IX.

When I was a young man I had a dog, a precious 'cute un a was too! A'd catch a hare like a grayhound. I've cot a scare o' rabbuts wi' him in one night. By and by zomebody zays to the kippur, thuck William's got a dog as plays th' devil wi' ael th' game. Zo th' kippur comes up to m' one day, and zays, zays he, 'Maester Little, thuck dog o' yourn's a bad un; a gwos huntin', I'm towld.' 'Lar bless'e!' zays I, 'a wou'dn't harm a mouse, that a wou'dn't.'--'Dwon't b'lieve it!' zays he. 'Come along wi' I by thuck copse yonder.'--Zo as us walked alang, up jumps a hare and away a scampers. 'Hollo! hollo!' zays I to the dog, but a slunk behind m' _di_rectly wi's tail between's legs. 'Ha!' zays th' kippur, 'I b'lieves 'e now, Little. Them as zays your dog hunts be liars, that's zartin. I'll be cussed if I dwon't thenk a's vrightened o' th' game, that I do!' and zo a walked away, and wished m' good marnin'.--'Zo, ho!' thought I; 'you be 'nation 'cute, you be, Maester Kippur. If instead o' "_hollo_!" I'd a cried "_coom hedder_!" a'd a run a'ter thuck hare like mad!'

[_Note._--The point of this story is that the poacher's dog had been trained to understand the usual orders in _exactly the opposite sense_, as the Devonshire smugglers' horses were in old days. Thus, the more a smuggler called on his horse to stop, when he was challenged by an Excise officer, the faster it would gallop off, the owner all the while apparently endeavouring to check it but really urging it on. See Mrs. Bray's _Description of Devon_.]