“One day, though, they took me with some older dogs to track real rabbits, for I saw them and I had run one into a fence corner, and it turned round and looked at me, when such an awful noise came down upon my head I thought the sky had fallen. I forgot the rabbit and fell over for my head ached terribly. Martin picked me up and rubbed my head and wrapped me in his coat, then everything was still. It has been so ever since, pleasant and quiet. When I felt better I saw Martin’s gun was broken and burst, and now I have to see with my eyes what people want of me, for my ears catch nothing. “There was always sport, too, when new dogs came, either to live or board with us. They didn’t know the rules and so of course they made lots of mistakes. Sometimes they felt sulky and would not eat their supper because they didn’t know that there was no breakfast, and they would cry and beg, and if Miss Jule came by she would understand and give them some, but Martin only went by rule. “You know the open shed up at Hilltop where the log-wood is kept, and the old grindstone? for we’ve often chased squirrels up the back of it. That shed is in the puppy yard, and the boxes that dogs travel in are kept there. We pups used to have great sport lying there in the shade to watch the boxes brought in and out, and see who came, who went away. “We all thought it would be fun to go travelling and often scrambled in and out of them, but if Martin shut the door we were frightened, and glad enough to be loose again. The boxes were not tight but opened and latticed like hen-coops, and they called them dog crates. It was a fine thing at the end of summer to see the crates brought out and cleaned, and the old dogs, setters, hounds, and spaniels, who had been away before for the hunting, go nearly wild with joy at sight of them, and clamour for the start. [Illustration] “The youngsters who had never been, and thought the crate a punishment, trembled at first, but the others explained, and so all through the autumn there was coming, going, and excitement. “Sometimes, on fine days, Miss Jule would come with an apronful of dog-bread, and throw the bits for us to catch, and that day was held a great festival. For the one who jumped the highest, or caught the quickest, would get an extra bit, or be taken out to spend the day at the house, and have its dinner with Mr. Wolf, Miss Jule’s very own best dog, and Tip, the head retriever. When these dogs came back to the kennels, though, there was always a row, for they felt so very fine and big, and bragged so about what they had seen, and the dozens of bones they had gnawed or buried, that finally, we who were neither quick nor clever could not bear it, so we agreed that whenever a dog came back from running free we would all bark together so loud that not a word of what he said could be heard.