The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-07-13


80 late In July. 1877. and late In the
.,,srnoop. when rode up to George warmers
souse ON Fish Creek. In northern Montana
Iftsr greeting my comrade, who sal In medita.
~" an a nine log, I unssddled my horse and
. nvn him loose In tho valley and then sat
sssn hv warmers side to enjoy tho glories OF
1870 Maintain sunset. Tho soft. gray light
:, ,ha mains blended In tho distance with tho
..,,o ,lnts hanging over mountain glens ly-
In ,he shade Of lofty. snow.clad peaks.
nj. alliance OF the plains was absolute. De-
.....n rs and the precipltous walls OF the foot
iii antelops grazed. A few cattle walked In
~" ,ovsrd tho water holes for their evening
SS.noht My horse joined . small herd OF
1900 lint we're feeding In tho valley below US.
arh.v gathered together compactly. to talk.
..ohshly. Soon they differed AMI fought. and
.,,v horse WAS promptly kicked out Of tho
hard. noticed those incidents lazily. uncon-
.n,ous,y almost. as / sat with chin on knee
.nnnorted arms. watching tho light fadc from
,hs ssrratod crest Of the mountains. The silence
vas broken By ahoavy pat. pat. pat on the porch
oahind us turned aud saw u large. hand
,oms hali.bood stag hound walking ON the
norcb In bis mouth he carried billet Of flrs.
rood Seeing mo he stopped. and with his
Mad high In the air looked intently Ut mo for
bs stsppcd on the porch and walked around
the end Of the log nearest to Warner. and stood
motonless beforo him. My comrades voice
thrilled with affection. or 1t may have been
the unspokon recollections OF tho past con-
iursd up by tho silent and mysterious power Of
the highland that affected his tones as he said
lovingly: Nose. old boy" After looking
s6ectionately at Warner and dlsapprovingly at
mo. the dog dropped the billet OF wood. md
then. holding 1t firmly with his powerful paws.
no made pretence Of gnawing 1t. as though 1t
were o marrow bone. looking appealingly at
his master the while. Ny comrado stroked the
animals bend and smiled as he said: Nose.
suspect that you aro n fraud. You know you
are not hungry. Are you not ashamed to bring
that stick hero and pretend to cat It? You
arc trying to convoy the impression that
I starvo you. What will nv friend.
q stranger to you. Nose. think OF mo. you
wretched. wrctchcd dog" While Warner was
speaking Nose looked into his eyes. his face
beamlng with love. His expression was almost
human In its intelligence. Lovingly Warner
looked Mt the DOG for an instant and then he in
quired. Arc you really hungry. Mose?" For
answer tho dog worried the stick as though he
would devour it, Warner arose ind said.
Come and eat. you humbug." They dlsap-
pcared around the house In the direction OF the
poCs on which antelope wore hanging. heard
my friend talk to the dog as he fod him rs one
talks to o child. questioning him rs to whether
no had had enough admonishing him not to
bolt his food. lecturing him on the vulgarity Of
greediness. Presently Nose came around the
corner OF the house. and. walking to mo. thrust
his nose into my hand and snelled OF IT inQuir-
ingly. Then. after looking me full In the faco
for an instant. he laid his long head on my knee
and sedately waggsd his tail us smcothed his
forehead and talked to him as dogs love to be
talked to.
have owned and loved ono brown eyed
setter bitch that frequently exhibited quite
high order Of reasoning power But have
owned and heartily disliked and promptly
killed two score o! beetle dogs. wretched.
semi-diotic creatures that bayed tho moon sot
rabbits in the fold. and sucked eggs assidu-
ously when OF duty. But Nose surpassed oil
other dogs havo seen in intelligence. Hs was
modest. courageous. honest. and loving. He
was far moro agreeable companion than
many men have camped with.
The morning after my introduction to the
dog we started on our journey into tho land Of
the Blackfest. Warner and and Nose. The
do. trotted after our horses Occasi onally no
relieved the monotony OF the trail and ex pc nded
the surplus OF his animal spirits by short COM
bats with intercepted badgers that he artfuly
worried into intense rlsse and then allowed to
escape. Alter ono OF these sham fights Nose
would cock up his head and look at us. rs much
as to say: Great sport-eh? That fellow
smellod worry badly: worse than usual. be-
lieve Did you SEQ him back into his hole ?"
and he would Temp high in the air and
bark loudly with delight. I noticed that
Nose was careful not to close with the badgers.
He simply leased them. doubled his courage
md asked Warner II no could kill the animals
Ny friend smiled scornfully and refused to
answer the absurd question. The next badger
Nose artfully cut OF from his hole was uhfor-
tunate. The dog was having great fun in max
ing pretencos OF furious onslaughts on the
vile.smelllng animal. when Warner said. lowly.
Kill him. Nose" Instantly Nose closed with
his antagonist. There was a crunching Of
bones between powerful jaws. and tho dead
sninal WAS tossed aside. XIII badgers. In.
deed ~ u terrier does rats. Toward evening
We crossed divide. on the northern slope Of
which small herd OF antelope were feeding.
Warner's rife flew to his shoulder and cracked
sharply. Instantly tho animals were In flight.
Tho shot was long. and feared my COM
RADIO had missed. Whom the gun cracked
Nose bounded forward and seated him
self on his launches by warnor's side. and
looked attentively at the running ante
lope Suddenly he leaped. and was run.
ming At full speed in pursuit. Follow the
dog" Warner cried. As rode after Nose. He
would not course II the antelope was not
wounded" Weeks Of experience proved tho
truth Of my friends assertion. When ono OF
our rines cracked Nose was enormously inter.
ested In the result OF the shot. He would study
the neelnk animals until he SAW which one was
wounded. and that one no would run down but
II he was satisfied that tho shot was unsucoess-
ful no would not course. He would look at us,
used to think alphabetically. as much as to
cay: That's all right You must not expect
10 XIII every time. Wen find another one
pretty soon. and know we'll capture that one II
And the gentlemanly creature would wag his
tall aud fsign a JOY he did not feel and prompt.
~ distract your thoughts and relieve his wn
feelings by worrying the next badger he found.
When Nose WAS young dog. just out OF his
puppyhood. no caught wounded antelope.
after long chase. Warner lost sight Of tho
chase In the intricaclss OF the hills. An hour
pAsssd before he found the game. When he
arrived ct tho spot whsre the dead animal lay
he WAS Mortified at the rotund appearance OF