_ "Sage-Brush, you have been listening?"
"Yes."
"Isn't it strange?"
"Well, no, Mongrel, I don't know that it is."
"Why don't you?"
"I've seen a good many human beings in my time. They are created
as they are; they cannot help it. They are only brutal because
that is their make; brutes would be brutal if it was THEIR make."
"To me, Sage-Brush, man is most strange and unaccountable. Why
should he treat dumb animals that way when they are not doing any
harm?"
"Man is not always like that, Mongrel; he is kind enough when he is
not excited by religion."
"Is the bull-fight a religious service?"
"I think so. I have heard so. It is held on Sunday."
(A REFLECTIVE PAUSE, LASTING SOME MOMENTS.) Then:
"When we die, Sage-Brush, do we go to heaven and dwell with man?"
"My father thought not. He believed we do not have to go there
unless we deserve it." _