Also, back of the red-rimmed
little eyes flickers the redder spirit of murder.
Locomotive engineers say a cow on a track. is far less perilous
to an oncoming train than is a pig. The former can be lifted, by
the impact, and flung to one side. A pig, oftener than not,
derails the engine. Standing with the bulk of its weight close to
the ground, it is well-nigh as bad an obstacle to trains as would
be a boulder of the same size. Lad had never met any engineers.
But he had identically their opinion of pigs.
In all his long life, the great collie had never known fear. At
least, he never had yielded to it. Wherefore, in the autumns, he
had attacked with gay zest such of Titus Romaine's swine as had
found their way through the fence.
But, nowadays, there was little enough of gay zest about anything
Laddie did. For he was old;--very, very old. He had passed the
fourteenth milestone. In other words, he was as old for a dog as
is an octogenarian for a man.
Almost imperceptibly, but to his indignant annoyance, age had
crept upon the big dog; gradually blurring his long clean lines;
silvering his muzzle and eyebrows; flecking his burnished
mahogany coat with stipples of silver; spreading to greater size
the absurdly small white forepaws which were his one gross
vanity; dulling a little the preternaturally keen hearing and
narrowing the vision.
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