“Don’t argue!”

“No, that’s not the General’s dog,” says the policeman, with profound conviction, “the General hasn’t got one like that. His are mostly setters.”

“Do you know that for a fact?”

“Yes, your honour.”

“I know it, too. The General has valuable dogs, thoroughbred, and this is goodness knows what! No coat, no shape.⁠ ⁠… A low creature. And to keep a dog like that!⁠ ⁠… where’s the sense of it. If a dog like that were to turn up in Petersburg or Moscow, do you know what would happen? They would not worry about the law, they would strangle it in a twinkling! You’ve been injured, Hryukin, and we can’t let the matter drop.⁠ ⁠… We must give them a lesson! It is high time.⁠ ⁠… !”

“Yet maybe it is the General’s,” says the policeman, thinking aloud. “It’s not written on its face.⁠ ⁠… I saw one like it the other day in his yard.”

“It is the General’s, that’s certain!” says a voice in the crowd.

“H’m, help me on with my overcoat, Yeldyrin, my lad⁠ ⁠… the wind’s getting up.⁠ ⁠… I am cold.⁠ ⁠… You take it to the General’s, and inquire there. Say I found it and sent it. And tell them not to let it out into the street.⁠ ⁠… It may be a valuable dog, and if every swine goes sticking a cigar in its mouth, it will soon be ruined. A dog is a delicate animal.⁠ ⁠… And you put your hand down, you blockhead. It’s no use your displaying your fool of a finger. It’s your own fault.⁠ ⁠…”

“Here comes the General’s cook, ask him⁠ ⁠… Hi, Prohor! Come here, my dear man! Look at this dog.⁠ ⁠… Is it one of yours?”

“What an idea! We have never had one like that!”

“There’s no need to waste time asking,” says Otchumyelov. “It’s a stray dog! There’s no need to waste time talking about it.⁠ ⁠… Since he says it’s a stray dog, a stray dog it is.⁠ ⁠… It must be destroyed, that’s all about it.”