"A good dog, notwithstanding," said little Jack, taking Dingo's great
head in his small hands.

"Yes. I do not say no," replied Cousin Benedict. "But what do you want?
This devil of an animal has not realized the hopes I conceived on
meeting it."

"Ah! my goodness!" cried Mrs. Weldon, "did you, then, hope to be able
to classify it in the order of the dipters or the hymenopters?"

"No," replied Cousin Benedict, seriously. "But is it not true that this
Dingo, though it be of the New Zealand race, was picked up on the
western coast of Africa?"

"Nothing is more true," replied Mrs. Weldon, "and Tom had often heard
the captain of the 'Waldeck' say so."

"Well, I had thought--I had hoped--that this dog would have brought
away some specimens of hemipteras peculiar to the African fauna."

"Merciful heavens!" cried Mrs. Weldon.

"And that perhaps," added Cousin Benedict, "some penetrating or
irritating flea--of a new species----"

"Do you understand, Dingo?" said Captain Hull. "Do you understand, my
dog? You have failed in all your duties!"

"But I have examined it well," added the entomologist, with an accent
of deep regret. "I have not been able to find a single insect."