plan, I found, was to lay it down its full length in the road, and then take the front end of it in my mouth, and run straight ahead with it. It was so long I was obliged to keep straight in the middle of the road with it, though of necessity this obliged me to drag it through several large puddles, and it was altogether a very difficult business, and I was very glad when I saw Miss Kate and her friends coming to meet me. Why, what has he got?" I heard her say as I came up. "Oh, Rex, you very naughty dog, you have torn my best shawl all to pieces, and made it so dirty! Oh, you naughty, naughty dog!" At this moment I saw some of the humans laughing; but Miss Kate didn't see them, and looked very grave. "Why, what can he have done?" she said; "he has torn it into long shreds, and it is double the length it was before, and it is quite a grey colour now, instead of blue. Oh, you naughty dog! I will never show off your cleverness again. Go home, naughty Rex-go home !"

It is perhaps needless to say that I did go home; and I felt very much aggrieved. I had done what she bid me-found what she told me-carried it with the greatest inconvenience to myself—and, as far as I could make out, I had brought her home twice as much shawl as she expected, and of a new colour; so what had she to complain of? Truly nothing; whereas I had a right to complain of a second glaring case of ingratitude.

I ran home and told Tip, and he and I settled that "humans will be humans," and that we must put up with their little foibles, but that it would not do to be too good-natured, and that the next time Miss Kate lost anything she might "go fetch" it herself.

CHAPTER VIII.

IN A FIX.

A FEW days after this Jack called on us, and reminded us of our promise to take a holiday. He said he was sure it must be" a southerly wind and a cloudy sky," and, if not, it ought to be, for it was evidently a good hunting morning.

Tip ran indoors to see if Miss Kate were likely to want us, and came back saying he was sure we might go, for Miss Kate was lying down, and he heard the old lady say she was not well, and so it was not very probable she would go out that day. One of the humans said her mistress had got the toothache, and I felt very sorry for her when I heard this, for I had the toothache once very badly myself, and no one pitied me. I believe I whined a great deal, and so I was not surprised to hear that Miss Kate had done the same.

Jack, Tip, and I immediately started for a day's pleasure, and on our way we called for Colley, whose real name was Bob, and so I shall henceforth call him. It gave me a very peculiar sensation, from the top of my head to the tip of my tail, when I first heard his name, for it reminded me of dear brother Bob; and then I thought of my sister Nettle, and I wondered why I was never allowed to see any of my relations.

Humans go to see their brothers and sisters, and it seemed

to me very inconsiderate of them never to allow me to go and see mine. However, it was no good worrying myself then, when we had come out for a day's pleasure, so I dismissed the subject from my thoughts; but I often used to wonder and dream about my brother Bob when I was alone in my kennel.

Colley (or rather Bob) told us that he should like to go with us when his work was done, but that he must first attend to his sheep, and then he would join us if he could. He had a great idea of “duty," this Master Bob, and I think he was perhaps right; but it was inconvenient on this occasion, as we were not inclined to wait, so we told him to follow us, and then we scampered off in high glee to a neighbouring wood.

Certainly I had no idea that we should have such fun as we had, and I felt that we had wasted a great many precious days in not having gone there sooner.

The wood was full of rabbit-holes and rabbits, and we chased them in and out in all directions, and were in the midst of our enjoyment when suddenly there was a report of a gun, and we all three of us became so quiet, I was afraid the other two were shot. I knew I was all right, but I was quite afraid to move, and I remained very quiet in the long grass, peeping, as well as I could, through the bushes, to see if I could discover the enemy that was shooting, or see either Jack or Tip, but I could find out nothing. After a few minutes I heard another shot, and then there were several voices, and a human said, "I do not think this so good a wood as Hildown is; let us go there." "Very well,” said another human, "so we will; but let me first pick up this little fellow I shot." And then I looked and saw them going across a field away from our wood as fast as they could.

This was a relief! I immediately crept out very cautiously; and when the humans were pretty well out of sight, I called for Jack and Tip.

Master Tip very soon appeared, only too delighted to see me again, for he was afraid I might have been shot, and we both of us agreed that we had had a most lucky escape, and must now hunt up Master Jack.

"Jack! Jack! Jack!" we called in all directions, but no Jack was to be seen, and we began to be seriously uneasy about him; when all of a sudden Bob appeared on the scene, and he promised to help us in the search. He said he had only just finished his work, and that he came away as soon as he possibly could, as he wanted to warn us that there were spring traps all through this wood, and if we were either of us to get caught in one, we should certainly not escape under a broken leg.

Both Tip and I felt grateful to him for the information, and determined to look well about us for the future; at the same time we were agreed in thinking spring traps a mean invention, and quite unworthy of humans.

All this time we were looking for Jack, and as time went on and we saw no traces of him, I began to feel very unhappy, especially as I remembered one of the humans talking about picking up a little fellow he had just shot.

Now this little fellow might have been Jack; he was not very unlike a rabbit, and some humans are so dull they would not know the difference. What was to be done?

We were walking mournfully through the wood, calling for Jack, and at the same time looking out sharp about traps, when suddenly we heard his well-known voice begging us to come and help him.

"He is in a trap," said Bob; "he'll have a broken leg!" "He is shot," said Tip, "and will die!" "or he is smothering down a rabbit-hole, and we shall never get him out.”

These were encouraging speeches, you will allow, and I felt very unhappy about him, and pushed on in the direction of his voice, at the same time having a very uneasy feeling regarding my own legs and traps.

Presently Jack's voice sounded much louder and more cheerful, and I felt sure (1st) he was not in a trap, (2dly) he was not dead, and (3dly) he was not smothered in a rabbithole; and when we came close up to him, there he was, poor little fellow, all alive and well, but so hopelessly entangled in brambles and bushes that he could not extricate himself; and the more he twisted and turned about, the worse he got.

Bob said, "This all comes from having such long silky hair; and fashionable dogs of this sort always get into difficulties ;" and he advised Jack for the future either to go in for short hair, or to avoid woods. Bob said he found his own tail sometimes rather inconvenient in that way, as the hair would often catch; but it was easier to release your tail than your whole body. Jack said all these remarks were very useful, but they did not get him out of the scrape, and that he thought it would be more practical if we went in for "deeds and not words," and would pull the brambles off him.

This was very sensible of Jack, and we immediately set to work; but it was easier said than done.

Bob took hold of one bramble, and I of another, and Tip of another, and then we tried to run away with them; and between us we nearly pulled poor Jack to pieces, so that he