bbits from outside poulterers'
shops. For recreation he killed cats and frightened small children by
yelping round their legs. There were times when I could have lamed him
myself, if only I could have got hold of him. I made nothing by running
that dog--nothing whatever. People, instead of admiring me for nursing
him back to life, called me a fool, and said that if I didn't drown the
brute they would. He spoilt my character utterly--I mean my character
at this period. It is difficult to pose as a young man with a heart of
gold, when discovered in the middle of the road throwing stones at your
own dog. And stones were the only things that would reach and influence
him.

I was also hampered by a scarcity in runaway horses. The horse of our
suburb was not that type of horse. Once and only once did an opportunity
offer itself for practice. It was a good opportunity, inasmuch as he was
not running away very greatly. Indeed, I doubt if he knew himself that
he was running away. It transpired afterwards that it was a habit of
his, after waiting for his driver outside the Rose and Crown for what he
considered to be a reasonable period, to trot home on his own account.
He passed me going about seven miles an hour, with the reins dragging
conveniently beside him. He was the very thing for a beginner, and I
prepared myself. At the critical moment, however, a couple of officious
policemen pushed me aside and did it themselves.

There was nothing for me to regret, as the matter turned out. I should
only have rescued a bald-headed commercial traveller, very drunk, who
swore horribly, and pelted the crowd with empty collar-boxes.

From the window of a very high flat I once watched three men, resolved
to stop a runaway horse. Each man marched deliberately into the middle
of the road and took up his stand. My window was too far away for me to
see their faces, but their attitude suggested heroism unto death. The
first man, as the horse came charging towards him, faced it with his
arms spread out. He never flinched until the horse was within about
twenty yards of him. Then, as the animal was evidently determined to
continue its wild career, there was nothing left for him to do but to
retire again to the kerb, where he stood looking after it with evident
sorrow, as though saying to himself--"Oh, well, if you are going to be
headstrong I have done with you."

The second man, on the catastrophe being thus left clear for him,
without a mom