was likely to continue to do so,
since the law of their kind prevented him from exerting his
superior strength against her.

Then the man walked slowly back to the shanty, calling both dogs
over his shoulder as he went. Jess obediently ran to him, and then
danced back, encouragingly, to Finn. Finn advanced with her till
the man reached the fire and resumed his seat on the ground. Then
Finn stopped dead, his hind-quarters well drawn up and ready for a
spring; and no blandishment that Jess could exercise proved
sufficient to draw him closer to the fire. Seeing this, the man
called Jess sharply, after a while, and ordered her to lie down
beside him, which she did. Then he cut off a good-sized chunk of
meat and tossed it to Finn, saying, "Here, good dog; come in and
feed then!" He carefully threw the meat to a point about three
yards nearer the fire than where Finn stood, but still a good six
or seven paces from it. Finn watched the meat fall and sniffed its
fragrance from the dry grass. The man, after all, was sitting down,
and humans always occupied quite a long time in rising to their
feet. Very slowly, very warily, and with eyes fixed steadily on the
man, Finn covered the three yards between himself and the meat,
and, as he seized it in his jaws, moved backward again at least one
yard.

The warm mutton was exceedingly grateful to Finn, and he showed
little hesitation about advancing the necessary four or five feet
to secure a second and larger piece thrown down for him by
the man. But again he withdrew about a yard, before swallowing it.
Then the man held another piece of meat out to him at arm's length,
and invited him to come and take it for himself. Finn advanced one
yard, and then definitely stopped, at, say, eight paces from the
man's hand, and waited, as one who would say: "Thus far, and no
farther; not an inch farther!" Still the man held the meat, and
would not throw it. Finn waited, head held a little on one side,
black eyes fixed intently on the man's face. Then, slowly, he
lowered his great length to the ground, without for an instant
removing his gaze from the boundary-rider's face, and lay with
fore-legs outstretched, watching and waiting, and resting at the
same time. Evidently the man regarded this as some sort of a step
forward, for he yielded now, and flung the piece of meat so that it
fell beside Finn's paws. The great Wolfhound half rose in gulping
down the meat, but resumed his lying position a m