“All right. Want to go for a walk, Hannibal?” Hannibal, as was his habit, immediately replied in the affirmative. His affirmatives and his negatives were always quite impossible to miss. He wriggled his body, wagged his tail, raised one paw, put it down again and came and rubbed his head hard against Tommy’s leg. “That’s right,” he obviously said, “that’s what you exist for, my dear slave. We’re going out for a lovely walk down the street. Lots of smells, I hope.”
