126 The Carnivora. 
the possibility of confusing him with two trails, walked 
across a piece of fallow land, then through a small covert, 
across a patch of turnips, round two sides of a field of stand- 
ing corn, and passed through a corner of the latter on to 
some high ground in a meadow, whence the track could be 
seen at several points. My friend being greatly interested 
in the result of a trial altogether new to him, had imposed 
a somewhat severe, but not in any way unfair task on the 
dog, by taking a very irregular course, including one right 
angle, the ‘whole distance being not less ‘than half a mile 
by his computation, I sent the dog to seek, and he went 
off on the trail through the standing corn where we had 
passed, and at every point at which he was visible he was 
hunting with his nose down and on the trail. We saw him 
cross the fallow, returning with the handkerchief in his 
mouth, but after that he took a much more direct line, and 
must have crossed nearly the whole of the cornfield, coming 
out at a place a considerable distance from where he had 
entered, and made straight for our position. 
During that and the following shooting season I was often 
requested to make this experiment, with never any approach 
to a failure, and as often offered very high prices for the 
dog. One young gentleman, conspicuously deficient in every- 
thing except wealth, would have paid an immense sum for 
him for the base purpose of betting on his performances; 
but, apart from the impossibility of separating myself from 
a friend to whose watchfulness I had probably more than 
once owed my life in Australia, the buyer could have acquired 
only his body. This young man’s acquaintance with‘ dogs 
had been derived from the show bench, where there was 
nothing to teach him that a dog may be very much more than 
a collection of “ points” easily transferred from one owner to 
another without deterioration. Carlo I. would have done 
nothing of the kind described for anyone except myself, 
and he condescended only to do work on game for one or 
two intimate friends when he knew that I was not far off. 
