impatient. I came out to see if you were in sight. Your father
sent me."

"Are they bothering him--talking business that I ought to
attend to when he's ill? That mustn't be."

"Well, I suppose it is business that the strangers are talking
over with your father, Tom," said Mrs. Baggert, "for I heard sums
of money spoken of. But your father seems to be all right, only
a trifle anxious that you should come."

"Well, I'm here now and I'll attend to things. Where are the
strangers, and who are they?"

"I don't know," answered the housekeeper. "I never saw them
before, but they're in the library with your father. Do you think
they'll stay to dinner? If you do, I'll have Eradicate or Koku
catch and kill a chicken."

"If you let one do it don't tell the other about it," said Tom
with a laugh, "or you'll have a chicken race around the yard that
will make the visitors sit up and take notice."

There was great rivalry between Eradicate Sampson, the aged
colored man, and Koku, the giant, and they were continually
disputing. Each one loved and served Tom in his own way, and
there was jealousy between them. Koku, the giant Tom had brought
with him from the land where the young inventor had been made
captive, was a big, powerful man, and could do things the aged
colored servant could not attempt. But "Rad," as he was often