Under The Net - Iris Murdoch [61]
sides. But what I saw as I opened the door made me stop dead in my tracks. I looked at it for a while, and then I called to Finn, 'Come and have a look at this!' He joined me. 'Mother of God!' he said. Right in the middle of the room was a shining aluminium cage, a bola three feet tall and five feet square. Inside the cage, growling softly and fixing us with a nervous bright eye, was a very large black-and-tan Alsatian dog. 'Can it get out?' said Finn. I approached the cage, and as I did so the animal growled more loudly, wagging its tail vigorously at the same time in the ambiguous way dogs have. 'Be careful with the brute!' said Finn, who doesn't care for dogs. 'It'll be springing out on you.' I studied the cage. 'It can't get out,' I said. 'Well, thank God,' said Finn, who once this was clear seemed to have no further interest in the phenomenon. 'Don't be teasing it now,' he added, 'or it'll set up a howl will bring the cops on to us.' I looked at the animal curiously; it had a kind intelligent face, and in spite of its growls it seemed to be smiling. 'Hello,' I said, and thrust my hand through the bars, whereon it became silent and licked me prodigiously. I began stroking its long nose. 'And don't be acting the maggot with it either,' said Finn; 'we haven't got all day.' I knew that we hadn't got all day. Finn went back to Sammy's bedroom and I began to study the living-room. I was very anxious indeed to find the typescript. I kept pausing to imagine with delight Sammy's fury on finding that it was gone. I ransacked Sammy's bureau and a chest of drawers. Then I searched through a cupboard on the landing. I looked in suitcases, and brief-cases, and under cushions and behind books, and even went through the pockets of all Sammy's coats. I came upon various interesting objects, but not the typescript. There was no sign of the thing. Finn had drawn a blank too. We searched the other rooms, but without much hope, as they looked as if they were very little used. 'Where the hell else can we look?' asked Finn. 'I'm sure he's got a secret safe,' I said. The fact that the bureau was unlocked suggested this. If I knew my Sammy, he was a man with plenty to hide. 'Well, if he has it'll do us no good finding it,' said Finn, 'for we'll not be able to open it.' I feared he was right. But we scoured the house again, tapping the floorboards, and looking behind pictures, and making sure that there was no drawer or cupboard which we had missed. 'Come on,' said Finn, 'let you and I be making tracks.' We had been there nearly three-quarters of an hour. I stood in the living-room cursing. 'The bloody thing must be in some place,' I said. 'True for you!' said Finn, 'and it'll likely stay in that place.' He pointed to the dial of his watch. The dog had been watching us all the time, its bushy tail sweeping to and fro against the bars. 'A fine watch-dog you are!' Finn told it. The roof of the cage, which like its floor was made of solid aluminium, was pitched high enough to let the beast stand upright, but not high enough for it to prick its ears when standing up. 'Poor boy!' I said. 'You know,' I said to Finn, 'it's very odd this dog being here. I've never seen anyone put a dog in a cage like that, have you?' 'I suppose it's some sort of special dog,' said Finn. Then I whistled. There suddenly came back to my mind what Sammy had said about a new star; and in that moment I recognized the animal. 'Did you ever see Red Godfrey's Revenge?' I asked Finn, or Five in a Flood?' 'Is it cracked you are?' said Finn. 'Or Stargazers' Farm or Dabbling in the Dew?' 'What are you at at all?' he said. 'It's Mister Mars!' I cried, pointing at the beast. 'It's Marvellous Mister Mars, the dog star. Don't you recognize him? Sammy must have bought him for the new film!' I was so fascinated by this discovery that I forgot all about the typescript. Nothing thrills me so much as meeting a film star in real life, and I had been a fan of Mars for years. 'Och, you're potty,' said Finn, 'all Alsatians look alike. Come away now before himself arrives back on us.' 'But it