His coat is dense, hard and wiry, and it is some trouble for him to keep himself clean. Sometimes he neglects himself a bit between his washings by Louis, and then I scold him. He is a grey brindle in colour, and a fine, sensible little chap, but inclined to reminisce too much about his trials with the showman.
“Look ahead, little dog,” I often say to him, “and not over your shoulder.”
He never resents my criticism. He is a very docile, courageous and affectionate dog, and a great favourite with every one here.
Beside Cannie, we have [King Harry, the best specimen of a bloodhound I ever saw]. His magnificent domed head, and wrinkled forehead give him an appearance of great wisdom. His eyes are small and deep-set, with a third eyelid. His ears are long and fine in “leather,” and hang close to his kind old cheeks. His muzzle is long, deep and blunt at the tip, and he has a dewlap in the front of his throat.
KING HARRY, THE BEST SPECIMEN OF A BLOODHOUND I EVER SAW
Oh! what good talks I have had with this noble dog. He has told me the whole history of his race. I never knew before that they are called bloodhounds because they were used first of all to track wounded animals. They were known in ancient Gaul, and there is distinct mention of them in England during the reign of Henry the Third. De Soto in his expedition from Spain to Cuba brought a pack of bloodhounds with him to subdue the natives. Some of these same hounds were brought to our Southern States, and now there are plenty of them there, and they are known as “man trailers.”
So the present American bloodhound is a descendant of the old Spanish kind. King Harry is of English stock. He says his grandmother, old Lady Gray, had the longest list of cases to her credit of any dog in America.
When I asked him, one day after we first came here, what he meant by that, he said that she had captured thirty criminals—men and women who had burnt houses or killed some one.
“How would she do it?” I asked him.