Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/159

This page has been validated.
THE STORY OF BOB.
149

when Bob would strike him in the face with the flat of his hand. Rover would snap at him, barking indignantly; but he never caught him, and Bob was careful to keep out of his reach. His discretion could be counted on to get the better of his courage. With the little terrier, Dandy, Bob's relations were often friendly, although there was very little mutual trust. At one time Dandy was deep in the ivy in search of a rat, while Bob had also entered the ivy by another opening for other reasons. They met in the dark in a rat-hole through the ivy leaves, and a sharp conflict ensued, marked by much scolding on the one part and pulling of hair and barking on the other. When Dandy had dragged Bob In Devotions. to the light, both were very much surprised, and they parted with mutual apologies and much shamefacedness.

Being offered a glass of milk. Bob looked at it for a moment, then took the glass in both hands and drank from it. His mouth being small, much of the milk was spilled on the floor. Being then offered a glass partly full, he handled it more deftly, seeming to understand how to use it. When offered a pewter cup with a handle, he took it in both hands and drank as from the glass, but, noticing the handle, he set the cup down and raised it again properly. Then he drank from it as a child of any other race would have done. He soon learned to drink water from bottles. If the bottle were large, he would use one of his hands to hold it, guiding it to his mouth by his hinder legs. At the first trial he understood the purpose of the cork, which he would draw with his teeth. Then he would look down into the neck of the bottle to see if the water were really there and no deception practiced on him. He also usually shook the bottle before drinking, apparently a custom in