Private Learoyd's Story (Unabridged)

This tale was first published in «The Week's News» on 14 July, 1888, and collected in the Indian Railway Library No 1 and Soldiers Three in the same year. Mrs DeSussa, a wealthy Eurasian lady, has taken a fancy to the Colonel's wife's dog, 'Rip', an engaging terrier. She offers Learoyd 350 rupees if he will steal the dog for her, so that she can take it home at the end of the cold season. The three soldiers steal another dog from the Canteen Sergeant, dye its coat so that it looks like Rip, and hand it over to her at the railway station. They hasten away before she discovers the deception – and the dog's bad temper- and divide the 350 rupees between them.