tempting after a long tramp, and a longer
fast, and at last I entered. The man closed
the door behind me, as I was eating the
bread, and then called to some one who was
in the back part of the premises. A shrill
voice answered the call, and shortly afterwards
an old, sooty-faced woman made her
appearance, who was much more repulsive
in my eyes than the man. He was powerful,
rough, and gipsy-like in aspect; while she
was sinewy, witch-like, and fierce in expression.
They stood at some distance from me,
conversing in a low tone, while I was busy
with the food the man had given me.

"Three 'arf crowns, at least," said the
woman, eagerly, "for a skin like that."

"No," said the man, sternly, "I won't 'av'
it. I can sell 'im alive for that."

"Keep 'im, then," replied the woman,
sharply, "an' see 'im eat 'is 'ed orf in two
days."

"I 'd like to keep 'im altogether," returned
the man, looking at me with admiration,
—"a fine fellow."

"We don't want the money, do we?"
asked the woman, with a savage expression;
"cinder-sifting will bring it in a 'urry, won't
it?"

This last speech seemed to have the desired
effect upon the man, for the next moment I
found myself in his powerful grasp, out of
which there was no escape, and I saw the
woman coming towards me with a bright,
sharp-pointed knife. Putting the previous
conversation and these signs together, it was
not difficult to understand that their object
was to skin me alive for the sake of my skin,
which is twice the value when taken from a
living animal. Looking back at my past self,
I was conscious of many things that I had
connived at in quiet country places, not very
different from this, without having the excuse
of hard necessity as some sort of palliation.
These were my human reflections; and while
I was indulging in them, my animal instincts
had taken care of my miserable body, by
causing me to yell and howl at the top of my
voice. The man tried to stop this uproar, by
clasping my jaw, but I gave him so much
trouble to hold me down in my struggles,
that he was compelled to let me howl to my
heart's content. Just as the old hag had got
me into a position favourable to her operations,
the door of the hut burst suddenly open, and
several men stood in the room, and crowded
round the doorway. The old woman dropped
her knife, and the man dropped me to face
the unwelcome intruders, who were a party
of excursionists going home in a van, and
while passing the hut they had been arrested
by my howls of distress. The man and
woman offered some rambling explanation,
but it was of no avail, and the two miscreants,
as they were called, were taken to town by
my deliverers, to answer the charge of cruelty
to a dog. The next morning, before a magistrate,
they were sentenced each to three
months' imprisonment with hard labour,
amidst the applause of a crowded court; and
I slunk away once more unobserved, to seek
my fortunes in another direction.

My last night's experience had taught me
to avoid the outskirts of the town;—of the
country I did not feel a very high opinion;
and I therefore turned in a way that I supposed
must lead me towards the centre of
the metropolis. I had not gone far when I
entered a spacious park, with well-dressed
ladies and gentlemen, with livery servants,
horses, carriages, and every sign of luxury
and wealth. I again began to feel the pangs
of hunger, which came on with most annoying
regularity; and as I could find nothing
eatable upon the trim gravel walks, I took
the liberty of snapping a large bun from the
hand of a grossly over-fed boy in a velvet
dress. The child was almost paralysed with
fright, and before it could turn round and
complain to its nurse, who was flirting with
a very long, thin soldier, who seemed all
legs, I was fairly out of sight amongst the
trees. Going past a seat in one of the
most pleasant parts of the park, my attention
was drawn to a very benevolent-looking,
stout, middle-aged gentleman, who wore
spectacles, through which he was reading
a book. There was something so delightfully
calm,—so comfortable,—so good-humoured
and respectable about this person,
that I could go no farther, but lay upon the
ground with my tongue hanging out, and my
tail wagging in a most imbecile manner. If
fate, I thought, had but given me such a
master, I could have carried baskets, fetched
sticks out of ponds and rivers, stood upon
my hind legs, or performed any other well-known
canine feats in a transport of joy and
thankfulness. I was not long in this attitude
before I attracted the attention of the placid
gentleman, who gave me such signs of encouragement,
as he slowly arose to go away,
that I followed him meekly without any
hesitation. We did not go far before we
entered a quiet, spacious square, at a large
corner house of which my new acquaintance
appeared to reside. When he rang the bell
the door was immediately answered by a
servant in livery.

"George," said the old gentleman, very
mildly, "take this dog in and see him properly
provided for."

The benevolent gentleman's commands
were instantly obeyed; and, in a few minutes,
I found myself in a large dog's-house in a
stable at the end of the garden, with a large
pan of water and a large dish of bones and
broken meat before me. When I had satisfied
my hunger, and began to feel more
happy, I looked about me, and I saw three
other dogs'-houses of various sizes. In one
of these was a small black-and-tan terrier;
in another a dog much larger, of the Scotch
terrier breed; in another a still larger dog of
the bull-terrier kind; while I made the