He can be trusted to mind the dogs well, ever since you fined him in a fortnight's wages.

That was an excellent thought of yours." Jordas might have been called the keeper, or the hind, or the henchman, or the ranger, or the porter, or the bailiff, or the reeve, or some other of some fifty names of office, in a place of more civilization, so many and so various were his tasks.

But here his professional name was the "dogman;" and he held that office according to an ancient custom of the Scargate race, whence also his surname (if such it were) arose.

For of old time and in outlandish parts a finer humanity prevailed, and a richer practical wisdom upon certain questions.

Irregular offsets of the stock, instead of being cast upon the world as waifs and strays, were allowed a place in the kitchen-garden or stable-yard, and flourished there without disgrace, while useful and obedient.