htful owner. It
stayed a few days wi' Hosea, then George 'ticed it away, an' generally
it hung to the one as happened to have th' biggest bone. Feeling ran
high atween them till, after the harvest 'ad bin got in, Mr. Gedge, at
The Chequers, axed George what about j'ining up.

"'What, an' give Hosea a free run wi' th' tarrier?' said George. 'Not
blessed likely.'

"Hosea for his part said 'e weren't going to budge while th' village
were infested wi' dog-stealers; so Mr. Gedge 'e says, 'Hand th' dog to
me. I'll howd it wi'out fear nor favour, an' when you both cooms back
we'll have it properly arbitrated on.'

"So Hosea j'ined the Infantry an' George went into th' Yeomanry. There
was some friction when George first coom on leave an' Mr. Gedge let
'im have th' tarrier for a day's ratting. Th' Bennett family said it
were breaking the agreement, but Mr. Gedge said it were a patriotic
duty to give th' lads a bit of amusement when they came on leave, an'
'e 'd undertake the Rileys 'ud make no objection when Hosea coom home.
But it made a lot 'o coolness atween th' families, an' when Hosea were
wounded in '15 the Bennettses as good as said th' Rileys weren't no
better nor pro-Germans in not giving up their claim to th' tarrier.
Public opinion were with Hosea at that time, but it veered round to
George when 'e won th' Military Medal in '16.

"However, George got orders to go East in '17, an' Hosea had pretty
frequent leaves and were allus parading th' dog outside the Rileys'
cottage. About the end o' '18 owd Ephraim Riley got tired of it and
went to see Mr. Gedge on th' subject.

"'Fair's fair,' he says, 'an' Hosea ain't no right to be worming 'is
way into that dog's affections while George can't get home.'

"'There's summat in that,' said Mr. Gedge; an' next time Hosea cooms
home 'e finds the dog in pound, so to speak.

"'Very good,' says he; 'I don't coom home again till George is here.'

"In th' spring of '19, 'bout the time as the tarrier--which was
getting owd and cantankerous--bit Wilfred Browitt in th' leg, we heerd
that George weren't likely to be back for a longish time, an' Hosea
wrote to say in that case he'd take on in th' Army for another year.
Then we had mower excitement, for it was said that Winch, a new-comer,
had put up for th' Council, an' it 'ud mean an election. Fowks were so
used to Farmer Pyke an' Mr. Gedge and Mr. Cluttrel setting that they
rackened they didn't need to be voted on, but would go in