So--" Like Wefers, the Master came to an abrupt halt in his harangue.
For Lad was cantering gleefully toward him, carrying something dark and heavy between his jaws.

Straight to the Master came Lad.

Carefully, at the Master's feet, he laid the rusty pistol.
Then, stepping back a pace, he looked up, eagerly, into the dumfounded man's face, tail waving, dark eyes aglint with expectation.

It had been hard to locate the weapon, in all that tangle of lilac-stems.

It had been harder to carry the awkwardly heavy thing all the way back, in his mouth, without dropping it.