Dr. Jolliffes Boys | Page 5

while he's loose and the other one chained up; besides, he'll be took up with seeing you, he will."
It was very pleasant to the feelings of Stubbs that his dog knew him, which he evidently did, for he danced on his hind-legs, and wagged his tail, and whimpered, and did all that a bull-terrier can do in the way of smiling, when his proprietor approached for the purpose of freeing him from his chain. Their interviews were not as frequent as either dog or boy would have desired, but then they were very pleasant, for they brought the former a short spell of liberty, a meal of biscuit or paunch, and sometimes--oh, ecstasy!--the worrying of a rat, while Stubbs enjoyed the sense of proprietorship, and the knowledge that he was doing what was forbidden. He had dreams of leaving school and taking Topper home with him, and owning him as his friend before all the world, and he talked to Topper of that happy prospect, and Topper really quite seemed to understand that Stubbs was his master, who had paid money for him, and was now put to considerable expense for his board and lodging, let alone the danger he ran in coming to visit him. To an outsider, calmly reflecting, it did not seem a very good bargain for Stubbs, but still very much better than that of Perry, his friend and present companion, who kept a hawk, and vainly endeavoured to teach the bird to know him and perch on his wrist. But Perry was fond of hawks, and much regretted that the days were gone by when hawking was a favourite pastime.
The other two visitors at Slam's that evening were Saurin and Edwards. Edwards had never been there before, and consequently his feelings were curiously compounded of fear and pleasurable expectation. He had looked from a distance at the place, the entrance to which was so sternly forbidden, and imagined all sorts of delightful wickedness--how delightful or why wicked he had no idea--going on inside. He was considerably disappointed to find himself in a dirty yard full of kennels, to which dogs of all sorts and sizes were attached, none of whom looked as if it would be safe to pat them. There were a good many pigeons flying about, but he did not care for pigeons except in a pie. Perry's hawk was only interesting to Perry. There was a monkey on a pole in a corner, but he was a melancholy monkey, who did nothing but raise and lower his eyebrows.
"Does the gentleman want a dawg?" asked Slam.
"He will see," replied Saurin; "if there is a real good one that takes his fancy he may buy him. It's all right; he's a friend of mine. Have you got that tobacco for me?"
"To be sure; you will find it in your drawer."
Saurin went to a little wooden outhouse which contained a table, a chest of drawers, a cask of dog-biscuits, cages of rats, and other miscellaneous articles, and opening a locker which seemed to be appropriated to him, he took out a meerschaum pipe and a tobacco-pouch, and came out presently, emitting columns of blue fragrant smoke from his mouth. Edwards looked at his friend with increased respect, the idea of being intimate with a fellow who could smoke like that made him feel an inch taller.
"I think it's beginning to colour, eh?" asked Saurin.
"Beautifully, I should say," replied Edwards.
"Won't you try?"
"Thanks; I think I should rather like," said Edwards, who began to feel ambitious, "but I have not got anything to smoke."
"Oh, Slam will let you have a pipe, or a cigar if you like it better."
Edwards, calling to mind that cigars smelt nicer than pipes, thought he should prefer one.
"Slam, my friend wants a cigar."
"Well, sir, as you know, I can't sell such things without a licence; but if the gent likes to have a few rats for one of the dawgs to show a bit of sport, I'll give him a cigar with pleasure. It's sixpence for half a dozen."
"And, by the by, Edwards, it is usual to stand some beer to pay your footing. A couple of quarts of sixpenny will do."
"That will make eighteenpence altogether," responded Edwards cheerfully, producing that sum.
"I'll send out for the beer at once," said Mr Slam, taking the money and going towards the house.
Where he sent to is a mystery, for there was no public-house within a mile, and yet the can of beer arrived in about five minutes. It is much to be feared that Slam set the excise law at defiance when he felt perfectly safe from being informed against.
"Rats for Topper!" exclaimed Stubbs. "Oh, I say, Edwards, you are a brick, you know. I have been hard up lately, and he has not