I trembled so that I near fall. My legs twisted like a leash. But my
father he never looked at me. He only smiled, the same sleepy smile,
and he still keep his eyes half-shut, like as no one, no, not even
his son, was worth his lookin' at.
The Judge, he didn't let me stay beside my father, but, one by one,
he placed the other dogs next to him and measured and felt and pulled
at them. And each one he put down, but he never put my father down.
And then he comes over and picks up me and sets me back on the
platform, shoulder to shoulder with the Champion Regent Royal, and
goes down on his knees, and looks into our eyes.
The gentleman with my father, he laughs, and says to the Judge,
"Thinking of keeping us here all day. John?" but the Judge, he
doesn't hear him, and goes behind us and runs his hand down my side,
and holds back my ears, and takes my jaws between his fingers. The
crowd around the ring is very deep now, and nobody says nothing. The
gentleman at the score-table, he is leaning forward, with his elbows
on his knees, and his eyes very wide, and the gentleman at the gate
is whispering quick to Miss Dorothy, who has turned white.
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