The master digs at the point indicated.

If the spade goes astray the dog corrects the digger, sniffing at the bottom of the hole.
Have no fear that stones and roots will confuse him; in spite of depth and obstacles, the truffle will be found.

A dog's nose cannot lie.
I have referred to the dog's speciality as a subtle sense of smell.

That is certainly what I mean, if you will understand by that that the nasal passages of the animal are the seat of the perceptive organ; but is the thing perceived always a simple smell in the vulgar acceptation of the term--an effluvium such as our own senses perceive?
I have certain reasons for doubting this, which I will proceed to relate.
On various occasions I have had the good fortune to accompany a truffle-dog of first-class capacities on his rounds.

Certainly there was not much outside show about him, this artist that I so desired to see at work; a dog of doubtful breed, placid and meditative; uncouth, ungroomed, and quite inadmissible to the intimacies of the hearthrug.
Talent and poverty are often mated.
His master, a celebrated _rabassier_[5] of the village, being convinced that my object was not to steal his professional secrets, and so sooner or later to set up in business as a competitor, admitted me of his company, a favour of which he was not prodigal.