them; and as soon as they saw him, drove him away. After that he did not go near them for some time, and when he paid his next visit, placed himself out of reach both of stones and whip, and then barked away as loudly as ever.
He had nearly barked himself hoarse out of pure revenge, when a boy came to the house, seized the knocker, and let it fall again. Then, to the surprise of the dog, the door was opened, and the boy entered the house. When he had recovered a little from his astonishment, he crept slowly along the wall, till he reached the very place where the boy had stood. Then he jumped up to try to catch hold of the knocker, but it was high up, and he had to jump a great many times before he managed to catch it between his teeth. It fell with a great bang, and some one called out, ‘Who’s there?’ and, as the dog was silent, came to the door and threw it open. In flew the dog, and ran straight to his friend, whom he had not seen for so long, and received a warm welcome. The family were so much amused at his cleverness that this time they let him stay, and whenever his morning ‘rat-tat’ was heard, it was a race between the children as to who should answer it.
At the time when I am now writing (Dec. 20, 1897), there is an account in the papers of the rescue of a dog from a ledge on one of the highest and steepest cliffs in Dover. Some boys looking down from the top, saw the little liver-coloured creature lying, with a lady’s hat beside it, more than two hundred feet below, and told the police, who said it was quite impossible to get at her. A week passed and the dog was still there, and the boys could stand it no longer. With the help of a man named Joys, they drove footholes into the cliff from beneath, and managed to reach the little spaniel, after a dangerous climb of about a hundred feet, while the coast-guard let down ropes from above, and hauled them all up together. The
