"No, he won't listen," replied Fritz. And he was right; the old gentleman believed that the boy was treating him with disrespect by telling him such a wild story.
When the train reached Umstadt, and the boys came in sight of the Swan inn, they saw the landlord on the stone steps, his thumbs in his vest pockets and his fingers moving as if playing the piano.
"So, here you are again!" he exclaimed heartily. "Did you get homesick?"
"No, but school begins on Wednesday, and we wished to be on time."
"That was sensible. How did your dog act in that ant-hill, Frankfort?"
"He did well. He earned five hundred marks."
"Five hundred marks! Did he perform tricks in a circus? Of course, we know that he is a cute dog. Of course you have plenty of nickels now, and if you had sent on your order for dinner, you could have had spring chicken, peas, early apples, and other good things."
"Pixy did not perform in a circus, but he found a pocketbook belonging to an English gentleman. It had valuable papers in it, and English money, beside five hundred marks of German money."
"And that you kept."
"No, no! Please don't think so meanly of us."