“Well, a little queer and shaky,” answered the buffalo; “but I’m getting better. Say, what happened to me, anyhow?”
“I think you had what they called an operation,” answered the bear. “I don’t know much about such things, but they put you to sleep with medicine, and when you were in dreamland they took that extra hump off your shoulder.”
“I’m glad they did,” said Shaggo. “I feel ever so much better without it. I begin to feel more like myself—more like when I was the strongest buffalo on the range in the National Park.”
“I’m pleased to hear that,” said Dido. “Maybe, now, they will teach you to do tricks.”
“Maybe,” agreed Shaggo.
The doctor with the big beard and the shiny glasses came with the zoo keepers to look at Shaggo in his cage.
“Ah, my operation was a success,” said the big doctor. “Now that buffalo will be as good as new.”
And as the days went on and Shaggo became stronger and stronger and his shoulder healed he did, indeed, become “as good as new.”
Once more his eyes shone brightly and he held his head up. He no longer limped about the cage, but walked as well as any of the lions, tigers or bears in the zoo.