affection of the dog has been a 

 theme of inspiration to Bulwer, Scott, Byron and oth- 

 ers. The noble hound Roswal, the companion of Sir 

 Kenneth, is thus eloquently spoken of : 



"As he bore to the earth Conrad, Marquis of Mon- 

 serrat, traitor to Coeur de Leon, the noble, faithful 

 Roswal had not, forgotten that night upon the mound 

 beneath the standard of England ; neither had he for- 

 gotten the traitor who, in the darkness, while a cloud 

 shut out the tell-tale light of the moon, bore away the 

 ensign, and left him weltering in his blood ; he remem- 

 bered all this when called upon to protect his master's 

 honor, as well as to serve his king, and using the intel- 

 ligence given him by the same Power that gave us fa- 

 cilities above the beasts, he did what man could not — 

 detected and brought to justice the one guilty from out 

 an army." 



Cooper in his novels shows his love for the dog, 

 when he makes him a companion of Deerslayer for 

 years, following his master through valleys and glens 

 and along the Hudson. " Natty " and his faithful 

 friend eventually drift across the Mississippi and Mis- 

 souri rivers, and both find tlieir graves in Nebraska. 

 The sad bereavement of tlie hunter is touohingly pen- 

 ciled in "The Prairie," and although old in years, the 



