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THE NEUTRAL

HIS TACTFUL TACTICS (By Will Lawson.)

There were three actors in this dog comedy—two principals and one other without much despite his intense interest in the affair. The belligerents—for being a dog drama it naturally involved a fight—chose as their battlefield the elep.r wood-blocks between the. gutter and the tramline, The attacker, a grizzled cattle dog, fought .on internal lines, while the defender, a fox terrier with grit, put up a tougil resistance on. the periphery of a wide circle. > Sometimes this circle coincided with the gutter, when the tussle became a melee; sometimes it almost collided with a passing trani. But the "foxy" took much less notice of these mechanical obstructions than he did of the tactics of the cattle-pup. Some spectators thought the little chap was running away, but that was a mistake; he was only keeping aivay. He never left the battlefield.

All this timo the neutral watched the battle royal. He was a black-coated, long-bodied, low-built, terrier. With slignt modifications he might have been a daschund. From afar he watched and showed neither fear nor ri desire to chip 'in; only an intense interest. He was thinking deeply. When the snarls and whoops and yappings roso above the clatter of the trams, he ex'hibited no anxiety; when the fox tc-rrier slipped on the tram line, sixinches in front of a wheel and the i motorman cut off the power to give him a chance, the neutral mere'y blinked. He was not afraid, only thinking, And the progressive phases of the battle were reflected in his ;eyes. And presently he came to a decision. Possibly this was influenced by tho sight of the "foxy" suddenly widening his arc of action. At any_ rate the nentral turned about and, without emotion, got himself into motion. His docked tail slowly sank between his legs, his ears flattened, and his speed gradually increased. Only a few onlookers observed his departure; he went so unostentatiously. But ever his 6peed increased. Steering a rigid course midway between the kerb and the rails he was soon liitting the breeze at_ almost as high a speed as a. ]ong-bodied, short-legged doggie can achieve. The fight abruptly ended. Possibly it was nearly all noise and bluff, end the fighters were puffed.' But the neutral did not stop. If anything he went faster, and those people who saw him rounding a distant curve inust have wondered what was making him travel sc>. But no one could say that the neutral ran aw'ay. It was more of a withdrawal. ,

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180112.2.37

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 93, 12 January 1918, Page 8

Word count
Tapeke kupu
424

THE NEUTRAL Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 93, 12 January 1918, Page 8

THE NEUTRAL Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 93, 12 January 1918, Page 8

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