The bull can but smash a lot of
objects made of baked clay; the dog introduces a mad panic in
a world of living intelligent beings, a fairy realm of
exquisite beauty. They scuttle away and vanish into hiding as
if a deadly wind had blown over the earth and swept them out
of existence. Only the birds remain - they can fly and do not
fear for their own lives, but are in a state of intense
anxiety about their eggs and young among the bushes which he
is dashing through or exploring.
I had good reason, then, to congratulate myself on Jack's
surly behaviour on our first meeting. Then, a few days later,
a curious thing happened. Jack was discovered one morning in
his kennel, and when spoken to came or rather dragged himself
out, a most pitiable object. He was horribly bruised and sore
all over; his bones appeared to be all broken; he was limp and
could hardly get on his feet, and in that miserable condition
he continued for some three days.
At first we thought he had been in a big fight - he was
inclined that way, his master said - but we could discover no
tooth marks or lacerations, nothing but bruises. Perhaps, we
said, he had fallen into the hands of some cruel person in one
of the distant moorland farms, who had tied him up, then
thrashed him with a big stick, and finally turned him loose to
die on the moor or crawl home if he could.
