240 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



did they desist until the latter disappeared 

 through the fence. 



Gip's ancestors, wild dogs or wolves, were 

 doubtless inveterate foes of cow-kind ; and, by 

 reason of inherited instinct, the antipathy is 

 kept up to the present day — vaguely perhaps, 

 but it is none the less there. This slumbering 

 and almost unconscious antipathy remains, and 

 common headway is made against the intruder. 



When Gip returns home after a hard day's 

 work in the open, he generally curls himself up 

 before the fire and goes to sleep. And often 

 the more exciting incidents of the day are 

 repeated in his dreams. First his muscles 

 twitch, and it is evident that there is excite- 

 ment within. Then he pricks his ears, and 

 indulges in short, sharp " yaps," and barks. It 

 is evident he has got on the track of a hare ; 

 and, as the scent becomes warmer, his body 

 seems hardly able to contain his emotions. 

 But the crisis comes when Gip sights the hare, 

 and with a bark bounds to his feet. Then 

 comes the delusion. We all laugh ; and Gip 

 cannot bear to be laughed at. He slinks away 

 with tucked tail, the very picture of utter 

 humiliation and self-abasement. 



