'All right,' said master, with a sigh, 'though it's giving him away, a valuable dog like that. Where's your half-crown?' The man got a bit of rope and tied it round my neck. I could hear mother barking advice and telling me to be a credit to the family, but I was too excited to listen. 'Good-bye, mother,' I said. 'Good-bye, master. Good-bye, Fred. Good-bye everybody. I'm off to see life. The Shy Man has bought me for half a crown. Wow!' I kept running round in circles and shouting, till the man gave me a kick and told me to stop it. So I did. I don't know where we went, but it was a long way. I had never been off our street before in my life and I didn't know the whole world was half as big as that. We walked on and on, and the man jerked at my rope whenever I wanted to stop and look at anything. He wouldn't even let me pass the time of the day with dogs we met. When we had gone about a hundred miles and were just going to turn in at a dark doorway, a policeman suddenly stopped the man. I could feel by the way the man pulled at my rope and tried to hurry on that he didn't want to speak to the policeman. The more I saw of the man the more I saw how shy he was. 'Hi!' said the policeman, and we had to stop. 'I've got a message for you, old pal,' said the policeman. 'It's from the Board of Health. They told me to tell you you needed a change of air. See?' 'All right!' said the man. 'And take it as soon as you like. Else you'll find you'll get it given you. See?' I looked at the man with a good deal of respect. He was evidently someone very important, if they worried so about his health. 'I'm going down to the country tonight,' said the man. The policeman seemed pleased. 'That's a bit of luck for the country,' he said. 'Don't go changing your mind.' And we walked on, and went in at the dark doorway, and climbed about a million stairs and went into a room that smelt of rats. The man sat down and swore a little, and I sat and looked at him. Presently I couldn't keep it in any longer. 'Do we live here?' I said. 'Is it true we're going to the country? Wasn't that policeman a good sort? Don't you like policemen? I knew lots of policemen at the public-house. Are there any other dogs here? What is there for dinner? What's in that cupboard? When are you going to take me out for another run? May I go out and see if I can find a cat?' 'Stop that yelping,' he said. 'When we go to the country, where shall we live? Are you going to be a caretaker at a house? Fred's father is a caretaker at a big house in Kent. I've heard Fred talk about it. You didn't meet Fred when you came to the public-house, did you? You would like Fred. I like Fred. Mother likes Fred. We all like Fred.' I was going on to tell him a lot more about Fred, who had always been one of my warmest friends, when he suddenly got hold of a stick and walloped me with it. 'You keep quiet when you're told,' he said.