ing in the shadow, replied to him. He would shout,
then listen to his voice coming back, mellowed and musical.

"Bill's got 'nuther crazy fit," said Hunch, pausing at the gate, while
Benner leaned against the fence to rest. In one hand the dwarf carried
his cornet, in the other Blind Benner's fiddle, enclosed in a green bag.

"You fellows are always welcome on this plantation," said Bill, coming
to meet them, and grasping Benner's hand affectionately, while he
playfully knocked Hunch's hat over his eyes.

"Say, Bill," inquired the dwarf, "what 'er yellin' at, the sky?"

"Well, Hunch, I'll tell you and Benner, for I know you will keep it
secret. I'm working on an invention that will be a blessing to the folks
that live in cities. I mean a sound-softener."

"Sound-softener, thet runs off yer tongue slick as soft-soap."

Blind Benner was very angry at this lack of reverence, but Bill only
laughed, and replied:

"It does slip easily, too much so, or I'd have found it out before now
and had the right thing patented."

"Why don't yer set a trap fer it?" Hunch inquired seriously.

"Hunch, yer a fool!" Benner exclaimed angrily.

"Jist find it out?" the dwarf asked serenely.

Bill continued:

"I've been experimenting, but I have only one voice, and it makes the
same echo. Now, you boys shout when I do, one short loud yell. Then
pause and listen. Now, ready: one, two, go."

They shouted loudly as they could, and became instantly still. Echo sent
back to them their voices, Hunch's shrill scream dominant over Bill's
round full tone. In the wave of sound Benner's plaintive cry was almost
drowned. Bill clapped his hands; he was overjoyed.

"It'll work, it'll work," he exclaimed, "and the dwellers in cities will
thank me, thank Bill Kellar when he perfects his Echo Sound-softener. I
am going to rig up a combination of walls that will reverberate sounds,
most of which will die before they reach the drum of the ear. It will
just slip over the ear easily and fit it comfortably. Two people wearing
sound-softeners can converse easily on the streets, undisturbed by the
noise of drays, street-cars, stages, and the shouts of the drivers."

Bill broke off abruptly here. He had become excited, and was nervously
afraid his hearers did not understand him, so he ceased description and
remarked:

"You will see just how it works when I get it done."

Blind Benner said he was sure it would succeed. Hunch was silent for a
while. Pr