4
in the luxury of the bus that precedes itself to Los Altos."
"This one does."
"No!" Bartolome shouted suddenly. "Not, not, not! It is the outrage most emphatic! Wait!" He darted through the glassed door into the lobby.
"I'm sorry," Janet told Doan.
"Why?" he asked, surprised.
"Because you can't take your dog to Los Altos"
"I can," said Doan. "And I'm going to. We always have little difficulties like this when we go places. It's a routine we go through."
A fat man wearing a magnificently tailored white suit and a painful smile came out on the terrace ahead of Bartolome. Bartolome pointed at Carstairs and said dramatically, "There is that which is not to go! Never!"
The fat man said: "I am so sorry. It is not permitted for dogs to ride on the bus."
Doan held up the two tickets and pointed eloquently first to himself and then to Carstairs.
The fat man shook his head. "I'm so sorry, sir, but that ticket does not cover a dog."
"It's made out in his name," said Doan.
The fat man shrugged. "But, you see, when your reservations at the hotel and your tickets for this trip were ordered we did not know that one was for a dog. The dog can stay at the hotel--yes. But he cannot ride on the bus."
Doan nodded casually. "All right. He stays here, then. But you'd better chain him up. He's going to get mad if I go away and leave him."
"Mad?" the fat man repeated doubtfully, looking at Carstairs.
Carstairs didn't open his eyes, but he lifted his upper lip and revealed glistening fangs that were as long as a man's little finger. He growled in a low, deep rumble.
The fat man backed up a step. "Is he dangerous?"
"Definitely," said Doan. "But delicate, too. He will attack anyone who tries to feed him, except me. And if he doesn't eat, he'll die. If he dies, I'll sue you for an enormous sum of money."
The fat man closed his eyes and sighed. "He rides in the bus," he said wearily to Bartolome.
"What?" Barto