A Mad Dog Story.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 175, 23 October 1886, Page 7 (Supplement)

A Mad Dog Story.

A , military friend of mine was, some quarter of a century ago, in one of our colonies, where there was some sport to be bad, though it was enjoyed in a somewhat unso* phietioated manner. He was going .off for a few days shooting into the countiy at some .distance from his station, and had collected a ory pf.doga, partly by borrowing,' partly by impounding, which heiasseiribled and secured in an attic room of the barracking in which he was quartered. , r On the eve of his departure he heard, after mess, a most awful conflict going on in the garret among the imprisoned pack. His, only dread was that come of them (and he couldn't spare one) might be disabled in the melee, and unable to start with him in the .early morning. He summoned, his servant, and they together- burst into tbe chamber where the free fight was going on. , A sufficiently savage encounter it was, but the entrance of the officer and his man had the effect of silencing the least enraged of tbe combatant', and the war was maintained after a little by only three furious , animals which no persuasion could subdue, and which had at last to be separated, by main force, Tbe three dogs were all so injured that they could not be taken to the sport on the morrow, and my friend and his servant both were severely bitten while struggling with the dogs. When the row was over the officer tied up his own and his servant's hands, and went to bed. In the morning* he started with a diminished pack, but otherwise according to progiamme, attendfed, not by hia body-servant who had been bitten, but by men somewhat acquainted with the field-sports of the colony. Whother v the expedition was successful in respect of game I cannot remember, neither 18 that point very essential to the little tale. Two or three days were pleasantly spent in country air, and my friend, the officer, returned duly into garrison at the expiration of his leave. As he approached the barracks he became aware of a most unearthly howling or screaming, uttered* not in bursts or short cries, but attained and piteous. It was distressing to such an extent that he stopped the first soldier whom he met to ask what it meant. The soldier did not belong to his own regiment, and therefore did not recognise him ; but he told him the unearthly sounds were emitted by the servant of Captain P of the — th, who was in the hospital raging with hydrophobia ! My friend was Captain P , and one may fancy the feelings with which be received the information. He went off at once to the regimental doctor, and ascertained that the report which he had heard was only too ti ue. " The poor fellow will die," said the doctor, " after probably a great deal of suffering." "I am truly sorry for the poor man," answered the captain, " but his fate touches me more closely than you may think. I was bitten at the same time as my servant Look here." "The devil." 11 V©9, by Jove ! We were both hauling at two fighting brutes on the evening of the 10th, and I plastered up both wounds before bedtime. What shall Ido ?" "Do ? There's precious little to be done. Your bite has almost closed, and mischief, supposing any to have been done, is wellnigh past prevention. I'll do what I can. But do you diamiaa the matter as much as you can from your mind. Brooding on such a danger is the worst thing possible. You're all right now. Let us hope that you may keep so." Captain P , who was pretty strongminded, went off determined not to torment himself before the time. If he was destined to go mad the 'affliction must be endured, but he certainly would not go half-way to meet it. His servant died, as the doctor had predicted. He got another from the ranks, and went on exactly in his old routine amusing himself as well as he could, and never (as he afterwards assured me) losing half an hour's sleep by reason of the jeopardy in which he stood. I saw him alive and hearty more that twenty years after his bite. It was lucky for him that he was not a nervous man. Had he been 90, he would in all probability have died from apprehension, though clearly he had never imbibed the poison.— " Blackwood " for August.