“All right, son. But the dog stays here until you pay the rest of it.”
“But we don’t pay board for him until he belongs to us,” responded Jonesie firmly.
“Ho!” The stableman looked at him sourly. “Thought you was out o’ this.”
“No, I’ll go halves with my friend,” replied Jonesie generously. “We’ll come down and see the dog every day, and if he ain’t a lot fatter than he is now, we’ll take him away.” The stableman viewed Jonesie resentfully but said nothing until the money was in hand. Then,
“If you expect an active dog like that to get fat on a dollar a week you’d better take him right along with you,” he said with deep sarcasm. “I’ve raised a lot of dogs but I ain’t never seen no miracles!”
After seeing the dog conducted to the empty stall that was to be his quarters while he remained at the stable, and after petting him awhile, the boys hurried off to school. On the way up Main Street Pinky said:
“I wonder if he really can catch rats, Jonesie.”
“Search me! I guess so, though. If he can we’d ought to charge Perkins something for the use of him!”
Pinky laughed. “We got him cheap, though, didn’t we?”