COURT-MARTIALLED

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3186, 10 September 1917, Page 6

COURT-MARTIALLED

A WAR-TIME DOG STORY THE SHEEP-WORRIERS Unofficially attached to a cortain battci.) of tli6 R.F.A., somewhere .tcross tho North Sea, is a dog ungainly of body and with ancestry obviously' shameless. It is unwise, however, to offer comment under this head ivithin the hearing of tho men. True, the major, a. person somewhat privileged, speaks of it as "that -—- mongrel," but there i 6 no reproach m his tones. Moreover, he is a knowledgeable man, and of a dales slock, and recently has bought a couple of sheep which no regimental butcher dares look at, even sideways. Tho younger officers openly compete for tiie dog' 6 friendship, and as for the men, not a gunner or driver but is ready to havo a few utos with anyone who dares disparage her parentago. Something may be told, but not all, of how she came to join up. When Bombardier Tom Harry Dewhirst unexpectedly got short "leaf" after eighteen months in France, he "sammed a toathreo bits up"—the term is his own —drew some pay, and boarded a passing motor vehicle. Twenty hours later ho was back again at tho old farm in tho heart of one of the dales that offshoot from tho Pennine fiidgo, back again to find himself in a turmoil the Ike of whicii made the battery quarters <eem almost like a haven of peace. It was not his homecoming that was the cause of it, for ho had arrived unannounced. His- appearance stressed the situation a little more, but all the demonstrativoness was centred in Sue, his own dog from puppyhood upwards. She had recognised him tho moment he turned in at tho head of the farm, lane, and since then had been more like a rubber bail possessed of a demon of unrest than a sober, sensible working, farm dog. Tom Horry's heart warmed towards her, and even while ho talked he played with her, patted her, smacked her, until she was in an ecstasy of joy. Meanwhile he assured his parents that he was quite all right and fit, that, lying manfully for his mother's sake, he was in no danger, and that he was not at home because tho war wa« overecl with. There were, he explained, more Germans to kill than could be got through in a day or two, but they were getting on .nicely with the job. Then he learned of the cause of the turmoil. There was an outbreak of sheep-worrying on the moor above the dale, and he nodded in appreciation of the seriousness of it. Old Zubdil had lost a round dozen owes and lambs, Nathan stood to seven or eight, Long Abe o' f Dale Ifc-ad missed as many, and there were others.

Tho result was that there was to bo a drive of the moor; it was to lake place on the morrow, and two dozen farmers, to say nothing of others who might join, were cleaning their guns. Tom Harry, suggested the farmer, might as well join in. Tom Harry, his dalesman's blood responding to the call, 6aid that nothing would suit him bettor.

His neighbour next day in the farflung line that 6lowly converged upon a given point on the moor was Nathan, Grim and sour at the best of times, Nathan was a stage or two worse, and talkative, when he had refreshed too copiously, and ho was talka.tivo this morning. He vowed that they would "settlo" tho dog when found, whoever owned it, which is but the law of the fell land.

"Nah's thi chonce, then," cried Tom Harry, quickly, his eyes on a brown spot that was moving through the heather in the distance. "Ther's summat out yonder. Let's see if I can 'tico it in a bit for tha."

He whistled as he spoke. The brown spot turned and raced towards tl.em, and as it came nearer Tom- Harry realised that tho form was familiar.

"Why, it's my Sue," he cried. "1 thowt I'd left her fastened up. Come ovver here, lass."

And as sho fawned upon him a cold feeling gripped him. Thero was blood upon her jaws, bW marks on her paws, her coat was ruined. "Sjm Harry looked sharply at Nathan, to Slid the old farmor looking at him significantly. Without, a word the two tramped across the moor to where they had first seen the dog. In the hollow of a dty pool, overgrown with heather, they found s the dead body of a sheep, and its appearance told a story plainly to be read. "I thowt as ■ much," said Nathan, throwing forward his gun. "Stan o' one side, Tom Harry. Its thy dog, but we can't help it." The blood suited up into the young fellow's head. came acutely home to him what he had hitherto takon very much for granted—Sue's dolight in his presence, her love for him, the jov with which she had greeted him when he liad returned home the previous day, her ecstasy as lie had playod with her. He filled with a black rage against fli'e grim and sourly smiling Nathan, against .the circumstances that had brought about this pass. Already he ached at tho loss of her.

"It's noan her," lie cried, almost despairingly, for he knew the law of the fell land, he had been bred up in it, and he was afraid. "Ther's sum mi - tak."

"I'll ma.k noa mistak," replied Nathan. lifting his gun to his' shoulder. "Stand aside."

Tom Harry turned oil liim fiercely. "Drop that gun," he cried.

Tom Harry the farm lad had been a person of no great account; Tom Harry, the soldier, with a stripe on 'lis a r m and voice of authority, was a different being. The muzzle of the gun was lowered.

The young fellow stooped and CiiTessed t!fn Viog, O'lly half aware of what he was doing. She winced " and whimpered. She winced again as lie'touched her ears. "ur sfnoned mid examined her. "t was a different Tom Harry wlio stood upright at the end of the examination, and. lifting his gun, fired into the air.

"We'll he fotiiers up." lie said. "I say it isn't her. We'll hold a courtmartial."

He explained briefly, curtly, when the others had gathered about them. "Nathan says it's my Sue," hp said, "so we're heving a court-martial. That's a trial. Theer's t' deead sheep, an' it's bseu worried Teight enough. An' thor's Wood marks on t' dog's chops and legs. That's t' evidence for t' prosecution. Nah for my side. Did ever onny o* to' chaps knaw or hear tell on a. sheep biting a dog?"

"Whafs ta talkinp abaht. Tom Harry?" asked Long Abe. "Of course not. What's that getten to do wi' it?"

"HI show yo. See here." He showed .Site's ear; it was torn, arid bitten. "An' here." The hair was torn from one shoulder and there was a deep red gash. "An this an' all." He toolc some hairs from liev jaws. "Them's dog hairs, an" ther noan Sue's. An' there isn't ;i bit o' wool abaht her, Ther's another dog in it, somewhere, an' Sue knaws wheer lie is." He turned to her. "Find him, lass."

It was not a hundred yards away. In the bottom of another dTiwJ pool lay a dog, already stiffening. It was gashed and torn and bitten; there were signs of a struggle in the broken heather and the lorn-up turf, in the blood clots. And there Was wool in the dead dog's teeth and r>u its chops. Owd Znbdil voiced tbo general feelins and the verdict.

"By gum, I wish I'd seen it," lie 6aid. "It's been a feight, an' all. An J it's a lot bigger dog than thine, Tom Harry. I reckon thine, lies none wer wark for us. rpiglit an' all."

"Case dismissed, accused discharged without a stain," cried Sue's owner, appropriating to himself the presidency of the court. "All t' same," lie told liis father afterwards, "Nathan's nooan so suited, an' I'so takking t' l'ile dog back wi' me out o' t' road o' mistaks." •, How lie contrived it is his secret. But there she is, the pride of tile battery, whoso chief delight, next to fighting in her honour, is to see her under Tom Harry's direction piloting the Major's sheep over a roughly-staked-out course.

An anxious man hurried into the police station and accosted the sergeant at the desk. "I am Air. Hibbert," lie said, "I understand yon caught the burglar niio robbed my house last night." "Yes, we've got him," ,answered the sergeant. 'Want to speak to him?" "You-bet I do," bawled the excited man. "I want to know how he got in without waking my wife. I have been trying to do that for the last twenty-five years, and have never succeeded yotl"