Next day John Traill received a summons to appear in court on 12th April.

In court he explained all about Bobby, whom he had known for four years. The other people, who had known him longer, could back up his story. The case was dismissed, but Bobby still had no owner and was likely to be destroyed. He did not know he was in danger and was happy as ever, running for his dinner at the sound of the gun.

Most of the police were kind-hearted men, but they had to obey orders.

Here is how the dog-catchers used to work. A driver and two policemen came round with the dog-wagon. When they saw a stray dog, one man caught it with a catchpole with iron hoops that tightened round its neck. The second policeman threw a sack over the dog's head to stop it from biting him. It was then put into a wagon and driven away with the other strays to be poisoned.

Was Bobby to be treated like this, after all these years of watching by his master's grave?

James Anderson and Robert Ritchie decided to take Bobby up to the City Chambers to pay for his licence.

Now the Lord Provost of Edinburgh was William Chambers, a famous book publisher and a director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was a lover of dogs.

When Provost Chambers heard about Bobby he asked the City Officer, Mr MacPherson, to bring Bobby along to his house. The Provost was so delighted with Bobby that he promised to pay his licence for as long as he lived. He argued that, as the Town Council owned Greyfriars Burial Ground and encouraged the dog to stay there, they were the owners. He himself, as head of the Town Council, had a duty to pay his licence.

Provost Chambers kept his word. He also had a collar made for Bobby with a brass plate on it with the following inscription: 'Greyfriars Bobby from the Lord Provost, 1867, licensed'.