Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/162

146 for a good sporting dog, the hunters present all bid against each other, wishing to be the possessor of so valuable a dog, so that the father had no difficulty in selling the dog for a great price; but when the hunter offered to buy the leash as well, the father refused, and put it into his pocket. The hunters then drove over to a meet of the hounds, on a well-wooded mountain, and on arriving there they let all the dogs loose; but this greyhound, going over the hill, disappeared from sight, and again taking his former shape of man, returned and joined the hunters.

"Oh, my good man," said they, "did you happen to see a greyhound on your way? We have just lost a very valuable one, which we brought with us."

"Oh, yes," replied the lad, "he goes in front of you, running swiftly away."

"We shall be very sorry to lose him, as he cost us much money."

"You may consider your money lost then, for you will never catch the animal; it is too swift to be easily overtaken."

After this the lad left the hunters and went home On arriving, his father asked him why he had been so long away, and the boy answered that he was taken as a dog to a mountain, there to hunt the hare, but that he escaped from the hunters by stratagem.

"To-morrow," said he, "there is to be another fair, and I shall go to it under the disguise of a horse, and