Going To Market
A butcher and cattle dealer had a dog which he usually took with him when
he drove cattle to the market, at a town some nine miles distant from his
home, to be sold, and who displayed uncommon dexterity in managing them.
At last, so convinced was the master of the sagacity, as well as the
fidelity of his dog, that he made a wager that he would entrust him with a
fixed number of sheep and oxen to drive alone to market. It was stipul
that no person should be within sight or hearing, who had the least
control over the dog; nor was any spectator to interfere, or be within a
quarter of a mile. On the day of trial, the dog proceeded with his
business in the most dexterous and steady manner; and although he had
frequently to drive his charge through the herds who were grazing, yet he
never lost one, but conducting them into the very yard to which he was
used to drive them when with his master, he significantly delivered them
up to the person appointed to receive them, by barking at the door. What
more particularly marked the dog's sagacity was, that when the path the
herd travelled lay through a spot where others were grazing, he would run
forward, stop his own drove, and then driving the others from each side of
the path, collect his scattered charge and proceed. He was several times
afterwards thus sent alone for the amusement of the curious or the
convenience of his master, and always acquitted himself in the same adroit
and intelligent manner.
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