An epitaph intones a tribute not only to a great dog but to a passing tradition in which a man not only ennobles his animal but his dog becomes the supreme moment of his experience. It is the boy, who tells the story- such as it is, who inherits his grandfather's love of hound dogs and some of his know how- the sum of which is that ""a great dog is born when a certain man and a certain dog come together and a spark is struck"". For his Uncle Ovid that dog is Algonquin, the puppy he had promised to the boy who had picked him from the litter- the rest of which is destroyed in a kennel fire. But Ovid cannot let Algonquin go- and his promise is fulfilled with his undefeated record in heats and trials. But the cough that the dog develops foretells his doom. Ovid determined to run him once again- in the Nationals, does so-but with Algonquin's death, finishes off his own life.... Mississippi, hound dog talk, and an elegiac reverence- this has not the story value of Bugle Ann but the smaller voice here will carry to that market.