318 
THE DOG. 
voices; and Sidney added, “I think they 
might have chained him up and kept him 
for a few days to see. It would have been 
as easy to shoot him afterwards.” 
“ And what became of the people who 
were bitten?” asked Matilda. “Did they 
run mad?” 
“Not one of them,” replied Miss Win¬ 
ston. “It turned out with them as with 
the man in Goldsmith’s ballad:— 
‘ The man recover’d of the bite ; 
The dog it was that died.’ 
Nothing happened to any of them except 
a great fright. It was discovered after¬ 
wards that the spaniel was a puppy who 
had lost his master, and, becoming bewil¬ 
dered, had lost his way, and, quite beside 
himself with thirst and fear, had caused all 
the alarm and lost us our excellent house- 
dog. 
“It is said that the instinct of guarding 
property which distinguishes the mastiff 
is sometimes exercised quite disinterestedly 
and for the benefit of entire strangers. A 
lady at Bath was surprised and somewhat 
alarmed at being stopped by a large mastiff, 
