"Did they duck his head in a bucket?..."
"O, dear no!... licked him!..."
Diana fairly howled with delight; and then Stanley came in, after seeing that the horses were properly watered and fed, and was immediately accosted by Grenville with, "Hullo, Kid! you're quite a deserter! What have you been doing all the week?"
"Do you call him Kid?" Diana asked. "What a capital name for him!"
"He has been 'The Kid' almost ever since he came to this district."
"It pays," remarked Stanley jocularly; "they give me sugar."
"And he lives with The Bear; how comical! Instead of the lion lying down with the lamb, in Rhodesia you have The Kid feeding with The Bear."
"Who is The Bear?" Ailsa Grenville asked, from the packing-case cupboard, where she was reaching down cups and saucers.
"Need you ask?" queried Diana. "Doesn't Major Carew ever growl when he is here?"
Ailsa looked much amused. "Not exactly," she said; "but I admit sometimes he rolls himself up into a ball, so to speak, and relapses into a sort of winter sleep."