At the appearance of this strange creature a momentary silence fell on

the crowd. Without a word, he darted to and fro, always waving the

beringed hand and biting harder on his cigar. But though he did not

speak, and there seemed to be no meaning in the waving of his hands, the

movements of the crowd began to take to themselves something of purpose

and order, and the animals fell into line and began to pass along the

broad gangway as if they were under the command of Noah and going into

the Ark. The little man in the fur coat was evidently the controlling

spirit; he seemed to be everywhere at once, and the gesticulating paws

were like those of a conductor conducting a band; wherever a difficulty

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cropped up, the fur coat and the sombrero hat were beside it, and the

glittering paws smoothing it away.

The more docile of the beasts were on board. The cages had been hoisted

by the crane, and the horses were following; one of them grew restive,

and slipped from the grasp of the man in charge of it. It would have

made a bolt for it, but Dene, who happened to be standing quite close,

caught hold of the bridle. As he did so, the hands waved before his

face; somehow or other, Dene understood that the gesture meant "Go on!"

and he led the horse over the gangway on to the ship.

The grotesque figure had followed him, and, with another gesture,

ordered Dene to lead the horse to the rough stables which had been set

up on deck. He did so, and was at once seized upon by one of the men,

who badly needed assistance; and for half an hour Dene was kept hard at

work. There was a fearful din; but presently he heard the warning

whistle, and was making his way for the gangway when he was stopped by

the fur coat and waved back again.

"No time to go ashore, my man," said the dwarf, speaking for the first

time in Dene's hearing.

Dene paused for just one moment, then, with a shrug of the shoulders, he

turned and went back to the horses. He heard the snorting and panting of

the tug, felt the vessel move, heard some cheers from the deck, and knew

the tug was towing the vessel from the quay.

For the next hour Dene was convinced that he was the most-needed man on

earth; for everybody wanted him. He helped to get the horses into their

stables; he bore a hand in putting the cages into position; he carried

hay to the elephants and shins of beef to the lions; and while he was

doing these and innumerable other tasks, someone was perpetually

shouting in his ear, "'Ere, matey, lend a hand, will you?" But at last

the confusion simmered down, and, wiping his face, Dene went with the

other men below, where a meal had been hastily prepared for them.




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