n what course to adopt. The rabbit was
very thoroughly killed; killed with a thoroughness which would have
sufficed for half a dozen rabbits. A number of obscure instincts
were at work in Finn's mind as he jerkily licked, and withdrew
from, and nosed again at his first kill. In the main his instincts
said, "Tear and eat!" But, as against that, he was not hungry. The
Master believed in giving the dogs a snack before the morning run,
and breakfast after it, because this prevents a dog being anxious
to pick up any more or less edible trifle of an undesirable kind
that he may meet with, and, then, there were other instincts. It
was long, very long, since Finn's kind had been killers for eating
purposes. Finn was undecided in the matter. He certainly would have
allowed no dog to take his quarry from him; but the matter was
decided for him when the Master arrived on the scene and picked up
the rabbit by its hind legs. Finn jumped to catch it in his jaws;
but the Master spoke with unmistakable decision when he bade Finn
drop it, and there the matter ended, except as a proud and
inspiring memory, and a ground for added swagger on Finn's part.

In the quiet corner of Sussex, where Finn was born, it was the
rarest thing for the Wolfhounds to meet another dog; but it did
occur at times, and then it was odd to see how strong the instincts
of their race was in the whelps. They seemed to take it as a matter
of course that other dogs must be lesser creatures, and that as
such they were to be treated with every sort of courtesy, patience,
and good humour. Finn and his sister never made advances, but they
would stand politely still while the stranger sniffed all round
them. For pups in their first half-year they were extraordinarily
dignified. Much of this, of course, they learned from gracious
Tara, one of the gentlest and sweetest-mannered hounds that ever
lived. Also, they had that within, in the shape of truly
aristocratic lineage, which gave them great self-respect, a
tradition of courtesy, and a remarkable deal of _savoir-faire_. The
notion of snapping or snarling at a stranger, human or brute,
simply never occurred to either of them; never for an instant. That
there were certain creatures whose part it was to be chased and
killed seemed evident to Finn; but that there was any created thing
in the world to be feared, mistrusted, hated, or snapped at, he did
not believe. It may be that Finn was more of a gentleman and a
sportsma