"Here, this is what I fell over." Even before the match was struck I saw a dark body lying across the passage.
"A dead man ?" I guessed instantly.
"Why, no," said Sapt, striking a light: "a dead dog, Fritz." An exclamation of wonder escaped me as I fell on my knees.

At the same instant Sapt muttered, "Ay, there's a lamp," and, stretching up his hand to a little oil lamp that stood on a bracket, he lit it, took it down, and held it over the body.

It served to give a fair, though unsteady, light, and enabled us to see what lay in the passage.
"It's Boris, the boar-hound," said I, still in a whisper, although there was no sign of any listeners.
I knew the dog well; he was the king's favorite, and always accompanied him when he went hunting.

He was obedient to every word of the king's, but of a rather uncertain temper towards the rest of the world.

However, de mortuis nil nisi bonum; there he lay dead in the passage.