October 3: A Night in the Lonesome October-fest

Stop me if you've heard this one before. There is a short chapter in the beginning of October where Snuff describes an encounter with another companion.

We walked again last night, and the master was hunting. He had donned his cloak and said to me, "Snuff, fetch!" And from the way he said it, I knew that it was the blade he required. I took it to him and we went out. Our luck was varied. That is, he obtained the ingredients he was after, but only with considerable turmoil and an inordinate passage of time. We were discovered near the end. I gave warning, and we had to flee. It was a long chase, till finally I hung back and nipped the other on the leg. We made good our escape, with the ingredients. As he was washing up later, Jack told me I was an excellent watchdog. I was very proud.

The bolded part is such a dog thing to say.

Later, he let me out to prowl. I checked Rastov's place, which was dark. Out and about business, I supposed. Lying behind a bush near Crazy Jill's, I could hear her chuckling within and talking to Graymalk. 

They had already been out. The broom beside the rear entrance was still warm.

I like that throwaway bit with the broom.

While snooping around Morris and MacCab's, he encounters a new animal, a bat named Needle, companion to the Count. His laughter is described as "so high-pitched a human might not hear it".

They talk briefly, Snuff observes that the neighborhood is getting crowded.

The brief chapter ends with a little foreshadowing.

As I made my way back I felt that I was being watched. But whoever it was, was very, very good. I could not spot him, so I took a long, long way about. He left me later to follow another. I hurried home to report.

I like the format. I think it works. By breaking the introductions of these characters into easily digestible chunks, Zelazny makes it easy to keep track of a large cast of characters,