The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-07-08
STORY OF A kaONGREL.
BY Count Heinrich Won schullerr
copyright, 1909, by w. r. Hearst

Copyright 1909. by w. r. Hearstl
! II old Captain Rabenstener had not
had his big watch dog he would surely
have been robbed Il long time ago, mas
! much rs everybody knew that he was
| quite wealthy and always kept his
money in the house.
| His house, which had been built &C
! cording to his own ideas and plans.
/ was situated in lonely spot near Il
/ main road on the edge of an immense
| forest And in this he lived quite alone,
| except for an old rheumatic a"d deaf
| SrraNnt girl.
| | had often tried to persuade hiri
| to hire u valet, hut the very idea was
enough to make him fly into rage
and declare that as long as he had
his dog to wake him up if burglars
should come, he WAS We'll able to de.
fend himself.
One day he came to my office in town
and said that his faithful dog had sud.
denly died and that he must have an
other. not to do any lighting, as he
would attend to that himself but to a c,
as videtre and notify him of the ap-
preach OF the enemy in time for him to
get out OF bed and grasp his rifle, which
he always kept loaded.
He told me that the dog had died
very suddenly. and l Immediately sus-
pectcd that 1t had been poisoned ad-
rlsed him 10 advertise for a new dog.
but this he did not care to do, saying
that Il man with Il large dog lad al
ready been to see him and tried to
make him buy the animal.
And how long after the death of
your dog did this man come to YOU?
i asked
The very next day" he replied.
1T seems that the news must have
spread Very fast Did you know the
NO, had never laid eyes on him
before.
Satisfied that something WAS wrong.
l said:
Nov Captain. | should just like to
have Il few days rest and if you do not
object, will go home with you and stay
week or SO, just so that your old
servant won't be scared out of her wits
and that | may see that the owner of
the dog does not get the best of YOU"
The old soldier was delighted at this
AS h" always was when any one was
found willing to accept his hospitality
drink his old Burgundy, smoke his old
Havanas and listen to his stories of
the three wars In which he had covered
himself with glory and won his Iron
Cross.
Having disposed of a good luncheon
in the "Posthof' we set out on foot for
the Captains bungalow, as I always
called 1t. which was about ten miles
distant.
My room was next to that of the old
W s1i iSi. II Wis 1t IOOIllS ueIl. with
massive furniture and walls covered
with all kinds of military trophies, and
the first night passed without anything
happening.
The next day the man came around
with the dog. Il great hairy, good nat
ured looking beast of no particular
breed.
l must say that liked the dog much
better than the man, who explained
that it's name was Wotan. and that it
had been especially trained to keep out
burglars The price was so low that /
could not help advising the Captain to
buy the dog
When the man had left we chained
the dog in the spacious hall. but it
kept on bowling terribly that We
decided to take walk hoping that it
would quiet down before we returned.
But when we came back Wotan was
still bowling. We went to sit down in
the room of the Captain by dusty
bottle OF excellent vintage and COM
menced our memories, but all through
the night the dog kept on.
In the morning the old servant told
US that it had refused to eat.
The Captain by this time began to
think of returning the dog. bur did not
know where to look for the owner.
Two days passed and still the dog
the Captain proposed that l take a
walk alone, rs he had some writing to
do. When returned, he told me that
the former owner OF the dog had been
IN ana told him how to treat the beast.
| did not like the looks of things
especially as l heard that the man had
been shown all over the house. which
he declared interested him very much
and had been alone in the rooms for
about ten minutes, While the Captain
went down III the cellar for a bottle of
wine.
l therefore carefully examined the
place, and to my surprise found that
the rifle hanging near my old friends
bed was not loaded.
l showed it to him, and he was evil
IDENTIFY even more surprised than was,
and declared that he did not under
stand this, as he had put in new shell
the day before.
After that we were on guard every
night, and without my friend suspect
ing 1t had two gendarmes patrol the
woods back of the house.
For many nights nothing happened
and l had just thought Of returning
home. But the next night Wotan be-
gan barking furiously. 1 was on guard
and saw him throwing down a human
form. called Rabenstelner and
through the window we saw the dog
standing over a man who spoke friend
ly words to it.
The dog kept on wagging his tail
and licking the face of the man, but
growl and show its teeth. recognized
the race of the man who had sold us
Wotan.
The Captain rushed out rifle in hand.
DO not shoot: we will capture the
scoundrel alive" | shouted. bur the
old soldier was furious and fired The
shot rang out and the dog fell down,
while the man started to run
BltZdonnerwetter!" the Captain
shouted: have only shot the mongrelr
Never mind Captain!' one of the
Sendarmes who had now come shout
ed I'VE will get him. He is severely
wounded and cannot run far"
Wotan was lying near the revolver
of his former master, dying, but in his
death struggles licking the handle
which his hand had touched.
This is not the first time that I
have seen the soul Of a man in a mon
grel and that of a mongrel in a man."
the Captain said as he caressed the
head of the dying dog