Having got possession of his person, the next thing was to find him
a name. Surely this puzzle was already solved. The rhyme of the
'Franckelyn's dogge' was in-built with the foundation of our
acquaintance, so with adequate pomp 'we yclept him little Bingo.'
II
The rest of that winter Bingo spent in our shanty, living the life of a
blubbery, fat, well-meaning, ill-doing puppy; gorging himself with food
and growing bigger and clumsier each day. Even sad experience failed
to teach him that he must keep his nose out of the rat trap. His most
friendly overtures to the cat were wholly misunderstood and resulted
only in an armed neutrality that varied by occasional reigns of terror,
continued to the end; which came when Bingo, who early showed a mind of
his own, got a notion for sleeping at the barn and avoiding the shanty
altogether.
When the spring came I set about his serious education. After much pains
on my behalf and many pains on his, he learned to go at the word in
quest of our old yellow cow, that pastured at will on the unfenced
prairie.
Once he had learned his business, he became very fond of it and nothing
pleased him more than an order to go and fetch the cow. Away he would
dash, barking with pleasure and leaping high in the air that he might
better scan the plain for his victim. In a short time he would return
driving her at full gallop before him, and gave her no peace until,
puffing and blowing, she was safely driven into the farthest corner of
her stable.
Less energy on his part would have been more satisfactory, but we bore
with him until he grew so fond of this semi-daily hunt that he began to
bring 'old Dunne' without being told. And at length not once or twice
but a dozen times a day this energetic cowherd would sally forth on his
own responsibility and drive the cow home to the stable.
At last things came to such a pass that whenever he felt like taking a
little exercise, or had a few minutes of spare time, or even happened to
think of it, Bingo would sally forth at racing speed over the plain
and a few minutes later return, driving the unhappy yellow cow at full
gallop before him.
At first this did not seem very bad, as it kept the cow from straying
too far; but soon it was seen that it hindered her feeding. She became
thin and gave less milk; it seemed to weigh on her mind too, as she
was always watching nervously for that hateful dog, and in the mornings
would hang around the stable as though afraid to venture off and subject
herself at once to an onset.
This was going too far. All attempts to make Bingo more moderate in his
pleasure were failures, so he was compelled to give it up altogether.
After this, though he dared not bring her home, he continued to show his
interest by lying at her stable door while she was being milked.
As the summer came on the mosquitoes became a dreadful plague, and the
consequent vicious switching of Dunne's tail at milking-time was even
more annoying than the mosquitoes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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