gave his nose a hard knock, while the feathers went floating gaily off
as before. He gave it up at last, and lay down in his kennel with a
meek expression on his face, but a guilty look in his eyes.

It was the custom for one of the servants to untie Jinks in the
morning, so that he could go at once to his master. Occasionally his
master would come and set him loose himself, and take him for a
morning walk before it got too hot, so that whoever found Jinks had
been untied naturally concluded the other had done it.

So it was on this particular morning. Jinks, after lying in his kennel
for some time with his meek expression, suddenly remembered this, and
so resolved to go into the house as though he had just been untied. He
had cunning enough, however, to wait until he heard the servants
moving about, and then he got up slowly, and, with his usual bright,
wide-awake air, made his way into the house and to his master.

And this was the very morning when Jinks had been lying at his
master's feet, and, as he rose up, that his master noticed what a
handsome animal he had grown, and how big he was getting. There was no
doubt he was a fine animal. He was nearly full-grown now, and stood
about fifteen inches high at the shoulders, and measured nearly two
feet from the tip of his nose to the beginning of his bushy tail. He
had a handsome head, good, muscular limbs, and a beautiful coat of
greyish-yellow color, rather dark on the back and head, but much
lighter and softer underneath the body and on the insides of the legs.
His bright, full eyes changed color repeatedly, but, to a close
observer, one dominant expression was always in them--an expression of
the deepest craft and cunning.