New-York tribune., 1921-02-06

mind; he WlShed the trainer might
not come next day.
But Proutt did come, and Westley
himself bade Recl into the trainers
buggy and watched the dog ride
away with wistful eyes turned back
ward.
Westley's wife was more con-
cerned than he, and he forgot his
own anxiety in reassuring her.
PECK was so nobly blooded that
the instincts of his craft were
deeply bedded in him. On his first
day in the alder swamps with Proutt
he proved himself to the full. Proutt
was dog beater, as all men knew,
but he did not beat dogs which
obeyed him, and he did not beat Reck.
The first day he was merely trying
the dog.
Reck found bird and took stanch
point, steady as rock. 1t was not
yet October, the season was not yet
open, and so Proutt had no right to
shoot. Nevertheless he did walk up to
this bird and flushed it from where
it lay, six feet before Reck's nose,
and knocked it over before it topped
the alders.
Reck stood at point till the bird
rose. When it's whistling wings lifted
it his nose followed it upward, fol
| lowed it's fall. But he did not stir,
! did not break shot, and Proutt,
watching, knew that this was indeed
dog.
When the bird had fallen Proutt
said softly: "Recl1! Fetch dead bird"
Now, this is in some measure the
test of setter. There are many set
ters which take natural point and
hold it; there are some few which are
also natural retrievers, without
training. Reck had been taught by
| Westley's children to fetch sticks or
rocks at command. He knew the
word
He went swiftly forward and
brought the woodcock, scarce ruff
fled, and laid it in Proutt's hand.
And Proutt took the bird and stood
still, looking down at Reck with a
darkly brooding face. Considering,
weighing. After little he began
to curse softly under his breath, and
he turned and stamped out OF the
alder run and bade Reck to heel and
went home. And Reck trotted at his
heels, tongue out, painting happily.
Proutt hated Westley; Proutt had
in his hands Reck, a dog by Westley
we'll beloved. And Reck was plant
in Proutt's hands, both because
Proutt knew dogs and because Recll
was by nature tractable, eager to
please, anxious to do that which he
was asked to do. The combination
presented itself to Proutt full clear
! ly as he walked homeward that day,
and it is to be supposed that he
fought out what fight there was
within himself during that long
walk and through the evening that
followed.
RECK, as has been shown, needed
no training for his appointed
work. Yet Proutt kept him, labored
with him daily for close to four long
weeks, as all Fraternity men knew.
None saw that training. 1t was
known that Proutt took Reck far
over the Sheepscot Ridge, where
farms were all deserted, and no man
was like to come upon him. But he
had done that with dogs before, for
woodcock lay thick in Sheepscot
Valley. Once or twice men heard the
barking of dog in that valley, and
there was a measure of pain in the
notes. And three times men met
Proutt driving homeward, with
Reck lying weary and subdued upon
the floor Of the buggy, scarce fit to
lift his head. 1t was remarked that
Proutt was more dour and morose
than ever, and Lee Motley thought
the man was aging.
4 * 4
ONE man only, and that man Jim
Saladine, caught some inkling of
that which was afoot. jim was a
deer hunter, and toward mid-Octo-
Der, with shotgun under his arm
for luck's sake, but never buck
shot in his cartridge pocket, he went
one day into the Sheepscot Valley to
search out the land. Deer lay in the
swamps there, and Jim sought to To-
cate them against the coming season.
He moved slowly and quietly, as his
custom was, ears and eyes open.
And he saw many things which an
other man would never have seen.
Two things he saw which had sig
nificance. Once, in muddy patch
along the Sheepscot's brim. he came