Project Gutenberg's The Dog Crusoe and his Master, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Dog Crusoe and his Master

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21728]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOG CRUSOE AND HIS MASTER ***

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THE DOG CRUSOE AND HIS MASTER, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.

CHAPTER ONE.

THE BACKWOODS SETTLEMENT--CRUSOE'S PARENTAGE AND EARLY HISTORY--THE
AGONISING PAINS AND SORROWS OF HIS PUPPYHOOD, AND OTHER INTERESTING
MATTERS.

The dog Crusoe was once a pup. Now do not, courteous reader, toss your
head contemptuously, and exclaim, "Of course he was; I could have told
_you_ that." You know very well that you have often seen a man above
six feet high, broad and powerful as a lion, with a bronzed shaggy
visage and the stern glance of an eagle, of whom you have said, or
thought, or heard others say, "It is scarcely possible to believe that
such a man was once a squalling baby." If you had seen our hero in all
the strength and majesty of full-grown doghood, you would have
experienced a vague sort of surprise had we told you--as we now repeat--
that the dog Crusoe was once a pup--a soft, round, sprawling, squeaking
pup, as fat as a tallow candle, and as blind as a bat.

But we draw particular attention to the fact of Crusoe's having once
been a pup, because in connection with the days of his puppyhood there
hangs a tale. This peculiar dog may thus be said to have had two
tails--one in connection with his body, the other with his career. This
tale, though short, is very harrowing, and, as it is intimately
connected with Crusoe's subsequent history, we will relate it here. But
before doing so we must beg our reader to accompany us beyond the
civilised portions of the United States of America--beyond the frontier
settlements of the "far west," into those wild prairies which are
watered by the great Missouri river--the Father of Waters--and his
numerous tributaries.

Here dwell the Pawnees, the Sioux, the Delawares, the Crows, the
Blackfeet, and many other tribes of Red Indians, who are gradually
retreating step by st