File:Gypsy dog-killers.jpg

English: Gipsy dog-killers

Among the most characteristic sights presented in the suburbs was the manner in which the destruction of the superabundance of the lean and wolfish dogs common to all the East is effected. A stout gipsy drags along behind him the carcass of a dog just killed; not far behind follows another armed with a huge club, with his eyes upon the ground, puffing away at a long pipe, as though quite unconscious of the proceedings his confederate.

From every lane and alley, out of every hole and corner, from behind every hillock and heap of rubbish, rush out the acquaintances and friends of the dead hero. Old veterans scarred with a hundred wounds abandon the half-gnawed bone or mutilated cat which their prowess has secured and rush barking and around their enemy; young aspirants join in the cry and pursuit and a wailing arises like that which went up from the Dardan gates when, as Homer sings, the "divine Achilles" dragged his slain foe around the walls of Troy.

The dragger of the slain pursues his steady way, followed his imperturbable compeer. The canine throng, gathering courage from numbers and their own cries, press nearer and nearer. The leader at length comes within reach of the bludgeon of the hindmost gipsy.

Swift as lightning and inevitable as fate, it descends upon his skull; a smothered howl and another canine shade is sent to bear company with the slain Hector. The throng scatter affrighted, only to be gathered again at the next turning. At evening the pair of gipsies proceed to the magistrate to render an account of the day's slaughter and receive the price per head.