, that there were few dogs in Caneville who could
surpass me in strength and dexterity afloat.

Many moons came and passed away, and I was getting a big dog. My appetite
grew with my size, and as there was little to eat at home, I was forced
to wander through the streets to look after stray bones; but I was not
the only animal employed thus hunting for a livelihood, and the bits
scattered about the streets being very few and small, some of us, as may
be imagined, got scanty dinners. There was such quarrelling and fighting,
also, for the possession of every morsel, that if you were not willing to
let go any piece you had seized upon, you were certain to have
half-a-dozen curs upon your back to force you to do so; and the poor
weakly dog, whose only hope of a meal lay in what he might pick up, ran a
sad chance of being starved.

One of the fiercest fights I have ever been engaged in occurred upon one
of these occasions. I had had no breakfast, and it was already past the
hour when the rich dogs of Caneville were used to dine. Hungry and
disconsolate, I was trotting slowly past a large house, when a side-door
opened, and a servant jerked a piece of meat into the road. In the
greatest joy I pounced upon the prize, but not so quickly but that two
ragged curs, who were no doubt as hungry as myself, managed to rush to
the spot in time to get hold of the other end of it. Then came a struggle
for the dainty; and those who do not know how hard dogs will fight for
their dinner, when they have had no breakfast, should have been there to
learn the lesson. After giving and receiving many severe bites, the two
dogs walked off--perhaps they did not think the meat was worth the
trouble of contending for any longer--and I was left to enjoy my meal in
peace. I had scarcely, however, squatted down, with the morsel between my
paws, than a miserable little puppy, who seemed as if he had had neither
dinner nor breakfast for the last week, came and sat himself at a little
distance from me, and without saying a word, brushed the pebbles about
with his ragged tail, licked his chops, and blinked his little eyes at me
so hopefully, that, hungry as I was, I could not begin my meat. As I
looked at him, I observed two tears gather at the side of his nose, and
grow bigger and bigger until they would no longer stop there, but tumbled
on to the ground. I could bear it no longer. I do not know even now what
ailed me; but my own eyes grew so dim, that the