_I move fifteen or twenty feet. I am in no hurry, for I know those dogs.
It is a matter of personal honor with them not to break point. Presently
I see them. Little lemon-and-white Lou has found the bird, and Dicky
thorough little gentleman that he was, is honoring her point! Lee walks
down to his dog; the quail lies close. "Good old Lou," Lee says, and
stoops to give her the caress she craves. Then he kicks out the
bird--for me! (Lee was like that. He would never kill a bird over his
own dog's point while his field companion stood by, nor could any
protest move him from this exhibition of his inherent graciousness and
courtesy.) So I fire--and miss--and then at forty yards Lee gets the
bird, and Lou trots sedately down and picks the little feathered martyr
up very gently, scarcely disturbing a feather, and carries the trophy
uphill to Lee. As I write, with twenty years behind me, I tan see her
yet, her tail and rear end swishing pridefully and her beautiful eyes
abeam with love; she is even trying to smile with the bird in her
mouth!_
_Lee takes the bird from her and tucks it in his hunting-coat pocket.
Then he strokes Lou's head and says: "Good girl," and Lou licks his hand
and scurries away to find another bird. And this time she points so
close to me that Lee calls cheerily to me to kick the bird out and kill
it. I do--and again Lou retrieves the bird. But she does not bring it to
her master this time. Ah, no! Lou is wiser than that. She brings it to
me, for she knows it is my bird!_
_Meanwhile Dick is frozen on another bird! And so it goes. At noon we
rest under an oak beside a creek, and over a barbecued steak and a
bottle of good wine, discuss the morning shoot and the prospects of as
good shooting in the afternoon. And late that night we drive home in the
moonlight in an old side-bar buggy, with Dick curled up in back and Lou
in her master's lap, with her muzzle in his hand . . ._
_Well, there will never be another Dick or another Lou or another
gallant, kindly, unselfish, understanding friend and shooting crony like
Lee Clark. A fiend stole Dick from me and Lou died in puppy-birth; when
Lee told me about it he wept, and I honored him for his tears. And then
the pressure of life commenced to be felt. After twelve years of Lou,
Lee Clark could not accustom himself to other dogs--and the hopelessness
of finding another Lou was quite apparent, for Lou had been one of those
rare dogs that do not require training! And I could never find another
Dicky and had no place to keep him if I had. I became an author and
married, and a multitude of interests claimed us, and we gave up
quail-shooting, although every few years we meet and talk bravely about
the necessity for renewing our youth afield._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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