agreeably for some hours, until I felt myself growing desperately
hungry. Sitting down on the beam of the plow, I opened my basket and
discussed the homely fare with a keen appetite.

After finishing the food I resumed work again, but not as cheerfully as
at first: I began to feel a little stiff and tired, and the immense
quantity of mold adhering to my boots made it heavy walking; moreover,
the novelty had now worn off. The horses also did not work as smoothly
as at the commencement: they seemed to have something on their minds,
for at the end of every furrow they would turn and stare at me in the
most exasperating manner.

"Phew!" I ejaculated, as I stood wiping the honest sweat from my face
with my moldy, ancient, and extremely dirty pocket-handkerchief. "Three
hundred and sixty-four days of this sort of thing is a rather long price
to pay for a suit of clothes."

While standing there, I saw an animal coming swiftly towards me from the
direction of the forest, bounding along over the earth with a speed like
that of a greyhound--a huge, fierce-looking brute; and when close to me,
I felt convinced that it was an animal of the same kind as the one I had
seen during the night. Before I had made up my mind what to do, he was
within a few yards of me, and then, coming to a sudden halt, he sat down
on his haunches, and gravely watched me. Calling to mind some things I
had heard about the terrifying effect of the human eye on royal tigers
and other savage beasts, I gazed steadily at him, and then almost lost
my fear in admiration of his beauty. He was taller than a boarhound, but
slender in figure, with keen, fox-like features, and very large, erect
ears; his coat was silvery-gray, and long; there were two black spots
above his eyes; and the feet, muzzle, ear-tips, and end of the bushy