l, cropped ears, and a comparatively immense jaw; the whole
giving promise of great strength, if little beauty. And this effect
was enhanced by the manner of its docking. For the miserable relic of
a tail, yet raw, looked little more than a red button adhering to its
wearer's stern.

M'Adam's inspection was as minute as it was apparently absorbing; he
omitted nothing from the square muzzle to the lozenge-like scut. And
every now and then he threw a quick glance at the man at the window, who
was watching the careful scrutiny a thought uneasily.

"Ye've cut him short," he said at length, swinging round on the drover.

"Ay; strengthens their backs," the big man answered with averted gaze.

M'Adam's chin went up in the air; his mouth partly opened and his
eyelids partly closed as he eyed his informant.

"Oh, ay," he said.

"Gie him back to me," ordered the drover surlily. He took the puppy
and set it on the floor; whereupon it immediately resumed its former
fortified position. "Ye're no buyer; I knoo that all along by that face
on ye," he said in insulting tones.

"Ye wad ha' bought him yerseif', nae doot?" M'Adam inquired blandly.

"In course; if you says so."

"Or airblins ye bred him?"

"'Appen I did."

"Ye'll no be from these parts?"

"Will I no?" answered the other.

A smile of genuine pleasure stole over M'Adam's face. He laid his hand
on the other's arm.

"Man," he said gently, "ye mind me o' hame." Then almost in the same
breath: "Ye said ye found him?"

It was the stranger's turn to laugh.

"Ha! ha! Ye teekle me, little mon. Found 'im? Nay; I was give 'im by a
friend. But there's nowt amiss wi' his breedin', ye may believe me."

The great fellow advanced to the chair under which the puppy lay. It
leapt out like a lion, and fastened on his huge boot.

"A rare bred un, look 'ee! a rare game un. Ma word, he's a big-hearted
un! Look at the back on him; see the jaws to him; mark the pluck of
him!" He shook his booted foot fiercely, tossing his leg to and fro like
a tree in a wind. But the little creature, now raised ceilingward, now
dashed to the ground, held on with incomparable doggedness, till its
small jaw was all bloody and muzzle wrinkled with the effort.

"Ay, ay, that'll do," M'Adam interposed, irritably.

The drover ceased his efforts.

"Now, I'll mak' ye a last offer." He thrust his head down to a level
with the other's, shooting out his neck. "It's throwin' him at ye, mind.
'Tain't