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
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.