"He is. He belongs to an Orlandi, to whom I sometimes used to send him into the country with bread, powder, bullets, or whatever he required. He was shot by a Colona, and the next day the dog came to me, for being accustomed to come to the house, he looked upon me as a friend."
"But," I said, "I fancied I saw another dog at your house."
"Yes, that is Brucso, he possesses the same qualities as Diamond, only he came to me from a Colona who was killed by an Orlandi, and so when I pay a visit to a Colona I take Brucso, but when I have business with an Orlandi I take Diamond. If I were to make a mistake and loose them both together they would kill each other. So," continued Lucien, with a bitter smile, "men can make it up, and will receive the sacrament together; the dogs will never eat from the same platter."
"Well," I said, laughing; "here are two regular Corsican dogs, but it seems to me that Diamond, like all other modest creatures, has gone out of earshot while we are speaking of him. I am afraid he has missed us."
"Oh, do not be alarmed," said Lucien, "I know where he is."
I was about to hazard another question, even at the risk of tiring my companion, when a long howl was heard, so lamentable, so sad, and so prolonged, that I shivered and stopped.
"His master. Do you not know that dogs do not forget those they have loved?"
"Ah, I understand," I said, as another prolonged howl rose through the night.
"Yes," I continued, "his master was shot, you say, and I suppose we are approaching the place where he was killed?"
"Just so, and Diamond has left us to go to Mucchio."
"Yes, that is to say, the monument which passers-by have raised to his memory, in the form of a cairn; so it follows that the tomb of the victim gradually grows larger, a symbol of the increasing vengeance of his relations."
Another long howl from Diamond's throat made me shudder again, though I was perfectly well aware of the cause of the noise.
At the next turn of the path we came upon the wayside tomb or cairn. A heap of stones formed a pyramid of four or five feet in height.
At the foot of this strange monument Diamond was lying with extended neck and open mouth. Lucien picked up a stone, and taking off his cap approached the mucchio.