I had never petted nor fondled him, but now I sat upon the ground
and putting my arms around his heavy neck I stroked and coaxed him,
talking in my newly acquired Martian tongue as I would have to my
hound at home, as I would have talked to any other friend among the
lower animals. His response to my manifestation of affection was
remarkable to a degree; he stretched his great mouth to its full
width, baring the entire expanse of his upper rows of tusks and
wrinkling his snout until his great eyes were almost hidden by the
folds of flesh. If you have ever seen a collie smile you may have
some idea of Woola's facial distortion.
He threw himself upon his back and fairly wallowed at my feet;
jumped up and sprang upon me, rolling me upon the ground by his
great weight; then wriggling and squirming around me like a playful
puppy presenting its back for the petting it craves. I could not
resist the ludicrousness of the spectacle, and holding my sides I
rocked back and forth in the first laughter which had passed my lips
in many days; the first, in fact, since the morning Powell had left
camp when his horse, long unused, had precipitately and unexpectedly
bucked him off headforemost into a pot of frijoles.
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