Lenox said, be called in future Diogenes,--Mr.Amos reminded them how much more likely one is to get good watch-work from a dog who is not of the highest breeding than from a prize-winner."As I often say," he added, "you can have too much blood; that you can.Too much blood.It's the only fault of many of my dogs."Diogenes now stood before them, looking by no means overburdened with blood and extremely ready for a new home.
Mr.Lenox asked why Mr.Amos thought he was a good watch-dog.
"Think!" said Mr.Amos."I don't think; I know.If Mr.Bateman was here and you were to hit him, that dog would kill you.No thinking twice, mark you.
He'd just kill you."
"I hope," said Mr.Lenox, "I shall never meet Mr.Bateman in his presence.
Suppose I were to fall against him accidentally --how perfectly ghastly!""No fear of that," said Mr.Amos.
"He's very well, then," said Mr.Lenox, "we must get on, Gregory.We have still that other address.""Two pounds ten," said Mr.Amos.
"Oh, no," said Mr.Lenox; "much too dear.Come along, Gregory.""I'll tell you what I'll do," said Mr.Amos, "though it will be the end of my friendship with Mr.Bateman.I'll say nothing about the collar and chain, and take two pounds.""Too dear," said Mr.Lenox, stepping to the taxi.
"Well, how much will you give?" Mr.Amos asked.
"I'll give you twenty-five shillings as he stands," said Mr.Lenox.
"He's yours," said Mr.Amos.
Mr.Lenox immediately paid the money, and then he went to a small grocer's near by and bought a bag of biscuits, and with them he and Gregory fed the famished Diogenes all the way back to Chiswick, and by the time they reached home he seemed so affectionate with them as never to have had another master.
Diogenes had come, of course, to stay; but the horse was merely to be hired.To hire a carriage-horse or a riding-horse is easy enough, but a cart-horse as strong as a steam-engine is more difficult to find.
Mr.Lenox decided to advertise, and he therefore sent the following advertisement to the _Daily Telegram:_"Wanted--To hire for a month at least, an exceedingly powerful, gentle white horse to draw a caravan.Reply by letter.L., 'The Gables.'
Chiswick."
"There," said Mr.Lenox, as he read it out, "that's as clear as crystal.No one can misunderstand that."But, as a matter of fact, people will misunderstand anything; for on the day the advertisement appeared quite a number of men called at "The Gables," all leading horses of every size and colour.Kink was kept busy in getting rid of them, but one man succeeded in finding Robert unattended, and did all he could to persuade him that a pair of small skew-bald ponies such as he had brought with him would be far more useful in a caravan than one large cart-horse.
"Run in and tell your father that, old sport," said he."Tell him I've got a pair of skews here as will do him credit, and he shall have the two for twenty pounds.""No, no," said Robert; "they're no use at all.We advertised for one large, strong white horse."Mr.Crawley was coming away from the house at this moment, and the man tackled him.
"Have the pair, mister," said the man."They're wonderful together--draw a pantechnicon.There's lots of white on them, too.Your little boy here has taken such a fancy to them," he added."Eighteen pound for the two."Another man, who brought a black horse and said that white horses always had a defect somewhere, fastened on Miss Bingham.
"This is what you want, mum," he said."Honest black.Never trust a white horse," he said."Black's the colour.Look at this mare here--she's a beauty.Strong as an elephant and docile as a tortoise.Fifteen quid, mum, and a bargain.""My good man," said Miss Bingham, "you are laboring under a misapprehension.I require no horse."Fortunately, among the letters were several that told of exactly the kind of horse that was needed, and one afternoon a stable boy led into the yard a perfectly enormous creature which Mr.Lenox had hired for a pound a week from a man at Finchley.
"Warranted sound in wind and limb," said Mr.Lenox, "and his name is Moses."Gregory, having given Moses a lump of sugar, declined ever again to wish for a motor caravan, especially as Mr.Scott slipped into his hand that evening a large knife containing eight useful articles, including a hook for extracting stones from horses' feet.
