Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/245

  prolong our lives at the cost of his? Lentz felt this. " 'I von't eat him,' he said; 'he is vort more as me.'

" 'Ah, what's the use o' killin' 'im?' said one of the sailors, a hard specimen whom Deshay had picked up on the 'Barbary Coast.' 'Dawg 'r no dawg, we're all goin' up the flue. The quicker the sooner, say I.'

"The other sailor agreed with Deshay, who pulled out his knife and sidled toward the hound. If my strength had been equal to it I would have opposed him, but a touch of fever on top of other hardships had left me as weak as a kitten. However, it was unnecessary.

"And then, Doctor, there began a strange and savage spectacle. Dixie was by this time a hide-wrapped skeleton, yet his strength seemed in no way impaired. He was asleep by his master's side, but at the stealthy approach of Deshay he seemed to slide away—as one drags a rug across a floor. Deshay [ 229 ]