hat he meant to come near
enough for touch, Finn decided that he would slip across the cage
to its opposite far corner in order to avoid the hated contact. He
did not snarl; he did not even uncover his fangs, for the fiery
instrument of torture was not there. He rose from his crouching
position, and of necessity that brought him a few inches nearer to
the Professor, before he could move toward the far side of the
cage.

"Would yer? Down, ye brute!" snarled the man, in his best
awe-inspiring tone. And in that instant the wire-bound rhinoceros-hide
whistled down across Finn's face, cutting him almost as painfully
as the hot iron was wont to sear him. He snarled ferociously. Down
came the lash again, and this time a loose end of wire stabbed the
corner of one of his eyes. The next instant saw the Professor flung
back at length against the bars of the cage; and in his face he
felt Finn's breath, and heard and saw the flashing, clashing gleam
of Finn's white fangs. Sam thrust the white-hot bar in, stabbing
Finn's neck with its hissing end. The Professor seized the bar and
beat Finn off with it; not for protection now, but in sheer, savage
anger. Then he withdrew from the cage, and seizing a long pole beat
Finn crushingly with that, through the bars, till his arms ached.
Meantime, Finn fought the pole like a mad thing; and the Professor,
unable to think of any other way of inflicting punishment upon the
untameable Giant Wolf, took his food from the basket and gave it to
Killer before Finn's eyes, leaving the Wolfhound to go empty for
the day.

[Illustration: The next instant saw the Professor flung back at
length against the bars of the cage.]

That was the result of the Professor's one attempt, according to
his lights, at humouring the Giant Wolf, by approaching him without
the iron. That also was a specimen of the kind of daily interviews
he had with Finn.

By this time the Wolfhound actually was a very fierce and savage
creature. But he was not at all like the magnificently raging
whirlwind of wrath which had aroused the boss's admiring wonder on
the day he first saw Finn. Killer might growl and snarl himself
hoarse now for all the notice Finn took of the great beast. Scarred
from nose to flank with burns, bruised and battered and aching in
every limb, Finn remained always curled in the darkest, farthest
corner of his cage now, roused only by the daily fight, the daily
torture, of his interviews with the Professor.