box there, be ye?"

"I guess so, for the present."

"Well, I wouldn't leave him too long. He's stronger'n Samson and the
Philippines rolled together, and he's humped up his back so much on the
way acrost that he's started most of the nails in them slats over top of
him. I tell ye what you do: Give him a bone or a chunk of tough meat to
chaw on. Then he'll rest easy for a spell. Goodbye. I wish I could
stay and see Seth when he looks at his present, but I can't. Gid-dap,
January."

The grocery wagon rolled out of the yard. The forsaken Job sent a
roar of regret after him. Also, he "humped us his back," and the nails
holding the slats in place started and gave alarmingly. John Brown
hastened to the house in quest of a bone.




CHAPTER V

THE GOING OF JOSHUA


He found one, after a time, the relic of a ham, with a good deal of meat
on it. Atkins, economical soul, would have protested in horror against
the sinful waste, but his helper would cheerfully have sacrificed a
whole hog to quiet the wails from the box in the yard. He pushed the
ham bone between the slats, and Job received it greedily. The howls