XXIT 
THE LITTLE RED DOG 
SAUNTERING along a lane-like road between 
Charterhouse Hinton and Woolverton, in the West 
Country, I spied a small red dog trotting along 
some distance behind me. He was in the middle 
of the road, but seeing that he was observed he 
sheered off to the other side, and when nearly 
abreast of me paused suspiciously, sniffed the air 
to get the exact smell, then made a dash past, and 
after going about twenty or thirty yards full speed, 
dropped once more into his travelling trot, to 
vanish from sight at the next bend in the road. 
Though alone, I laughed, for he was a very old 
acquaintance of mine. I knew him well, although 
he did not know me, and regarding me as a stranger 
he very naturally associated my appearance with 
that well-aimed stone or half-brick which had 
doubtless registered an impression on his small 
brain. I knew him because he is a common type, 
widely distributed on the earth; I doubt if there 
are many countries where you will not meet him 
—a degenerate or dwarf variety of the universal 
cur, smaller than a fox-terrier and shorter-legged; 
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