“‘Give Dixie nothin’,’ he snarled back at me. And then he added: ‘Why, you Dutch fat-head, d’ye think I’m goin’ to give good food to a dog?’
“He had carelessly dropped the boat-stretcher beside him, and before he could lay down the eggs it was in my hand. There is an etiquette, Doctor, to be observed even upon a desert island, and if Lentz had not grasped the other end of the stick I fancy that Dixie could have had Deshay’s share.
“‘Ve must not qvarrel,’ said Lentz; ‘ve haf troobles enough alretty. Der hound found der eggs; gif him von or two.’
“Deshay growled, but I had frightened him, and he did as he was told, giving Dixie two of the eggs. The dog ate one of them, the other he carried to Claud; I saw Claud give it to Deshay.
“For ten days this thing went on. Every day or two Dixie would find a nest of eggs, but at the end of that time he could find no more, and after two days of hunger Deshay, backed by one of the sailors, demanded that he be killed. We were all fairly weak by this time, Deshay being perhaps the strongest, because Claud had shared his own and the hound’s food with him in the hope of prolonging the dog’s life. In spite of this the lad held up wonderfully, sustained by his marvellous nervous vitality.
“‘It seems to me that Dixie has earned his right to live,’ said Claud, the tears streaming from his eyes. ‘He has already fed us for ten days; but if you all demand that he—be killed—I will not oppose it!’ He buried his face in his hands.
“‘Guess you won’t!’ growled Deshay. ‘We do demand it——’
“‘Speak for yourself, you mongrel swine!’ said I, and added that I would starve before I would kill the hound or eat him, either. You see, Doctor, to my way of thinking Dixie had purchased the human right to die decently, like the brave, unselfish gentleman he was. Besides, he had the cleanest soul of any, save, perhaps, his master. What right had we to prolong our lives at the cost of his? Lentz felt this.
“‘I von’t eat him,’ he said; ‘he is vort more as me.’
“‘Ah, what’s the use o’ killin’ ’im?’ said one of the sailors, a hard specimen whom Deshay had picked up on the ‘Barbary Coast.’ ‘Dawg ‘r no dawg, we’re all goin’ up the flue. The quicker the sooner, say I.’