The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-16

human and canine. trying to talk to-
gether and succeeding almost all the
time; an occasional show Of paper
money at the conclusion Of a trans
action in pups, bringing a dense and u.I-
savory crowd round the central figures;
now and then dog fight or series of
wordy combats between owners. and in
the midst of all the din Mr. Dodge, calm
and critical. watching everybody and
everything and occasionally giving vent
to his feelings by telling some one or
other to go to the hot place. a perfectly
safe bit of advice when given in the
English tongue. The dog sellers soon
perceived that Mr.. Dodge could not be
fooled. He carefully examined the feet
Of the animals offered him, took up each
individual leg and searched ii for
fractures and hurts. looked in every
mouth and had every dog hitched to a
cart and tested as to his strength and
tractability. More than one man or
woman who had been tempted by needed
money to dispose of the household pet
and cart companion babe bood-by TO
Leon or Blancpied or Bowpier or Melord
or whatever the beasts name was by
means of an affectionate though moist
farewell kiss upon the nose of the sacri-
feed canine.
At the end of the third day fifty-three
dogs. satisfactory in size and other par
ticulars, were tied up in our stables.
How many of them were stolen from
their rightful owners we never will
know. We had at least the satisfaction
of showing the Belgians what American
hustle can do when it sets to work in
earnest. Next came the question of
transportation. We wanted to put those
dogs on board a steamer which was TO
sail from Rotterdam for Bergen Thurs
day evening But how? There is no
such thing as an express company as we
know it in America this side of the At
lantic. The fast freight would run TO
Rotterdam, $50 miles. in four days A
special car could not be attached to a
passenger train for love or money be-
cause the cars did not have airbrakes.
The railways being under government
control. a special train could not be ar
ranged for without about a weeks cor
reSpOndence with the authorities. But
there was one way out of the difficulty
and this was suggested by a railway
official merely as an Illustration of their
methods of doing business and without
the faintest idea that we should adopt
it. Great was his surprise and the peO-
pie when we caught at his suggestion.
made passengers of our dogs. bought a
third-class ticket for each and every one
of them, put dozen men at work MAX
ing boxes and bottling up our beasts
and rode in triumph and four special cars
from Liege to Rotterdam Thursday
afternoon.
Our dogs nlleQ the deck OF the lngefiQ.
And on the voyage through the North
sea a fog came on. with extraordinary
results. Capt. Lever blew his fog whis-
tie, and first one dog and then another
took it up and echoed it's long plaintive
note until the whole pack were filling the
misty air with their contributions When
the dogs first took up the chorus Capt.
Lever thought other steamers were an
swering his warning, and when a dozen
canine fOghorns blew he said to him.
self, with a true sailors cusS word that
never before in all his experience had
he known so many steamers to be gath
cred near together in the North sea and
rang the bell to have the Ingerid's en-
gines stopped
And this is how we bought our pack
of draft hounds in Belgium and brought
them on to Norway.
WALTER WELLMAN.