He didn’t look at me at first, though. He looked at the finer dogs that were in open cages down below us. They were chained there, and there were no tops or fronts to the cages but just backs and sides to keep the dogs from getting at each other.
The man and woman stopped in front of my cage, and the woman said, “How about a poodle?”
They were looking at the dog just below us.
“No, no! Ab-so-lutely no,” said the man. “We already have two. That is enough.”
Then he raised his eyes and looked straight at me. I was sitting at the front of the cage, and when he looked at me I stood up and wagged my tail and then I grinned.
“See! See!” cried the man, and he caught the woman by the arm. “It is he! The one we want. His eyes, so full of intelligence! And that smile, for it _is_ a smile. There is our clown dog. Just the one we want!”
He turned and snapped his fingers, and called to the shopman in a quick, sharp voice.
“This one,” said the stranger. “The little dog with the black around his eye. Take him out that I may see him!”
The shopman took me out and gave me to the man, and the man held me up close to his face and looked into my eyes and smiled at me, and I grinned at him. I liked him, though he had a queer look.
“Yes, he is the one,” said the stranger. “We will take him. Have you a basket in which to carry him?”
The shopman had. It was a queer basket. I had never seen one like it before. It was just big enough to hold me, and it had a cover, and a window at one end so I could look out.
The stranger put me in it and fastened the lid.
He let the basket stand on the floor while he paid the shopman, and then he picked it up and started off. I should have liked to say good-bye to Fido, but I had no chance. I looked out of the window and I could see him up in the cage looking after me, but he couldn’t see me very well.
It was a long time before we ever saw each other again, and when we did it was in the queerest way. But that comes later in my story.
So now I belonged to Mr. Bonelli, and had still another name given me. I was now called Master Grineo. It seemed funny to have belonged to so many people, and to have had so many names. Every time there was a new master there was a new name.
