When the drawing for the next day's events took place, Dan discovered
that Tiny Tim had been paired with a famous old pointer from Nevada,
known as Colonel Dorsey. Dan knew there were better dogs than Colonel
Dorsey, but they weren't very plentiful, and under the able handling of
a veteran trainer, Alf Wilkes, Dan knew Tiny Tim would have to extend
himself to center the attention of the judges on his performance. To
have Tim paired with Colonel Dorsey pleased Dan greatly, however, for if
Tim merely succeeded in running a dead heat with the Colonel, that meant
that Tim and the Colonel would fight it out together in the finals; for
Colonel Dorsey was, in the opinion of all present, the class of the
entries; he was in excellent form and condition and as full of ginger
and go as a runaway horse.
A gentleman who had arrived too late for the banquet came shouldering
his way through the crowd in the hotel lobby just after the drawing. Dan
recognized in him the gentleman who had offered him a thousand dollars
for Tiny Tim that day in the patch of cover by the side of the road. He
came smiling up to Dan Pelly and shook his hand heartily.
"I'm the owner of Colonel Dorsey," he announced. "It'll be a barrel of
fun to run my dog against Tiny Tim. A sporting dog owned and handled by
a sportsman. Mr. Pelly, we're going to have a race."
"I hope so, sir," said Dan simply. "I want Timmy to have a foeman worthy
of his steel, as the feller says."
"He will," the other promised.
He did. They were put down in a wide flat with a little watercourse
running through the center of it. The cover was low, stunted sage,
affording excellent cover for the birds and opportunities for them to
sneak away from a dog without being seen, for there was not much open
space between the sage bushes. They were away together, headed for the
watercourse, Colonel Dorsey in the lead.
Suddenly Tiny Tim stopped dead and commenced to road at right angles,
coming up into the wind. The Colonel pressed eagerly on and flushed, but
was steady to flush. So was Tiny Tim. A moment later the Colonel pointed
and Tiny Tim, standing in the open, honored the Colonel's point
beautifully, but broke point after a minute of waiting and scouted off
on a wide cast. The Colonel held his point and his handler, coming up,
attempted to flush. The point was barren. Undoubtedly the bird had been
there but had run out.
The Colonel's owner, who had been following the judges in a buckboard
with Dan Pelly in the seat beside him, looked at his guest. "I own a
colonel, but you own a general, Mr. Pelly. Your dog is handling his
birds better than mine."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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