"'I never heard of it, Sir.'

"'Well, Lord love you! you know what an old seal is?'

"'Oh, yes, sir, I'll get you my master's in a moment.'

And off he sot full chisel.

"Cus him! he is as stupid as a rook, that crittur, it's
no use to tell him a story, and now I think of it, I will
go and smoke them black imps of darkness,--the rooks.'

"So I goes up stairs, as slowly as I cleverly could, jist
liftin' one foot arter another as if it had a fifty-six
tied to it, on pupus to spend time; lit a cigar, opened
the window nearest the rooks, and smoked, but oh the rain
killed all the smoke in a minite; it didn't even make
one on 'em sneeze. 'Dull musick this, Sam,' sais I, 'ain't
it? Tell you what: I'll put on my ile-skin, take an
umbreller and go and talk to the stable helps, for I feel
as lonely as a catamount, and as dull as a bachelor
beaver. So I trampousses off to the stable, and says I
to the head man, 'A smart little hoss that,' sais I, 'you
are a cleaning of: he looks like a first chop article
that.'

"'Y mae',' sais he.

"'Hullo,' sais I, 'what in natur' is this? Is it him that