, 1889-03-26

you say 70 me-
"Can you speak except under the In
f1uence? / mean could you speak II l
withdraw my eyes from you-so?'
The young man turned away, and de-
stroyed for q moment the rapport be-
tween the dog and himself. The animal
was Powerless to reply. Resuming the
former conditions the operator then con-
tinued:
"Do you retain tho remembrance of
your former life, or are you oblivious to
the pastS'
"You use very long words"
sis your condition altered2 Do you
remember anything that happened to-
dayY'
II am still your little dog Pickle; and
please will you give me that big bone
you sent away on your plate at dinner
timer
"Yes; and every night, If you are
good, you shall have a big bone after
you have been mesmerized. / want you
TO go about into the peoples gardens
and houses, and hear all you can, and
then in the evening you must tell me all
about it."
Eyes; but let me go now; / want to
scratch myself, and / can't move my
leg"
Rapidly making the liberating passes,
the young man withdrew his eyes from
tho dog, and instantly springing from
the table. it rolled over on the hearth
rug, and, heaving n deep sigh, went off
into a doze. 1t was evident that the ex-
pertinent had Frustrated the dog, and
left 1t weak and lanhuld. For the mo
.,A.& -r-- a..
Not at first did the full meaning of
the feat he had performed dawn upon
Pickles master. 1t was only by degrees,
as he sat thinking before the dying en-
bers, that the revelation came to him of
what he might accomplish with q talk
ing dog. He never for q ome enter
tanned tho idea of making the discovery
public. Rather should It be TO him a
source of secret enjoyment, height
ened by tho knowledge that the
whole proceeding was in direct viola
ton of the avs of nature, and as "un-
canny" as tho wild revels peculiar t o a
witch's holiday.
For many n night after that Pickle and
her master talked together for a quarter
Of an hour in the evening. The doors
were always carefully looked before the
preliminaries commenced, and the Won
Glnbenistic influence was limited to a
short period, as the dog evidently suf-
cred physically II the interview was pro
longed.
An intelligent and observant animal,
Pickle brought to her master many queer
items of news about his neighbors, and
he encouraged her prying habits, having
already cpnrniyaJ tho fJaa - oou,;.u
fame as an amateur detective, and en-
ploying the dog as an unsupported agent.
When Pickle had anything of impor-
tance to communicate, her intelligence
was rewarded with a choice bone; but
when she had been spending the day
with other dogs, and listening to them
instead of to their wners, her converse
ton was not interesting TO her master,
and she forfeited the dainty honorarium.
One evening she had been out all day,
and returned long after her usual
time, looking very muddy about the
feet and very tumbled and dirty about
the coat Her tail, usually dehantly
poised in the air, was curled tightly be-
tween her legs, and she crawled rather
than walked into the library, where
her master was waiting for her.
The door was closed and the curtains
drawn, and then Pickle, looking the pic
ture of downcast d~oggedness, was lifted
upon the table and Won Glabenized.
"You bad dog" exclaimed her master
sharply, "what makes you 30 late?
You've been playing with those low dogs
by the canal. Look Mt YOU coati"
mo, l haven't been playing by the
canal, and l don't know any low dogs"
Where ave you been, them
"Only next door"
"Then, you wicked dog, why didn't
you come into the house beforeY'
"Because-well, because l didn't want
the police detectives to see me-"
"What had you done, them"
Don't be cross and I'll tell you all
about it. You know little Tommy
Bowles, who lived next door,"
"The boy that comes after my apple
tree9'
eyes; and you said you'd cut his head
off II you caught him again. Well,
somebody has cut his head off, for his
father found him lying just against the
garden wall without 1t, and / saw him
picked up, and 50 l Thought I'd listen;
and presently l heard them say they be-
lieved you'd done it, but the difficulty
would be to prove it."
"But l never cut Tommy Bowles' head
OFF,
Eyes, you did"
"what do you mean. dog1 Arc you
mad?''
"You know you flung a broken plato
over the wall this morning, didn't you?"
"Well?'
"Well, just as you threw it, Tommy
Bowles was climbing up the wall to get
at your apple tree, and it caught his
neck and cut his head right off,"
The young man sprang to his feet in
an instant. A cold pe~rspiration burst
from every pore. He had taken human
life, and his victim lay headless next
door. He turned hurriedly to Pickle for
further information, but the dog had
left the table, and was stretched quietly
on the hearth rug, gnawing a bone. The
concentration of her masters will had
been disturbed, the conditions under
which the phenomena were possible had
been destroyed. How must this awful
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