The silly pup

I was a visitor at the Reverina sheep station. Ben Phillips was my host. He was old and fine and had a beard and loved dogs. He had a pack of them – sheep-dogs, kangaroo dogs, greyhounds – all sorts of dogs and among them – The-Silly-Pup.
Ah! The-Silly-Pup. If you could only see him. He was always going somewhere. I have never seen him sleeping or lying down or even standing still. He was always moving and he always had the air of one on mission. His tail was too big for him. He realty didn’t wag him. It wagged him. That was very funny.
The-Silly-Pup loved me.
Once Ben Phillip was expecting a visitor, a city girl. Mr. Morrison brought her in his car. When the car arrived we gathered round to welcome the city girl. The girl was beautiful. She flashed her white teeth in a wonderful smile. She was a blonde with dark eyes and dark lashes as long as the hairs on The-Silly-Pup’s tail. I was all eyes for the girl.
“I love dogs”, she cried happily. “I just love them. I love horses, too, I love the country”.
I have been in love before – three or four times, I think – maybe five or six.
– Yes… Oh, what does it matter! But this was the real thing. I knew it. I think The-Silly-Pup must have sensed it too. He ignored the girl.
Alice, the city girl, had blue satin slippers with ostrich feathers. One morning I found the pup coughing. I opened his mouth and it was full of blue feathers.
“It’s Steve’s silly pup”, said Ben. (I am Steve). “Look at what he has done to Alice’s slippers”.
The next night it was Alice’s stockings – both of them. I began to realize what the ownership of The-Silly-Pup really meant. He was always in my way when I was courting Alice. She never saw me alone. She used to say: “You and The – Silly-Pup”. She never said just “You”.
But somehow I

couldn’t help liking him. He did the funniest things. He was so original.
I had a car. It was understood that Alice would return to the city with me when her holidays was over. I had intended to return on the same day in any case. But Mr. Morrison

Was also returning to town about that time.
The night before our departure I asked her to come for a walk with me. It was a moonlight night. The air was warm and still. Behind us trotted The-Silly-Pup…
I put my arm round Alice’s waist. Her head was against my shoulder. “I love you”, I said.
She laughed and broke away from me.
“I bet you can’t catch me”, she said and her eyes were beautiful. I laughed too, and ran after her. But The-Silly-Pup was faster than I. He caught her and bit her on the leg. She cried and jumped up in the air. I was horrified.
“He probably thought you were a sheep, he always bites sheep”, I explained.
“Don’t be silly”, she said sharply, “Remember, if that pup goes back to the city with you, I don’t”.
Next morning I packed my case and put it in the car. The-Silly-Pup sat on the back seat.
“What about it, Alice?” I asked her after she had finished her breakfast. Alice looked through the window at The-Silly-Pup. “I am going back with Mr. Morrison”, she said. So that was all.
Now The-Silly-Pup digs my neighbour’s flowers. I don’t know, I’m sure, whether to thank or curse him. Get out, you wretch.