"Oh, I see he's not," said Rustler contemptuously; "well, you shall
introduce him to me directly he comes back."
Rustler's overbearing and disagreeable manners so upset me that I was
quite thin when, at the end of the week, Roy came home. I told him my
troubles at once.
"Bring your Rustler along," he said grandly, "and introduce him to
_me_."
So I did. Rustler came along with his ears up, and his miserable tail
in the air. Roy lay by his kennel looking the image of serenity and
peacefulness. To judge by his expression, he might not have had a tooth
in his head.
Rustler stood with his feet as far apart as he could get them, and put
his head on one side.
"I have heard so much about you, Mr. What's-your-name," he said, "that I
have come to make a closer acquaintance."
"Delighted, I'm sure," said Roy, who has splendid manners.
"If you will get on your legs," said Rustler rudely, "I will tell you
what I think of you."
Roy got on his legs, still looking very humble, and the next minute he
had Rustler by the front foot, and was making him sit down and scream
just as Rustler had made me. It was a magnificent fight.
"Have you had enough?" said Roy, and then gave him more without waiting
for an answer.
"I don't want to fight any more," said Rustler at last; "I am sorry I
spoke."
"Then I'll teach you to have more pluck than to own it," said Roy.