The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-18

master pampers and caresses him. So,
when his Belgian master loads him with
pack of goods, he watches cunningly.
He knows the stupid man will soon mad
vertently leave the door open. Then the
smart dog will slip out stealthily, and
run on through the night to France,
! where sayory messes, warmth and love
await him.
The bande Of organized smu gglers also
move by night. Each man is loaded
with great pack of contrahand goods Oh
his back. The pack is heavy, yet feet
ness Of foot is essential to "make the
rum" however short it may BIZ. Here
comes on the scene very different kind
of dog. He is no foolish tool He is
determined lawhreaker. He Is snug
gle dog, an eyildoer. an enemy of soldiers
and police. He IS all of this, but honor
must be done to his strength, his courage
his devotion and his sagaoity. He is al
ways powerful beast, because he must
pull his master along and so accelerate
the speed. This is half his duty; but his
other business is to sniff and watch, to
warn hs master of the neighborhood of
the police dogs and their masters.
These police dogs are of yet another
moral nature. Where all the smuggler
dogs sympathies are against the law and
its minions, the police dog are the guardian
of the frontier, the defender of the fical
statutes. Between the two tribes there
is undying enmity and infinite disdain.
tbo ird IL
descendants of smuggler dogs fail to be-
come good police dogs and vice versa
such is Ghe force of heredity. And roman
tic marriages between police and SNUG
gler dogs-of rare oocasion-end badly.
1t is the duty of each race of dogs to
smell out the other in the night and give
timely warning to the masters The
customs soldiers may be bivouacking
anywhere beneath the stars. They form
line along the whole frontier.
They are honest, ill paid French
soldiers promoted to this special service,
where duty which often forces them to
sleep out 90 nights running is rewarded
by pittance of 30 cents day, with food
and clothing.
They pass their days and nights in am
bush, on expeditions in the fields and
woods In groups of twos or threes, &C.
companied by their dogs, they will camp
under the stars night after night. Night
falls and then sleep. But one of their
dogs is always on the alert Attention
The subtle senses of the beast perceive
an odor or distant murmur. The intel
ligent animal proceeds to growl, he push
es his nose against his masters cheek to
wake him. The sentinel awakes; he
questions the dark country round. Out
OF the darkness there loom four shadows,
marching Indian Sic. or in the form of
triangle. They are smugglers. and tho
soldier stealthily wakens his companions.
1t is only question now whether the
smuggler dogs will be equal to the far
more difficult task Of locating the am
pushed guardians in time for warning
and escape.
Sometimes the smugglers turn out to
be band of Is Or 90 boys of 10 to 10 years
old. At the first warning from their
dogs they break ranks and scatter in all
directions. The soldiers do not dare to
| loose their own dogs on them because of
public opinion. 1t is bad enough when
full grown man smuggler is shot or
MANNED. The good people OF the frontier
have their sympathies. The children
thus escape by their superior feetness.
But their employment in the business is
looked on as dangerous, because they are
So easi1v temDte6 to betraV fine oauaa
With adult smuggieis there is always
question of fighting when the pur suit
grows hot. They will stab and shoot
l the guardians and their dogs. On their