Originally published in 1903, “The Bar Sinister” is the story of a bull-terrier street dog named Kid who comes out on top. It was the basis of the 1955 film “It’s a Dog’s Life.”Sample passage:The Master was walking most unsteady, his legs tripping each other. After the fifth or sixth round, my legs often go the same way. But even when the Master’s legs bend and twist a bit, you mustn’t think he can’t reach you. Indeed, that is the time he kicks most frequent. So I kept behind him in the shadow, or ran in the middle of the street. He stopped at many public-houses with swinging doors, those doors that are cut so high from the sidewalk that you can look in under them, and see if the Master is inside. At night when I peep beneath them the man at the counter will see me first and say, “Here’s the Kid, Jerry, come to take you home. Get a move on you,” and the Master will stumble out and follow me. It’s lucky for us I’m so white, for no matter how dark the night, he can always see me ahead, just out of reach of his boot. At night the Master certainly does see most amazing. Sometimes he sees two or four of me, and walks in a circle, so that I have to take him by the leg of his trousers and lead him into the right road. One night, when he was very nasty-tempered and I was coaxing him along, two men passed us and one of them says, “Look at that brute!” and the other asks “Which?” and they both laugh. The Master, he cursed them good and proper.About the author:Richard Harding Davis (1884-1916) was an American journalist, war correspondent, and author. Other works include “Soldiers of Fortune,” “The Man Who Could Not Lose,” and “The Messengers.”
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