He was afraid that the gentleman would not take good care of the box if he knew that there was only a dog inside, so he pretended that it was a chronometer, and he marked it, “This side up, with care.”
A chronometer is a sort of large watch used at sea. It is a very exact and a very costly instrument.
He gave the box to his friend, and said, “Will you be kind enough, sir, to take this chronometer in your lap, and carry it to Lima, and give it to the American minister there?”
The gentleman said that he would, and he took the box in his lap, and carried it with great care.
Before long, however, Pansita, not having quite air enough to breathe inside the box, put her nose out through one of the openings.
“Ah!” said the gentleman, “this is something strange. I never knew a ship’s chronometer to have a nose before.”
Thus he discovered that it was a dog, and not a chronometer that he was carrying.
He, however, continued to carry the box very carefully, and when he arrived at Lima he delivered it safely to the minister, and the minister gave it to his wife.
The beauty of the dog. The lady is much pleased.
The lady was very much pleased to see such a beautiful dog. Its form was graceful, its eyes full of meaning, and its fur was like brown silk, very soft, and smooth, and glossy.