"_Aw!!_" said Dowd, moaningly, "you know, Clancy, that good old light shifting about and that light 'stomping' in that row of stalls, at night; you know, old man, that happy crunching of corn; that occasional cough; that tail-swatting at a fly or crazy zigzagging moth; that grand animal odor from that back part of this floor." "I do," said Clancy. "And _now_ what? A loud whizz of a motor! A suffocating blast of gas! and a dom thing a-standin' on this floor, wid no brain; wid nothin' lovin' about it. Wid no soul." "Um-m-m," said Dowd, "I dunno about an animal havin' a soul, but it's got a thing not so dom far _from_ it." As Clancy sat worrying about various forms of disposal for Big Four, an official phoning from City Hall, said just an ordinary, common word, which had Clancy hopping up and down, _furiously mad_. "What's all this? What's all this?" Dowd sang out, coming from a stall, in which a good rubbing down of a shiny coat, and continuous loving pats had brought snuggling and nosing. "_Auction!!_" said Clancy, wildly, and sitting down with a thud. "Auction? Auction for Big Four? _What?_ Put up on a block as you would a Jap urn or a phony diamond?" "Uh-huh; that's what City Hall says." An awful calm slunk insidiously onto that big smooth floor, as Dowd and Clancy, chins on hands, sat,--just thinking! Finally Clancy burst out with:-- "Aw! If an alarm would _only_ ring in, right now, to stop my brain from cracking! _Auction! Bah!!_" * * * * * A big crowd stood in City Park, including His Honor, many a Councilman, and, naturally, Old Bill Simpkins, who was always bound to know what was going on. A loud, fast-talking man, on a high stand, was shouting:-- "All right, you guys! How much? How much for this big black? A mountain of muscular ability! Young, kind, willing, smart! How much? How much?" Bids abominably low at first, but slowly crawling up; crawling slowly, as a boa constrictor crawls up on its victim. But, _without fail_, as a bid was sung out from that surging, gawking, chin-lifting mob, a woman, way in back, would surpass it! And that woman hung on, as no boa constrictor could! Gadsby, way down in front, couldn't fathom it, at all. Why should a woman want Big Four? A solitary animal, possibly, but _four!_ So His Honor, turning and making his way toward that back row, ran smack into Nancy. "Daddy! Lady Standish is outbidding all this crowd!" "Oho! So _that's_ it!" So Gadsby, pushing his way again through that jam, and coming to that most worthy woman, said:-- "By golly, Sally! It's plain that you want Big Four." "John Gadsby, you ought to _know_ that I do. Why! A man might buy that big pair of roans to hitch up to a plow! Or hook a big black onto an ash cart!" "I know that, Sally, but that small back yard of yours is----"