re. I just splashed some water there, an' it'ud spot
them pants scandalous. [_Down to melodeon._

MRS. VERNON. Lizbeth, give Mr. Travers the rocker.

LIZBETH _to bench._

TRAVERS. Oh, no, I beg of you.

MRS. VERNON. Yes, it's the most comfortable. [_Places the rocker for
him._] Vernon there had to put his feet through it yesterday, fixin'
the stove pipe, and they ain't been no furniture man along to mend it,
though he ginerally comes Fridays.

TRAVERS. Thank you. [_Sits;_ KATE _to chair at table;_ MRS. VERNON _to
cupboard, busy._

JIM. [_Off._] Hello, Bollinger, can't I shake you?

BOLLINGER. Well, looks like you was doin' the followin'--ha, ha!

JOE. Is that Jim?

BOLLINGER. Yes--comin' here--[_Calls._] You ain't got that cripple
with you yit?

JIM. Yes--where do you think I'd leave him?

_Enter_ JIM RADBURN _from right to door, with small yellow dog in his
arms. One front paw is tied up._

JOE. Hello, Jim, what's that you got there?

JIM. Er--a--his leg's broke.

JOE. [_Laughing._] Didn't pull a gun on you, did he?

JIM. The blamed fool dropped a fence-rail on him. Good-eve'n'g, Kate.

KATE. Good-evening, Jim.

MRS. VERNON. 'Tain't one o' Beauty's pups, is it?

JIM. No, 'tain't no dog o' mine. Jes' follered me--run after the
stage--then, when she was stuck in the mud, Bill Sarber dropped a rail
he was prying with, and--broke his poor little leg.

BOLLINGER. Sarber's the awkwardest cuss anyhow.

MRS. VERNON. Always was.

BOLLINGER. Then he laffed, and Jim made him 'pologize to everybody in
the stage.

JIM. [_Looking about._] What you been doin' to the room?

JOE. [_Proudly._] Took out the partition.

JIM. I see. Makin' some improvements. Looks bully, don't it?

JOE. Makes the dinin'-room bigger, an' gives more space in the
kitchen. Saves steps for ma.

MRS. VERNON. [_Approaching dog._] What kind of a poultice's that?
Flaxseed?

JIM. Gumbo.

MRS. VERNON. Gumbo?

BOLLINGER. That's what they call that soft mud the river leaves down
there when it rises--gumbo.

JIM. It's only a cushion so the joltin' wouldn't hurt him. I just been
with him to Clark's drug-store. [_To front._] Clark said he wasn't a
dog doctor.

JOE. Wouldn't 'tend to him, eh?

JIM. No--but I'll square it with him. He's up for coroner.

[_Starts for shop--stops_.] I told him that a man what'd see a little
dumb animal suffer ought to be drummed out of town. Is Dave there?

JOE. Yes.

JIM. Well, we'll splinter