ed to him.
Its bark was so loud that it could be distinguished at the distance of
a mile. Its bark once led to its recovery, when stolen by some
carters. "Bass," as the dog was named, had been missing for some time,
when it was brought back to Grange House by a letter-carrier, who said
that in going along a certain street, he heard a barking inside a
yard, and at once recognized the voice of Bass. "He knocked at the
gate," writes Sir Thomas, "and immediately said to the owner of the
premises,--

"'You have got Sir Thomas Lander's big dog.'

"The man denied it.

"'But I know you have,' continued the letter-carrier. 'I am certain
that I heard the bark of Sir Thomas's big dog; for there is no other
dog in or about all Edinburgh that has such a bark.'

"The man then admitted that he had a large dog, which he had bought
for a trifle from a couple of coal carters; and at last, with great
reluctance, he gave up the dog to the letter-carrier, who brought him
home here."

Sir Thomas, after describing many of Bass's characteristics, then
proceeds:--

"He took a particular fancy for one of the postmen who delivers
letters here, though he was not the man whom I have already had
occasion to mention. It was the duty of this postman I now allude to,
besides delivering letters, to carry a letter-bag from one receiving
house to another, and this big bag he used to give Bass to carry. Bass
always followed that man through all the villas in the neighborhood
where he had deliveries to make, and he invariably parted with him
opposite to the gate of the Convent of St. Margaret's, and returned
home.

"When our gate was shut, to prevent his following the postman, the dog
always leaped a high wall to get after him. One day, when the postman
was ill, or detained by some accidental circumstance, he sent a man in
his place. Bass went up to the man, curiously scanning his face,
whilst the man retired from the dog, by no means liking his
appearance, and very anxious to decline all acquaintance with him. But
as the man left the place, Bass followed him, showing strong symptoms
that he was determined to have the post-bag. The man did all he could
to keep the possession of it. But at length Bass, seeing that he had
no chance of getting possession of the bag by civil entreaty, raised
himself on his hind legs, and putting a great fore paw on each of the
man's shoulders, he laid him flat on his back in the road, and quietly
picking up the bag,