old Tom out there 'u'd show jealousy? I see it,
though, the first day. You recollect we made a
heap of the black, kind of petting him up some,
and Tom, bein', as he sure is, an intelligent boss,
I reckon he figured it out that he'd played the
game and been faithful all along, and then to see
himself set back that way by a complete stranger,
it jest nachelly made him sore. Same as it would
you or me, mebbe, if we was informed polite and
all that from headquarters that they was a new
man comin' to jine us that was the pure quill
whichever way you looked at him. Old Tom is
bein' et up with jealousy, I'm regretful to say.",

"Animiles feels things a heap more'n humans
does," put in the little man known as the Professor.
"But they're more reserved in showin'
'em out. Yit when they do show 'em out, they're
a lot less polite about it than humans."

"Nachelly," snapped the lean man, glaring savagely
across the fire at the other. "But that ain't
tellin' us what ails the black," he went on, dropping
the subject of the white and taking up with
the symptoms of the black, evidently through per-verseness.
"He's solemn and dumpish," he declared,
thoughtfully, "like he might have distemper.
But he 'ain't got distemper. And his
teeth ain't sharp, yet he don't eat at all. And
I can't see anything the matter with his insides."

"Did you look?" inquired the Professor, innocently,
but with a quick wink at Stephen.

"Yes, I--" began the lean man, only to check
himself with an angry snort. Then he shifted

[[215]]

p214 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p215w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p216

v?