head, called him "good dog," and walked briskly down the path towards
the road. When he was about fifty feet from the house, Uncle Ike called
out sharply, "Mr. Sawyer!" Quincy turned on his heel quickly and looked
towards the speaker. Uncle Ike's voice, still sharp, spoke these
farewell words:

"I forgot to tell you, Mr. Sawyer, that I always chloroform my chickens
before I cut their heads off."

He stepped back into the house. Swiss, with a bound, was in the room
beside him, and when Quincy again turned his steps towards the road the
closed door had shut them both from view.




CHAPTER VII.

"THAT CITY FELLER."


As usual, the next morning Hiram was down to the Pettengill house
between nine and ten o'clock. He opened the kitchen door unobserved by
Mandy and looked in at her. She was standing at the sink washing dishes
and singing to herself. Suddenly Hiram gave a jump into the room and
cried out in a loud voice, "How are you, Mandy?"

She dropped a tin pan that she was wiping, which fell with a clatter,
breaking a plate that happened to be in the sink.