w himself at full length by my side, and seemed as
if desirous, by his caresses, of consoling me in my troubles, and urging
me to bear them with fortitude.

The singularity of his behavior at length forcibly arrested my
attention. After licking my face and hands for some minutes, he would
suddenly cease doing so, and utter a low whine. Upon reaching out my
hand toward him, I then invariably found him lying on his back, with his
paws uplifted. This conduct, so frequently repeated, appeared strange,
and I could in no manner account for it. As the dog seemed distressed,
I concluded that he had received some injury; and, taking his paws in my
hands, I examined them one by one, but found no sign of any hurt. I
then supposed him hungry, and gave him a large piece of ham, which he
devoured with avidity--afterward, however, resuming his extraordinary
manoeuvres. I now imagined that he was suffering, like myself, the
torments of thirst, and was about adopting this conclusion as the true
one, when the idea occurred to me that I had as yet only examined his
paws, and that there might possibly be a wound upon some portion of his
body or head. The latter I felt carefully over, but found nothing. On
passing my hand, however, along his back, I perceived a slight erection
of the hair extending completely across it. Probing this with my finger,
I discovered a string, and tracing it up, found that it encircled the
whole body. Upon a closer scrutiny, I came across a small slip of what
had the feeling of letter paper, through which the string had been
fastened in such a manner as to bring it immediately beneath the left
shoulder of the animal.

CHAPTER 3

THE thought instantly occurred to me that the paper was a note from
Augustus, and that some unaccountable accident having happened to
prevent his relieving me from my dungeon, he had devised this method of
acquainting me with the true state of affairs. Trembling with eagerness,
I now commenced another search for my phosphorus matches and tapers.
I had a confused recollection of having put them carefully away just
before falling asleep; and, indeed, previously to my last journey to the
trap, I had been able to remember the exact spot where I had deposited
them. But now I endeavored in vain to call it to mind, and busied myself
for a full hour in a fruitless and vexatious search for the missing
articles; never, surely, was there a more tantalizing state of anxiety
and suspense. At