College sports -- Fiction; Short stories, American; Sports stories; Track and field -- Fiction
It was really very funny, for neither of them was getting hurt, and when
at last the big fellow, in sheer desperation, placed his paw on his
assailant and held him down struggling vainly, it caused a hearty laugh
from all the crowd. The St. Bernard looked doubtfully at us, very much
as if to say, "Is not this a very awkward position for a gentleman to
find himself in?" and at last, seeing a gap in the crowd, he suddenly
lifted his paw and tried to make good his escape. In this he nearly
succeeded, but was not quite quick enough, for his crazy little
assailant caught him by the first joint of his hind leg, and buried his
sharp little teeth deep in the cartilages. This was really too much for
the big fellow's temper, already sadly tried, and turning with a howl of
pain, he seized his vicious little enemy in his big jaws, shook him a
second or two fiercely, and then dropped him on the pavement. It was all
over before we could interfere, and the big fellow's anger passed as
quickly as it came.
He saw at once that something was wrong, for the ragged little body lay
on its side entirely motionless, with the exception of a spasmodic
twitching of the legs. He sniffed at him carefully, then gave us a look
of reproach, at which I confess I felt ashamed, and trotted sadly away.
It was just at this moment that a number of the football men appeared,
led by big Shack Sawyer, who quickly elbowed his way to the inner circle
by my side, demanding "What's the row, Professor?"
"Only a little dog fight," I answered, a bit shocked at the sudden
transformation from comedy to tragedy.
"It looks more like a dog funeral than a dog fight," spoke up Seever,
who was as usual at Shack's elbow.
"I wonder what his name is?" inquired an hysterical woman with a
falsetto voice, who had appeared from I know not where, to ask this
particularly interesting question.
"The dog's name!" exclaimed Shack; "his name is 'Mud,' I guess, and no
mistake." At which there was a half-hearted laugh, for the silent
little chap on the pavement was a pathetic sight indeed. Somebody said,
"Throw some water on him," and a bareheaded boy with a dinner-pail in
his hand filled it at a horse-trough close by, and Shack took it and
threw half its contents on the terrier.
No sooner had the water struck him than he gave a sneeze, like the
hunchback in the "Arabian Nights" who had the unfortunate experience
with the fish-bone, struggled to his feet, and after a somewhat unsteady
circuit of the crowd in a vain effort to find his late antagonist,
decided he had put him to flight, and began to bark triumphantly.
Indeed, the "dying gladiator" showed every sign of being as good as new,
with the exception of a little patch of red at his throat and a very
muddy and bedraggled coat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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