his own. His eyes, which were quite as dark as
the Master had desired them to be, were idle only when he slept;
and the same might have been said of every part of him. He
grovelled most industriously during all his waking hours, until
such time as his podgy legs had hardened sufficiently to bear his
weight--with many falls, of course--and then he began to scurry
about on his feet. His usual style of progression at this period
was to take from two to four abrupt, jerky strides, rather with the
air of a fussy and corpulent old gentleman who had to catch a
train, and then to subside in a confused lump, on chest and nose,
with tail waggling angrily in mid-air. This was not so annoying to
the grey pup as one might suppose, because, though generally in a
hurry, he always forgot his intended destination by the time he had
taken three steps towards it, and therefore a sudden halt at the
fourth seemed reasonable enough, and quite an agreeable diversion.

During the third week of his life, the weather being very fine,
Finn, with the other pups, was treated to long sun-baths in a
little fenced-in square of gravel which was covered with deodorized
sawdust. These sun-baths were extremely good for the pups, and
provided pleasant periods of rest and relaxation for the foster-mothers,
who, though never allowed to see each other, were each
within smelling distance of the pups, one upon one side and one on
the other.

A huge dry bullock's shin-bone was put into the sun-bath, on a
piece of matting, and this was a source of great interest to the
pups, whose little white teeth were now as sharp as needles; a fact
known only too well to their respective foster-mothers. Finn's
favourite amusement was to lie straddled along this bone, and defy
the other pups to touch it. He would give hard-breathing little
snorts which he meant for growls, when one of the other pups began
to nuzzle the bone; and, at times, these snorts would be vehement
enough to make him lose his balance and roll helplessly off the
bone on to the ground. Then the other three pups would straddle
across his tubby body and snort defiance at him, each with a paw
planted victoriously in his protuberant stomach or on his broad
chest.

On Finn's twenty-first morning he spent the better part of half an
hour in the lap of the Mistress of the Kennels, learning to lap
warm milk and water. First of all he learned to suck the milky tip
of the Mistress's little finger. Then, gradually