THE VENERABLE DON BOSCO
furiated bear; it was Grigio, who sprang first on one, then on the other of the men, biting, howling and finally throwing one of the men down. Terrified, they asked Don Bosco's pardon, adding, "Call off your dog or we shall be torn in pieces." Don Bosco called Grigio, and the cowardly wretches beat an inglorious retreat.
An assassin once fired two shots at his face, but they missed, and Grigio put the men to flight. Once at midnight, passing through the Place Milan, he saw a man following him armed with a great cudgel and hastened his steps, hoping to reach the Oratory in safety. He was at the top of the declivity, when he descried a group of men, who surrounded him with cudgels raised to strike; but suddenly the faithful Grigio appeared and sprang upon the men in such fury that they besought Don Bosco to quiet him; at his word the dog left them and they fled in the darkness, while the heaven-sent deliverer accompanied Don Bosco to the Oratory.
Once Grigio assumed a different manner of guardianship. One night Don Bosco, sometime after his arrival at Valdocco, found he had forgotten an important commission in Turin. He was preparing to start back, Margaret in the meantime using her best efforts to dissuade him; with reassuring words, however, he called some of the boys, and went to the front door, when, lo! there was Grigio stretched at full length on the threshold.
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