Lou shook his head, turning back from his path, his smile still broad and friendly, "Oh, no, you needn't pay me, I just want to help." And so he did. He headed along the road, making sure to walk a bit faster than he usually would, and entered his barn, humming. Kip, his horse, whinnied with surprise at seeing him back only five minutes after he'd left her with her lunch, but he patted her on the nose and sang an old tune and she soon went back to munching on her hay as he fetched the strap. Returning to Pony McBride about seven minutes after he'd left, now holding the spare strap, he offered it to the man and tried to make some friendly conversation. "So, Mr. McBride, what does a good and honest man such as yourself do around Whitby?"