ss that
little sheep-dog's sandy flank. He covered pretty nearly as much
space as a whole litter of her own kind would have occupied. His
pink pads looked monstrous now; his timbers were quite twice the
thickness you would have expected to find them; and his shapeless,
abundantly nourished body was very nearly as broad at the haunch as
it was long from neck to tail. His flat, black nose was remarkably
broad, in spite of the unusual length of the black-marked muzzle,
and the Master, who had studied Wolfhound puppies very closely,
seemed particularly pleased about this. Finn's corners, so to say,
were practically black. His body, as a whole, was of a steely,
brindle grey, but the centre of the back of his tail and its tip
were almost black, and so were his little podgy hocks, knees,
muzzle, brows (if he could be said to have any) and the hair over
his gristly shoulder bones. The Master swung his hurricane lamp
high for a last look at Finn and the foster.

"You certainly are a marvel of size, my son; but I wonder you don't
begin to open those eyes of yours, I must say. Let's hope they're
very dark. Good-night, little shepherd!"

The light of Finn's twelfth day on earth had already filled the
coach-house through its back windows when the sheep-dog stirred
next morning and yawned. The slight sound and movement woke Finn,
and automatically he burrowed vigorously after his breakfast
without an instant's hesitation. Presently he emerged with milky
nose from the foster's flanks, and meandered forth to be licked and
made comfortable. The licking ended, the foster rose, and stepped
off the bed to stretch her limbs. Finn rolled rollickingly over on
his back, and then staggered up and on to his absurdly large and
spreading feet. Then he backed sideways among the straw, like a
crab. Then he tried to rub one eye with one of his mushroom-like
fore-feet, and, failing abjectly in that, fell plump on his nose.
Staggering to his feet again, Finn turned his face once toward the
broad sunbeam that divided the coach-house in two parts from the
side window; and then, as though tried beyond endurance, opened
wide his jaws and bleated forth his fright and distress to the
world, so that the patient little foster-mother was obliged to cut
her constitutional short, and hop back to bed, lolling a solicitous
tongue and making queer comforting noises in her throat.

But for some several minutes the puppy absolutely refused to be
comforted; and wh