4S6 
doo. 
over it with wild and trembling eagerness, as if ready 
to seize and devour the contents. 
The contents appeared, and the extreme of horror 
was displayed. A human body, as if murdered in 
bed, being covered only with a bloody shirt ; and 
that clotted, and still damp, as if recently shed ; 
the head severed from the shoulders, and the other 
members mangled and separated, so as to make the 
trunk and extremities lie in the sack, was now ex- 
posed to view. 
The dog smelt the blood ; and, after surveying the 
corpse, looked piteously at his master, and licked his 
hand, as if grateful the mysterious murder was disco* 
vered. It was proved, that a traveller had really been 
murdered two nights before his lordship's arrival at 
that haunt of infamy ; and that the offence was com* 
mitted in the very chamber, and probably in the very 
bed, wherein his jordship had slept ; and which, but 
for the warnings of his faithful friend, must have been 
fatal to himself. 
The maid-servant was an accomplice in the guilt ; 
and the ruffian travellers, who were confederating 
with the inn-holder and his wife, were the murderers 
of the bloody remains that had been just emptied 
from the sack, whose intent it was to have buried 
(hem that night in a pit, which their guilty hands 
had dug in an adjacent field belonging to the inn 
holder, whose intention it likewise was to have mur- 
dered the nobleman, which was providentially pre- 
vented by the wonderful sagacity of the dog. The 
inn-keeper and his wife were taken up, and punished 
according to their deserts ; and the nobleman was 
so affected at his miraculous escape, that he bound 
up the wounds of the faithful dog with the greatest 
care, and the balm of love and friendship were infused. 
The master's hour of contrition was now come : he was 
sorry he had ever neglected so invaluable a friend ; and, 
as the only peace-offering, in his power, departed 
‘ > ' . . . • • v ' - ' . . , . . . i . • * ' 
