About noon
He was a most useful animal about the stable , always giving notice by a loud , fierce bark , when a stranger , and particularly an ill-dressed one , tried to enter . He was good-natured , too , and was never but once known to bite or seriously injure any person . One day , the hostler , having gone into the city , left Leo in charge of the stable , as usual . About noon , a man entered and began to walk around . After a few loud , prolonged barks , which brought no one to his aid , Leo concluded he must take care of the man himself . Every step that the stranger went he followed him , not molesting him in any way until the man took down a handsome fur robe from the shelf , and secreted it in the hay , near the window . He then proceeded to leave , when Leo caught him and held him fast .