He was as tall as Alma and if he put his forepaws on her chest, he was even taller.
Samu rushed upstairs in the garret, making for safety, all you could see was his high pointed cap.
We gave up demolishing. I put the kennel back in its place, I fixed another hook into the concrete wall, I chained up the dog and I helped Samu down.One evening, as I turned round the corner of the street, I saw Barucls big white head peeping through the fence and the shadow of a villager going round by the other side. Whenever we found Baruc loose outside we feared lest someone should knock at the door complaining they had been bitten by the dog and we asked ourselves whether Uncle Samu and Uncle Gabi were safe and sound and sitting by the fire. I opened the gate and drove the car into the stable and Baruc pushed it too, standing on his back paws. In a box we kept a donkey we had received from Uncle Samu.
I gave the donkey some hay then I chained up the dog while Alma was stuffing the hen house with straw lest they should be cold. It was freezing so hard that it seemed to me the air was getting thick as if turning into metal. We made for home. I called the cat in, I lighted the fire, we ate some bread and cheese and we went to bed. It feels so good to warm yourself by the fire on such a frosty evening, while a big, fierce dog is watching outside. But it was not before long that I heard Baruc barking. I knew when he barked just for fun, when he barked with indifference, to do his duty, when he barked at the passers-by, or at the tomcat who was passing by the end of his chain, I knew when he barked impatiently and joyfully on welcoming us, or when Samu or Gabi were walking through their own yards, when the hawk would sit on the tile or when the hedgehogs came out from under the tool-shed, but this time his barking was filled with hatred for intruders.
