"Well, Skippy, been inventing anything new?" said Macnooder pleasantly after the introductions.
"I say, Doc, I want to put it up to you," said Skippy hastily, for he feared any reference to bathtubs or mosquitoes might detract from the respect which was essential in Hippo. "I'm out for the scrub, you know, and what I wanted to ask you was do you think training ought to start now or wait until school opens."
Macnooder's mind scorned subtleties. It moved by the shortest cuts to the practical issue.
"Has he got the price?" he said looking at Hippo.
"He has."
"Let's eat."
Macnooder looked appraisingly at Hippo, whom Nature had destined to play at center rush, to be mauled and cuffed and suffocated under scores of scuffing, struggling bodies. A flicker of sympathy should have stirred, but it didn't.
"You'll need quite a lot of stuff," he said pensively.
"Nothing doing, Doc," said Skippy, winking hard at his protégé. "Hippo's fitted out."
"How about fountain-pens or crockery sets, or patent nail clippers?"