held them between their legs and
pointing their heads in the direction of their adversaries, would knock
them together violently. The thin man, especially, worked with great
gusto. With much effort he succeeded in producing a ferocious, hoarse
chest-note that maddened the whole irritated pack. As serious as an
orchestra leader, he would absorb the discordant harmony, and direct and
strengthen its emission; but when the brutes were let loose and the
howling band tore one another to pieces, he would be in a frenzy of
enthusiasm and delight. He would applaud and bark and stamp his feet and
imitate all the motions of the dogs; he would have enjoyed biting and
being bitten, would gladly have been a dog himself with a snout, so that
he could wallow in the dust and blood, and sink his teeth in the hairy
skins and warm flesh, and enjoy the fray to his heart's content.

There was a critical moment when all the dogs, one on top of another,
formed a wriggling mass of legs, backs, tails and ears, which oscillated
to and fro in the ring without separating, and in another instant had
torn down the railing and threatened to harm the two young phenomena.
The owner's face paled and he hastily sprang forward, while his partner
rushed to his side. Then tails were bitten, and kicks and blows were
distributed right and left! They grabbed the dogs everywhere, pulled
them away and flung them over their shoulders like bundles of hay. It
was all over in a second, but I had seen the moment when the two young
phenomena were near being reduced to chopped meat, and I trembled for
the safety of the arm which grows on their back.

Flustered, no doubt, by their narrow escape, they did not care to be
shown off. The cow backed and the sheep bucked; but finally the green
blanket with yellow fringe was removed and their appendage was exhibited
to the public, and then the performance ended....

CHAPTER IX.

BREST.

At the light-house of Brest. Here the Old World ends. This is its most
advanced point; its farthest limit. Behind you spread Europe and Asia;
before you lies the entire ocean. As great as space appears to our eye,
does it not always seem limited as soon as we know that it has a
boundary? Can you not see from our shores, across the Channel, the
streets of Brighton and the fortresses of Provence; do you not always
think of the Mediterranean as an immense blue lake ensconced in rocks,
with promontories covered with falling monuments,