Was that murder? Or is the word applicable only to Man, who is immortal?
But stay! What is the test of immortality?
The ego says, "I am I," and earns eternity.
Then am I not immortal, since though dead, I may speak the charmed words?
No! For Christianity preaches annihilation to beast, and immortality for Man only. Man, the only animal that murders. Shall I be proof that Christianity contains a flaw?
Yet view it as you may, here I am, dead, yet not annihilated.
I say here I am, yet where am I?
How is it that I, stupid mongrel that I was, though true and loving friend, as all dogs are; how is it that I, who but slowly caught my master's meaning from his words, now understand his thoughts although he does not speak?
At last I comprehend. I know now where I am. I am within his mind. His eagerness to bury my poor carcass is but born of the desire to drive me thence.
But is not mind an attribute of the human soul, and conscience too? And are not both immortal?