l dog of his acquaintance engaged in
a desperate fight with a big dog,--as big as Lion himself. At first he
ran up to them much excited; then he seemed to remember his basket of
meat. He couldn't go into the fight with that, and he was too prudent to
set it down in the street. For a moment he looked puzzled; then he ran
to the grocery, which was close by,--the same place where we send him
for things; but instead of holding up his basket before one of the men,
as he does when his errand is with them, he went and set it carefully
down behind a barrel in a corner. Then he rushed out and gave the big
dog a severe punishing. The men in the grocery watched him; and, knowing
that he would return for the basket, they hid it in another place, to
see what he would do. He went back into the store, to the corner behind
the barrel, and appeared to be in great distress. He snuffed and
whimpered about the store for a while, then ran up to the youngest of
the men--"

"Horace,--the young fellow who came out with us to-day," commented Jack.
"He is full of his fun; and Lion knew that it would be just like him to
play such a trick."

--"He ran up to Horace," Annie continued, "and barked furiously; and
became at last so fiercely threatening, that it was thought high time to
give him the basket. Lion took it and ran home in extraordinary haste;
but it was several days before he would have anything more to do with
Horace."

"Who can say, after this, that dogs do not think?" said the admiring
Vinnie.

"Mr. Lanman thinks he has some St. Bernard blood," said Jack, "and that
is what gives him his intelligence. He knows just what we are talking
about now; and see! he hardly knows whether to be proud or ashamed. I
don't approve of his fighting, on ordinary occasions; and I've had to
punish him for it once or twice. The other evening, as I was coming home
from a hunt after my horse, I saw two dogs fighting near the saw-mill."

Jack had got so far when Lion, who had seemed to take pleasure in being
in the room till that moment, got up very quietly and went out with
drooping ears and tail.

"He knows what is coming, and doesn't care to hear it. There's a little
humbug about Lion, as there is about the most of us. It was growing
dark, and the dogs were a little way off, and I wasn't quite sure of
Lion; but some boys who saw the fight told me it was he, and I called to
him. But what do you think he did? Instead of running to greet me, as he
alwa