A dog’s greeting can transform pitch-dark dread into reassurance.

Evidence

So I rode tediously down M’Ginn’s Gulch, which was full of crackings and other strange mountain noises, and was pitch dark, though the stars were bright overhead. Soon I heard the welcome sound of a barking dog. I supposed it to denote strange hunters, but calling “Ring” at a venture, the noble dog’s large paws and grand head were in a moment on my saddle, and he greeted me with all those inarticulate but perfectly comprehensible noises with which dogs welcome their human friends. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 219

Categorization

• CANDY: A lone rider in total darkness recognizes a dog by its bark and gambles on calling its name — and it works.