Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-06-04

was in the habit of doing, to ex-
press his feelings without reserve. But,
rather to my surprise, instead Of wagging
his tail, and wrinkling his nose, and per-
forming any Of his usual antics, the crea-
ture only lifted up his face and began to
whine. He had lain, for the quarter of
an hour while had been resting, at the
edge Of the little cliff, with his head
dropped over it; but whether he had been
taking sleep in that position, or had
been amusing himself by watching the
waves, was more than [ knew. He was a
capital one for sleeping even then, and
generally made point of snatching q
doze at every convenient opportunity; SO
| had naturally troubled my head very lit
tie about him. taking it for granted that
he was at his usual occupation. But,
whether he had been asleep before or not,
at any rate he was wide-awake now, and,
as it seemed to me, in very odd humor
indeed.
"'What's the matter, old fellow?' [ said
to him, when he set up this dismal
howl. Don't you wan'tto have a swim?
Well, you needn't unless you like, only
I mean to have one; so down with you,
and let me get my clothes Off But, in
stead of getting down, the creature began
to conduct himself in the most incompre-
hensible way, first Selling me by the trou-
sers with his teeth, and pulling me to the
edge of the rock, as if he wanted me to
plunge in dressed as [ was; then catch
ing me again and dragging me back,
much as though [ was big rat that he
was trying to worry; and this panto-
mime, [ declare he went through three
separate times, barking and whining all
the while, till [ began to think he was
going out of his mind ...
Well, God forgive mel but at last 7
got into a passion with the beast. [
couldn't conceive what he meant For
two or three minutes [ tried to pacify him,
and as long as | took no more steps to get
my clothes off he was willing to be paci-
fed; but the instant / fell to undressing
myself again he was on me once more,
pulling me this way and that, hanging on
my arms, SOLDERING over me, bowling
with his mouth up in the air. And so at
last lost my temper, and [ snatched up
my gun and struck him with the butt-end
of it. MY poor Rolf" said Uncle Dick,
all at once, with falter in his voice; and
he stopped abruptly, and stopped down
and laid his hand on the great black
head ro.4
He was quieter after / had struck
him" said Uncle Dick, after a little pause.
+" For few moments he lay quite still at
my feet and [ had begun to think that
his crazy fit was over, and that he was
going to give me no more trouble, when
all at once, just as had got ready to Jump
into the water the creature sprang to his
feet and flung himself upon me again. He
threw himself with all his might upon my
breast and drove me backwards, bowling
so wildly that many time since, boys, |
have thought must have been no better
than a blind, perverse fool, not to have
guessed what the trouble was but the
fact is, | was a conceited young fellow Gas
most young fellows are), and because [
imagined the poor beast was trying for
some reason of his own to get his own
way, thought it was my business to teach
him that he was not to get his own way,
but that [ was to get mine and so [ beat
him down somehow don't like to taink
Of it new; | struck him again three or
four times with the end of my gun till at
last got myself freed from him.
He gave a cry when he fell back. [
call it a cry, for it was more like some
thing human than dogs howl-some-
thing so wild and pathetic that, angry, as
was, it startled me, and | almost think,
If time enough had been given me, I
would have made some last attempt then
to understand what the creature meant;
but | had no time after that [ was
standing few feet in from the water, and
as soon as ] had shaken him off he went
to the edge of the bit of cliff, and stood
there for a moment till [ came up to him,
and then~-just as in another second [
should have jumped into the sea-my
bra II
whine and one look into my face, and
took the leap before me. And then, boys,
in another instant | saw what he had
meant. He had scarcely touched the
water when [ saw crocodile slip like
from sunny ledge of the cliff,
and grip him by the hinder legs.
''4ou know that had my gun close at
hand, and in the whole course of my life I
never was so glad to have my gun beside
me. 1t was loaded, too, and revolver I
caught it up, and fired into the water [
fired three times, and two of the Shots
went into the brute's head. One missed
him, and the first seemed not to harm him
much, but the third hit him in some vital
place, hope-some sensitive place, ata any
rate, for the hideous jaws started wide.
Then, with my gun in my hand
still, l began with all nv might
to shout out 'Rolfp I couldn't
leave my post, for the brute, though
he had let Rolf 60, and had dived for a
moment, might make another spring, and
didn't dare to take my eyes off the spot
where he had gone down but I called to
my wounded beast with all my might,
and when he had struggled through the
water and gained moments hold of the |
rock, I jumped flown and caught him.
and somehow don't know hOw-half |
carried and half dragged him up the little
bit of steep ascent, till we were safe on
the top-on the dry land again. And |
then-upon my word, don't know what
[ did next, only [ think, as I looked at
my darling's poor crushed limbs, with
the blood oozing from them, and heard |
his choking gasps for breath-I-I forgot |
for moment Or two that [ was man at
all, and burst out crying like a child.
'Boys, you don't know what it is to
feel that living creature has tried to give
up his life for you, even though the crea-
ture is only soulless dog. Do you think
[ had another friend in the world who
would have done what Rolf had done for
me? If [ had, [ did not know it. And
then when thought that it was while he
had been trying to save my life that had