to remain
puzzlers to the end. Those about, therefore, were to be reckoned friends,
and to be met in such way as better dogs themselves lay down. Their
society obviously had its rules, which, if occasionally broken, were yet
to be known and recognised, just as they themselves, though dogs, were
able to discern that the members of that other society, on to which they
were apparently grafted, had theirs.

These last and they themselves were nothing less than partners--so it
seemed to him--in a great game, to be played always in good heart and
with the spirit of true sportsmanship. Both moved according to law, the
only difference between the two being that Men held the power of the
Veto--and exercised it too often, he would add in his perfect, well-bred
manner, in a way that declared their ignorance. Men, he averred, would
always insist on assuming that their laws were right at all times, and,
furthermore, were always applicable to dogs, forgetting that, more often
even than themselves, dogs were moved by laws imperious.

Had he been as the majority of dogs, he would, when such thoughts
occupied his brain, have joined no doubt unhesitatingly in Puck's song--

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

But, then, this is where he differed from that majority. Man was his
friend. Friendship meant loyalty, and loyalty should be unstained.

There was much in what he said. On many an occasion a dog will show that
he knows better than a man, and can do things that transcend Man's
boasted powers. We all know that--or should do so--for the moment may
arrive when we find ourselves dependent on the judgment of a dog. To fail
to recognise it then is to create difficulties and to blunder badly,
causing the most tractable of our friends to look up with a puzzled
expression in their eyes, and the more head-strong and outspoken to go
ahead, with this sentence, flung back over the shoulder--"_You fools,
you; when will you understand!_"

And the fun of it all is that Man with his self-assurance, and that
limited vision of his of which he seems sometimes completely unaware,
thinks that he is training the dog, whereas the dog is perfectly capable,
as will be shown, of at least in some directions training him. Thus,
where differences arise, Man jumps to his conclusions and claims his
prerogative. It is a sorry business when an all-too-hasty punishment
follows, as it often does, for Man--so Murphy used to say--would find
him