James Arthur Kjelgaard

“ Tsan-Lo walked out, and without exposing myself at all to him I withdrew the crate to close the run. Buck went crazy, leaping against the wire and snarling. He began to bark, and his eyes rolled whitely as foam dipped from his jaws. I called:
"Buck, sit!"
He continued to rage and claw at the wire, so overcome by fury—or fear?—that at first he did not hear me. A couple of the other dogs tuned in with him, and a little Golden retriever slunk fearfully into her kennel. ”

“ But the minute anything suffers, or she thinks it's suffering, she melts all over the place. She scooted out the back door, threaded her way among dog crates, and stopped in front of Buck's run. He had been lying under his kennel on the ground. But the minute she came in sight he jumped out, started leaping in the air and yelling his fool head off. I stayed on the porch a minute to enjoy the sight.
I have thirty-seven dogs. Five belong to me, and Buck's one of them. He's a big, black Labrador with a sleek, shiny coat, and muscled like a lion, and is the best retriever I ever saw. ”

“ Sally got out beside me, speculative, but said suddenly:
"Look at Buck!"
I looked. Buck was standing in front of his kennel, feet braced and head down. His ruff was bristled, his lip curled back over white fangs. The dogs nearest Tsan-Lo were walking stiff-leggedly about.
"Clint, you still have time to take that dog out of here," Sally said, forcefully.
"Uh!" I scoffed. "It's only a dog."
Just the same I opened the run, lifted the crate down, sat it inside the gate, took the two keys that were wired to the padlocks, unlocked the door, and opened the crate. ”

“ There was nothing even a little bit strange about it, unless you'd call Tsan-Lo a strange name for a Chesapeake retriever and wonder a little bit about anyone named Dr. Ibellius Grut. I tried to shrug it away.
"Get hold of yourself, Clint," I said. "First thing you know you'll be crazy as a drunken pigeon."
"Drunken pigeons don't talk to themselves," a voice said.
I turned around and saw Sally standing in the open door. She's Sally Evers, daughter of John Evers, and I wouldn't do a darned thing for her—except anything she asked me to. Yes, I'm in love with her. ”

“ But I am sure that there is more to this world than any living man has even dreamed. Silly? Talking through my hat? Perhaps, but my first fear of Tsan-Lo came to me the day I read the letter about him. ”

“ We wandered down to the lake, and I watched Sally put Buck through his paces. He jumped in, and swimming so smoothly that scarcely a ripple flowed behind him, brought back a stick she cast. Then she pointed a floating stick out to him and he got that. He seemed eager to obey her, and if only he'd work that way for me I'd as soon enter him against any competition anywhere. I looked at my watch.
"Well, I'm glad somebody can play. But I'm a working man. I have to pick up a new dog."
"Can we take Buck?" ”

“ But it was still only another dog, I assured myself stubbornly as I went into the house, and if I couldn't handle him I'd have no business calling myself a dog trainer. Of course I couldn't guarantee to make a hunter out of him, some dogs are no more capable of discharging the duties for which they've been created than are some men. But if I failed I could always send him back to Ibellius Grut. I mixed the daily feed, and the first thing I noticed when I pushed the feed cart outside was Buck. He hadn't moved from the edge of his run, was still sitting with his eyes glued on Tsan-Lo. ”

“ Such a dog, accustomed to living within a certain area, would not possess even the intelligence to forage into another district when its food supply ran out, Thus it died of starvation, and thus the other great dogs died. ”

“ But there is within every dog an immutable something which man can never change! The smallest and most effete poodle bears within itself the same germ that its giant ancestor bore.
"Do not think that the great dogs were merely a passing phase, or that the creatures which once inhabited the earth are forever gone! The intelligence that created them can at any time bring them back. It would merely be, as I have proven to my own satisfaction, a matter of applying certain hormosones and hormosone products. Tsan-Lo, the Chinese scientist ”

“ But the little cold fingers were still plucking at my spine, and I didn't want her to notice it. I, a professional trainer of retrievers, was frightened because I had another one to train! "Why don't you come around once in a while? Buck's been lying on the ground with his head between his paws, moaning to himself since you left yesterday afternoon. And, if it's any satisfaction to you, he refused his dinner last night"
"Oh, poor Buck!"
"She's like that, loves to pretend that she's tougher than a baby-killer most of the time. ”

“ Ample evidence points to the fact that the dog, as we know it today, is the descendent of some giant creatures which, except for its size, was very much like our present-day house pets and hunting companions. The size of these ancient dogs surpasses human imagination. ”

“ In the first place, the appetites of things so huge must have been enormous. There was just not enough food for them, Then, too, there was nothing save hunger to challenge them or keep them alert, and as a consequence their brains deteriorated to the point where they could no longer adapt themselves to changing conditions. ”

“ Gradually the dog as we know it today has evolved. True, man has taken that dog and by selective breeding has produced half a hundred forms and sizes which never would have been present had their development been unimpeded and uninterrupted. ”

“ The only things in place are the pictures of your dogs! I declare! Men would still be savages if women hadn't been around to civilize 'em!"
"Yes," I said drily, "the earth would probably be overrun with uncivilized men if there'd never been any women." ”

“ The book went on to discuss other animals and to say that this vast intelligence, this thing that ruled the earth, and perhaps the universe, was capable of adapting itself to various forms and some day might even appear as a human being. ”

“ Some dogs, doubtless the smaller and more adaptable, survived. They, and their descendants, had to compete for the available food with predators more nearly their own size. Thus their brains were sharpened and their adaptability developed. ”

“ There are times when it's just as well not to.
Typographic ornament showing a face and several animals amid whirlwind-like swirls.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) before 1964, and copyright was not renewed.
For Class A renewals records (books only) published between 1923 and 1963, check the Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database. ”