" he continued, stroking the silky coat of the animal,
who responded with a short low bark of satisfaction.

My curiosity was much excited by these remarks, and I said eagerly:

"Will you tell me in what way Leo has been useful to you? I have a
great affection for dogs, and I never tire of hearing stories of their
wonderful intelligence."

"I will certainly tell you," replied Heliobas. "To some people the
story might appear improbable, but it is perfectly true and at the same
time simple of comprehension. When I was a very young man, younger than
Prince Ivan, I absorbed myself in the study of electricity--its
wonderful powers, and its various capabilities. From the consideration
of electricity in the different forms by which it is known to civilized
Europe, I began to look back through history, to what are ignorantly
called 'the dark ages,' but which might more justly be termed the
enlightened youth of the world. I found that the force of electricity
was well understood by the ancients--better understood by them, in
fact, than it is by the scientists of our day. The 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL,
UPHARSIN' that glittered in unearthly characters on the wall at
Belshazzar's feast, was written by electricity; and the Chaldean kings
and priests understood a great many secrets of another form of electric
force which the world to-day scoffs at and almost ignores--I mean human
electricity, which we all possess, but which we do not all cultivate
within us. When once I realized the existence of the fact of human
electric force, I applied the discovery to myself, and spared no pains
to foster and educate whatever germ of this power lay within me. I
succeeded with more ease and celerity than I had imagined possible. At
the time I pursued these studies, Leo here was quite a young dog, full
of the clumsy playfulness and untrained ignorance of a Newfoundland
puppy. One day I was very busy reading an interesting Sanskrit scroll
which treated of ancient medicines and remedies, and Leo was gambolling
in his awkward way about the room, playing with an old slipper and
worrying it with his teeth. The noise he made irritated and disturbed
me, and I rose in my chair and called him by name, somewhat angrily. He
paused in his game and looked up--his eyes met mine exactly. His head
drooped; he shivered uneasily, whined, and lay down motionless. He
never stirred once from the position he had taken, till I gave him
permission--and remember, he was untrain