"I think he is trying to tell us to follow him," said the constable.
At this Zip let go the Judge's trousers, jumped up and down on the constable as much as to say, "That is just what I mean!" and then darted off down the path again. Seeing the men did not follow him, he came back and jumped up and down on the Judge and then ran down the path once more.
"Surely that is what he wants," agreed the Judge, and so the two walked just behind, following the dog until he stopped and began to scratch the dirt away from the roots of a clump of trees. And as he dug spoons, knives, forks and sugar-bowl lids began to fly out from under his feet. When a big tablespoon landed at the Judge's feet, he exclaimed, "By all that is wonderful, see this spoon! That dog has discovered where the burglar hid my silver. Pretty clever work for a little dog!"
"One would think he was a police dog and had been trained to hunt down thieves," said the constable.
"Well, Zip, you shall have a silver collar for this, made out of one of my solid silver spoons," promised the Judge, as the men went to the hole Zip was digging and helped push away the earth. Soon they counted the pieces, and found they had recovered all that had been missing.
"Hello!" exclaimed the constable. "Whose cat are you? I never saw such a large cat in my life!"
"Where is any cat?" asked the Judge.
"Up there on the wall," replied the constable, pointing his finger at Tabby, who was quietly sitting on top of the wall enjoying the unearthing of the stolen property.
"Oh, that is Zip's playfellow! I have often seen them playing together when I have been at the doctor's," said the Judge.