When I encountered this animal in the quiet Somerset road, and laughed to see him and exclaimed mentally, "There he goes, the same old little red dog, suspicious and sneaky as ever, and' very brisk and busy although his years must be well-nigh as many as my own," I was thinking of the far past, and the sight of him brought back, a memory of one of the firet of the small red dogs I have known intimately. I was a boy then, and my home was in the pampas of Buenos Ayres, I had a young sister, oer native-woman who lived in' a smoky hovel a few miles away was fond of; her, and that she came one day with a Present for her—something precious Wrapped up in a shawl—a little red pup, one of @ litter which her own beloved dog had brought forth. My sister accepted. the present joyfully, for though we possessed 14° or) '16 dogs at the time, these all belonged to the house; they' were everybody's and "nobody's in particular, and she was delighted to have one that Would'be her very own. It grew: into a, common red dog, rather Detterlooking than most of dis ind, having a bushier tail, longer and bright er-coloured hair, and a somewhat foxy head and face. "In spite of these good points, we boys never tired of laughing at her little' Reddip, he was called; and his intense "devotion to" Mis young $nistress and faith inher power to- pro~ tect him only made him seem more Iudiserous. When we all walked together on the grass plain, my brother and I used to think it great fun to separate Reddie from his mistress by making a sudden dash, and then hunt him ever the turf. Away he would go, performing a wide circuit, then, doubling back, would fly to her for safety. She, stooping and holding out her hands to him, would wait his coming, and.at the end, with one flying leap, he would land himself in her arms, almost capsizing her with the force of the impact, and from that refuge look back reproachfully at us.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.