shall we kill him, corporal?" inquired Smallbones.

"Mein Gott! knock him head against de tree, I suppose."

"Yes, and bury him in the ditch. Here, dog--Snarleyyow--here, dog," said
Smallbones; "come, a poor doggy--come here."

But Snarleyyow was not to be coaxed by Smallbones; he suspected
treachery.

"He won't a-come to me, corporal, or I'd soon settle his hash," observed
Smallbones.

The corporal had now got over a little panic which had seized him. He
called Snarleyyow, who came immediately. Oh! had he imagined what the
corporal was about to do, he might have died like Caesar, exclaiming, "Et
tu Brute," which, in plain English means, "and you--you brute."

The corporal, with a sort of desperation, laid hold of the dog by the
tail, drawing him back till he could swing him round. In a second or two
Snarleyyow was whirling round the corporal, who turned with him,
gradually approaching the trunk of the elm-tree, till at last his head
came in contact with it with a resounding blow, and the dog fell
senseless. "Try it again, corporal, let's finish him." The corporal
again swung round the inanimate body of the dog; again, and again, and
again, did the head come in contact with the hard wood; and then the
corporal, quite out of breath with the exertion, dropped the body on the
grass. Neither of them spoke a word for some time, but watched the body,
as it lay motionless, doubled up, with the fore and hind feet meeting
each other, and the one eye closed.

"Well, I've a notion that he is done for, anyhow," said Smallbones, "at
last."

"Mein Gott, yes!" replied the corporal. "He never get on his legs again,
be he tog or be he tyfel."

"Now for to come for to go for to bury him," said Smallbones, swinging
the dog by the tail, and dragging him towards the ditch. "I wonder if we
could get a spade anywhere, corporal."

"Mein Gott! if we ask for a spade they will ask what for, and
Vanslyperken may find it all out."

"Then I'll bury him and cover him up, anyhow; he'll not come to life
again, if he does may I be knocked on the head like him, that's all."
Smallbones dragged the body into the ditch, and collecting out of the
other parts of the ditch a great quantity of wet leaves, covered the
body a foot deep. "There, they won't find him now, because they won't
know where to look for him. I say, corporal, I've a notion we had better
not be seen here too long."

"No," said the corporal, wiping his forehead, putting his han