bites children? About how many are there of them, please?"

"Thousands--in a large city," said Jeff, "and nearly every family has
one in the country."

Terry broke in at this. "You must not imagine they are all
dangerous--it's not one in a hundred that ever bites anybody. Why, they
are the best friends of the children--a boy doesn't have half a chance
that hasn't a dog to play with!"

"And the girls?" asked Somel.

"Oh--girls--why they like them too," he said, but his voice flatted a
little. They always noticed little things like that, we found later.

Little by little they wrung from us the fact that the friend of man,
in the city, was a prisoner; was taken out for his meager exercise on
a leash; was liable not only to many diseases but to the one destroying
horror of rabies; and, in many cases, for the safety of the citizens,
had to go muzzled. Jeff maliciously added vivid instances he had known
or read of injury and death from mad dogs.

They did not scold or fuss about it. Calm as judges, those women were.
But they made notes; Moadine read them to us.

"Please tell me if I have the facts correct," she said. "In your
country--and in others too?"

"Yes," we admitted, "in most civilized countries."

"In most civilized countries a kind of animal is kept which is no longer
useful--"

"They are a protection," Terry insisted. "They bark if burglars try to
get in."

Then she made notes of "burglars" and went on: "because of the love
which people bear to this animal."

Zava interrupted here. "Is it the men or the women who love this animal
so much?"

"Both!" insisted Terry.

"Equally?" she inquired.

And Jeff said, "Nonsense, Terry--you know men like dogs better than
women do--as a whole."

"Because they love it so much--especially men. This animal is kept shut
up, or chained."

"Why?" suddenly asked Somel. "We keep our father cats shut up because
we do not want too much fathering; but they are not chained--they have
large grounds to run in."

"A valuable dog would be stolen if he was let loose," I said. "We put
collars on them, with the owner's name, in case they do stray. Besides,
they get into fights--a valuable dog might easily be killed by a bigger
one."

"I see," she said. "They fight when they meet--is that common?" We
admitted that it was.

"They are kept shut up, or chained." She paused again, and asked,
"Is not a dog fond of running? Are they not built for speed?" That we
admitted, too