1. The bulldog, used for guard and for fighting, with “a bit o’ money on him” sometimes.
2. The retriever, a useful and determined guard dog and child’s companion.
3. The big mongrel mastiff. The fatter and the uglier he is the better, and the greater the sensation he will create in country villages.
4. The whippet: a handy dog in many ways; and to him gipsies are indebted for many a good stew of hare or rabbit.
5. Lastly, the terribly fat, immensely big black Russian retriever. His tail is always cut off to make him resemble a bear, and give an air of greater éclat to the caravan that owns him.
A Midnight Attack on the “Wanderer.”
We were lying in a lonely meadow, in a rough country away up on the borders of Yorkshire, and did not consider ourselves by any means in a very safe place. The Wanderer was pretty close to the roadside; and there were no houses about except a questionable-looking inn, that stood on the borders of a gloomy wood. The people here might or might not be villainous. At all events, it was not on their account we were uneasy. But a gang of the worst class of gipsies was to pass that night from a neighbouring fair, and there was a probability that they might attack the carriage.
Foley before lying down barricaded the back door with the large Rippingille stove, and I myself had seen to the chambers of my revolver, all six of them.
I had one lookout before lying down. It was a still and sultry summer’s night, with clouds all over the stars, so that it was almost dark. In ten minutes more I was sound asleep.
It must have been long past midnight when I awoke with a start.