Injun gazed at this strange being with something as near surprise as he ever allowed himself.  “Him look like frog,” he declared.

“Why, it’s a bulldog, an English bulldog!” exclaimed Whitey, who had seen many of this breed in the East.

“More like bullfrog,” Injun maintained solemnly.  “What him do—­eat bulls?”

The brute’s appearance surely was forbidding enough, and if Injun had been subject to fear, which he wasn’t, he would have felt it now.  He did not know, as many better informed people do not, that beneath this breed’s fierce appearance lies the deepest of dog love for a master—­and that’s a pretty deep love—­and that no other “friend of man” holds gentler, kinder feeling for the human race than this queerly shaped animal.  And this in spite of the fact that he owes the very queerness of his appearance to man, who has had him bred in that shape, through countless generations, to the end that the poor, faithful beast may do brutal deeds in the bull ring and the dog pit.

Whitey did not know all this—­that the wide jaws were designed for a grip on the enemy, the snub nose to permit breathing while that grip was held, the widespread legs to secure a firm ground hold; in short, that he was looking at an animal built for conflict, which had the courage of a lion where his enemies were concerned, and the love of a wild thing for its young where its human friends were concerned.

But Whitey knew the latter part of it—­that bulldogs were friendly, and usually misunderstood, and he proceeded to let Injun in on his knowledge.  “You needn’t be afraid of him,” he said.

“No ’fraid, but no go too close,” replied the cautious Injun.

Now that this dog was in reach of humans he sat down, opened his cave-like mouth, allowing a few inches of tongue to loll out, panted, and looked amiably at the boys.  He certainly was tired.

“He’s not only tired, he’s thirsty,” said Whitey, and ran to the stable for water.

And while he was gone the bulldog and Injun looked at each other—­Injun with his bronze skin, his long, straight hair, his calm face, and his steady, dark eyes.  This descendant of thousands of fighting men regarded that descendant of thousands of fighting dogs.  And what they thought of each other the dog couldn’t tell, and Injun didn’t, but ever after they were friends.

Presently Whitey returned from the stable with a pan of water, and with Bill Jordan, foreman of the Bar O, Charlie Bassett, Buck Higgins, and Shorty Palmer, all the cowpunchers who happened to be on the place.  They all knew bulldogs, and they regarded the newcomer with awe and respect.

Whitey put the water before the dog, who, after favoring him with a grateful glance and a quiver of his stub tail, went to it.

“He’s sure awful dry,” Bill said.  “Ought t’ take him up to Moose Lake.  Looks like that pan o’ water won’t even moisten him.”

“Where d’ye reck’n he come from?” asked Shorty.