The clatter came nearer and nearer, and now Aleko could distinguish the two-wheeled cart with its monster iron cage, between whose flat bars dogs' heads and paws of all shapes and sizes were thrust out. Behind the cart ran the usual following of ragged urchins who always seem to spring up about the "boya's" route. Aleko was grasping the bars of the cart before it came to a stand-still. He thought he had seen something small and white at the farthest end of the cage. And as he got round to the back there was a shrill bark which rose above the rest, and the something small and white sat up inside the cart and begged very piteously. Aleko suddenly felt a wave of fury go over him. He forgot all his pre-arranged plans; all the promises he was to have made. The man had stopped the cart, and was raising his arms in a prodigious yawn. Aleko caught hold of his sleeve, and pulled him towards the rear of the cart. "Open it!" he cried. "Open it this minute! I want that dog! That little white one there, with the black patch over the eye. You took it from the Kolonaki, and it was not a stray dog. You took it while the woman who had it was in a shop! You had no right to touch it! Give it to me! Give it to me quickly!" and the more Solon inside the cage heard the familiar voice, the more vigorously his little paws shook up and down. The man, a short, sickly-looking man, with an evil, lowering face, dragged his sleeve away from the boy's grasp. "Give it to you, indeed!" he shouted, "and from where have you sprung to be giving me orders? Now clear off!" "I tell you," persisted the boy, seeing that he had angered the man, "I tell you it will benefit you to give that dog to me; it belongs to a rich man, and he is so fond of it he will pay you much money to have it returned to him; more than you can get for all your other dogs together." "I do not listen to such lies! You cannot cheat me!" "I am not cheating you. Give me the dog and you will see! Or if you do not believe me, bring him yourself! I will show you the house." "And have I no other work to do than to be running to people's houses?" snarled the "boya." "Those who want their dogs safe can keep them indoors." "I tell you," said Aleko flushing very red, "that if you do not give me that dog you will find trouble. It belongs to Kyrios Spinotti and...." "If it belonged to the King I would not give it!" shouted the man. "What goes into the cart stops there!" "Keep the dog somewhere safe, then," pleaded Aleko, "and I will bring his master down here to pay you!" "No," said the man, unlocking the iron door. "The dogs are going in here; and," he added with an ugly laugh, "yours shall go in first of all!" Aleko seized hold of his arm. "Keep him till noon!" "He shall go in first, I tell you. Now, leave go!" "Keep him just one hour!" "You, with your hours! Clear off this minute unless you want your face smashed!"