ee? Well, as I was saying, there was I
on the platform with the dog at my heel and the ticket in my hand. Just
as I was going to get into the train, he made a jump for that ticket,
caught it in his mouth and bolted with it, nipping in among a lot of
milk-cans. I called him, and he wouldn't come out. Then I went in after
him, and he bolted again. By the time I did get him I had missed my
train, and I didn't give him half a jolly good hiding for it, I don't
think! If I'd gone by that train I shouldn't have been talking to you
now. Collision three miles from the station. Well, you don't apologise
to a dog. All I could do was to keep him. But that wasn't the only
instance. The beggar knows things."

"Apparently he didn't know that you were going to drown yourself this
morning."

"If he knew anything about it, he knew that I wasn't."

"Good-tempered dog?"

"Oh, all bulldogs are safe! You want to look after him with collies. He
doesn't like 'em. If he gets hold of one, it's bad for the collie.
Otherwise a baby could handle him."

Zero had crossed over to them, and the young man stooped down and patted
him. The dog expressed delight.

"I can send him round to your hotel," said Smith; "or, for that matter,
he'd follow you. He's taken a fancy to you, he has."

"Look here," said the young man, "let me buy him. I'm not a millionaire,
but I can afford to buy a dog. I'd like to have this one, and there's no
reason on earth why you should give him to me."

"You'd like to have him, and I can afford to give him to you, and I want
to give him to you. You must let a man indulge his sense of gratitude.
It's only fair."

"Very well, if you say so. Many thanks. I'll step over to the Hippodrome
and see your show to-night."

"Do. You'll be surprised."

The two men talked for a few moments longer, and then Zero's new owner
said that he must be getting back to lunch.

"You really think the dog will follow me?" he said. "I don't want to
take a lead?"

"I know he'll follow you. I tell you I know dogs. They take fancies
sometimes. You can take that dog out, and if I call him back myself he
wouldn't come."

"I bet you a sovereign he would."

"I'll take that," said Smith. "You go on with him, and I'll wait here."

The young man walked a few yards away with the dog at his heels, and
then Smith called the dog back, loudly and insistently. The dog did not
give the slightest sign that he had heard anything at all. When his
master s